Right to cancel furniture order

City_Girl_3

Hello

I bought 2 Sun loungers on sale online from Shop A for £500 each, however they contacted me the next day to say they only had 1 left. 

I found shop B had the same Sun lounger, but for £800, so I decided to take 1 from shop A and the other from shop B.  

Big mistake!

Sun lounger from shop A is due to be delivered on Friday, but Shop B has contacted me to say they only had one in stock but it’s heavily damaged so they cannot sell it to me.

Shop b will of course refund me. 

I’ve contacted shop A to cancel my order but they are saying I have no right to cancel, it will be delivered on Friday regardless. 

I’m pretty sure that under distance selling regulations I can cancel, however they might require me to pay shipping for the return? Are they allowed to charge me a restocking fee (which I’ve seen on other websites)? I’m trying to formulate my response so any guidance is much appreciated. 

Thanks

prettyandfluffy

Read their Ts & Cs regard8ng cancellation, a lot of online sellers say they cannot cancel or amend an order once it's placed.  You can return the sunbed for a refund after it's delivered to you.  I advise against refusing delivery as it could take a long time to be returned to the seller and you may not be able to track the item.

Aylesbury_Duck

As above, once it's delivered, contact them to say you are returning it unopened which your consumer rights allow you to do for an online purchase within 14 days of receipt.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

prettyandfluffy said:

Read their Ts & Cs regard8ng cancellation, a lot of online sellers say they cannot cancel or amend an order once it's placed.  You can return the sunbed for a refund after it's delivered to you.  I advise against refusing delivery as it could take a long time to be returned to the seller and you may not be able to track the item.

It would be important to establish when acceptance occurs, if upon dispatch then the customer would simply be withdrawing their offer and a contract would not be formed.

I understand some companies may say they can't cancel orders once they start the warehouse process but if that is the case they can't have the luxury of forming a contract upon dispatch.

The contract needs to be balanced with equal rights on either side.

Who was "shop A" OP? Have they emailed to say it's been dispatched?

Okell

City_Girl_3 said:

...Are they allowed to charge me a restocking fee (which I’ve seen on other websites)? 

No.  See  regulation 34(8) of The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (legislation.gov.uk)

City_Girl_3 said:

...I’m pretty sure that under distance selling regulations I can cancel, however they might require me to pay shipping for the return?...

Depends.  See (*) below.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

prettyandfluffy said:

Read their Ts & Cs regard8ng cancellation, a lot of online sellers say they cannot cancel or amend an order once it's placed.  You can return the sunbed for a refund after it's delivered to you.  I advise against refusing delivery as it could take a long time to be returned to the seller and you may not be able to track the item.

It would be important to establish when acceptance occurs, if upon dispatch then the customer would simply be withdrawing their offer and a contract would not be formed.

I understand some companies may say they can't cancel orders once they start the warehouse process but if that is the case they can't have the luxury of forming a contract upon dispatch...

Yes.  It's a pity that so many traders try to have their cake and eat it by trying to persuade consumers that they can't cancel a contract when - under their own T&Cs - a contract hasn't yet been formed.  If a contrcat is only formed on dispatch and the chair hasn't been dispatched yet, the OP simply needs to withdraw their offer before a contrcat is formed.  Online retailers can't have it both ways.

(*) You don't mention this, but if a contrcat has been formed and the consumer wants to exercise their statutory right to cancel, doesn't the retailer have to pay the return costs unless the trader has made it clear to the consumer that such return costs must be borne by the consumer?  (reg 35(5)(b) of the regs linked to above)  This retailer sounds like they don't know enough about the law to know that they need to do this...

[Edit:  @City_Girl_3 -  Did you pay by either credit card or debit card?  If you did, then if a contract has already been formed and you cancel it, you should have a s75 claim or chargeback claim if the seller either charges a restocking fee or makes you pay for the return when they aren't entitled to do so.  See (*) above.  I'm not sure if the same would apply if you were withdrawing your offer to buy...]

City_Girl_3

Thanks to @Okell @the_lunatic_is_in_my_head @Aylesbury_Duck @prettyandfluffy

I have just spoken with Shop A and they have agreed to cancel the order completely, without any charges/fees. 

Such a relief!

Okell

Well done!