So they don't seem to want to give me my money back.

DubTony

A couple of years ago I placed an order with a company for some equipment for my shop. I asked the salesman to fit as soon as possible as we were just about to get the place done up. I gave him a deposit and waited for his fitters to contact me. Nothing happened.

For reason I won't reveal here, I never got back to them until a few months later a salesman came into me to sell me the same equipment. I told him I already had an order in and he should go back and find out what the situation was. I heard nothing within a few weeks and rang them. I was told the manager would get back to me, but heard nothing.

Over the past 2 years I have made 5 phone calls to the company and waited patiently for the manager to return my call.

Finally I received a visit from the manager who informed me that he didn't have the authority to issue a refund. I don't want the equipment now as I have no use for it. The order form states on the back that refunds will not be made where orders are cancelled.

I have never written to them, or even spoke to a solicitor about the situation. The manager advised me to write to the owner of the company as he is the only one who can issue a refund. But he mentioned the fact that it's been over 2 years and the question will arise "why did I take so long". I expect to have to call my solicitor.

Here's my question. Has anyone had a similar situation and was it resolved? What is a reasonable time to expect to take delivery and fitting of a product, and at what point would I be justified in cancelling an order and expecting a full refund?

jhegarty

Solicitor's letter would be the next step.

elgransenor

DubTony wrote: »

A couple of years ago I placed an order with a company for some equipment for my shop. I asked the salesman to fit as soon as possible as we were just about to get the place done up. I gave him a deposit and waited for his fitters to contact me. Nothing happened.

For reason I won't reveal here, I never got back to them until a few months later a salesman came into me to sell me the same equipment. I told him I already had an order in and he should go back and find out what the situation was. I heard nothing within a few weeks and rang them. I was told the manager would get back to me, but heard nothing.

Over the past 2 years I have made 5 phone calls to the company and waited patiently for the manager to return my call.

Finally I received a visit from the manager who informed me that he didn't have the authority to issue a refund. I don't want the equipment now as I have no use for it. The order form states on the back that refunds will not be made where orders are cancelled.

I have never written to them, or even spoke to a solicitor about the situation. The manager advised me to write to the owner of the company as he is the only one who can issue a refund. But he mentioned the fact that it's been over 2 years and the question will arise "why did I take so long". I expect to have to call my solicitor.

Here's my question. Has anyone had a similar situation and was it resolved? What is a reasonable time to expect to take delivery and fitting of a product, and at what point would I be justified in cancelling an order and expecting a full refund?

You need to act as soon as possible but you would be in a strong position as they have failed to fulfill the contract.

A strongly worded solrs letter and a threat to issue legal proceedings will move it along.

You can register a judgment against the company or threaten to wind it up and if it is a sole trader,which is unlikely,you could get a judgment mortgage on his house.

Lplated

You've paid money, waited two years and received nothing in return.

You're entitled to your money back, otherwise they would in effect be perpetrating a fraud, and no court is going to allow that.

Yes you should see a solicitor, and as soon as possible - delay dilutes your entitlement to relief, and at over two years you're beginning to get to the point where that could become an issue (although if you have proof of your five phone calls, there isn't in fact a delay of two years).

Not sure why you've asked the question on here - some one has taken your money and not given you anything in return - get acting man!!

jetsonx

DubTony wrote: »

For reason I won't reveal here, I never got back to them until a few months later a salesman came into me to sell me the same equipment.

Nobody here can give you an accurate answer to this question, without knowing why you never got back to them?

Trump

DubTony wrote: »

A couple of years ago I placed an order with a company for some equipment for my shop. I asked the salesman to fit as soon as possible as we were just about to get the place done up. I gave him a deposit and waited for his fitters to contact me. Nothing happened.

For reason I won't reveal here, I never got back to them until a few months later a salesman came into me to sell me the same equipment. I told him I already had an order in and he should go back and find out what the situation was. I heard nothing within a few weeks and rang them. I was told the manager would get back to me, but heard nothing.

Over the past 2 years I have made 5 phone calls to the company and waited patiently for the manager to return my call.

Finally I received a visit from the manager who informed me that he didn't have the authority to issue a refund. I don't want the equipment now as I have no use for it. The order form states on the back that refunds will not be made where orders are cancelled.

I have never written to them, or even spoke to a solicitor about the situation. The manager advised me to write to the owner of the company as he is the only one who can issue a refund. But he mentioned the fact that it's been over 2 years and the question will arise "why did I take so long". I expect to have to call my solicitor.

Here's my question. Has anyone had a similar situation and was it resolved? What is a reasonable time to expect to take delivery and fitting of a product, and at what point would I be justified in cancelling an order and expecting a full refund?

I am quite shocked that you have waited this long to act on this situation and that you have never written to this company.Usually when you order a fixture/product you agree delivery times when your product fails to be delivered most people would act quite promptly in either getting the product or retrieving a refund on their deposit.

You are not prepared to go into why you waited so long to act and you also have not revealed the value of the deposit..??

You mentioned that you have an order form but do you have a receipt for this deposit you paid over..?

DubTony

jetsonx wrote: »

Nobody here can give you an accurate answer to this question, without knowing why you never got back to them?

I got on to them 5 times by phone.

Trump wrote:

I am quite shocked that you have waited this long to act on this situation and that you have never written to this company.Usually when you order a fixture/product you agree delivery times when your product fails to be delivered most people would act quite promptly in either getting the product or retrieving a refund on their deposit.

You are not prepared to go into why you waited so long to act and you also have not revealed the value of the deposit..??

You mentioned that you have an order form but do you have a receipt for this deposit you paid over..?

Who are you? My mother? Your shock is noted.

Re why I waited so long to act. Firstly I don't feel I have "waited so long to act". This is something the manager of the company came up with. Remember I did make phone calls. Secondly, I asked 2 simple questions here. Has anyone here ever had this happen? (That's definitely relevant to the forum) and as an aside (and the only question I posted on the Legal Discussion forum) does anyone know if what the company's manager said holds any water?

There are several reasons why I didn't follow this up immediately. I didn't say I wasn't prepared to give the details, I simply said I won't go into it here. The details are irrelevant to the situation.

I do all my business in good faith. I have never left a supplier stuck. I've never left staff without their wages even if it meant I had to go short myself. Call me naive if you must, but I expect that when I do business with a company, that they will also carry on their business in a reputable, professional and honest manner. If a company takes a deposit from someone and then for no apparent reason, doesn't provide the service or product I woud regard that company as corporate scumbags. Basically they're thieves. These guys don't have to worry much about repeat business as their main product is a one off installation.

The order form is the receipt for the deposit of less than €1,000

Trump, if you've any advice it would be appreciated.

Mickk

DubTony wrote: »

I got on to them 5 times by phone.



Who are you? My mother? Your shock is noted.

Re why I waited so long to act. Firstly I don't feel I have "waited so long to act". This is something the manager of the company came up with. Remember I did make phone calls. Secondly, I asked 2 simple questions here. Has anyone here ever had this happen? (That's definitely relevant to the forum) and as an aside (and the only question I posted on the Legal Discussion forum) does anyone know if what the company's manager said holds any water?

There are several reasons why I didn't follow this up immediately. I didn't say I wasn't prepared to give the details, I simply said I won't go into it here. The details are irrelevant to the situation.

I do all my business in good faith. I have never left a supplier stuck. I've never left staff without their wages even if it meant I had to go short myself. Call me naive if you must, but I expect that when I do business with a company, that they will also carry on their business in a reputable, professional and honest manner. If a company takes a deposit from someone and then for no apparent reason, doesn't provide the service or product I woud regard that company as corporate scumbags. Basically they're thieves. These guys don't have to worry much about repeat business as their main product is a one off installation.

The order form is the receipt for the deposit of less than €1,000

Trump, if you've any advice it would be appreciated.

Hi Tony,

to be honest you sound a little too nice to get your money back, you need to take the offensive. If you really want it back, lie. How are they to know you have only rang 5 times, the bigger the company the easier it will be to hoodwink them into believing you rang every week for the last two years! (If they only have two or three empolyees this wont work but if they have ten or twelve people who answer the phones then how will they know otherwise)

If you finally do get in touch with the director/owner tell him you have left 30 messages for him to ring you, use the 2 years time to your advantage and tell him it's an absolute disgrace that it has taken so long for him to get back to you, you have a business to run and have more to be doing than harassing people like him for money back. Also do they have a showroom or retail premises or just a warehouse? If they have somewhere where potential customers visit, doorstep them and kick up a fuss.

Honestly I wouldn't bother with a solicitor for a debt of less than a grand, he will charge you a few hundred and if it did go to court personally the time off work would hardly be worth it...

Trump

Who are you? My mother? Your shock is noted.

I can confirm that I am not your mother.

the order form states on the back that refunds will not be made where orders are cancelled.

So in actual fact even at this late stage the owner could apologise to you and just ask when you want delivery of this fixture..!! So keep that in mind.You cancel the order and he keeps the deposit anyway.

What do you do now..? Ring up and get the owners name .Write him a letter ( send it by registered post ) explaining your situation and request the return of your deposit and include a copy of your receipt.Should you get no response from this nice letter.You send another another one outlining your intention to issue legal proceedings within 14 days to recover your deposit.Then speak to your solictor.

Yes it is only under a grand but it is the principle of not letting anybody walk all over you and take your money.Personally I would not let him get away with this even if it meant spending the deposit on legal fees.



Best of luck.

DubTony

Thanks lads. Maybe one of these days I'll outline the other things I had going on that meant that this thing got left on the long finger. But at the moment it's not important.

I've thought about writing a letter myself. And eloquent, and all, as I can be, I'm going to leave this to the solicitor, (called him 5 times already between Thursday and Friday ). If this supplier can ignore several phone calls froma customer, and then eventualy send in a general manager who doesn't have the authority, it seems, to do anything, I have a feeling a letter from me won't make a damned bit of difference.

Thanks again.