Nothing but problems with Berketex Bride, refusing a refund

Jay-Hopkins · 6 March 2015 at 7:47PM

My fianc!e visited Berketex Bride at their Cardiff Branch on 07/11/2014 (Berketex Bride - Cardiff, 5 St Johns Street, Cardiff, CF10 1GJ.

She put a deposit of £200 on a wedding dress paid with a debit card. She had a remainder of £87.25 to pay towards the deposit of 25% of the dress by 23/11/2014.

This was paid on 22/11/2014 at 13:05PM.

Berketex Cardiff told her that her dress would be ready in 4-6 months.

She received a call on 6th February telling her that her dress was in store. We didn't expect it to arrive this quickly. We all went to Berketex Bride in Cardiff on 25th February at around 12:15PM. Louise, who worked at the store helped my fianc!e into the dress and we were all happy with it at the time. She paid the remainder of the balance which included accessories. £570 was paid by debit card. £291.75 was paid with cash.

She arrived home with the dress and noticed that the bottom of the dress was a complete mess. Choppy scissor work, missing gem, overall an appalling state which we took pictures of. We rang the store and complained and they informed us to bring the dress straight back which we did.

Berketex in Cardiff were shocked themselves that they had not noticed this and said it should have "never passed quality control". However, Berketex Cardiff said they could not refund, only head office had this authority. We thought this a little bizarre as they said they have no facility to refund money but only take money.

We contacted head office and spoke with "Paul Wilson" who told us that he would ring the store the next day and contact us back with what’s going to happen. Bear in mind, at this point we have no accessories, no dress and are £1149.00 out of pocket.

Berketex sent the dress back to head office.

We wrote a complaint to customer services which has been ignored.

We have contacted them nearly every other day since for a refund, they have stated today that "they never issue refunds". This information was given to us by one of their managers over the phone. Luckily we recorded this conversation.

All we want is a full refund, Berketex brides are giving us the run around and nobody seems to want to refund my fianc!e.

We have all paperwork, names, complaint e-mail and photographs of the dress.

It will be two weeks next Wednesday and Berketex has still not refunded.

I have sent an e-mail this evening to Citizens Advice consumer service to see if trading standards can get involved.

I have looked online for the law regarding refunds in the UK and consumer rights.

As far as I'm aware, I am entitled to a full refund as the goods purchased were not fit for purpose?

Please can anyone give me some advice as to what to do next? I would really appreciate it

I have plenty of pictures of the dress but for some reason it won't allow me to give links on here to the pictures because I am a new member...

unholyangel · 6 March 2015 at 8:39PM

Your fiancee has 2 options. Either give them the opportunity to get a repair/replacement on the dress or push for a refund - bear in mind that if the wedding is soon...you might end up having to pay out for another dress while simultaneously chasing the refund for this one.

A seamstress/dressmaker local to you can probably fix the problems without too much fuss.

I do think you will be able to push for a refund (in line with consumer rights), just trying to point out that sometimes, other options can be of greater benefit/easier.

Whatever you decide, write them a letter before action (title it as such) and stick to bare minimum. Dress ordered x date. Dress delivered x date. Total price £x. Dress does not conform to contract therefore, under the rights afforded to you by the sale of goods act, you are requesting a repair or replacement/refund (whichever you decide). If the matter is not settled within 14 days, you will have no choice but to start legal proceedings, at which time you will also be claiming all other reasonable costs incurred due to their breach of contract.

It may also be worth contacting your bank to see if they can help - there is a chargeback code for faulty/defective merchandise so its worth a shot. You'd have more rights if it was paid by credit card (even partially), so keep that in mind when purchasing anything costing over £100 in future

arcon5 · 6 March 2015 at 8:47PM

Be clear about the fact you've rejected it under the sales of goods act.

Send a letter before action

Jay-Hopkins · 8 March 2015 at 5:22PM

I've wrote a letter today, took photographs and printed them at ASDA. I will send the letter recorded tomorrow so they should receive it on Tuesday/Wednesday.

Nothing but problems with Berketex Bride, refusing a refund

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