Is This Quote Fair?

tightauldgit

It seems like the cheapest way out of this was to cancel the original £176 job and pay the £88 fee then accept the other offer of £167 to do the new job. Total price £255.  

Alderbank

tightauldgit said:

It seems like the cheapest way out of this was to cancel the original £176 job and pay the £88 fee then accept the other offer of £167 to do the new job. Total price £255.  

Yes, that would be a good solution.

My personal cheapest way (but I am a cheapskate) would be to wait till the original lads turn up (so no cancellation fee) then offer them £50 cash in hand to take a few extra bits. Total price £226.

eskbanker

Spectralis said:

But perhaps I haven't made myself clear, can a company put anything in the T&C's and absolve themselves of any responsibility? That's the question I've been asking in various ways over and over again but it still hasn't been addressed.

I addressed it this morning:

eskbanker said:

If you seek to make a case that their Ts & Cs contain unfair terms, then you can sue them under the relevant provisions of the Consumer Rights Act 2015:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/part/2/enacted

You've now cited an unattributed quote that there are restrictions on what companies can charge for contract cancellations:

Spectralis said:

"Normally a consumer has no automatic right to change their mind and to cancel a contract; therefore if this happens they are in breach of contract. However, there is an automatic right to cancel in some special cases, including most consumer contracts made at a distance (for example, mail order or internet) or at a consumer's home etc. See 'Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013' below.

If a consumer cancels the contract wrongfully, the trader can claim the reasonable costs incurred. Where the trader cannot recover the lost sale (for example, by making another booking in place of the cancelled one) their claim may include loss of profit. If the consumer has made full or part payment up front, the trader can only retain enough to cover these losses and must refund the difference."

That's what I'm querying. Is it acceptable for AnyVan to keep 5O% of my payment to cover costs and losses? Especially when the price has doubled. If the original contract is superceded every time a customer makes changes then what is a fair renegotiation? Especially as AnyVan advertise renegotiation up to 24 hours before the job without making any penalties clear in the advertising. Effectively putting this information on the back of the receipt or in the fine print of their T&C's.

and this may be indeed be a viable challenge on fairness grounds if you wished to pursue them through legal channels.  It should be obvious that a late cancellation reduces the prospect of alternative jobs being allocated to the relevant vehicle and people, and there will doubtless be administrative charges relating to processing the cancellation, but that's not to say that a blanket 50% charge is appropriate, despite it being unrealistic to expect a bespoke calculation to be performed for every cancellation.  However, if you're still expecting them to turn up tomorrow to do the move, what realistically do you want to do?

dil1976

Alderbank said:

tightauldgit said:

It seems like the cheapest way out of this was to cancel the original £176 job and pay the £88 fee then accept the other offer of £167 to do the new job. Total price £255.  

Yes, that would be a good solution.

My personal cheapest way (but I am a cheapskate) would be to wait till the original lads turn up (so no cancellation fee) then offer them £50 cash in hand to take a few extra bits. Total price £226.

Offering the people who turn up cash for the extra items may seem like a good idea unless!

• They don't want to take the items or cash.
• They take them it gets damaged so isn't covered by any insurance that the other items are covered by.

Alderbank

dil1976 said:

Alderbank said:

tightauldgit said:

It seems like the cheapest way out of this was to cancel the original £176 job and pay the £88 fee then accept the other offer of £167 to do the new job. Total price £255.  

Yes, that would be a good solution.

My personal cheapest way (but I am a cheapskate) would be to wait till the original lads turn up (so no cancellation fee) then offer them £50 cash in hand to take a few extra bits. Total price £226.

Offering the people who turn up cash for the extra items may seem like a good idea unless!

• They don't want to take the items or cash.
• They take them it gets damaged so isn't covered by any insurance that the other items are covered by.

            

Spectralis

"The unreasonable step here seems to be that you have assumed you could totally change the load and be quoted the same price. That's what seems to have triggered this issue. I think you have to some personal responsibility for that before you start going off the deep end."

I've never said that. I complained about the price doubling because I added a few more boxes.
Please provide evidence other than your opinion that AnyVan is a marketplace where regular consumer law doesn't apply. 
Unless I'm mistaken, so far, apart from quoting AnyVan's T&C's as if they're tablets of stone no one has linked to any authoritative explanation of trading rules except me. Please provide evidence that AnyVan is exempt from those rules.

"If you still have the evidence of the lower quote, you could give them a call and ask? You said you spoke to them - did you mention the other 'cheaper' quote you'd received?)"

Unfortunately, I only made enquiries with another company after the price had doubled. They quoted me £167 for the same number of boxes, a two person crew with less than 48 hours notice.
As I mentioned before, when I phoned AnyVan after the price doubled the call handler was very surprised at the high price based on the change in number of items. Enough to question it with his manager who refused to budge.
When the removal driver phoned me today he asked about the 5 metre table I wanted moving. I clarified it was a 90 x 45 cm folding table. What I input into AnyVan's booking system wasn't conveyed to the driver so that's another reason why I'm questioning the price.

I'm thinking of setting up my own marketplace. Anything goes wrong I don't have to accept liability apparently. I just rake in the profit. Buy a hotel maybe, lease rooms to different companies and then tell the guests to complain to those companies when something goes wrong because I only provide the booking and material framework. Sorry to be facetious, I know it only inflames, but this "marketplace" concept sounds like a convenient excuse to circumvent trading regulations and consumer rights.

Spectralis

eskbanker, the quote I posted came from the link I posted. It explains trading rules and regulations.
Perhaps the information is wrong but no one else has linked to any other authorative information yet.
I'm going ahead with AnyVan because if I don't I lose £179. It's cost me an extra £176 but that's only a little bit more than the other quote of £167.
Had I realised that AnyVan was a "marketplace" with it's own special and mysterious set of trading rules then I would have sought the other company out in the first place.

Lesson learned.

tightauldgit

Spectralis said:

"The unreasonable step here seems to be that you have assumed you could totally change the load and be quoted the same price. That's what seems to have triggered this issue. I think you have to some personal responsibility for that before you start going off the deep end."

I've never said that. I complained about the price doubling because I added a few more boxes.
Please provide evidence other than your opinion that AnyVan is a marketplace where regular consumer law doesn't apply. 
Unless I'm mistaken, so far, apart from quoting AnyVan's T&C's as if they're tablets of stone no one has linked to any authoritative explanation of trading rules except me. Please provide evidence that AnyVan is exempt from those rules.

"If you still have the evidence of the lower quote, you could give them a call and ask? You said you spoke to them - did you mention the other 'cheaper' quote you'd received?)"

Unfortunately, I only made enquiries with another company after the price had doubled. They quoted me £167 for the same number of boxes, a two person crew with less than 48 hours notice.
As I mentioned before, when I phoned AnyVan after the price doubled the call handler was very surprised at the high price based on the change in number of items. Enough to question it with his manager who refused to budge.
When the removal driver phoned me today he asked about the 5 metre table I wanted moving. I clarified it was a 90 x 45 cm folding table. What I input into AnyVan's booking system wasn't conveyed to the driver so that's another reason why I'm questioning the price.

I'm thinking of setting up my own marketplace. Anything goes wrong I don't have to accept liability apparently. I just rake in the profit. Buy a hotel maybe, lease rooms to different companies and then tell the guests to complain to those companies when something goes wrong because I only provide the booking and material framework. Sorry to be facetious, I know it only inflames, but this "marketplace" concept sounds like a convenient excuse to circumvent trading regulations and consumer rights.

I'm not going to evidence something I never said. Anyvan is a marketplace - it says so in their terms. You can also ask the folk who turn up - are they employees or sub-contractors of Anyvan? No they are not. They are self-employed independent contractors. I never said regular consumer law doesn't apply. It applies. It just doesn't apply how you would LIKE it to apply in your madey-uppy world. 

The fact you don't understand something doesn't make it ridiculous or unreasonable or a 'convenient excuse'. 

But noted that you don't accept any responsibility for your actions. 

tightauldgit

Spectralis said:

eskbanker, the quote I posted came from the link I posted. It explains trading rules and regulations.
Perhaps the information is wrong but no one else has linked to any other authorative information yet.
I'm going ahead with AnyVan because if I don't I lose £179. It's cost me an extra £176 but that's only a little bit more than the other quote of £167.
Had I realised that AnyVan was a "marketplace" with it's own special and mysterious set of trading rules then I would have sought the other company out in the first place.

Lesson learned.

It's literally their tagline, in huge font on their homepage. Are you trolling us?

"The UK’s favourite delivery, removals and transport marketplace"

Spectralis

"But noted that you don't accept any responsibility for your actions."

I accept full responsibility for my actions. I just don't think the quote was reasonable. That's what I'm questioning.

"The UK’s favourite delivery, removals and transport marketplace"

But how does that affect trading rules and regulations? Lots of opinion but no evidence explaining how those rules and regulations apply to a so-called "marketplace". A company can describe itself in any way it likes but that doesn't change trading law. And if it does, where's the evidence?

The NHS sub-contracts. Companies bid for contracts. But if they don't deliver a service the NHS is ultimately responsible. I worked in the NHS. The number of times contractors underbid, couldn't deliver the service and it had to be taken back in-house. That privatisation process is described as a part of a health "marketplace". The word is meaningless unless it's set in the framework of law.