Keeping my money for 2 months!

Solomon Grundy

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Is this right? I ordered a table from a company over four weeks ago. They took the money immediately but have since said that they had a delivery driver shortage and now say that the item is out of stock until the end of November. I told them I wanted to cancel the order and they have said that it is ok but it will take 30 days to get a credit! Is this allowed???

:mad:
 
Decadence said:
Is this right? I ordered a table from a company over four weeks ago. They took the money immediately but have since said that they had a delivery driver shortage and now say that the item is out of stock until the end of November. I told them I wanted to cancel the order and they have said that it is ok but it will take 30 days to get a credit! Is this allowed???

:mad:

How did you pay?
 
Decadence,

It's not illegal to keep you waiting for a refund, but it's certainly questionable. However, in a court of law, if the company are saying you will definitely get your money back by the end of their 30-day period, then they're not doing anything wrong.

Personally, I'd make sure you pester them constantly, even on a day-by-day basis. (Obviously, if you have a credit card, you simply complain to the bank, and they have to give you the money back.) Once you've got your money back, contact the BBC's Watchdog programme, and name-and-shame them. Ditto, on these Forums.


Pooch
 
I chopped all my credit cards up after paying them off so just used my Nationwide Visa Delta card to pay...

...I will keep pestering them.

Oh, btw...don't buy stuff from www.bargainfurniture.net

this is how I have replied to them:


To whom it may concern,

I ordered the Lazio dining set from your website on Thursday 29 September 2005 at a total cost of £301.97. As it quite prominently states on your website "furniture delivered to your door in days" I was surprised when I had not received the lazio table, nor an explanation as to the delay within 2 weeks. I therefore telephoned on 17 October 2005 to enquire as to the delay. Sebastian Turkot informed me that the table I had ordered was with transport and a delivery date was not able to be given as you were experiencing transport problems, being two vehicles down. He further advised that this would be rectified over the next few days. I therefore waited until yesterday to call again, when I was advised that the table I had ordered was in fact out of stock and I was given an estimated delivery date of 25 November 2005, almost two months after placing the order!

After further consideration I would now like to cancel my order and telephoned your offices again today to advise of this. I was instructed to put this request in writing and was further advised that it could take between 18 to 30 days for the monies I paid to you last month to be reimbursed to my account. I find this to be excessive and would expect to receive a refund in full within the next 14 days, which I believe to be more than reasonable.

I await hearing from you with confirmation that my order has now been cancelled.

Yours faithfully
 
That sound good Decadence. If you do not get any joy, I'd just remind them that it only took them 5 minutes to take the money. Whatever electronic payment system they use, will only take the same amount of time to issue a credit. Any delay must be their 'Company Policy' and if that's truely their policy, they're a buch of .......
 
i just dont understand why they would have to hold on to your money for 30 days? also why you need to put it in writing that you wish to cancel your order. i worked in retail ( currys) and we never ever held on to money for any lenght of time, also customers could cancel their order over the phone no need for anything to be put in writing, its ridiculous.
 
ok, I still haven't received any money from them...every time I call them they tell me the request has been processed and is with the bank...they are now almost at 40 days since i cancelled the order...is there anything I can do to get my £300.00 back...I am getting very annoyed and the camel's back is almost at breaking point. I now have their trading address and a baseball bat...I can see me ending up in prison over this...

...help.....
 
I just called them (the furniture place) again now and they said it is nothing to do with them anymore...they said the money left their bank in october and went to some merchant bank in canada and they are supposed to be sending our money, but they haven't...

...I will call my bank this afternoon...it's just theft isn't it?

:mad:
 
Decadence said:
I just called them (the furniture place) again now and they said it is nothing to do with them anymore...they said the money left their bank in october and went to some merchant bank in canada and they are supposed to be sending our money, but they haven't...

...I will call my bank this afternoon...it's just theft isn't it?

:mad:

That's complete BS. They are nearly 100% gonna have used a standard PDQ machine. Money goes from your card, straight to them. Same the other way round. Ask them how long they had to wait for your money when they first took the order. Did it sit with their Canadian friends fro a month then?
 
I tried being clever before...they hung up on me...
 
Decadence said:
I tried being clever before...they hung up on me...

I think Trading Standards is your best set now.

It is their responsability to get you your money back. You haven't received the money, so it is still within their company or it's processes somewhere.

You could always ask for all the details about you and transactions between yourself and them under the the terms of the data protection act. Say you want to see details of when they received your money, and when they credited it back. They are obliged to provide with copies of any documentation with your personal details on them. They are within their rights to charge you a 'reasonable' admin cost for producing the info, but they cannot refuse.
 
it might be an idea to give trading standards a call and ask them to look into it, and also to get in touch with your bank and see what they can do to help

the company if based in uk can send a BACs transfer thats relatively cheap/free and credits in 3 days (this is how wages are normally sent), or by CHAPS which is a same day transfer but costs £25 or so. if they really wanted to get the money to you, they could call thier bank and arrange the transfer easily

if they took your money by visa debit card, they should be able to refund you by visa debit card, wherever they are in the world, so waiting 30 days for a refund sounds like a load of crap

i would try and resolve the issue asap just in case they go bust on you
 
thanks...I get the feeling that they are setting themselves up for bankruptcy...they are based in Walsall...
 
More info:

Company is run by Wednesbury Furniture Limited

Whom according to Companies House only started trading on 06/05/2005.

They also run Bandit furniture supplies

On further research, the director is called Mr Paul White, and he is available via e-mail - [email protected] (Mods, please remove if you think this is inappropriate).
 
I spoke to a Martin White this afternoon...he told me the blurb about Canadian merchant banks...
 
if they have only been trading for 6 months and they are a dodgy company they will probably trade for a bit longer if possible as they have the excuse that they were unaware they were trading insolvently (which is illegal) as they didn't have end of year accounts - however if they are in serious problems, they could fold around about xmas, thus putting you off with the 30 day excuse

personally i would get trading standards and you bank looking into it, rather than email the MD direct. let TS do this for you

did you buy from a bricks and mortor store that you can visit in person, or online? perhaps a personal visit, kicking up a fuss instore until they credit back your card (they should have machines instore, they may give you the excuse that they don't have the key to credit, but the manager or acting manager should be able to do this one way or another, or at the very least can arrange for you to return the following day for them to do this, or give you a cheque)
 
the stock was bought online from www.bargainfurniture.net but they have a registered address at the bottom of their first page. If anyone else has thought about buying from them please don't...if you type bargain furniture into www.grumbletext.co.uk you will see what I mean...there are loads of people in the same boat...I wish I had done a bit more digging before shelling out!
 
Decadence said:
the stock was bought online from www.bargainfurniture.net but they have a registered address at the bottom of their first page. If anyone else has thought about buying from them please don't...if you type bargain furniture into www.grumbletext.co.uk you will see what I mean...there are loads of people in the same boat...I wish I had done a bit more digging before shelling out!

the registered address could be anything, it doesn't have to be thier office address, in the past, business i worked with used to make the accountants office the registered address, but a few things changed since then, so perhaps you can no longer do this.

if they have received a number of complaints already, then trading standards might have a file on them and have more info, if you contact your local office i think they can get info from the local office where they are based
 
I'd ring them up and tell them that you'll be coming over and that you won't be leaving until you've got your money back.

If they've got a car park, park yours in it so that it blocks them all off, leave a note in it and tell them that you'll move it when you've got a refund in cash.

Slightly questionable but effective!
 
i think you'll find come christmas they will be long gone.....and with them your money......
sorry its not a nice thing to hear, but this late in the game there will be so many people before you needing money back there may not be enough from the stock they hold being sold off in bankruptcy left to go round.....

this is why e-tailers need to be licensed properly the same way shops are...its just so easy to set up a scam business.........register a business name, set up a website, take the money, declare bankruptcy while the money sits in an offshore account, claim it was spent on expenses, provide various dodgy receipts proving so, and ta da.........

i hope you do get something sorted out tho.....
 
If you'd have used a credit card you would have some extra protection
(yes I know you chopped them up, but they really do have their benefits)

Its just not worth the risk using debit cards for any large transaction instore or online [especially an unknown e-tailer!!!]
 

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