Help needed writing letter requesting a refund

bigsismiff

Hi all you wonderful Money Savers out there. I need your wise words.

OH ordered a piece of equipment from a firm in December last year. The item was to be custom made, but he was advised that delivery would be before Christmas. Payment was made by cheque which was cashed soon afterwards.

Christmas came and went without the item turning up. When he spoke to the company he was advised that delivery was delayed and he would receive goods by the end of jan. As of today no goods have arrived. He spoke to the company today and tried to verbally cancel the order, and asked for money back, to which he was told that he could either have the goods when they arrive (they have not even been made yet) or his money back when the retailer sells them on to someone else. I believe he is entitled to a refund under the Comsumer Protection (distance Selling) regulations 2000, but how do i word a letter?

Does anyone have a copy-able version? I am no good with things like this but feel he is being strung along like a good 'un.

Many thanks in advance.

DocProc

First off, may I be allowed to comment that you don't really say whether you are talking about £50, £500, or maybe even £5,000 or £15,000, as being the value of the refund? I comment like this because it could easily be something like a fitted bedroom or kitchen or perhaps just a smaller item like a custom made bike or a custom hi-fi player or speaker setup.

The maker may have ordered in some special parts to do this job. If the maker is having difficulty getting all of the parts in then he might have some difficulty starting the actual job.

It does sound a bit stinky to be told 'he can have his money back when the retailer sells them on to someone else.' That's hardly reasonable if the goods are going to be custom made.

Was the contract made between the two entities concerned 'on' or 'off' trade premises?

Now your OH might well be being strung along and/or on the receiving end of some lies and cheating but what sort of custom stuff are we talking about here?

bigsismiff

Hi DocProc,

Value is £270, the contract was made verbally over the telephone.

I do understand that there may be difficulties in the supply chain, but as its over 7 weeks now, and the only communications have been when we have chased the supplier, we feel we are being misled.

Hope that helps.

DocProc

I'm looking for why it might be difficult for the supplier to fulfill his side of the contract.

What kind of thing where you buying? By the way, you tell me and trust it will be kept private because I'm a trainee gynaecologist.

bigsismiff

Hahahahahahahahahaha

Thats the funniest thing ever!!!! :rotfl:

Nothing like that (honest!!) Its a bit for a bike. I didnt want to drop too many details, its quite a specific hobby, not many participants or suppliers, and dont want to bad-mouth anyone (even though we cant get stuff delivered).

bigsismiff

Its a fuel tank. Apparently there are 'supplier problems'. As its not an 'on the shelf' thing, they are made individually, hense the 'custom made' thing. But its not the first one in the world to be made, so I cant really see the problem.

DocProc

I'd give 'em a bit of a break and be patient about it - but at the same time be firm and assertive and keep the pressure on.

If it were me, I'd try a visit if they aren't too far away and 'look someone in the eyes' and I'd have a glance round to see if the business looks healthy and see if they have other work going on on the floor and on the benches. If it doesn't look healthy and it looks very quiet and very untidy and generally like a bunch of losers in the middle of a mess, that's when I'd be pushing hard to get my money back.

And what special parts are needed for a fuel tank? A fuel inlet and a fuel outlet come to mind and of course it might need some specialised welding to form the actual tank panels into a special shape? Not much else.

Are they just 'mowed out with work'?

I suspect they are better at making specialised fuel tanks for bikes than dealing with customers.

Enterprise_1701C

Have you got anything in writing from them? If it has not been made yet do you know if it has been started? To me the company sounds a bit slipshod - if there is going to be a delay it is normally a good idea to let the customer know. It is a little diffcult when you order custom items but I have to admit I would be getting a little annoyed by now. Perhaps you should start by writing to them giving them two weeks to deliver and tell them that you think anything longer than that is unreasonable and you would then be asking for your money back. If it is a custom item it would take you that long to get it form somewhere else anyway.

bigsismiff

Hi JB

No, nothing in writing, but when it was ordered we were told it would be less than 2 weeks. Ita not really that big a job as I understand it, the only reason they are 'custom' made is because they dont get ordered that often, and it would be expensive stock hanging around.TBH the guys attitude is the thing that is annoying at the mo. He could have told us in advance, warned us, told us that after 7 weeks its not even been started, but he seems to think we have no time-schedules of our own. Its annoying that he assumes we can just wait forever.

Enterprise_1701C

Why don't you just write to him and tell him that!! Surely this is something that could get around by word of mouth -your OH probably knows a lot of people that might be after something from this guy, maybe you should remind him that his good name is in severe danger here.