A company has sent me a refund but labelled it as ‘compensation’

Scaredpassenger

I’ve had three months of dealing with a composite door company including 7 failed deliveries, this has led to me asking for a full refund which they say they will do, today I received an email that states ‘compensation’ and the credit line shows ‘multiple delays’ 

the amount is correct but doesn’t show that it was for my original purchase of a ‘door’

i believe they have done this as they know I’ll be claiming through small
claims for the multiple delays 

I contacted them immediately after receiving the compensation email to request that they reword it to show refund and the door, but they responded saying the following : 

“Apologies the term “compensation” is the term the system uses when issuing credit notes/refunds to customers it has no way of determining the difference between the 2.

The credit notes are sent from this email address as standard but issued by the individual department.”

this stinks to me, and still feels like they are trying to protect themselves from a claim from me.

I don’t know where I stand at this point 

can anyone offer any advice 
thank you 

born_again

How they word the description is up to them. 
Fact is that the amount matches the cost of the door. 

Should they argue (if you go to court) that this is "Compensation" then they have shot themselves in the foot, as they then have not refunded you for the door.

Manxman_in_exile

If they've given you the full refund* you've asked for, what does it matter what they call it?  And why would you want to claim** if you've got the amount you wanted?


*I assume they've given you a full refund as you haven't said otherwise...

**  If you were to try to claim on the basis that they hadn't refunded you because they'd call it "compensation", I think you'd get short shrift from a judge...

HillStreetBlues

born_again said:

How they word the description is up to them. 
Fact is that the amount matches the cost of the door. 

Should they argue (if you go to court) that this is "Compensation" then they have shot themselves in the foot, as they then have not refunded you for the door.

Totally agree

Once money has cleared e-mail them back thanking them for the compensation and ask when you will get the refund 

user1977

You're overthinking this - it doesn't matter what they call it. And in any event it seems they've sent you another email clarifying what it's for, if there really was a dispute.

easy

"still feels like they are trying to protect themselves from a claim from me"

But if you have your money back,  what sort of a claim can you make ?? 
Honestly,  now they have paid you back (regardless of what they've called it),  accept the money and move on.  Life's too short to fret about things like this  ...  concentrate on  finding another door supplier,  get the job finished and keep swimming forwards ...

Scaredpassenger

I feel having to take 7 days off work to receive a large expensive item, (which they confirm in email the day before said delivery date that the door is sorted and will be delivered on said date)
They also make a big deal each time stating if someone isn’t home to receive the item their is a redelivery fee of up to £120 

and obviously after the third non delivery I was also talking on the phone with the company trying to work out what was going on, and kept getting promised it would be sorted, I explained to them each time I stayed home waiting for the delivery was a days wage (self employed) that I wouldn’t be getting, it’s just infuriating, towards the last three deliveries I also had verbal confirmations that the door was being delivered as-well as the email confirmations from management people within the  company 

TELLIT01

I get the impression that the OP is considering taking the company to court in order to get compensation for 7 failed delivery dates.  Whether or not such a claim can be made I don't know.  Presumably they would need to be able to details of 'quantifiable loss' directly caused by the failed deliveries.

powerful_Rogue

TELLIT01 said:

I get the impression that the OP is considering taking the company to court in order to get compensation for 7 failed delivery dates.  Whether or not such a claim can be made I don't know.  Presumably they would need to be able to details of 'quantifiable loss' directly caused by the failed deliveries.

Exactly, and what reasonable steps were taken to minimise this loss.I imagine they weren't 7 whole days taken off, just parts of days. Could the OP have worked around this. Could the OP have got someone to wait at the house instead or asked the neighbours etc.

km1500

To add - check the original T&C and what they say about delivery (if anything)

Gavin83

I too think you’re overthinking this. It doesn’t really matter how they’ve worded it, they’ve clearly refunded you for the door. You have evidence to back this up.

If you wish to sue them for other costs then go ahead, although there are other issues with this too. The wording on the refund certainly isn’t one of them though.