Section 75

Millingtonp

I have a claim with my credit card, under a section 75 the items purchased = £12k .. the company is no longer trading , I have had to supply a structural report and now 3 quotes I I submitted the claim in march this  year .. am I entitled to all my money refunded to me or does  the credit card company choose one of the quotes and pay direct to that company? And then who is liable if something  goes wrong ? 

eskbanker

If the card company settles your claim, they'd pay you the money and you'd then engage with one of the quote providers, which would then effectively be starting again as a new job, which would benefit from s75 protection again if fulfilling the qualifying conditions.

DullGreyGuy

Millingtonp said:
am I entitled to all my money refunded to me or does  the credit card company choose one of the quotes and pay direct to that company? And then who is liable if something  goes wrong ? 

The bank will certainly settle by payment to you (or maybe your credit card if you have outstanding balances). Life gets very messy for them if they instruct the repairer directly and then there are problems or overruns etc.

In theory, if your repairer accepts credit cards, you can create an almost identical situation anyway by paying them with the credit card again but it's still more remote and in theory you may decide to pay with a different CC or another payment method. 

Millingtonp

The credit card company have now said they have all the details they need .. even tho I have responded with every request they have made since raising the claim in march 2023 .. they have now told me that as it’s gone over the time frame to settle claims it’s been passed to a section 35 for review but they are unable to tell me when I can expect a response .. I have paid for an independent survey for the state if the windows that are covered in mould , I have a respiratory health condition so mould is not helping , obviously! And I gave recently had 2 weeks off sick from work due to chest infection .. .. also as prices increase the longer the result is I will be more likely to have to payout more than my original costs I have never heard if the section 35 any advice would be welcome ,

born_again

Millingtonp said:

The credit card company have now said they have all the details they need .. even tho I have responded with every request they have made since raising the claim in march 2023 .. they have now told me that as it’s gone over the time frame to settle claims it’s been passed to a section 35 for review but they are unable to tell me when I can expect a response .. I have paid for an independent survey for the state if the windows that are covered in mould , I have a respiratory health condition so mould is not helping , obviously! And I gave recently had 2 weeks off sick from work due to chest infection .. .. also as prices increase the longer the result is I will be more likely to have to payout more than my original costs I have never heard if the section 35 any advice would be welcome ,

How long ago was the purchase?

While I understand that mould is not good for you. You really need to be cleaning it off as soon as it starts to show. CC has no responsibility for this & will not speed up any claim.

S35 is a new one on me.... Our training has never mentioned it in all the years i have been in this area.

eskbanker

Millingtonp said:

The credit card company have now said they have all the details they need .. even tho I have responded with every request they have made since raising the claim in march 2023 .. they have now told me that as it’s gone over the time frame to settle claims it’s been passed to a section 35 for review but they are unable to tell me when I can expect a response .. I have paid for an independent survey for the state if the windows that are covered in mould , I have a respiratory health condition so mould is not helping , obviously! And I gave recently had 2 weeks off sick from work due to chest infection .. .. also as prices increase the longer the result is I will be more likely to have to payout more than my original costs I have never heard if the section 35 any advice would be welcome ,

Section 35 is a new one on me too - s35 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (i.e. the same legislation that s75 relates to) is basically blank, so it presumably means s35 of a different Act, but not an obvious one to me!  Did they put this in writing, and if so, are you able to share an image, redacted of any personal details?

I don't know what's meant by "it’s gone over the time frame to settle claims" either, unless perhaps they processed it initially as a chargeback instead of a s75 claim, as many card companies do - chargeback is time-limited but s75 isn't, other than by the 5/6 year contractual limitations.  When were the windows installed, and was there any sort of warranty?

DullGreyGuy

Millingtonp said:

The credit card company have now said they have all the details they need .. even tho I have responded with every request they have made since raising the claim in march 2023 .. they have now told me that as it’s gone over the time frame to settle claims it’s been passed to a section 35 for review but they are unable to tell me when I can expect a response .. I have paid for an independent survey for the state if the windows that are covered in mould , I have a respiratory health condition so mould is not helping , obviously! And I gave recently had 2 weeks off sick from work due to chest infection .. .. also as prices increase the longer the result is I will be more likely to have to payout more than my original costs I have never heard if the section 35 any advice would be welcome ,

There is no time limit on S75 per sey and so my guess is that they were considering looking at this as a Chargeback initially which does have a time limit. 

With most banks you raise a "dispute" and don't get the chance to specify if it's dealt with as a chargeback or S75. Most will do a chargeback first and if that fails/is time barred then switch to S75 as that has no direct time limit but indirectly is 6 years from the breach of contract. 

I think either they have miss-spoke or you misheard and they've said they are now going to consider it under S75. 

Millingtonp

I have now had an update .. it apparently had to go through approval stage due to the time limit! 

They have now offered my the cost of the replacements at the lowest quoted cost , which is approx £1400 less than the full total I initially paid , I had to get 3 quotes and I chose well known reputable companies .. these ranged from £17k £15k and £11k , my original pay out was £12400 

I have  to agree to this , have the replacement completed  and pay, so I have to use my savings to pay,  then upon completion of the works they will refund me the money … I’m happy to replace the windows and doors they need to be replaced and I’m happiest with the company that gave the lower quote (no sales waffles and no “discount now” offers , the price is the price ) and they have been trading for over 50 years with excellent feedback. but I now have more questions , 

 my savings are in the same building society as my credit card  …my savings are in an isa will I loose the interest? There is currently an 8 week lead time so I’m roughly loosing 2-3 months interest

I’m going to use my credit card to pay the deposit initially , and then pay the remainder on installation, this is the same credit card as before , Also I want the building society to see the transactions I’m making I’m assuming this still gives me the same rights if a  new section 75 , just in case ? and why are they not refunding the full amount under the section 75 ? … and in theory I didn’t have a choice of which company I wanted to conduct the work , ie if I had preferred the middle company at £15k .. should I get back the full £12400 and I could top up to have my choice but giving the time it’s taken from my submission of section 75 in March 2023 , the windows were installed June 2021 the company , I complained 6m after installation, ceased trading December 2022 .. I’d appreciate some more advice 

eskbanker

Seems harsh to expect you to pay from savings and reclaim - would they perhaps be amenable to temporarily increasing your credit limit on the credit card (if necessary) in order to put the whole cost on it, with s75 reimbursement to be made in time to settle the card bill without touching your savings?

I don't think it's unreasonable for them to fund the cheapest of the three quotes rather than refunding exactly what you'd originally paid - the principle is to get you into the position you'd have been in had the contract been fulfilled properly first time round.