Section 75 or small claims court?

Becles

What is the best one to use to get a refund for faulty goods? The retailer is refusing to accept it is faulty and has told me the matter is closed and not to contact them again.

Also who funds a Section 75 refund? The retailer or Amex? 

MattMattMattUK

Becles said:

What is the best one to use to get a refund for faulty goods? The retailer is refusing to accept it is faulty and has told me the matter is closed and not to contact them again.

It depends on the timescales involved, the nature of the alleged fault, the nature and value of the goods etc.

Becles said:

Also who funds a Section 75 refund? The retailer or Amex? 

The card provider funds a S75 claim, they may attempt to recover the cost from the company, but don't always answer may not be successful.

Becles

MattMattMattUK said:

Becles said:

What is the best one to use to get a refund for faulty goods? The retailer is refusing to accept it is faulty and has told me the matter is closed and not to contact them again.

It depends on the timescales involved, the nature of the alleged fault, the nature and value of the goods etc.

Becles said:

Also who funds a Section 75 refund? The retailer or Amex? 

The card provider funds a S75 claim, they may attempt to recover the cost from the company, but don't always answer may not be successful.

It's a mattress that I paid £1K for with a 10 year warranty. It's now six months old. I haven't been happy with it from the start, so I believe it was faulty on arrival.

The sides have collapsed and the mattress has big dips in it. I'm not using the mattress now due to the lack of support and discomfort and I just can't sleep properly on it. 

I have tried to resolve this with the retailer, including paying for two independent inspections myself, but both inspections were rejected by the retailer.

Sandtree

Becles said:

What is the best one to use to get a refund for faulty goods? The retailer is refusing to accept it is faulty and has told me the matter is closed and not to contact them again.

Also who funds a Section 75 refund? The retailer or Amex? 

What evidence (eg engineers report) have you got that its faulty? Why do you think AmEx will be convinced by it if the merchant wasn't?

S75 is paid for by the bank, they almost never attempt to reclaim from the merchant. On the basis that S75 is free of charge and doesn't preclude court action afterwards (you've 6 years from date of purchase generally) then you may as well go down that avenue first and then the Financial Ombudsman if you dont like AmEx's response. 

After that route is exhausted then next step would be court action and your choice which of the two to sue. As a general rule of thumb however the ombudsman is more consumer leaning than the courts are and so few cases get declined by the ombudsman and subsequently go on to be won in court. 

Sometimes people want to ensure its the merchant that pays for their mistake and so issue against the merchant before attempting a S75 claim out of principle but then you risk loosing the court fees etc

pinkshoes

Becles said:

It's a mattress that I paid £1K for with a 10 year warranty. It's now six months old. I haven't been happy with it from the start, so I believe it was faulty on arrival.

The sides have collapsed and the mattress has big dips in it. I'm not using the mattress now due to the lack of support and discomfort and I just can't sleep properly on it. 

I have tried to resolve this with the retailer, including paying for two independent inspections myself, but both inspections were rejected by the retailer.

As you have evidence that it was faulty via an independent report (why did you pay for two???) then I would start with the credit card, although that will be for just the cost of the mattress. 

If you want to go down the small claims court route, then send a LETTER BEFORE ACTION to the retailer with a copy of the report, and give them 14 days to issue a FULL refund and the cost of the independent report (not sure you can claim for two reports unless it was them that insisted on the second) and make it clear that if they don't pay you will take it to court.

Becles

pinkshoes said:

Becles said:

It's a mattress that I paid £1K for with a 10 year warranty. It's now six months old. I haven't been happy with it from the start, so I believe it was faulty on arrival.

The sides have collapsed and the mattress has big dips in it. I'm not using the mattress now due to the lack of support and discomfort and I just can't sleep properly on it. 

I have tried to resolve this with the retailer, including paying for two independent inspections myself, but both inspections were rejected by the retailer.

As you have evidence that it was faulty via an independent report (why did you pay for two???) then I would start with the credit card, although that will be for just the cost of the mattress. 

If you want to go down the small claims court route, then send a LETTER BEFORE ACTION to the retailer with a copy of the report, and give them 14 days to issue a FULL refund and the cost of the independent report (not sure you can claim for two reports unless it was them that insisted on the second) and make it clear that if they don't pay you will take it to court.

I sent the first independent report and a letter before action, but the retailer disputed the report. It was from an independent sole trader who has done work for Trading Standards. The retailer said they did not recognise his qualifications and could not accept the report as he wasn't from one of their "industry recognised inspectors."

I got the second report from a national chain of inspectors (which says the same thing as the first report.) They rejected that one and claimed that in their opinion, the damage was caused by excess weight on the mattress, prolonged sitting on the side of the mattress or jumping on the bed. None of those reasons are true.