Restocking Fee Charged by Installer for Cancelled Air Conditioner Installation

rakesh9a

Jumblebumble said:

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

Its not a flat. Its a new build home and there are still homes being built in the development. As per the builder, there shouldnt be no changes to the exterior of the property for the first 2 years of the sale.

rakesh9a

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

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

They sent the contract by email and I have signed it and sent it via email

rakesh9a

kimwp said:

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

Signed the contract on 3rd of April and the installation was due to happen on 15th of April. Informed them of the cancellation on 12th of April

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

rakesh9a said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

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

They sent the contract by email and I have signed it and sent it via email

Sorry OP but did they come to your home first (to look at the job) and then send the contract later? 

Hoenir

ThumbRemote said:

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. 

You seriously think that contracts aren't drawn up in accordance with English Law. Must be a wind up surely.  

Hoenir

ThumbRemote said:

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. 

There's many sizable private companies in the UK. You might be happy taking a chance with your T&C's. Over the years those I've dealt with don't. The downside risk being sizable. No shortage of opportunists who'll attempt to wriggle out of a liability. 

ThumbRemote

Hoenir said:

ThumbRemote said:

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. 

You seriously think that contracts aren't drawn up in accordance with English Law. Must be a wind up surely.  

You didn't say anything about that. You said "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. "

It would be quite easy for you to provide a source, but instead you've started talking about English Law rather than corporate solicitors. 

Once again, unless you can provide a source for this claim I'll assume you've made it up. 

PHK

ThumbRemote said:

Hoenir said:

ThumbRemote said:

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. 

You seriously think that contracts aren't drawn up in accordance with English Law. Must be a wind up surely.  

You didn't say anything about that. You said "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. "

It would be quite easy for you to provide a source, but instead you've started talking about English Law rather than corporate solicitors. 

Once again, unless you can provide a source for this claim I'll assume you've made it up. 

I think it's ridiculous to think that any company starting up doesn't involve the use of legal professionals. At the very least if a bank or insurer is involved then compliance checks will soon root out anyone that just copies their terms and conditions from someone else. 

In many areas of business, trade associations help with this aspect either directly employing lawyers or having contracts with lawyers at a discount for members. 

The only places I've seen who have clearly copied terms and conditions are poorly made dodgy websites clearly out to scam. 

Bradden

PHK said:

I think it's ridiculous to think that any company starting up doesn't involve the use of legal professionals. At the very least if a bank or insurer is involved then compliance checks will soon root out anyone that just copies their terms and conditions from someone else. 

I can't agree with this... I know plenty of tradesmen who have no idea of the legalities of consumer law. For most it's not an issue until something goes wrong.

The are numerous companies selling online who do not supply T&C's in a durable format.. which is a basic part of compliance.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

You don't have to go far in the forum to find an example of terms that don't comply:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6518730/14-days-cooling-off-electric-rewire/p1

The idea that every single contract ever written fully complies is fantasy, sure most the time they will but there will be times when they don't and in a forum where people come for help when something has gone wrong we're more likely to see the instances where the terms aren't correct.

The whole "you agreed to the terms" response doesn't offer anything of worth without first checking whether the terms are correct.