Refund refused due to excessive wear

Pippa11

Hello, my son (17) bought a pair of climbing shoes for £124 online from a UK store. He tried them at home but they were too small so we sent them back (all within the 14 days). The company are refusing to refund him for the shoes - they have sent photos showing a small amount of writing on the sole of the shoes has rubbed off & claim this means they cannot be resold. They have said they will send them back to us but not refund. 

We have hard floors so I accept a small amount of rubbing of the sole may have occurred and asked if we could reach an agreement where they deduct a small amount from the refund for the damage caused. They refused. 

My son doesn’t have credit cards so paid using his debit card. It’s a huge amount of money for him that he had been saving up to spend on new climbing shoes and I’m not sure how we can proceed? Help! 

Pippa11

Photo they sent of the ‘damage’

eskbanker

Which company (many try to look like UK ones but are based elsewhere, beyond UK legal jurisdiction)?

If it's a UK company then they're obliged to accept a cancellation of an online contract within 14 days but are permitted to make a deduction for any loss of value.

Pippa11

They are called Rock + Run and are based in Cumbria. 

visidigi

Ask them to show you a photo of the product they shipped you to prove the 'damage' wasn't there originally (99.9% of people wouldn't be bothered about that wear mark on something that is clearly going to last about two minutes of actual rock climbing use).

Pippa11

Would they not just send me a photo of another pair though? Not sure how I could prove they were the same pair. I agree about the wear mark, it wouldn’t put my son off from buying them if they arrived like that. 

visidigi

Pippa11 said:

They are called Rock + Run and are based in Cumbria. 

Please take reasonable care of the goods, as we are entitled to deduct an amount from the refund due to your poor handling.

Examples of common issues that can be avoided: contact with dirt, chalk dust, animal hair or carpet fluff. Damaged product packaging, ripped bags, tape or return shipping labels directly attached to the product packaging (e.g. shoe boxes).

So they won't even comply with their own terms?

https://rockrun.com/policies/refund-policy

Pippa11

No and I pointed this out to them! A quote from their last email is: 
“ we will simply not be able to accept the climbing shoes as a return and will have to action them to be shipped back to you as we cannot re-sell the items. As per our terms and conditions we cannot accept items that have clear wear in any form as we do not sell used goods. This means the items will have to be returned to you to sell on privately if you so desire.”

eskbanker

The important thing is to clarify that you're exercising your statutory rights under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, rather than invoking their returns policy, i.e. it's not about their Ts & Cs but your legal rights (which can't be overridden).

Pippa11

My previous email to them (which elicited the above response) was “ I understand that consumer legislation affords you as the trader the opportunity of reducing the refund for any diminished value due to the consumer's "excessive" handling of the goods however I dispute that they were handled excessively and I do not agree that the entire £124 should be withheld by yourselves.”

Okell

Did your son clearly inform the seller that he was exercising his statutory right to cancel a distance contract under The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 or did he simply rely on the seller's own returns policy?

Basically, if he exercised his statutory right by telling them he was cancelling the contract, they can't deny his return.  All they can do is make a deduction from his refund for any dimunition in value of the goods.  Obviously the shoes are not unsellable and obviously their value has not been reduced to zero - so he must be due some refund.

However, if he did not clearly tell them that he was exercising his statutory right to cancel a distance contract and simply sent the goods back, it is open for the seller to point at the terms of their own returns policy - not the statutory cancellation scheme.

Depending on what the seller's T&Cs say, your son might be best advised to go back to the seller and explain (1) that he was exercising his statutory right to cancel a distance contract under The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013; (2) that under those regulations it is not open to a seller to refuse a cancellation and that (3) all they can do is make a deduction from his refund to reflect any dimunition in value, which (5) is clearly minimal in this case.