We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.
This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.
Builder Depot refusing return under Consumer Contracts Regulations — advice needed
Comments
-
Thank you. Obviously I want this over and done with, and I've explored trying to be there to help with the move, but I just can't make it work at the moment, with other responsibilities. Appreciate you actually accepting the facts and providing advice on that basis. The ceo email advice is really sound, let me see what I can find. Thank you
1 -
Unfortunately the waters have been muddied somewhat by your card provider processing a chargeback - rather than a s75 claim [1].
That's because a chargeback doesn't apply in the case of cancellation of a distance contract/change of mind. - or at least that's my understanding of how chargeback works
Because it's a chargeback (which is simply a two party agreement between the two card providers Visa and Mastercard and which has no legal effect outside those two parties) there is an outside possibility that BD might decide to sue you if you don't cooperate in the return of the fridge, because after the chargeback BD own it again.
Your defence would be that you cancelled the contract according to the regs - but you might have a problem in arguing that successfully because you didn't also return the fridge within 14 days of notifying them you were cancelling. Of course you could say you didn't return it because BD had refused to accept your cancellation and/or because they hadn't complied with para 35(5)(b) of the regs - the bit about having to inform consumers of the cost of returning items that cannot, by their nature, normally be returned by post.
As I say I think it's only a (very?) outside possibility that BD would sue you and I think you'd probably have a good defence because I think BD were in the wrong by not accepting your cancellation of the contract from the outset. BD seem to have put themselves in this position, but just be aware that BD may not see a chargeback as being the end of this. (Although they seem pretty incompetent from the way they've handled this all along, so they may not realise they possibly have another card to play)
Personally I think your best course of action is to continue talking to BD and try to convince them that they were legally in the wrong by not accepting your cancellation in the first place, so it's now their responsibility to sort out collection of the fridge. And that means that they have to arrange sufficient manpower to do the job properly. [2].
(FWIW I think that is clearly BD's responsibility to arrange collection and neither you nor your parents need to do any more than make it available for BD to collect it. No manhandling required from you or your parents)
IF BD won't see sense then you're going to have to sell it. Just make sure you comply with the legislation which I think is the Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977 - in particular make sure you use "the best method of sale reasonably avaialable in the circumstances" - ie you need to get a fair and reasonable price.
[1] You may have asked your card provider to do a s75 claim but they nearly always default to a chargeback because it costs them less. With a chargeback BD pay (and that's why BD might just decide to sue you - although I think that's unlikely) whereas with a s75 your card provider pays.
[2] Just to be clear, I'm not a lawyer, I'm not giving legal advice, and I'm not 100% sure that that is the legal position because this has become very messy, but it's certainly the argument I'd be trying to blag with BD
2 -
Personally I think your best course of action is to continue talking to BD and try to convince them that they were legally in the wrong by not accepting your cancellation in the first place, so it's now their responsibility to sort out collection of the fridge.
At no point has the OP said how the item was purchased.
Last year I bought a fridge freezer for my elderly parents.
No mention of online/in person & how delivery was made etc?
Do agree, Op does need to talk to retailer. Or retailer could go to court on them being obstructive on return.
Life in the slow lane2 -
"… There is also the factor, as @Undervalued mentioned, that you need to be seen to be reasonable and not intransigent."
There is always that, but going back to the original thread (and this one) it's BD who seem to have been the more intransigent of the two parties They - wrongly in my opinion - refused to accept the OP's cancellation of the contract, and/or argued that the fridge's value should be reduced to zero because the original packaging had been binned. That's all unreasonable and wrong in my opinion.
BD also - according to the OP - refused to engage with the OP's bank whan the transaction was disputed.
I think I have a poorer opinion of BD's conduct than I do of the OP's.
2 -
Can't cut out the bits I'm not replying to….
But, I believe a chargeback can be processed for change of mind if the retailer doesn't abide by their policy, see 13.7:
This appears to be a US policy @born_again might clarify if it differs for the UK.
That does say a return is required but it's been discussed here before that the chargeback can go ahead without goods being returned for certain reasons.
In the game of chess you can never let your adversary see your pieces1 -
I think the OP confirmed in the original thread that they had cancelled the contract as a distance sale, so I think everybody has assumed it's a distance contract
0 -
Thanks for that. I didn't realise the forum had been "updated" again.
0 -
OP said in OP Last year I bought a fridge freezer for my elderly parents. The retailer refused to honour the 14-day return,
Seems it has been assumed that it was a online purchase by the mention of 14 days?
Life in the slow lane0 -
To be honest, they can sue if they want, I'm not fussed. I want the fridge gone, I'm not trying to be obtuse. It's just not possible to help with moving it right now. As you say, they refused the initial return, and in fact they themself told me to take it up with the credit card company. Then they failed to respond to the credit card company. Then they initially didn't respond to me, and now they want me/my parents to help move it, which we can't do. Ideally they wouldn't sue, but I am confident in my position, so let them go for it. There's a few people who keep telling me to be more cooperative, but the fact is, that also applies to them - a builder's merchant finding an extra person to help move a fridge (which to be clear they also carried in unaided on delivery), is surely something they should be experienced in.
1 -
Going back to the subject of the legal obligations of the supplier regarding collection on contract cancellation, does anyone have any views about the compliance of the supplier's terms, and in particular the annex at the end of these, which seem to this layman to be taken from the model wording in the CCRs?
0
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 353.6K Banking & Borrowing
- 254.2K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 455.1K Spending & Discounts
- 246.6K Work, Benefits & Business
- 603K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 178.1K Life & Family
- 260.7K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.7K Read-Only Boards