Returning newly bought flooring boards, they want to charge me 250 pounds

pieroabcd

Hi,
a few days ago I spent 1500 pounds for a set of flooring boards.
Of course the sample that I had received before the purchase doesn't look even remotely like the boards that I received (that are much more rustic), so I decided to return them.
The seller said that they will still charge me 250 pounds because the producer charges them for the return.
I even proposed to send the pallet wherever they tell me for a much cheaper cost, but they said that they are offloading on me the seller's charges.

The web site only mentions they they will tell the customers the costs before the collection.

To me it looks totally unfair, especially completely lacking in transparency.
If I had known of these costs I would have never bought from them.

Is there anything that I can appeal to to shrink those charges?

Thanks

CSI_Yorkshire

If that's how much it costs them, that's how much they are allowed to charge you.

flashg67

Try here - if they're not as described/ different to the sample, it should be their cost but actually getting them to do this might not be easy...
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/somethings-gone-wrong-with-a-purchase/return-faulty-goods/#:~:text=You'll have legal rights,t match the seller's description

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Link to site please OP? I assume by what you've said you ordered online?

Do you have a photo of the sample vs the boards? 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

CSI_Yorkshire said:

If that's how much it costs them, that's how much they are allowed to charge you.

Goods must match sample, if not the goods wouldn't conform to the contract and the trader is responsible for the cost of return.

Equally for a distance contract, where goods can not be returned by normal post, the trader must advise of the costs of return in the event of (change of mind) cancellation as part of the required info. If the trader fails to supply this information they must bear the cost of return instead of the consumer. 

OP may have 2 avenues to avoid having to pay the return costs, depending upon the specifics of course    

Section62

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

CSI_Yorkshire said:

If that's how much it costs them, that's how much they are allowed to charge you.

Goods must match sample, if not the goods wouldn't conform to the contract and the trader is responsible for the cost of return.

It depends what the contract says about variability in appearance between batches and individual items within a batch.  With a 'natural' (/appearing) material there will be some degree of variability and the supplier would have been very unwise to promise delivery of "match"ing items - more so if the boards are real wood.

What does the contract actually say OP?

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Equally for a distance contract, where goods can not be returned by normal post, the trader must advise of the costs of return in the event of (change of mind) cancellation as part of the required info. If the trader fails to supply this information they must bear the cost of return instead of the consumer. 

OP may have 2 avenues to avoid having to pay the return costs, depending upon the specifics of course    

Was this a distance contract?

(Don't want the OP overlooking the 'specifics' point and thinking they have a slam dunk here)

pieroabcd

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Link to site please OP? I assume by what you've said you ordered online?

Do you have a photo of the sample vs the boards? 

I prefer not to make names, you never know.

pieroabcd

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

CSI_Yorkshire said:

If that's how much it costs them, that's how much they are allowed to charge you.

Goods must match sample, if not the goods wouldn't conform to the contract and the trader is responsible for the cost of return.

Equally for a distance contract, where goods can not be returned by normal post, the trader must advise of the costs of return in the event of (change of mind) cancellation as part of the required info. If the trader fails to supply this information they must bear the cost of return instead of the consumer. 

OP may have 2 avenues to avoid having to pay the return costs, depending upon the specifics of course    

Do they have to provide this information in advance or ex post? They gave me the cost, but only when I decided to return the order, when the eggs were already scrambled.

Af for mismatch between sample and boards: the sample looks a different thing, propbably they cut a portion without knots and stripes. On their web site they say that boards come with a grading  the largest part of which is rustic. My model though doesn't come with any grading on their ad.
There is no promise to deliver a model matching the sample and no grading whatsoever, even though maybe they could imply that since the majority of boards is rustic my boards fall into that category unless otherwise specified.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Section62 said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

CSI_Yorkshire said:

If that's how much it costs them, that's how much they are allowed to charge you.

Goods must match sample, if not the goods wouldn't conform to the contract and the trader is responsible for the cost of return.

It depends what the contract says about variability in appearance between batches and individual items within a batch.  With a 'natural' (/appearing) material there will be some degree of variability and the supplier would have been very unwise to promise delivery of "match"ing items - more so if the boards are real wood.

The regulations exclude any differences between the sample and the goods (that) are brought to the consumer’s attention before the contract is made. I don't think a blanket "may vary" would meet this requirement but instead requires something specific.

Obviously a sample is only a general representation, given flooring, even if something like laminate that is printed to a set pattern, can't be fully represented via a sample it doesn't have to be exact but if a sample is yellow and the goods are orange that obviously doesn't match.

Some of these tiling and flooring places send out a tiny 10x10cm sample which isn't really representative, some supply a full board or tile, again without specifics (ideally a photo) it's very hard to say. 

pieroabcd said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

CSI_Yorkshire said:

If that's how much it costs them, that's how much they are allowed to charge you.

Goods must match sample, if not the goods wouldn't conform to the contract and the trader is responsible for the cost of return.

Equally for a distance contract, where goods can not be returned by normal post, the trader must advise of the costs of return in the event of (change of mind) cancellation as part of the required info. If the trader fails to supply this information they must bear the cost of return instead of the consumer. 

OP may have 2 avenues to avoid having to pay the return costs, depending upon the specifics of course    

Do they have to provide this information in advance or ex post? 

I would imagine beforehand, otherwise the the requirement would be pointless This applies if you cancel your contract with 14 days* under The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 and you'd need to state that you are doing such.

The appropriate action is to cancel, return the goods and then seek to recover the cost of return. 

If you wanted to state the goods do not match the sample you'd need to inform the supplier you are rejecting the goods under the Consumer Rights Act (as they do not conform to the contract in terms of matching the sample).

Again the appropriate action is to reject them, return the goods and then seek to recover any amount they fail to refund/cover the cost of. 

With either avenue, after seeing what they actually refund, you would send a letter before and then look to small claims.

With regards to the goods matching the sample you'd want to be sure, objectively, that it actually is the case that they do not  

*You may have longer but I'm assuming a "a few days" is less than 14 anyway. 

pieroabcd

That's very helpful, thanks!

FreeBear

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said: The appropriate action is to cancel, return the goods and then seek to recover the cost of return. 
{...]
With either avenue, after seeing what they actually refund, you would send a letter before and then look to small claims.

If the goods were purchased with a credit card (and not via PayPal), if the supplier refuses to play ball, you can raise the matter with the CC company. If you had used PayPal, it is possible that they may issue a refund.

Once you have exhausted the credit card route, then you can go down the small claims route (and name the CC Co. as well).