I bought a guitar online from a company’s website with a name ending in “.co.uk”. The website suggests this is a UK trader. However, the quality of the guitar is terrible, so I decided to return it within the 14-day return period. The company agreed to this but says I have to pay the return cost and informed me that it needs to be sent to their warehouse in China. Do I have to bear the cost?
PW, via email
When a customer tried to return a guitar he had purchased on a UK website within 14 days, he was told he would have to pay to mail it to the company’s Chinese warehouse.
Consumer attorney Dean Dunham responds: You will find that under Section 10 and Schedule 2 of the Consumer Contracts Regulations (as they are briefly known), the trader is required to clearly notify the consumer, before the purchase is completed, of his geographical address and Commercial address. if the two are different.
Additionally, if the merchant has an alternative address to which the products should be returned, this address must also be made clear to you before making the purchase.
Clearly the trader did not do this here as you were led to believe they were based in the UK. Therefore, this means that the merchant must offer you a refund and not charge you for returning the products to China. If you refuse, it will be considered a breach of contract.
Dean Dunham writes that a company has an obligation to inform customers if they are based in another country and if this is the address to which products should be returned.
If the merchant continues to deny your rights and you paid by debit or credit card within the last 120 days, you can file a chargeback claim.
When doing this, be sure to inform the card provider that a breach of contract has occurred for the reasons I cited above. This is important as it is a prerequisite for making a claim. If it has not been more than 120 days since your purchase and you paid by credit card, you can file a section 75 claim, again making sure to indicate that there has been a “breach of contract.”
In any case, your card provider will simply refund the cost of the guitar and will not refund the cost of shipping to China, so don’t be fooled into paying these costs.
A holidaymaker has been asked to pay an extra £265 for his accommodation in Snowdonia, North Wales, after the owners discovered the original booking price was incorrect.
I booked accommodation in Snowdonia, North Wales, online for September, and also booked my train tickets at the same time. When I made the reservation, I thought the price was wrong because it was so cheap, but the transaction went smoothly and I also received confirmation via email. The property owner has discovered the incorrect price and asked me to pay an extra £265. Do I have to pay this?
LR, by email
Consumer attorney Dean Dunham responds: Where a trader makes a mistake with the price of goods or services, they will usually be able to successfully argue that they should not be bound by the incorrect price and therefore that the contract should be withdrawn or amended in order to claim the additional cost.
In circumstances where the consumer knew (or should have known) that there was a pricing error, the trader’s position is considerably strengthened.
This is precisely what happened in a landmark court case cited by merchants when defending lawsuits in court over pricing errors.
In Hartog v Colin and Shields the judge said that there is a duty to correct a mistake which is known not to be the true intention of the person making it. You can’t just take advantage and “take advantage” of the offer. So the merchant here may ask you for more money, but there is more to it.
Firstly, what the merchant cannot do is “force” you to pay the additional money. However, they can refuse to honor the reservation if you refuse. If you refuse to pay, you will be entitled to have all your money back.
The last element to consider is the train reservation. My view would be that you would be entitled to claim the cost of this from the trader, if the train fare was non-refundable because your mistake caused you a loss. However, the problem here is that you knew the price was incorrect before you booked the train tickets, so you contributed to your own loss, and in this case it would be difficult to substantiate a claim.