Faulty Cooker - Seller is refusing to cover disconnection & reconnection - Small Claims Court?

Okell

Catriona28 said:

Hi @Okell

So I've paid

£500 - to buy the (faulty) cooker
£150 - connect (faulty) cooker
£150 - disconnect (faulty) cooker

So if they take back the (faulty) cooker and refund me £650 I am £150 out of pocket

But I asked for the total you originally paid.

If I now understand you correctly you originally paid £500 (price of cooker) + £150 (connection of new cooker) = £650.

After you complained that the cooker was faulty and the trader said they could neither repair nor replace, they offered you a refund, but they also charged you £150 to disconnect the new faulty cooker.

Is that what happened?

If it is, they should not have charged you £150 to disconnect the new faulty cooker.  They should have borne the cost of disconnecting that because it was faulty and they could neither repair nor replace it, so it was their responsibility to remove the faulty goods.

If the above is an accurate representation of what happened then yes, you should get a refund of £650 for the original purchase, and if you paid an additional £150 to disconnect the new faulty cooker you can get that back too.  You should not have been charged for that in the first place.

If the above is not an accurate representation, the answer may well be different...

Okell

born_again said:

Catriona28 said:

Hi @Okell

So I've paid

£500 - to buy the (faulty) cooker
£150 - connect (faulty) cooker
£150 - disconnect (faulty) cooker

So if they take back the (faulty) cooker and refund me £650 I am £150 out of pocket

So are they not supplying the new cooker?

That is one steep charge to disconnect & reconnect a cooker... 
Would not expect to pay £150 for both.

AIUI the trader is saying they can neither repair nor replace so they have refunded.

What the OP means by disconnect/connect/reconnect and whether she is talking just about the new cooker or both it and the old one, and whether she has paid 2 x £150, are not clear to me.

Okell

Alderbank said:

Thanks, so you've cleared one thing up - no reconnection!
I think you confused us by using the word 'reconnection'.
The seller doesn't have what they consider to be a replacement for you so there was nothing to reconnect...

Has the OP cleared that up?

In the first post she clearly said:

Catriona28 said:

... They have also agreed to cover the cost of disconnection but not reconnection. It is my understanding that they have to cover reconnection even if they just refund and don't replace as otherwise I would be out of pocket for a faulty good I don't even have....

It's not immediately apparent to me what that means.  Isn't the OP asking whether, if she gets a refund (ie no repair or replacement) the original trader is responsible for paying (re)connection costs for a cooker she buys from another trader?  I don't know what else she means.  (I don't think she is entitled to thet because I agree with you that reconnection costs are only payable by the trader if they supply a replacement and not if they refund the consumer.  The OP has misunderstood the words of the legislation and the explanatory note).

Alderbank said:

... It's not clear to me exactly what you have paid for:...

I think the OP has made it very unclear, although I agree with you and @born_again that 2 x £150 to disconnect/connect/reconnect one(or two) cooker(s) seems excessive

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

OP is entitled to be in the position that would have had been in had the breach not occurred so whatever happened they'd have to pay for the old oven to be disconnect. 

Again either way they have to pay for 1 new oven to be connected. 

Presumably OP won't be living without an oven so will have to pay for a new one to be connected in the near future.

OP should take their offer of disconnection now (before they change their mind) and when OP has the next new oven fitted claim the cost of connection for that later.

Okell

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

OP is entitled to be in the position that would have had been in had the breach not occurred so whatever happened they'd have to pay for the old oven to be disconnect...

I first thought that when the OP was talking about a disconnection fee that they were referring to the old oven, but having read their latest post I think the disconnection fee is referring to the new faulty oven, not the old one.

I think this is one of those threads where the OP knows exactly what has happened but is having difficulty expressing it clearly to others.

Okell

I can't edit* my previous post in response to the_lunatic, but the OP has also confused matters further by questioning who should pay reconnection costs when they (might have?) meant who should pay disconnection costs of the new cooker.

It's very confused and not clear


*This site is apprently "experiencing problems"...

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Okell said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

OP is entitled to be in the position that would have had been in had the breach not occurred so whatever happened they'd have to pay for the old oven to be disconnect...

I first thought that when the OP was talking about a disconnection fee that they were referring to the old oven, but having read their latest post I think the disconnection fee is referring to the new faulty oven, not the old one.

I think this is one of those threads where the OP knows exactly what has happened but is having difficulty expressing it clearly to others.

If OP has paid 2 disconnection fees then they are entitled to 1 refunded.

If OP paid to have the "faulty" oven disconnected but not the "old" oven they are still entitled to that*, OP getting the "old" oven out for free doesn't mean they should fork out for disconnecting the "faulty" one.

*Obligation to mitigate obviously but 1) the seller has agreed to pay it 2) it's a relatively small amount (depending upon where OP lives the call out fee might eat most of that charge). 

It more just a question of the connection costs and if OP has to pay that twice they are due 1 of the charges back  

Catriona28

Hi all, 

sorry for muddying the waters here. 

I'm not asking anything about my old oven, that was disconnected before i purchased this oven. 
Please forget my original post, I was getting confused between the original connection of a faulty oven and a reconnection of a replacement. 

But now we have established I am not entitled to demand a replacement and should accept a refund the timeline of events is

Original Payment - £800 

Purchase of Faulty Cooker - £500
Connection of Faulty Cooker - £150 (call out fee + labour) 
Disconnection of Faulty Cooker - £150 (call out fee + labour) 

Once all of this has been paid, I am back to where i started, with no cooker. 

I will now need to purchase a new cooker, and get that connected.

So I believe I should be entitled to £800, otherwise I will be £150 out of pocket for no cooker.

born_again

Catriona28 said:

Hi all, 

sorry for muddying the waters here. 

I'm not asking anything about my old oven, that was disconnected before i purchased this oven. 
Please forget my original post, I was getting confused between the original connection of a faulty oven and a reconnection of a replacement. 

But now we have established I am not entitled to demand a replacement and should accept a refund the timeline of events is

Original Payment - £800 

Purchase of Faulty Cooker - £500
Connection of Faulty Cooker - £150 (call out fee + labour) 
Disconnection of Faulty Cooker - £150 (call out fee + labour) 

Once all of this has been paid, I am back to where i started, with no cooker. 

I will now need to purchase a new cooker, and get that connected.

So I believe I should be entitled to £800, otherwise I will be £150 out of pocket for no cooker.

Original payment cant have been £800 . As you are including disconnection for faulty cooker 🤷‍♀️

£500 for cooker & £150 for connection. Is only £650.

For disconnection. They should not be charging. Or are they refunding the £150 connection fee?

Have a look online at Ao or other retailers. You can get a new cooker fully installed for less.

screech_78

I agree that the OP shouldn’t be out of pocket for a faulty product, however £300 is well beyond reasonable. It’s an insane price. 

We charge £100 for an electrical install and this would include disconnection of your old appliance too. If purchased from us, we would install/disconnect it ourselves for you. If you were asking for £300 to cover your own costs, I would decline based on the fact it’s not reasonable and would ask you to get some other quotes if you wouldn’t let us do it.