Company has kept our deposit.

[Lucan]

Hi Guys,

I would appreciate any advice you can give.

 

In mid September this year we went to a Caravan company to look at potential caravan purchases,

we found one caravan that we liked it was a 2018 model,

 

however when talking to the salesman we expressed concern that the settee and the bed mattress seemed to be of very poor quality and lacked any real support. The settee and mattress also seemed older than the year of manufacture would suggest. The salesman assured us that the fittings were manufacture fitted and that was, 'Just how they are'. He agreed to look into the matter for us.

 

As a result we paid a £1,000 deposit on our debit card, the salesman asked us to sign a contract for sale regarding the caravan informing us it was 'a receipt for the money we paid'.

 

We were due to collect the caravan this week, however, during the period from signing the contract we felt that we were being mislead about the furnishings previously mentioned so we carried out some research.

 

I sent the photographs to the manufacturer and asked them if they were the original fittings supplied by them, they responded that the settee and mattresses shown in the photographs (Taken from the online sales pictures from the sellers website) were never fitted to that caravan and had never been supplied by the manufacturer. I also downloaded the brochure from the manufacturer that showed the settee and bed mattresses that were fitted to the year and model of the caravan we had paid a deposit on, were nothing like the ones currently fitted.

 

somebody has taken out the superior Settee and bed mattresses and replaced them with cheaper inferior quality ones which seriously devalued the caravan, notwithstanding reducing the comfort and quality of the caravan. He insisted that the photographs (taken from their website) were the correct fittings for that caravan.

 

On Sunday 20th October, I sent the caravan sales company a letter stating that we were rejecting the caravan and that we had been mislead as to the quality and provenance of the fittings, that we no longer had any trust in the sales company and under the Consumer Rights Act requesting the return of our deposit.

 

We received a response the next day that stated, they accept the cancelling of the contract however, they are retaining our deposit against the purchase of another caravan from them.

 

I think it is a given, that we would never darken their doorstep again let alone purchase anything from them.

I would add that all our concerns and the company's responses have been via email, so we have an audit trail of what has gone on.

 

I have considered chargeback, as we paid on a Visa debit card (I know should have used a credit card) and I am aware that we have 120 days to try and implement this.

 

I'm looking for advice as to what to write to the company to start with, i.e.

Letter of complaint (They have no complaints policy or procedure in their T&C, they are also not signed up to the Dispute Resolution Ombudsman Scheme) or a, Letter before Claim,

or do I involve Trading Standards.

 

Any advice from the wise members of this group would be greatly appreciated.

  

[FruitSalad1010]

Hi, I have some limited experience with forcing a deposit return from Merdeces Sandown Group who were unable to make good on their commitment to have a car delivered to their branch.

 

They were difficult and cumbersome to deal with when it came to returning the deposit

 

I opened a charge back section 75 which took less than 15 minutes.

 

I don't know if they were contacted by the credit card company but consider it highly likely because they returned the deposit shortly afterwards at the their own accord after some additional nudging, probably once they realised they were about to be charged for doing so anyway.

 

A tip for the future when signing for any vehicle (or probably any product) requiring a deposit. I had the salesman write and sign that the deposit was fully refundable if I was not satisfied, I then kept a record of this. This was explained to the credit card company who accepted the charge back request with no hesitation.

[dx100uk]

a section 75 reclaim under the Consumer Credit Act (credit) and chargeback ....are two completely different things.