£4000 OLED TV develops serious fault after 18 months - £660 repair.

RefluentBeans

ArbitraryRandom said:

I wouldn't include the last paragraph about the independent engineer... if they come back to you asking for one then they do, but no need to volunteer. 

If you have a valid public email address then no need to pay for a letter - email is counted as a 'durable medium'. 

Agree with this. I would also be clear on what you are claiming against - your guarantee or the consumer rights act. CRA is likely more powerful but as goods are over 6 months, they can easily turn around and say an engineers report will be required to determine if the product is faulty by user error or over use or by inherent fault. They can insist you pay for that, but if successful you can claim the money back from them. 

Again - OP will need to be sure who the actual sales contract is with before proceeding. If there’s a phone number you can try calling them (either LG or Digital River) and quote your sales number and confirm who has the sales information.  

DullGreyGuy

born_again said:

OP. What was the site you bought from?
As Digital River is a payment processer. Just like PayPal. They are Not a retailer.

So if you are citing Consumer rights. You need to be looking at the company you bought from, not in this case DR who simply take the payment.

https://www.digitalriver.com/

No, they are listed as the retailer in the T&Cs and as per the screenshot, the invoice shows the seller as Digital River

realdannys

I've made some of the adaptations mentioned (removing the mention of an independent assessment) and put citations.

I've also told them that if the email doesn't reach someone in the UK office who can deal with it then it should be forwarded onto someone there - previously it was just reaching European online support I think.

I'll keep the thread updated.

realdannys

Digital River have replied as they did to my previous e-mail

Dear Customer,

Unfortunately, we do not provide customer service for LG. Please direct all contacts to:
Phone: +44 (0) 344-847-1402
URL: www.lg.com/uk/support

We apologize for the inconvenience. 

Sincerely, 
Joji A.
Customer Service 
Digital River, Inc.
onlinestore.en.cs@digitalriver.com

They basically refuse to acknowledge they're the seller. What do I do next?

Hoenir

Digital River, Inc is the US parent. The UK operation is overdue in filing it's last set of annual accounts. Were due by 30th September 2023. Only Director is a non resident American. I'd say that the UK operation that you dealt with has either folded or will shortly fold. Hence the zero response. 

realdannys

Hoenir said:

Digital River, Inc is the US parent. The UK operation is overdue in filing it's last set of annual accounts. Were due by 30th September 2023. Only Director is a non resident American. I'd say that the UK operation that you dealt with has either folded or will shortly fold. Hence the zero response. 

I think they can easily hide behind sub companies. They also use Digital River Ireland LTD, the same director by the way, he's the director for a number of companies.

it's not a zero response though, it's just them saying they don't deal with customer support - even though it's not customer support.

So if a business refuses to uphold bother it's terms of sale guarantee and consumer rights, how do you go further, small claims court?

realdannys

Anyone? Could do with a hand now.

sheramber

from T& C  there is a London address for withdrawing from a sale.

Perhaps , if you contact them, they could direct you to the correct people.

Exercising your Right to Withdrawal

If you wish to exercise your right to withdrawal, please notify us of your decision to withdraw by post or email.

Digital River UK Ltd
13th floor
One Angel Court
London
EC2R 7HJ
United Kingdom
cancellation_eu@digitalriver.com

RefluentBeans

realdannys said:

Hoenir said:

Digital River, Inc is the US parent. The UK operation is overdue in filing it's last set of annual accounts. Were due by 30th September 2023. Only Director is a non resident American. I'd say that the UK operation that you dealt with has either folded or will shortly fold. Hence the zero response. 

I think they can easily hide behind sub companies. They also use Digital River Ireland LTD, the same director by the way, he's the director for a number of companies.

it's not a zero response though, it's just them saying they don't deal with customer support - even though it's not customer support.

So if a business refuses to uphold bother it's terms of sale guarantee and consumer rights, how do you go further, small claims court?

Yes small claims court. The process is normally attempt to exercise your rights to the retailer, follow any reasonable steps they may have (e.g. asking for the item to inspect etc) then complain via customer services if that doesn’t work. If that fails, and there is genuinely no way to proceed forward, you can send what’s called a letter before action. This is a hostile act, and is often the point of not returning to ‘normal’ customer service. It is the ‘I’m going to sue you if you don’t start helping me’ letter. If they don’t respond/give an unsatisfactory answer you will likely need to follow through with the threat. They may cave in before court or they may think they’ve got a good case. It is impossible to tell. 

Again though, you will need to be sure that the sales contract is with this company. For example, if the sales contract is actually with LG, and Digital River just acts as the people to handle operations then your rights are with the former. It is a legal requirement to tell consumers who they’re making a contract with. From looking at LG’s current terms, Digital River just handles payment processing. They are not the company who has your sales contract. This would be akin to complaining to WorldPay (a payment handling service) because your Currys TV broke. 

Like I said before - call up both companies and ask directly who your sales contract it with. Suing the wrong company will only waste time for you (and money you won’t be able to recover in future claims). 

realdannys

RefluentBeans said:

 From looking at LG’s current terms, Digital River just handles payment processing. They are not the company who has your sales contract. This would be akin to complaining to WorldPay (a payment handling service) because your Currys TV broke. 

How are you coming to this conclusion? Nothing appears to suggest that. 'Terms of Sale' link directly to Digital River and list them as the reseller.

"Digital River, Inc. and its subsidiaries (collectively “Digital River”, “we”, and “us”) is a world-class online global reseller services provider. We provide essential compliance, fraud, tax and payment services to the supplier or manufacturer (“Supplier”) whose name appears on the website or commerce solution where these terms of sale (“Terms”) appear (“Site”). When we make products and service rights (“services”) available for sale through the Site, we do so in our name as an authorized reseller on behalf of our Supplier.

Your purchase will be handled by Digital River, Inc. or one of its subsidiaries, depending on your location. You can find more information about our subsidiaries here."

My invoice lists them and their VAT number at the top as posted earlier.

If you purchase from eBay you don't get an Adyen invoice with their name and invoice number on, it's totally behind the scenes.

If you purchase from Curries you don't get a World Pay invoice with World Pays name and VAT number on either.