Restocking Fee Charged by Installer for Cancelled Air Conditioner Installation

rakesh9a

I'm seeking some advice regarding a situation I've encountered with an installer regarding the cancellation of air conditioner installation services.

I recently placed an order for the installation of air conditioners in my home and paid 50% deposit upfront. However, I have since discovered that I need approval from the building site before proceeding with the installation and the approval is declined. As a result, I have decided to cancel the services within the 14-day cooling-off period before they visited the property.

Upon informing the installer of my decision to cancel, they have informed me that they have already taken delivery of the equipment and materials required for the installation. They are now stating that they will be charging a restocking fee of £980, which they will deduct from the deposit I provided at the time of booking.

The installer claims that they need to recoup this fee from the deposit to cover the initial purchases made for the installation, and that they will return the deposit to me minus the restocking fee once they receive credit back from the supplier.

When I emailed them that restocking fee was not specified upfront as part of the cancellation terms and it seems to be a significant amount considering no services were carried out, they sent the below response:

"----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sorry I didn’t want to go down the terms and conditions route but you must understand that as a company we cant be expected to cover the costs of £980.00 due to a cancellation that was not down to us.

I would also like to point out that we are only looking to recover the costs for the return of the Daikin equipment, we are taking all of the installation materials that we also purchased into stock, so we don’t incur any return costs on these as well. 

Our terms and conditions were sent along with our initial quotation, which you then signed a purchase order and returned to us along with your deposit. 

I am reattaching the terms and conditions again for your reference.

Under section 9 of the T&C’s “customer obligations”, there are the following points:

9.1.6 procure, pay for, obtain and maintain all necessary licences, permissions and consents which may be required for the Services before the Start Date;

9.3. If any consents, licences, or other permissions are needed from any third parties such as landlords, planning authorities, local authorities or similar, you must obtain them before we commence Services.

9.2.3 the Customer shall reimburse the Company on written demand for any costs or losses sustained or incurred by the Company arising directly or indirectly from the Customer Default such as for example, costs of storing and insuring the Goods, costs of travel and subsistence for the Company.

I am sorry that it has come to this, its not ideal for us either as we would have loved to carry out the work for you. Should you obtain permission in the future we will endeavour to give you a favourable quotation in light of these circumstances.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"

I'm seeking advice on whether it is reasonable for the installer to charge such a high restocking fee in this situation, especially considering that the cancellation is due to circumstances beyond my control and within the cooling-off period.

Any insights or advice on my rights and options in this scenario would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your help.

DE_612183

well, you signed t&cs which you should not have had you read them.

But, it may be worthwhile asking then for a breakdown of what the restocking fee consists of - you could say you need the detail as you are either seeking legal advice or looking to your insurance company...

how much was the contract for?
how much deposit did you pay?

rakesh9a

The contract is for £9184 and I have paid £4592 as deposit

pinkshoes

rakesh9a said:

I'm seeking some advice regarding a situation I've encountered with an installer regarding the cancellation of air conditioner installation services.

I recently placed an order for the installation of air conditioners in my home and paid 50% deposit upfront. However, I have since discovered that I need approval from the building site before proceeding with the installation and the approval is declined. As a result, I have decided to cancel the services within the 14-day cooling-off period before they visited the property.

Upon informing the installer of my decision to cancel, they have informed me that they have already taken delivery of the equipment and materials required for the installation. They are now stating that they will be charging a restocking fee of £980, which they will deduct from the deposit I provided at the time of booking.

The installer claims that they need to recoup this fee from the deposit to cover the initial purchases made for the installation, and that they will return the deposit to me minus the restocking fee once they receive credit back from the supplier.

When I emailed them that restocking fee was not specified upfront as part of the cancellation terms and it seems to be a significant amount considering no services were carried out, they sent the below response:

"----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sorry I didn’t want to go down the terms and conditions route but you must understand that as a company we cant be expected to cover the costs of £980.00 due to a cancellation that was not down to us.

I would also like to point out that we are only looking to recover the costs for the return of the Daikin equipment, we are taking all of the installation materials that we also purchased into stock, so we don’t incur any return costs on these as well. 

Our terms and conditions were sent along with our initial quotation, which you then signed a purchase order and returned to us along with your deposit. 

I am reattaching the terms and conditions again for your reference.

Under section 9 of the T&C’s “customer obligations”, there are the following points:

9.1.6 procure, pay for, obtain and maintain all necessary licences, permissions and consents which may be required for the Services before the Start Date;

9.3. If any consents, licences, or other permissions are needed from any third parties such as landlords, planning authorities, local authorities or similar, you must obtain them before we commence Services.

9.2.3 the Customer shall reimburse the Company on written demand for any costs or losses sustained or incurred by the Company arising directly or indirectly from the Customer Default such as for example, costs of storing and insuring the Goods, costs of travel and subsistence for the Company.

I am sorry that it has come to this, its not ideal for us either as we would have loved to carry out the work for you. Should you obtain permission in the future we will endeavour to give you a favourable quotation in light of these circumstances.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"

I'm seeking advice on whether it is reasonable for the installer to charge such a high restocking fee in this situation, especially considering that the cancellation is due to circumstances beyond my control and within the cooling-off period.

Any insights or advice on my rights and options in this scenario would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Their T&Cs seem very straight forward, which it would appear that they delivered to you in a durable means (via email) and that you have signed something agreeing to these T&Cs, and then paid a deposit.

By signing and agreeing to the T&Cs the company then went ahead and ordered the unit, so as per their T&Cs they are now charging you the cost of returning them and no doubt a restocking fee (as theirs will be a business to business transaction so no consumer rights to them).

Did they not mention that it was likely you'd need permission from a builder for this? Personally it would not have crossed my mind that you'd need permission from a builder to put aircon in a home!

Why is the builder declining it? Could you have it installed anyway and would the builder find out?

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

How did you form this contract OP, over the phone, by email/website or at your home?

Jumblebumble

pinkshoes said:

rakesh9a said:

I'm seeking some advice regarding a situation I've encountered with an installer regarding the cancellation of air conditioner installation services.

I recently placed an order for the installation of air conditioners in my home and paid 50% deposit upfront. However, I have since discovered that I need approval from the building site before proceeding with the installation and the approval is declined. As a result, I have decided to cancel the services within the 14-day cooling-off period before they visited the property.

Upon informing the installer of my decision to cancel, they have informed me that they have already taken delivery of the equipment and materials required for the installation. They are now stating that they will be charging a restocking fee of £980, which they will deduct from the deposit I provided at the time of booking.

The installer claims that they need to recoup this fee from the deposit to cover the initial purchases made for the installation, and that they will return the deposit to me minus the restocking fee once they receive credit back from the supplier.

When I emailed them that restocking fee was not specified upfront as part of the cancellation terms and it seems to be a significant amount considering no services were carried out, they sent the below response:

"----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sorry I didn’t want to go down the terms and conditions route but you must understand that as a company we cant be expected to cover the costs of £980.00 due to a cancellation that was not down to us.

I would also like to point out that we are only looking to recover the costs for the return of the Daikin equipment, we are taking all of the installation materials that we also purchased into stock, so we don’t incur any return costs on these as well. 

Our terms and conditions were sent along with our initial quotation, which you then signed a purchase order and returned to us along with your deposit. 

I am reattaching the terms and conditions again for your reference.

Under section 9 of the T&C’s “customer obligations”, there are the following points:

9.1.6 procure, pay for, obtain and maintain all necessary licences, permissions and consents which may be required for the Services before the Start Date;

9.3. If any consents, licences, or other permissions are needed from any third parties such as landlords, planning authorities, local authorities or similar, you must obtain them before we commence Services.

9.2.3 the Customer shall reimburse the Company on written demand for any costs or losses sustained or incurred by the Company arising directly or indirectly from the Customer Default such as for example, costs of storing and insuring the Goods, costs of travel and subsistence for the Company.

I am sorry that it has come to this, its not ideal for us either as we would have loved to carry out the work for you. Should you obtain permission in the future we will endeavour to give you a favourable quotation in light of these circumstances.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"

I'm seeking advice on whether it is reasonable for the installer to charge such a high restocking fee in this situation, especially considering that the cancellation is due to circumstances beyond my control and within the cooling-off period.

Any insights or advice on my rights and options in this scenario would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Their T&Cs seem very straight forward, which it would appear that they delivered to you in a durable means (via email) and that you have signed something agreeing to these T&Cs, and then paid a deposit.

By signing and agreeing to the T&Cs the company then went ahead and ordered the unit, so as per their T&Cs they are now charging you the cost of returning them and no doubt a restocking fee (as theirs will be a business to business transaction so no consumer rights to them).

Did they not mention that it was likely you'd need permission from a builder for this? Personally it would not have crossed my mind that you'd need permission from a builder to put aircon in a home!

Why is the builder declining it? Could you have it installed anyway and would the builder find out?

I am interpreting this  to mean that the OP is in a leased flat  or similar and the freeholder is denying permission
not that any builder has any input

Ectophile

What does it say in the T&Cs about cancellation, and does that contract actually comply with the law?

There seem to be many posters here who think that a contract can override a consumer's legal rights under the Consumer Contracts Regulations https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/3134/contents/made

Hoenir

Ectophile said:

What does it say in the T&Cs about cancellation, and does that contract actually comply with the law?

The vast majority of businessess have their contractual terms drawn up by corporate solicitors to ensure that they do comply with the law. If they weren't watertight would be open to all forms of abuse. 

kimwp

When was the installation supposed to happen? (Number of days after signing contract) And when did you cancel?

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Hoenir said:

Ectophile said:

What does it say in the T&Cs about cancellation, and does that contract actually comply with the law?

The vast majority of businessess have their contractual terms drawn up by corporate solicitors to ensure that they do comply with the law. If they weren't watertight would be open to all forms of abuse. 

There are plenty of large, well known companies who you'd expect to have in house legal that manage to get things wrong, I'd imagine with these types of trades there is some kind of industry body to be a member off that comes with things like insurance options and business advice but it doesn't automatically guarantee terms are written correctly.

Even when terms may be correct, there was 2 threads yesterday where traders had terms but weren't abiding by them. We've only seen a snap shot of these terms so it's hard to judge, I think the most obvious point to clarify is what type of contract OP has.

If that's distance or off-premises the right to cancel applies and they are due a full refund, if on-premises then OP can still breach their contract but would be liable for costs, if it is on-premises the company does appear to be acting very reasonably in that regard by not inflating the figure and only passing on the costs it appears they can't reasonably avoid. 

ThumbRemote

Hoenir said:

Ectophile said:

What does it say in the T&Cs about cancellation, and does that contract actually comply with the law?

The vast majority of businessess have their contractual terms drawn up by corporate solicitors to ensure that they do comply with the law. If they weren't watertight would be open to all forms of abuse. 

Unless you can provide a source for this claim I'll assume you've made it up. 

I would expect the exact opposite. The vast majority of businesses are small concerns who won't have paid a solicitor, they'll just have copied someone else's terms. Only medium and larger sized companies would have terms drawn up by professionals - and while they may account for more sales volume, there are certainly fewer companies of this size.