Distance selling laws. Refund on a sofa deposit after being sacked.

sheramber

Since payment is required to made on the shop it sound like company do not do online sales.

They consider it a normal retail sale.

km1500

" Taking your argument to an extreme conclusion, a consumer could convert any on-premises interaction into a distance sale simply by paying remotely some time later."

Payment is not necessary to form the contract, only an offer and acceptance. Thus this would not be converted into a distance sale simply by paying later over the phone as the contract had already been formed in-store.

In the case of the OP, the store visit was simply 'enquires before contract'. The actual contract was formed over the phone when presumably the OP said 'I would like to buy x' and the salesman said 'OK'.

mattyprice4004

As covered by other replies you’re not entitled to cancel the order penalty-free as it wasn’t a distance sale. 

While the job situation is unfortunate, it’s not relevant. 

km1500

"

• REMEMBER: If you visit the retailer’s premises at any time during the sales process, so for example, when paying your deposit or signing your paperwork, this no longer counts as a distance sale. Therefore, you won’t have a cancellation period and your usual consumer rights will apply.

This specifically refers to the SALES process ie signing the contract etc. It does not refer to the fact that you visited the garage two weeks earlier and browsed the cars.

The OP's sale (with the facts as specified) WAS a distance sale.

To be clear. You can visit a shop or garage or whatever and look at / browse their products.

You then go home and a couple of days later make a desicion and buy either by phone or online.

This is a distance sale. Why? Because no elements of the contract were made on-premises.

Undervalued

km1500 said:

"

• REMEMBER: If you visit the retailer’s premises at any time during the sales process, so for example, when paying your deposit or signing your paperwork, this no longer counts as a distance sale. Therefore, you won’t have a cancellation period and your usual consumer rights will apply.

This specifically refers to the SALES process ie signing the contract etc. It does not refer to the fact that you visited the garage two weeks earlier and browsed the cars.

The OP's sale (with the facts as specified) WAS a distance sale.

To be clear. You can visit a shop or garage or whatever and look at / browse their products.

You then go home and a couple of days later make a desicion and buy either by phone or online.

This is a distance sale. Why? Because no elements of the contract were made on-premises.

I disagree for the reasons that have been set out eloquently by others in earlier posts.

Ultimately, if the shop won't refund the deposit or both parties agree a compromise, the OP will have to take action in the county court. It would be interesting to see all the paperwork and read the judgement.

The shop could of course counter claim if they feel their losses exceed the deposit,  Equally the OP might be able to argue that the deposit was more than the shops' losses and amounts to a penalty and be able to recover some of the deposit even if (as I believe) this is held not to be a distance sale.

km1500

@undervalued thanks for your informative post - we disagree but at least there are different opinions for the OP to ponder.

shiraz99

km1500 said:

"

• REMEMBER: If you visit the retailer’s premises at any time during the sales process, so for example, when paying your deposit or signing your paperwork, this no longer counts as a distance sale. Therefore, you won’t have a cancellation period and your usual consumer rights will apply.

This specifically refers to the SALES process ie signing the contract etc. It does not refer to the fact that you visited the garage two weeks earlier and browsed the cars.

The OP's sale (with the facts as specified) WAS a distance sale.

To be clear. You can visit a shop or garage or whatever and look at / browse their products.

You then go home and a couple of days later make a desicion and buy either by phone or online.

This is a distance sale. Why? Because no elements of the contract were made on-premises.

The OP did a little more than just browse a few products, on this occasion, the OP saw what he liked in store and enquired with the salesman, taking his card to make the order at a later date. IMHO, the process of purchasing that sofa began in store and therefore not a distance sale.

born_again

All this debate is not helping the OP. Another thread that has spread to multiple pages, but no advice only debate in the pages.

The conflicting advice has been given. Let Op sit back & digest & make their decision. End of the day if retailer say's NO. OP can take it to court & maybe comeback with the decision which will help everyone going forward. 👍 
Which will help clear up the ambiguity in the regulations.

Undervalued

shiraz99 said:

km1500 said:

"

• REMEMBER: If you visit the retailer’s premises at any time during the sales process, so for example, when paying your deposit or signing your paperwork, this no longer counts as a distance sale. Therefore, you won’t have a cancellation period and your usual consumer rights will apply.

This specifically refers to the SALES process ie signing the contract etc. It does not refer to the fact that you visited the garage two weeks earlier and browsed the cars.

The OP's sale (with the facts as specified) WAS a distance sale.

To be clear. You can visit a shop or garage or whatever and look at / browse their products.

You then go home and a couple of days later make a desicion and buy either by phone or online.

This is a distance sale. Why? Because no elements of the contract were made on-premises.

The OP did a little more than just browse a few products, on this occasion, the OP saw what he liked in store and enquired with the salesman, taking his card to make the order at a later date. IMHO, the process of purchasing that sofa began in store and therefore not a distance sale.

That is my view.

This has now been discussed at length and it is clearly a close call. As I said earlier, short of going to court I feel the OP would be best advised to try and reach a compromise.

JetpackVelociraptor

At the risk of increasing the length of this exchange further (sorry!) my furniture business was in the past advised by our solicitor that distance regulations do not apply if the customer has previously visited the showroom and the specific item they went on to purchase was there at the time. This was a professional solicitor we paid for his time so I would hope what he said is the most likely interpretation of the law! As OP literally states he saw the sofa he liked in the company's store in London, and subsequently interacts with the company while specifically referring to the sofa he saw and its' location where he saw it, I don't think he could reasonably argue it's a distance contract.

Having said that, the company looks a bit sketchy - who the heck doesn't have a refund policy? I would write them a letter, recorded delivery, stating that as already stated over the phone you wish to cancel your order and are awaiting a refund of your deposit. Write into the letter that should they not respond to you within 14 days you will be seeking professional advice to take this further, and make NO MENTION of you having lost your job because they may take that to mean that you don't have the means to do anything about it. If they're prepared to let you cancel the order but refuse to refund any of the deposit, you may reasonably be able to take them to small claims for the deposit, because the purpose of a deposit is supposed to be to cover the company's costs in the event of a cancellation. I cannot imagine what they could have done with the sofa in such a short space of time that would have cost them over £800.