Refund not being issued

Ellam1899

I placed an order for a Tempur bed and mattress to Lee Longlands on the 3/2/23 afternoon. Over that weekend I spoke to Tempur Directly and discovered I didn’t qualify for their 100 night trial on the mattress and the ten year guarantee on the bed and mattress as that is only offered directly from them if you buy through them. So on Monday the 6/2/23 I tried to seek a refund from Lee Longlands. They said it needs manager approval and I chased all day as apparently the manager was in a meeting. By the end of the day they declined and offered a credit note. As of the next day the 7/2/23 they claimed the bed had gone into production and due to their T&C’s they were unable to offer a refund and further more the T&C’s state you are to forfeit 40%! Complete and utter nonsense under “distance selling rules” also “The consumer contracts regulation” and also “The consumer rights act”. I sent a letter and email stating they are in breech of all three. They have responded with a letter claiming as mentioned earlier the bed had gone into production etc. I’ve spoken to Tempur and it is all but impossible for that to have done so. As it’s effectively the next business working day. I have since placed an order direct with Tempur as I await my refund from Lee Longlands. This is highly frustrating and time consuming nonsense. I’ve also today raised a claim via an insurance policy for legal assistance. 

screech_78

Did you place the order online? 

Manxman_in_exile

Assuming you did order online, what are you trying to cancel?  Just the bed, or the mattress, or both?

If you want to include the bed in your cancellation, is it being built to your specification?  (eg have you supplied the measurements of the bed you want, or have you just selected from a range of sizes provided by Lee Longlands?)

born_again

As above.
Not clear how bought. In store or online?
& exactly what has been cancelled.

As you need a bed, why not keep order for base & just order mattress from Tempur.

redped

Their returns policy at https://www.leelonglands.co.uk/returns-policy.asp has the following:

Bespoke Items*, Made to Order, Special Order or Non-stocked Items:

• If the item you have ordered is not from our held stock, we would have commissioned a supplier to make the item especially for you, so therefore falls outside of the Consumer Contracts Regulations
• In these circumstances we will do our absolute best to cancel the order with the supplier but if we are unable to do so (because for example, the item has already gone into production), unfortunately we will not be able to accept a cancellation
• However, at the managers discretion & depending upon the item, we may be able to allow a cancellation but you would be required to forfeit 40% of the cancellation order value, to cover the costs borne by the company

By their definition, if they only have one item in stock then every other order falls outside the CCR - which is definitely an "interesting" twist on the law.  They can't just decide whether the rules apply based solely on how much stock they have in their warehouse!

HillStreetBlues

redped said:

Their returns policy at https://www.leelonglands.co.uk/returns-policy.asp has the following:

Bespoke Items*, Made to Order, Special Order or Non-stocked Items:

• If the item you have ordered is not from our held stock, we would have commissioned a supplier to make the item especially for you, so therefore falls outside of the Consumer Contracts Regulations
• In these circumstances we will do our absolute best to cancel the order with the supplier but if we are unable to do so (because for example, the item has already gone into production), unfortunately we will not be able to accept a cancellation
• However, at the managers discretion & depending upon the item, we may be able to allow a cancellation but you would be required to forfeit 40% of the cancellation order value, to cover the costs borne by the company

By their definition, if they only have one item in stock then every other order falls outside the CCR - which is definitely an "interesting" twist on the law.  They can't just decide whether the rules apply based solely on how much stock they have in their warehouse!

No they can't, unless it's made to a personal spec (and even some of those aren't included).

So that T&C is mostly invalid.

Manxman_in_exile

HillStreetBlues said:

redped said:

Their returns policy at https://www.leelonglands.co.uk/returns-policy.asp has the following:

Bespoke Items*, Made to Order, Special Order or Non-stocked Items:

• If the item you have ordered is not from our held stock, we would have commissioned a supplier to make the item especially for you, so therefore falls outside of the Consumer Contracts Regulations
• In these circumstances we will do our absolute best to cancel the order with the supplier but if we are unable to do so (because for example, the item has already gone into production), unfortunately we will not be able to accept a cancellation
• However, at the managers discretion & depending upon the item, we may be able to allow a cancellation but you would be required to forfeit 40% of the cancellation order value, to cover the costs borne by the company

By their definition, if they only have one item in stock then every other order falls outside the CCR - which is definitely an "interesting" twist on the law.  They can't just decide whether the rules apply based solely on how much stock they have in their warehouse!

No they can't, unless it's made to a personal spec (and even some of those aren't included).

So that T&C is mostly invalid.

Certainly it would be invalid for a distance contract, but the OP hasn't told us how it was bought.

If it was a distance contract then - as you say - the store could only say it was not possible to cancel if the item was either "clearly personalised" for the OP, or if it was made to their specifications.  If neither of those apply then the OP could cancel if it was a distance contract.

I'm presuming the mattress could be cancelled (aren't they all just standard unless the OP asked for their's to monogrammed?) but the bed might be "made to measure".  In which case the OP could try what @born_again suggests and cancel the mattress but keep the bed?

(Caveat:  I must admit I'm never sure if you can cancel just part of an order or whether it's all or nothing)

pinkshoes

Ellam1899 said:

I placed an order for a Tempur bed and mattress to Lee Longlands on the 3/2/23 afternoon. Over that weekend I spoke to Tempur Directly and discovered I didn’t qualify for their 100 night trial on the mattress and the ten year guarantee on the bed and mattress as that is only offered directly from them if you buy through them. So on Monday the 6/2/23 I tried to seek a refund from Lee Longlands. They said it needs manager approval and I chased all day as apparently the manager was in a meeting. By the end of the day they declined and offered a credit note. As of the next day the 7/2/23 they claimed the bed had gone into production and due to their T&C’s they were unable to offer a refund and further more the T&C’s state you are to forfeit 40%! Complete and utter nonsense under “distance selling rules” also “The consumer contracts regulation” and also “The consumer rights act”. I sent a letter and email stating they are in breech of all three. They have responded with a letter claiming as mentioned earlier the bed had gone into production etc. I’ve spoken to Tempur and it is all but impossible for that to have done so. As it’s effectively the next business working day. I have since placed an order direct with Tempur as I await my refund from Lee Longlands. This is highly frustrating and time consuming nonsense. I’ve also today raised a claim via an insurance policy for legal assistance. 

Assuming you bought this ONLINE and did NOT visit the store to look at the beds, and you have not ordered anything other than a product listed on their webpage, then this is a straightforward cancellation under distance selling. 

Their website just has beds to choose from, so unless you specifically phoned them up and customised the bed (e.g. wanted it in a completely different colour, or 3" longer etc...) then you are perfectly within your rights to cancel. Their T&Cs can't overrule this.

If you paid via bank card, then I suggest contacting the bank for a refund making it clear you have cancelled.

If you visited the store to view the beds then ordered online, then this would technically NOT constitute distance selling as you have already viewed the product. 

Ellam1899

Apologies I didn’t get any notifications hence the late reply. 

The order was placed over the telephone.
I am seeking a refund for the entire order of which 50% was paid via a debit card. So the bed, mattress, additional protection for the bed and delivery fee!
the remainder is via zero percent finance company the retailer use.

So far the charge back via my bank has been activated and is being investigated. 

A section 75 is activated and being investigated via the zero percent finance company.

I have also used legal cover via an insurance policy. They are evaluating before proceeding.

The retailer has breeched three legislations to date that I’m aware of and all three have been made aware to them via email and letters.

they have to my surprise tried to call me twice once on the 24/2/23 and also on the 27/2/23. I had an email before the first phone call saying that the items would be available for distribution from the 8th of March and to confirm if that is ok! Simply shocking behaviour after all the communication regarding the above mentioned. I shall keep you informed!