Auction House Refused Refund

Fed50

Hello All

I have a small company in Scotland and we bought a vehicle from a auction company in England (not Ebay). Initially we bid on one vehicle them moved to another as the reserve was not met. The first vehicle had its reserved dropped last minute and I won the second.

We had a small set to as I argued I the last minute nature of the reserve drop did not give me time to cancel and anyway they decided to cancel the first transaction and I said I would honour the second vehicle which I did and paid in full I have all this in writing. After paying in full I discovered the seller had actually sold the vehicle I paid for. I requested a refund and they refused. They then tried to deduct the auction fees for the vehicle they had cancelled (£1200). I went back and forward for a week with them refusing to fully refund. I then threatened legal action and proceeded down that route I also consequently left a negative seller review on Google. They have now 'fined' me £3000 for leaving a bad review which is against their T&C's and refunded by only £2000 out of a £6000 transaction. I have raised a claim in the small courts in Scotland which has been accepted but they are now saying their jurisdiction clause says it can only be heard in England. 

They are also saying their arbitration clause states we have to arbitrate through an agreed solicitor before legal action. My long winded query is:

• Is the jurisdiction clause enforceable as in will this be thrown out the Scottish Court who have already accepted the claim to be heard 
• Is the Arbitration clause enforceable 

Many Thanks in advance

RFW

Fed50 said:

They are also saying their arbitration clause states we have to arbitrate through an agreed solicitor before legal action. My long winded query is:

• Is the jurisdiction clause enforceable as in will this be thrown out the Scottish Court who have already accepted the claim to be heard 
• Is the Arbitration clause enforceable 

Many Thanks in advance

You may get some advice on here but you really need professional legal advice on that.

I'd have started by contacting Trading Standards before going to court but you can still do that and it would likely help your case. Trading Standards may also be able to give you some advice as to what you can do from here or at least point you in the direction of someone who can.

https://www.tsscot.co.uk/

martindow

I can't answer your questions, but maybe this would be better posted on the small business board as consumer protection laws don't apply to B2B transactions. 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/small-biz-charities-moneysaving

Are you a member of the Federation of Small businesses or a similar organisation?  If so, it may be worth seeing if they can provide some advice on how best to proceed.

I'm sorry to hear of your predicament and I hope that you can resolve it. 

RFW

martindow said:

I can't answer your questions, but maybe this would be better posted on the small business board as consumer protection laws don't apply to B2B transactions. 

That's a good point, that I overlooked. It may limit what Trading Standards would do but they'd still be able to offer advice and would be interested in the details. There are a few fuzzy lines for what constitutes a consumer transaction too, in my experience (on both sides!) Trading Standards are quite good at finding them