Hi all,
Bit stressed because I have an odd problem that I can't afford to spend legal money resolving, and Citizens Advice are a nightmare to deal with.
I'm a collector of certain sometimes high value wristwear.
Last Summer I ordered an "in stock" item from a major UK online & bricks and mortar retailer specialising in the market in their online summer sale. I paid for the order by CC and while waiting for it I got a notice advising me the item was OOS and estimated delivery would be a minimum of 6-8 weeks late. I advised the company by email that I didn't want a big sum of money spent on a CC without having received goods but agreed to leave a deposit to secure the item. I did that in part because the company has a reputation of sale-selling OOS items and then trying to source them and since I was interested in trying the item I thought the deposit would keep them hunting the stock.
In July I went on holiday with my wife and elderly parents in the South West.
While on holiday I got a weird shipment notification from the vendor which since I had neither paid for any goods nor heard back from them to say they had found stock, I presumed to be some kind of system error and when I got home after nine days there were no courier cards awaiting my attention and I ignored it as an anomaly, half expecting to hear from them. at some point to either confirm stock or cancel the order.
I waited so long, in fact, and the item went back to full price on their website and listed as "available on order", and given that the end of August was my birthday, my OH decided to buy me something else and kick the can of this kind of gift down the road a bit. Ironically she followed up on another of my wish list items from the same vendor and arranged a deposit and monthly payments for that.
Over the duration I entirely forgot that I'd left a deposit with the vendor and thought I'd been refunded.
Fast forward to about six weeks ago, nearly a year later, and I got a sudden email from the vendor telling me that the summer previous they'd mistakenly shipped me the item without taking payment and now wanted to know how I was going to pay for it.
I advised them I had no idea what they were talking about and asked whether they had tracking information.
They emailed me a Royal Mail tracking number which pulls up a delivery "made" while I was away on holiday which has a recipient name filled out which is a misspelling of my own surname and two illegible lines in the 'signature' section which bears no resemblance to a signature let alone mine.
There's no further note of where the purported delivery ended up. But it wasn't with me.
I've supplied the vendor my online travel booking docket for the hotel stay and challenged the erroneous Royal Mail docket as well as the legitimacy of turning up a year later to claim they allegedly just sent me goods for free and now want payment.
Since then I've had a recorded delivery letter asserting that I had a telephone conversation with their staff about the matter (not true) and keep usibg the phrase "as you know" to assert that I received the gooda and know what they're talking about and what I owe and demanding payment by a date in August.
I emailed them in response and restated my position and that I didn't appreciate being accused, when I wasn't even at home at the time they claimed I received goods, nor several days after.
I've logged a complaint with Citizens Advice but they're not exactly brimming with ideas.
I had already approached my solicitor who being fairly typical snorted off their efforts as a toothless fishing expedition and told me to ignore them as they had a claim that would never see the inside of a court due to their laughable error being the root and cause of their own problem. He's offered to send solicitors letters for almost as much money as the item is worth.
I don't really like having people threaten me with legal action, in spite of my indignance, so I broached offering the vendor a good will payment in good faith as it would be cheaper than a solicitor's letter and, frankly, I actually didn't want to fall out with the retailer. I know people can make honest mistakes and it's a shame they have to take a loss from that but, I vainly felt like offering to chip in might save some numbskull their job.
The solicitor as you might imagine said "give them nothing".
I offered them the equivalent of a third of the value of the item minus my deposit already paid to them last year and forgotten about.
I explained why I was trying to participate in an amicable solution for a silly mistake for which I had no liability.
And I waited.
Over a week later they sent me the same snotty letter by email, no reference to my reply.
I replied again, by email, restating my prior response. I added that I considered the repeated insistence that I was guilty of something an act of harrassment.
I resent the hotel booking evidence.
I've had another email today from a different person in a different department.
This individual demands that if the item is missing or stolen I must call the police to investigate and get a crime number. I must get a crime number for a retailer allegedly mistakenly sending me a product I never paid for which didn't get delivered because Inwas on holiday and apparently vanished without trace - a year after this allegedly happened - on the strength of a dodgy Royal Mail delivery record.
He claims the Royal Mail delivery record is the only proof he needs and cannot accept my online travel agency hotel booking as evidence I wasn't at home receiving the delivery.
I, of course, can back up the booking with bank and credit card statements, family photographs and the parking ticket I got while away. But I'm not giving them everything I might need in court.
This is getting ridiculous.
The individual also asked why I offered them a partial compensation for the item if I didn't receive it.
I should have known my consciensciousness would be taken the wrong way.
I've not replied yet.
I'm going to try Citizens Advice again tomorrow.
Any ideas please?
I've never encountered anything this insane.