Potential section 75 claim for cancelled solar panel contract

faq

Hi there,

In April I ordered solar panel and batteries from a company for £12.5k and I paid the £100 deposit on my credit card. Last month, the company got in touch and said that they couldn't fulfil the order as per the original contract and offered a new contract for me to sign that was £14.5k and an older type panels that produced far less power then the ones I originally ordered. I finally found a company that supplied me a quote for the panels and batteries I wanted but for £17.2k.

I called up my bank and asked for information about making a section 75 claim. When the credit card person asked whether the original contract allowed for modification of terms such as price, I said I couldn't see anything. They then clammed up and said they couldn't give me any further advice but said that I should either make a claim or not. They refused to give me an email address but just said I needed to have all the paperwork and correspondence ready to send when I follow up with them. I just wanted to know whether the credit card company could make up the difference for the new item or pay out the full amount for the cost of the original item even though I only paid the deposit.

Would I still be covered for the full amount of the panels cost even though I only paid by card under section 75? Is it worth putting in a claim?

DullGreyGuy

Need to read the contract... its very possible that liability is capped in which case the outcome would be the return of the £100 deposit which you haven't said if the original company has already offered that or not.

faq

DullGreyGuy said:

Need to read the contract... its very possible that liability is capped in which case the outcome would be the return of the £100 deposit which you haven't said if the original company has already offered that or not.

The company have offered the deposit back. The credit card person also asked this and then said if I did accept the deposit there maybe no point making a claim.

The contract does have the following clause:

"In the case of severe delays to the delivery of goods then you may be offered different products of equivalent specification, value and quality, so long as they are MCS certified. You can either accept that offer, wait for the products you ordered or choose to cancel the contract without penalty. Should the delay be caused by us, or by our suppliers, and that delay could be considered as severe by a reasonable person, you would be entitled to cancel this contract without penalty to you."

The different product they offered, Maxeon 3 panels, only generate 3800 Kw annually. The Maxeon 5 panels I ordered were estimated to generate 5205Kw annually. So not the same specification at all.

grumbler

faq said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Need to read the contract... its very possible that liability is capped in which case the outcome would be the return of the £100 deposit which you haven't said if the original company has already offered that or not.

"In the case of severe delays to the delivery of goods then you may be offered different products of equivalent specification, value and quality, so long as they are MCS certified. You can either accept that offer, wait for the products you ordered or choose to cancel the contract without penalty. Should the delay be caused by us, or by our suppliers, and that delay could be considered as severe by a reasonable person, you would be entitled to cancel this contract without penalty to you."

IMHO, this says it all. No chance of a successful claim.

born_again

faq said:

Hi there,

In April I ordered solar panel and batteries from a company for £12.5k and I paid the £100 deposit on my credit card. Last month, the company got in touch and said that they couldn't fulfil the order as per the original contract and offered a new contract for me to sign that was £14.5k and an older type panels that produced far less power then the ones I originally ordered. I finally found a company that supplied me a quote for the panels and batteries I wanted but for £17.2k.

I called up my bank and asked for information about making a section 75 claim. When the credit card person asked whether the original contract allowed for modification of terms such as price, I said I couldn't see anything. They then clammed up and said they couldn't give me any further advice but said that I should either make a claim or not. They refused to give me an email address but just said I needed to have all the paperwork and correspondence ready to send when I follow up with them. I just wanted to know whether the credit card company could make up the difference for the new item or pay out the full amount for the cost of the original item even though I only paid the deposit.

Would I still be covered for the full amount of the panels cost even though I only paid by card under section 75? Is it worth putting in a claim?

As you have not had anything installed you can not claim anything.
If you did, then it would be under the new contract. So again NO you can not claim the difference between old & new contracts, or choosing another 3rd party co.

Prices are rising fast, due to supply & demand. So a 4 month wait for install might incur a increase. But will depend on T/C. 

grumbler

born_again said:

faq said:

Hi there,

In April I ordered solar panel and batteries from a company for £12.5k and I paid the £100 deposit on my credit card. Last month, the company got in touch and said that they couldn't fulfil the order as per the original contract and offered a new contract for me to sign that was £14.5k and an older type panels that produced far less power then the ones I originally ordered. I finally found a company that supplied me a quote for the panels and batteries I wanted but for £17.2k.

I called up my bank and asked for information about making a section 75 claim. When the credit card person asked whether the original contract allowed for modification of terms such as price, I said I couldn't see anything. They then clammed up and said they couldn't give me any further advice but said that I should either make a claim or not. They refused to give me an email address but just said I needed to have all the paperwork and correspondence ready to send when I follow up with them. I just wanted to know whether the credit card company could make up the difference for the new item or pay out the full amount for the cost of the original item even though I only paid the deposit.

Would I still be covered for the full amount of the panels cost even though I only paid by card under section 75? Is it worth putting in a claim?

As you have not had anything installed you can not claim anything.

Even in a court? I think this depends on the contract. Generally, if one party breaches the contract and another party suffers losses as a result, I think it can claim. And s75 doesn't exclude consequential losses - see MSE article.

phillw

faq said:

I just wanted to know whether the credit card company could make up the difference for the new item or pay out the full amount for the cost of the original item even though I only paid the deposit.

No, section 75 isn't insurance against price rises or give you refunds for things you haven't paid for.

Section 75 only makes them responsible equally with the original supplier.

The original supplier has no obligation to install solar panels, you entered a contract that they can exit by refunding you the money you have paid. So that is all your credit card company would be responsible for.

grumbler said:
Even in a court? I think this depends on the contract. Generally, if one party breaches the contract and another party suffers losses as a result, I think it can claim. And s75 doesn't exclude consequential losses - see MSE article.

I'm not sure that inflation could be argued as a consequential loss that they are responsible for. If someone offers you a diamond for £5000, you pay for it and they fail to deliver, then all they have to do is refund you the £5000. If the only way to get a similar diamond is to pay £10000 then they don't need to make up the difference.

grumbler

phillw said:

grumbler said:

Even in a court? I think this depends on the contract. Generally, if one party breaches the contract and another party suffers losses as a result, I think it can claim. And s75 doesn't exclude consequential losses - see MSE article.

I'm not sure that inflation could be argued as a consequential loss that they are responsible for. If someone offers you a diamond for £5000, you pay for it and they fail to deliver, then all they have to do is refund you the £5000. If the only way to get a similar diamond is to pay £10000 then they don't need to make up the difference.

Well, here we are talking about 6 months and 40%. However, if they agreed to supply the diamond in 6 months for £5K, I don't see how inflation can have any relevance.

phillw

grumbler said:
Well, here we are talking about 6 months and 40%. However, if they agreed to supply the diamond in 6 months for £5K, I don't see how inflation can have any relevance.

If they agree to supply a diamond in 6 months for £5k, then in 6 months they will either have to give you the diamond or pay back any money you've already paid. 

Inflation is pretty relevant to a 40% price increase, I wasn't referring to rpi or cpi.

grumbler

What about futures contracts then? Companies and people use them to insure themselves against changes in the price. According to you these contracts don't insure against anything. If the price  goes the way the supplier wants, they are happy. Otherwise they can just not to supply anything. No lose situation for the supplier. No win - for the buyer.

phillw

grumbler said:

What about futures contracts then? Companies and people use them to insure themselves against changes in the price. According to you these contracts don't insure against anything. If the price  goes the way the supplier wants, they are happy. Otherwise they can just not to supply anything. No lose situation for the supplier. No win - for the buyer.

Did you enter a futures contract on a regulated exchange?