A shop's right to refuse a refund on special ordered items.

DullGreyGuy

newmodel101 said:

Hi, we run a local carpet shop in the UK, we keep a few ranges in stock on rollers but the majority of our sales are ordered in cuts to the customers room sizes etc. Or LVT and Laminate products, which again are ordered in from our suppliers.

Question is, I see all over the customers rights but what rights do retailers have? Surely if we order a carpet from our supplier, cut to a size, then a customer can't expect a refund if they simply change their mind. I understand if there's a fault, or the product fails. 

We had an instance where a customer ordered 20 packs of LVT (Luxury Vinyl Tiles) similar to laminate, our fitters fitted half of the floor then they decided they didn't like it and wanted a refund, we refused, are within our rights to refuse? The item is never stocked in shop, we have never sold that particular colour before and would probably never sell it again, our supplier will not take returns so we would be stuck with it, it amounts a reasonable sum.

We have have put up a sign saying *** special order items are non refundable, ask staff for details ***  Is this allowed as I've read conflicting opinions?

We just want to know where we stand.

Any guidance or help would be greatly appreciated, thanks. 

How are your sales made? In store or via website/telephone?

In store is much simpler as there is no right of rejection simply for change of mind/not liking it. If it's selling remotely then the CCR kicks in where there is a statutory right to cancel an order. 

user1977

DullGreyGuy said:

newmodel101 said:

Hi, we run a local carpet shop in the UK, we keep a few ranges in stock on rollers but the majority of our sales are ordered in cuts to the customers room sizes etc. Or LVT and Laminate products, which again are ordered in from our suppliers.

Question is, I see all over the customers rights but what rights do retailers have? Surely if we order a carpet from our supplier, cut to a size, then a customer can't expect a refund if they simply change their mind. I understand if there's a fault, or the product fails. 

We had an instance where a customer ordered 20 packs of LVT (Luxury Vinyl Tiles) similar to laminate, our fitters fitted half of the floor then they decided they didn't like it and wanted a refund, we refused, are within our rights to refuse? The item is never stocked in shop, we have never sold that particular colour before and would probably never sell it again, our supplier will not take returns so we would be stuck with it, it amounts a reasonable sum.

We have have put up a sign saying *** special order items are non refundable, ask staff for details ***  Is this allowed as I've read conflicting opinions?

We just want to know where we stand.

Any guidance or help would be greatly appreciated, thanks. 

How are your sales made? In store or via website/telephone?

From their earlier reply:

newmodel101 said:

All sales are in store only, we don't do online sales, and everything was discussed prior in shop.

Money_Grabber13579

I presume nothing hinges on the fact that the store doesn’t hold any stock of the items which are ordered? For the customer, the outcome is then the same irrespective of whether they buy in store or online I.e. they don’t get to see it until it is delivered. I guess the shop possibly might have samples but can’t see that info in the OP.

Grumpy_chap

Money_Grabber13579 said:

I presume nothing hinges on the fact that the store doesn’t hold any stock of the items which are ordered? For the customer, the outcome is then the same irrespective of whether they buy in store or online I.e. they don’t get to see it until it is delivered. I guess the shop possibly might have samples but can’t see that info in the OP.

Except, here, the customer requested a specific type of LVT that the shop does not and never has ordered before:

newmodel101 said:

We had an instance where a customer ordered 20 packs of LVT (Luxury Vinyl Tiles) similar to laminate, our fitters fitted half of the floor then they decided they didn't like it and wanted a refund, we refused, are within our rights to refuse? The item is never stocked in shop, we have never sold that particular colour before and would probably never sell it again, our supplier will not take returns so we would be stuck with it, it amounts a reasonable sum.

It would be useful to understand the back-story.
One might well imagine that the customer had seen the exact tiles elsewhere and was shopping for the best price, availability to install, etc.

We actually did something similar in our en-suite.  The floor tiles got damaged so we needed a replacement. 
The original tile was discontinued so we were very specific on the type of alternative tile we needed to keep the replacement to just the floor and not require the whole bathroom re-doing.
We identified a tile that was available, but it was only in Spain, so we got one tile as a sample while on holiday.
We then needed to find a local supplier that would get the tiles for us as a special order.
I would never have dreamed of trying to reject the tiles from the local supplier given the effort they went to source exactly what we wanted.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Money_Grabber13579 said:

I presume nothing hinges on the fact that the store doesn’t hold any stock of the items which are ordered? For the customer, the outcome is then the same irrespective of whether they buy in store or online I.e. they don’t get to see it until it is delivered. I guess the shop possibly might have samples but can’t see that info in the OP.

The right to cancel is determined by the contract type. Off-premises and distance has the right to cancel, on premises doesn't so a contract concluded in store would be on premises with no right to cancel regardless of whether the customer has seen the goods