Refund for pre-paid service

BRS7

Hi! 

Looking for some advice…

Saturday morning I had a facial, off the back of that I paid £300 for a pack of 6. Shortly after I had a reaction to something they had used so I called them this morning (Monday) to cancel my next appointment and requested a refund. I was told that it’s against their policy to give refunds for packs and that I could use it for another service. I was told the terms are on the website to which I replied that I had not bought them on the website and was never informed of that policy when it was being sold to me. I asked to speak to the manager but was told they were busy and they’d call me back, which they didn’t…

From what I’ve read I am entitled to a refund as I did not enter a contract (I didn’t specifically go there to buy a pack of 6 facials, they were up sold to me whilst I was there). They have not suffered any loss as I booked the next appointment for 4 weeks time and tried to cancel their next working day so therefore £300 is not a reasonable cancellation charge.

If I don’t get through to a manager tomorrow I plan on emailing them requesting the refund and making the points that I made above, if that still fails I plan to make a claim through MCOL. Is that course of action you’d advise? 

I did look them up on companies house and could only see a dissolved company. Would the claim be against a company- the shop name and address? 

Of course I might get through to them tomorrow and they may surprise me with a full refund however other people I know have previous experience with this particular beautician’s rather unfair cancellation policy.

Thanks in advance for any tips. 

Aylesbury_Duck

BRS7 said:

Hi! 

Looking for some advice…

Saturday morning I had a facial, off the back of that I paid £300 for a pack of 6. Shortly after I had a reaction to something they had used so I called them this morning (Monday) to cancel my next appointment and requested a refund. I was told that it’s against their policy to give refunds for packs and that I could use it for another service. I was told the terms are on the website to which I replied that I had not bought them on the website and was never informed of that policy when it was being sold to me. I asked to speak to the manager but was told they were busy and they’d call me back, which they didn’t…

From what I’ve read I am entitled to a refund as I did not enter a contract (I didn’t specifically go there to buy a pack of 6 facials, they were up sold to me whilst I was there). They have not suffered any loss as I booked the next appointment for 4 weeks time and tried to cancel their next working day so therefore £300 is not a reasonable cancellation charge.

If I don’t get through to a manager tomorrow I plan on emailing them requesting the refund and making the points that I made above, if that still fails I plan to make a claim through MCOL. Is that course of action you’d advise? 

I did look them up on companies house and could only see a dissolved company. Would the claim be against a company- the shop name and address? 

Of course I might get through to them tomorrow and they may surprise me with a full refund however other people I know have previous experience with this particular beautician’s rather unfair cancellation policy.

Thanks in advance for any tips. 

A few things to point out here.

1. You did enter into a contract.  You offered £300 for six future facials, they accepted the money.  There's a contract.
2. You don't yet know if they've suffered a loss.  If they can't fill that next appointment they've suffered a loss of your business.
3. You claim not to have known about their policy, but go on to say that you know people with previous experience of a supposedly unfair cancellation policy.  
4. There's no cooling-off period for an in-store purchase, so the short time period between buying and wanting a refund isn't completely pertinent.  What's of more help to you is that by wanting to cancel so soon, you're giving them the best opportunity to re-sell appointments if that's how they work.  Did you book six more specific slots, or did you buy what are effectively vouchers for six facials that can be redeemed at dates of your choice?  

BRS7

Hi, thanks for your response and I take on your points, however my previous experience was cancellation within 48 hours, not 4 weeks, if i had known it was non-refundable i would absolutely not have bought them. 

I effectively bought a voucher of 6 facials, one was the facial on Saturday, the second booked for 4 weeks time and the others are yet to be booked. 

Do you have any advice for my next step?

Aylesbury_Duck

BRS7 said:

Hi, thanks for your response and I take on your points, however my previous experience was cancellation within 48 hours, not 4 weeks, if i had known it was non-refundable i would absolutely not have bought them. 

I effectively bought a voucher of 6 facials, one was the facial on Saturday, the second booked for 4 weeks time and the others are yet to be booked. 

Do you have any advice for my next step?

I'm being deliberately challenging here because you may wish to rehearse your arguments.
 
"if i had known it was non-refundable i would absolutely not have bought them." -  You have no statutory right to change-of-mind refund in this case.  An in-store purchase isn't refundable on a change-of-mind basis unless their policy says so.  They don't need to spell that out to you, it's legislation and is up to you whether you know if it or not.

Your previous experience is irrelevant - what matters here is statutory rights and any other rights the retailer provides with their policies, as long as those policies don't detract from you consumer rights.  You don't have a statutory right to a refund within 48 hours, or 14 days, or at all.

Next step?  I'd go there in person, politely explain that you've had an allergic reaction to something in the treatment and that you'd like to cancel your purchase and see what they say.  They may be amenable to a personal approach.  If not, then it's a case of negotiating the best outcome you can, perhaps as they suggested, a swap to another service.  I don't see that you have grounds for any sort of small claims action, unless you can prove they've either denied you your statutory rights or gone against their own policy.  The upshot is that if you push too hard and start talking about your rights and threatening court action, you may end up with nothing.

BRS7

I understand, thank you very much for your advise. 

user1977

BRS7 said:

I did look them up on companies house and could only see a dissolved company. Would the claim be against a company- the shop name and address? 

On this point, your claim would be against whoever operates the business, so you need to work that out. If it's a limited company, then it's against the limited company. If it's a sole trader e.g. "Jo Smith trading as Jo's Beauty", then it's Jo Smith. If it's a partnership, then it's against the partnership.

MarvinDay

BRS7 said:

Shortly after I had a reaction to something they had used

Have you asked them if there are different products that they could use if you were to have further appointments?