Advice re faulty wedding hire

mrskml

Hi,

Posting on behalf of my sister in law in the hope that someone can advise us of our rights.

So she paid over £1000 (mostly via credit card) to hire a marquee, flooring, tables etc from a company.  They arrived to set up a couple of days before the wedding and the marquee was absolutely filthy/mouldy.  They had also forgot a table and a chandelier from the order.  After struggling for a day to get in touch with the company they eventually delivered the missing table the next day - in a different size to what was ordered and different to all the other tables.  The chandelier never arrived. 

Messages regarding the mouldy marquee were ignored and she had no choice but to make do with what had been delivered (we all washed and ironed it as best we could and hid stains with drapes.  We took plenty of photos and have screenshots of the endless calls and messages when we were trying to get in touch with the company.  The story goes on and on but I’m just trying to give you a snapshot of the saga…..

The wedding was a couple of weeks ago and she has complained to the company who didn’t reply for ages.  Eventually she threatened that she was going to speak to her credit card company to see if she could claim some kind of chargeback.  They have then eventually responded and told her that they will refund the chandelier that wasn’t sent - but that otherwise, because she accepted delivery of the goods she has no rights in terms of chargeback or section 75 with regards to the other faulty items.  Were just wondering if this is the case??

The company have also told her that if she tries to claw any money back through her credit card then they will fill in some paperwork to prove she took delivery of the goods for hire (she had no choice - the wedding was in 2 days), then they will say that her invoice is overdue and take her to a small claims court where she will end up paying even more money.  Again - is this actually the case and can they do this?

Any help would be greatly appreciated

pramsay13

What are you looking for?
It's tricky as you did get a marquee and tables and used them, you would have a stronger case if you rejected them. 
Do you have wedding insurance?

mrskml

No, we don’t have wedding insurance.  We ideally wanted the company to acknowledge how awful the marquee was (and also their general service) and offer a partial refund.  It was too late for us to reject the order because the wedding was in 2 days time - but it was really awful and not what was described at all.  We had to make it fit for purpose oursleves

eskbanker

mrskml said:

Eventually she threatened that she was going to speak to her credit card company to see if she could claim some kind of chargeback.  They have then eventually responded and told her that they will refund the chandelier that wasn’t sent - but that otherwise, because she accepted delivery of the goods she has no rights in terms of chargeback or section 75 with regards to the other faulty items.  Were just wondering if this is the case??

The company have also told her that if she tries to claw any money back through her credit card then they will fill in some paperwork to prove she took delivery of the goods for hire (she had no choice - the wedding was in 2 days), then they will say that her invoice is overdue and take her to a small claims court where she will end up paying even more money.  Again - is this actually the case and can they do this?

Chargeback and section 75 are two completely different processes - card companies will prefer the former as the costs are provisionally recovered from the merchant but can then be challenged by them, and even if the money is returned to the customer, the merchant can indeed pursue what they would still see as a debt.

In the circumstances, it sounds like a s75 claim would be preferable, as this holds the card company liable for the merchant's breach of contract, i.e. a successful claim draws a line under it all and the merchant has no comeback.  However, it does entail having to convince the card company of a breach of contract and quantifying that - how much does she believe would be a realistic settlement figure, and on what basis?

mrskml

 She said she’d accept a partial refund.  20% of the cost of the marquee and linings that were filthy and a refund for the table and chandelier.  Doesn’t really cover the inconvenience and stress of it all 2 days before a wedding but at least it’s something.  I really don’t think she had a set figure in mind, it’s more a case of getting the company to accept fault.  They really don’t seem to care or respond other than to tell her she doesn’t have a chance in claiming anything back.

Is the company correct that if she makes a section 75 claim then are they correct in saying that they can fill in paperwork and take her to a small claims court to get the money back again? This is her worry.  

PHK

If she goes through the chargeback route (which is likely to fail in my opinion) then yes, they can claim the money from her. A court would then decide how much she would need to pay. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

mrskml said:

 She said she’d accept a partial refund.  20% of the cost of the marquee and linings that were filthy and a refund for the table and chandelier.  Doesn’t really cover the inconvenience and stress of it all 2 days before a wedding but at least it’s something.  I really don’t think she had a set figure in mind, it’s more a case of getting the company to accept fault.  They really don’t seem to care or respond other than to tell her she doesn’t have a chance in claiming anything back.

Is the company correct that if she makes a section 75 claim then are they correct in saying that they can fill in paperwork and take her to a small claims court to get the money back again? This is her worry.  

Refund of the chandelier, 20% of the cost of the marquee and maybe 20% of the wrong table seems fair to me OP, where the service doesn't conform to the contract and a repeat performance isn't an option then the entitled remedy is a price reduction.

If the bank did a chargeback as above the supplier could go to small claims but odds are slim, companies hiring out marquee should have better things to do with their time than going through small claims for £150-£200.

If the bank did a chargeback and it failed then you could do a S75 claim through the banks process.

The other option is to simply send the bank a letter before action, supplying all the evidence, request an amount and give them 28 days to pay then file through small claims.

DullGreyGuy

mrskml said:

 She said she’d accept a partial refund.  20% of the cost of the marquee and linings that were filthy and a refund for the table and chandelier.  Doesn’t really cover the inconvenience and stress of it all 2 days before a wedding but at least it’s something.  I really don’t think she had a set figure in mind, it’s more a case of getting the company to accept fault.  They really don’t seem to care or respond other than to tell her she doesn’t have a chance in claiming anything back.

Is the company correct that if she makes a section 75 claim then are they correct in saying that they can fill in paperwork and take her to a small claims court to get the money back again? This is her worry.  

Inconvenience and stress aren't something thats going to be covered unless it got to the point of you being sent to see a psychiatrist if you're expecting anything more than a token £20. 

A chargeback is your bank clawing money back from their bank which in turns takes the money from them. The supplier gets to challenge the clawback and if it's decided against them they are perfectly entitled to sue you and treat it as an unpaid invoice. If it goes as far as court they are entitled to add the court fees and statutory interest to the claim. Most companies dont sue, its not cost effective for them and particularly large companies which obviously use lawyers, small companies are more driven by their owners personality and may decide the principle is more important plus they'll do it in their spare time rather than paying lawyers. 

S75 is you claiming directly from your bank, it doesn't involve the supplier, they aren't typically asked for their version of events and the money comes from your banks pocket so nothing for the supplier to sue you about. 

With most banks you can only raise "a dispute" and the bank will choose which path to take, for a variety of reasons they typically try a chargeback first, if that fails you can then ask them to consider it under S75. 

born_again

mrskml said:

Is the company correct that if she makes a section 75 claim then are they correct in saying that they can fill in paperwork and take her to a small claims court to get the money back again? This is her worry.  

No, that would be a chargeback. Where the money is claimed back from the company. Who should reject it, but many don't & then take the legal route.
Given the proof you have, it could be that the court would reject their claim.

Unless there is a breakdown of costs for table & chandelier then a chargeback would be out of the question, as is the state of the marquee. Quality is not covered in chargebacks as it is subjective. 

So this would be a S75 claim which would be very unlikely that the company would even know about it. Given the costs involved for the CC to chase them.