XmisterIS
Purveyor of fine nonsense
I am after a bit of money law advice here.
The long, short, fat and skinny is as follows:
I bought some building materials for the princely sum of £90 from an online seller.
It turns out that the seller is not actually the seller, they're like an EBay site for building materials, and the physical product is actually supplied by a local company. (local to wherever you are in the country).
Today the local company in question phoned me up and said, "sorry guv, we don't stock that".
When I asked for a refund, they said they couldn't refund me because the transaction is not with them, it's with the company running the website.
There's no phone number on the website (convenient, that is!), but I'd paid through PayPal and on the reciept, the transaction is actually through yet another company!
So ... I got onto Google and found the address and phone number of the people I've actually given money to and I gave them a bell.
The first thing they said was, "we just handle the money, we don't process the order".
"Well, fine", I said, "But my transaction is with you, so you need to give me the money back".
They did seem pleasant and helpful probably because I have a diplomatic approach to these things.
I've checked the distance selling regulations and it seems that I have at the very least 7 days to cancel the order in writing, which can be by email (according to the law) and so that's what I've officially and formally done - I've emailed the person I was speaking to and said, "in accordance with <blah> I hereby cancel the order and request a full refund".
I think that's the most important thing because it puts the law completely on my side.
Now, in the event that I get the old "it's not our problem, it's their problem" with all three parties pointing fingers at each other, what can I do to get my £90 back without getting trading standards involved? If I do have to get nasty, could I get the police involved? I ask because I reckon that taking money for something that doesn't exist is called "stealing" or "fraud".
I am not going to name-and-shame anyone here because they may yet give me my money back ASAP and smoothly too. I hope so!
The long, short, fat and skinny is as follows:
I bought some building materials for the princely sum of £90 from an online seller.
It turns out that the seller is not actually the seller, they're like an EBay site for building materials, and the physical product is actually supplied by a local company. (local to wherever you are in the country).
Today the local company in question phoned me up and said, "sorry guv, we don't stock that".
When I asked for a refund, they said they couldn't refund me because the transaction is not with them, it's with the company running the website.
There's no phone number on the website (convenient, that is!), but I'd paid through PayPal and on the reciept, the transaction is actually through yet another company!
So ... I got onto Google and found the address and phone number of the people I've actually given money to and I gave them a bell.
The first thing they said was, "we just handle the money, we don't process the order".
"Well, fine", I said, "But my transaction is with you, so you need to give me the money back".
They did seem pleasant and helpful probably because I have a diplomatic approach to these things.
I've checked the distance selling regulations and it seems that I have at the very least 7 days to cancel the order in writing, which can be by email (according to the law) and so that's what I've officially and formally done - I've emailed the person I was speaking to and said, "in accordance with <blah> I hereby cancel the order and request a full refund".
I think that's the most important thing because it puts the law completely on my side.
Now, in the event that I get the old "it's not our problem, it's their problem" with all three parties pointing fingers at each other, what can I do to get my £90 back without getting trading standards involved? If I do have to get nasty, could I get the police involved? I ask because I reckon that taking money for something that doesn't exist is called "stealing" or "fraud".
I am not going to name-and-shame anyone here because they may yet give me my money back ASAP and smoothly too. I hope so!
