Recently I bought a Alphason ABRD1100-BLK TV stand from RGB Direct. Only after I paid the full amount by debit card did I realise that it was not available in stock. I was asked to come later for collection. The salesperson told me that this stand has a RRP of £350, but that he was willing to take off a further £50 just for me. So I was happy to pay £300 for the TV stand.
However just hours later, to my great disappointment I found out that I had been misguided
Firstly the actual RRP of the stand is £279.00 including VAT. This has been quoted by many electrical stores including TV Furniture Stands UK and The Plasma Centre (which is an authorised Alphason dealer). So the information delivered to us by RGB Direct was misleading. The salesperson quoted a higher price and made us buy the product for a price not even the manufacturer recommends.I also found dozens of retailers offering the same product much lower than £300 and even the rrp of £279.00. Here are the prices which some competitors offer for the same product:
www.theplasmacentre.com - £210.43
Hughes Direct - £206.97
www.compubuyz.com – £205.98
www.standanddeliver.com - £199.00
www.go-electrical.co.uk - £189
After I found this out, I wanted to cancel the purchase of the product immediately as the item was not even delivered. Since I had not used the product, let alone take it from the store (because the Ilford store was out of stock) I believed that I would be able to cancel the order. I phoned the store within 24 hours but I was told that I would have to pay 20% of the price of the product to cancel it. I was never informed about this by the salesperson, when I was buying the product. I also sent an email with the hope that they will refund the amount, and they never bothered to reply. Finally I was forced to buy the product for 1 1/2 times the price stated by other stores.
When I went to collect the product they didn't even help to carry the heavy 40Kg item into my car. In fact I had to carry it all alone on my shoulder.
What I want to know from the forum is whether it is legal to charge 20% of the price for refund (within 24 hours) of a product which was not even delivered. Is the RRP of a product fixed for all stores that sell the product, or can each store according to their will quote different RRPs?