Won chargeback but now being threatened with court

Hannahc1990x

Hello All 

Firstly I hope this is on the right category so apologies if not. 

I bought a sofa in January 2023 on eBay. Within about a month the lining all came away from the underneath and the cushions now fall through. I contacted the seller who said they’d contact the manufacturer as that shouldn’t have happened. Anyways I heard nothing back so asked for an update. This was ignored so I emailed again. Still no response weeks later so I called. The woman on the phone was awful and said they wouldn’t help and I’m not getting a replacement or my money back. So I emailed again one last time saying I wanted a replacement or my money back immediately. No response. So I put a charge back claim in and won. 

The seller has now emailed me saying they are going to take me to the small claims court. Can they do this firstly? I did everything possible to work with them to get this sorted. They had opportunity to respond to the charge back which they didn’t and I won this legally. I’m actually fuming and don’t see why they should get their money back when I’ve got no sofa. 

Any help greatly appreciated. 

eskbanker

Yes, chargeback isn't a legal judgment about the merits or otherwise of your case, it's simply a means by which you can recover money from a merchant.  However, as you've found, they can still claim that you owe them the money and take steps to get it back, but if you're confident enough in your case then you just defend yourself accordingly in court and all should be good....

PartyOfFive

Except you do have a sofa. Albeit damaged.
What did you do after ‘winning’ the chargeback. Did you contact the company to ask how to send the sofa back to them?

At the moment, in the companies eyes, you have a sofa and their money - so yes they are more than entitled to take you to court.

Aylesbury_Duck

Yes, of course they can.

You say you have no sofa.  What's happened to it? Have you returned it?  

Hannahc1990x

No I don’t have a sofa though that’s the thing. I’ve had to get rid of it now as it’s not fit for purpose and unable to sit on it. It’s not acceptable for them to keep my money and do nothing about their faulty item. So if I hadn’t got my money back what then? I just put up with damaged goods? 

Voyager2002

As stated above, once you had got the money from chargeback you should have contacted the merchant to invite them to collect their defective sofa. Anyway, there is still time to do this.

If the facts are as you describe them, your sofa was clearly not 'fit for purpose' and so the vendor's failure to put matters right when you contacted them puts them decidedly on the wrong side of the law. I am confident that if the matter were to go to court you would win, subject only to you allowing the vendor to collect their sofa.

Aylesbury_Duck

Hannahc1990x said:

No I don’t have a sofa though that’s the thing. I’ve had to get rid of it now as it’s not fit for purpose and unable to sit on it. It’s not acceptable for them to keep my money and do nothing about their faulty item. So if I hadn’t got my money back what then? I just put up with damaged goods? 

You've binned it?!  Oh dear.  You can't expect to have a chargeback refund and deny them the return of their property.  Once you got the chargeback it became their property again.

I'm afraid you've shot yourself in the foot. If the retailer is careful with the way they construct their court case (if they do actually take you to court, they may not bother) then they'll surely win.  At the very least, I suspect them to challenge the chargeback on the grounds that you've disposed of their sofa, so don't be surprised if you're re-charged.  Your bank won't defend it in these circumstances.

Hannahc1990x

They’ve had 45 days to respond to the charge back. They did not. The bank I used for charge back has now actually closed completely, not through my choice mind. 

Why would I keep a sofa for months that I couldn’t sit on? 

Undervalued

Hannahc1990x said:

No I don’t have a sofa though that’s the thing. I’ve had to get rid of it now as it’s not fit for purpose and unable to sit on it. It’s not acceptable for them to keep my money and do nothing about their faulty item. So if I hadn’t got my money back what then? I just put up with damaged goods? 

Indeed.

However, by the same argument, it is not acceptable for you to dispose of what has effectively reverted to being their sofa now that you have made a chargeback.

Having obtained the chargeback you should, at the very least, written to them giving a reasonable timescale for the collection of the faulty sofa. Had you done that and given at least one reminder you would have been in a stronger position. 

born_again

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Hannahc1990x said:

No I don’t have a sofa though that’s the thing. I’ve had to get rid of it now as it’s not fit for purpose and unable to sit on it. It’s not acceptable for them to keep my money and do nothing about their faulty item. So if I hadn’t got my money back what then? I just put up with damaged goods? 

You've binned it?!  Oh dear.  You can't expect to have a chargeback refund and deny them the return of their property.  Once you got the chargeback it became their property again.

I'm afraid you've shot yourself in the foot. If the retailer is careful with the way they construct their court case (if they do actually take you to court, they may not bother) then they'll surely win.  At the very least, I suspect them to challenge the chargeback on the grounds that you've disposed of their sofa, so don't be surprised if you're re-charged.  Your bank won't defend it in these circumstances.

I would guess they are well past the 45 days to do this if they have informed OP of pending court proceedings. So bank will not do anything.

We have to give a disclaimer on the back of every chargeback, warning customers of just this situation if retailer fails to contest. Sadly you can tell many people are simply not taking any notice of what you are saying & simply focusing on the refund timescale.

Aylesbury_Duck

Hannahc1990x said:

They’ve had 45 days to respond to the charge back. They did not. The bank I used for charge back has now actually closed completely, not through my choice mind. 

Why would I keep a sofa for months that I couldn’t sit on? 

Which bank was that?

Because it was not yours any more.

You seem confident you've done the right thing, so just sit and wait and see if court papers arrive, and then come back for advice if you need it then, but as said previously, I can't see you having a good defence now you've binned their property.

How much was the sofa?  If it was ridiculously cheap, they may not bother pursuing it.