Refund on Laptop

Nalz

Hi guys. I have a comsumer issue with a certain website. Basically I ordered laptop A only to realise it was the wrong item. was informed to mark as wrong item upon delivery and it was returned. In the mean time i requested laptop B, and the money debited from my card to be used to purchase laptop B. I was told by phone that laptop B was dispatched, only later to find out that i was not dispatched and was then at that late stage sold out. I asked for a refund. This is were the trouble rises. The rest you can take from the emails below (read from the bottom up). All personal and company details have been replaced with Joe Bloggs (me) and Company X.

thanks
Trilla

Nalz

dear sir/madam

I am aware of the drop in the exchange rate that has occurred lately. I have also discussed this with my bank. However,



(a)I was not made aware that I was dealing in sterling as the websites address was CompanyX.ie. Therefore one would assume that I was dealing with and irish based company or at least a company that has an irish outlet that deals in euro currency.

(b)The reason why this process (from the 30th of October to the 19th of November) took so long was because I was informed by phone that the replacement item (second laptop I ordered - or so I thought) was dispatched, only to find out again by phone that several days later that the item was not dispatched and it was at that stage sold out. This is what then prompted me to request a refund. The only reason I rang at that time was that I recieved a mail saying a delivery had failed and was confused as to which laptop/scenario it was in reference to. The person whom I was talking to on the phone apologised to me about the whole situation. I was certain that it would be all cleared up at that stage.



I do hope you take this in to consideration as it was only 3 or 4 days after the initial order (the first laptop) that I requested another one. I am certain that that space of time should not cost me €55.75. I honestly feel I am not in the wrong here. It was not my fault the process took the length of time that it did and that is the reason for the decrease in value of the product.



thank you,

Joe Bloggs


__________________________________________

On 20/11/2008 10:19:50

COMPANY X Wrote:

We have refunded back the exact amount of money we took in pound sterling to your account. The difference is due to the exchange rate at the time of purchase and refund. If you have any issues regarding this you would need to take this up with your bank.



Regards


__________________________________________
On 20/11/2008 09:32:43

Mr Joe Bloggs Wrote:

Dear sir/madam



In reference to my refund which came through this morning, I notice that I am 55.75 short. The details below state how much was taken from my account and how much was refunded.



30-10-08 COMPANY X 330.23

19-11-08 COMPANY X 274.48



Why is there such a big difference, if a difference at all? The reason I requested a refund to begin with was becuase the second order I made to replace the first laptop(wrong laptop - ordered in error)was not dispatched and it was marked as sold out, 3 or 4 days after being told it was dispatched to me.



Thank you,

joe Bloggs

penexpers

I don't see what the problem here is. You ordered the wrong laptop (your fault), they didn't send you the new laptop (their fault), they admitted their fault and refunded you the amount. Any difference, as they stated, is due to fluctuating currency differences. They could have been a bit quicker about the refund, but seen as how you made the initial mistake I think they have been more than reasonable.

As for not knowing that you were dealing in sterling, how was this possible?

Nalz

I informed them 2 days later that laptop A was the wrong product and that i wanted laptop B. The remaining time was down to their fault (they failed to dispatch laptop B to me)

penexpers wrote: »

As for not knowing that you were dealing in sterling, how was this possible?

I was quoted in euros, the value of the product was in euros and it was a .ie domain

ongarite

I presume this is laptopsdirect you are on about?
I can't see the problem also. They are a UK site that have irish .ie site also thats basically their UK site with sterling prices converted into Euro.
It doesn't matter what price it is in euro as sterling is up and down at the moment but there price is still the same in sterling.

Nalz

ongarite wrote: »

It doesn't matter what price it is in euro as sterling is up and down at the moment but there price is still the same in sterling.

But you're not made aware of this until an invoice is sent out to you. So anyone would assume they're deading with an irish company as the prices are quoted in euros and the domain is .ie.

Also the majority of the time of the delay in which the value of the currency decreased was down to their mistake in failing to dispatch the second laptop.

ongarite

Its pretty obvious laptopsdirect.ie is a UK site.
Hell even opening the site, the banner says Laptop|Laptops|Buy Cheap Laptops in the UK.
UK telephone no. on the website, all support info is UK based, UK showroom in Huddersfield

Nalz

ongarite wrote: »

Its pretty obvious laptopsdirect.ie is a UK site.
Hell even opening the site, the banner says Laptop|Laptops|Buy Cheap Laptops in the UK.
UK telephone no. on the website, all support info is UK based, UK showroom in Huddersfield

so if your quoted in euros and pay in euros and they send you out an payment recieved in a different currency its okay?

The site does have an irish number in larger font, .ie domain, an irish button for prices to be displayed in euro. Euro is the default prices of the laptops also.

Sleepy

EDIT - only saw more recent posts.

Small Claims court?

Nalz

I asked the same question on askaboutmoney.com and they seem to think that if the item was displayed and purchased in euros I should be refunded in euros

ttm

So what does the credit card statement really say?

If there is no mention of an the exchange rate then you've been screwed!

Should say something like XXXeuro YYYpounds at ZZZrate (and often a cross border handling fee of WWW%)

A recent purchace of US magazine for my wife had the credit card entry....

11th Nov AMERICANPRESS PRESSELLA 123412341234 CO 13.98 euro
17.19 USD @ 1.2296
Includes Cross Border Handling Fee of 1.75%

If there is no mention of the exchange rate the company has deducted the monies in euro and should refund you in euro. Perhaps there is some crappy small print like a restocking charge which might be the reason for the difference?

eth0_

That isn't legal afaik.
The OP paid in Euro, the currency displayed at checkout. Yet they were refunded in Sterling, leaving the OP down by 50 euro.

You wouldn't buy a dress from Topshop in Dublin, bring it back for a refund and expect them to refund you in sterling because 'They're a UK company'!

foggy_lad

you paid in euros they must refund in euros, and as for you ordering the wrong laptop the only thing they could charge you for would be delivery/collection as you had notified them within the time alllowed by distance selling rules

gerrycollins

if they took out x amount of euro they should refund that amount plain and simple you have an argument(but a UK co cannot debit a direct euro amount unless it has an irish/european base)

If they took out x amount in sterling converted so that your card is debited x amount in euro then you have no leg to stand amigo sorry

have you contacted your credit card co?what do they say?

the irish button on any site is to give you the equivalent sterling/dollar price at the time of day, im sure the small print has something to say on that.

If you could,contact a bank, chase up the exchange rate for the day or two(reasonable time to process your refund) after you contacted them regarding the whereabouts of laptop b you might be able to prove that they processed the refund on a date that "suited" them making you suffer a loss.

MOH

I bought a laptop off them yesterday - it does clearly state somewhere before you confirm payment (may be in the terms and conditions that you have to agree to) that you will be charged in Sterling.

That said, it is a bit poor that they took so long to sort the issue out.

On the other hand, if the exchange rate had gone the other way you'd be up 50 euro.