"Which?" magazine highlights problems buying mail order

[Phil.LFC]

In the latest Which? magazine there is an article which explains your rights when buying mail order. I was very interested in this as I've recently had an horrendous experience myself.

Someone ordered a TV from a company in Bolton which happened to be the same company who I bought from. This person paid a £650 deposit over the phone. She then decided to cancel the order the next day, but the shop decided to keep, without right, £190 of her cash.
"Charging for cancelling an order within a few days is banned by the Distance Selling Regulations" say 'Which?'.
The shop blamed the cost of 'reprocessing' the TV back to its warehouse since it had already been dispatched.
This lady contacted Trading Standards and also began legal action in the small claims court. Records showed that this particular shop had two County Court Judgements against it in 2000. I wish I had known this before I used them. Regular visitors to this forum will know which shop this is and I know many of you who've had major problems with them.
"Which?" go on to suggest that if youre wrongly charged such a fee you should contact your local Trading Standards which police distance selling rules.

So there you go - be very careful if buying something like a TV from a mail order company. There are just too many pitfalls and I would never do it again. I know there are some great bargains being advertised but aftersales customer service is worth thinking about, especially as most TV's these days seem to be riddled with faults.

[sam_a]

if its a true story then you are entitled to name the company I think - as long as you don't offer a personal view.

Sam

Contact "Which?", I did after reading the article. They were most interested.

[Stuart Wright]

Originally posted by sam_a
if its a true story then you are entitled to name the company I think - as long as you don't offer a personal view.

Sam

Rather not unless there is proof and the other side of the story.

That was a hefty deposit she must of been certain of her purchase. Why did she cancel ?