Distance Buying by Internet, Fax, Mail or Phone.

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Hi All :)

I work in the Trading Standards Department of a County Council and in 2005 I had a truly appalling nightmare experience when I bought a computer by phone from a disreputable retailer. As a result, with the help of my Trading Standards Officer colleagues at work, I become quite knowledgeable about consumer rights when buying “at distance”, that is when the goods are not actually seen and there is no face to face contact. I hope that the information on this post will be helpful to others who have similar problems.

PLEASE CONFIRM WITH THE RELEVANT PROFESSIONAL ADVISORS BEFORE ACTING ON WHAT FOLLOWS WHICH IS JUST MY UNDERSTANDING OF THE CURRENT POSITION IN ENGLAND.

Please note that over time some of the links may cease to work as the websites are modified.

1. Legislation.
There are three pieces of legislation relevant :-
(a) Distance Selling Regulations, this allows you to send goods back and obtain a refund for any reason within seven working days of delivery. However, you have to pay for the return of the goods. There are more details here :-
http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/your-rights/fs_c01.shtml
(b) Sale of Goods Act, this allows you to obtain a full refund if the goods are not “fit for purpose”. There are more details here :-
http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/your-rights/fs_c04.shtml#3
(c) Consumer Credit Act, this means, if the retailer is disreputable and wrongly refuses to refund you, your credit card company may refund you and then they will recover the money from the retailer’s bankers. There are more details here :-
http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/your-rights/fs_c02.shtml

2. Trading Standards.
Over the past few years in England, Consumer Direct rather than your local council’s Trading Standards Service has become the usual first point of contact when you have a problem with a retailer which is proving difficult to resolve.
Phone :- 08454 040506
Website :- http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/
They will :-
(a) Give you a quick explanation of the above three pieces of legislation and send you plain english pamphlets for reference.
(b) Send you letter templates to use in trying to resolve the problem with your goods or obtain a refund. There are some here :-
http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/complaints/letters.shtml
(c) Record your complaint about the retailer and add it to any others already on file.
(d) Give you advice on how to proceed with your particular problem.
(e) Possibly take up your complaint directly with the retailer or, if the retailer has a Home Authority Trading Standards Officer, pass the details to him/her for consideration.

3. Credit Card Company.
You should :-
(a) Let them know as soon as possible that you have a problem.
(b) Provide them with all the details and evidence of what has happened.
(c) If you are entitled to a refund the retailer is allowed 30 days after the return of the goods to refund your money, if they do not refund you and do not dispute your entitlement to a refund then on Day 31 your Credit Card Company should refund you.
(d) If the retailer does dispute your entitlement to a refund, then it has a further 60 days to prove to your Credit Card Company why you are not entitled to a refund.

4. County Court.
If all else fails you may have to use the Small Claims Procedure.
(a) You can find your local County Court from here :-
http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/
(b) They will give you straightforward advice on procedure and send you a plain english pamphlet.
(c) You do not need to employ a solicitor.

5. Proving Your Case.
This is most important because to some extent your Credit Card Company and Trading Standards will be “second guessing” what the outcome of your County Court case would be, when deciding whether to refund you or take up your case with the retailer respectively.
(a) Keep a diary of exactly what happens and when.
(b) Keep details of the agreed system specification, the order, emails, faxes, letters and phone conversations.
(c) Send all important letters by Recorded Delivery.
(d) Consider tape recording all important phone conversations and inform the other party you are doing so.

As you will have guessed my nightmare experience was with Mesh Computers and in my opinion there is unlikely to be a more disreputable computer retailer in the UK, so my experience may well be a “worst case scenario”. Even after my excellent Credit Card Company, The Cooperative Bank, had refunded me, Rita Vekaria of Mesh Customer Service sent me a letter insisting I accept redelivery of my “not fit for purpose” system and threatening to charge me “storage” for the time it had been at Mesh. In order to bring my nightmare to an end it was necessary to itemise and prove what had happened to Brent Trading Standards. The point I am making here is that if you are the victim of a disreputable retailer, it is vital you can “Prove your Case” and this is why the advice given in “Section 5” is so important.

Just as an example, here are the bullet points from my letter of 30th, June 2005 to Ms. Paula Anderson, the Brent Home Authority Trading Standards Officer responsible for trying to keep Mesh in line. Since I was able to “Prove my Case” to Ms. Anderson, she paid Mesh Customer Service a visit which finally put a stop to all their disreputable nonsense.

“Putting it very bluntly …..

Mesh have denied receiving my letter of 12th, March 2005 to circumvent The Distance Selling Regulations and deny me the refund I am entitled to. (Wording moderated in respect of Forum Guidelines – MV.)
Mesh state they will refuse to accept returned goods they have not authorised to intimidate customers out of returning unwanted or faulty goods.
Mesh threaten to charge “storage” if you refuse to accept the return of unwanted or faulty goods to intimidate you into accepting it.
Mesh operate a telephone system which keeps customers waiting for long periods and refuse to transfer them to other Mesh departments, making them dial again and wait a long time again.
Mesh state you can email them, but they did not reply to any of my emails.
Mesh did not acknowledge or reply to four of my letters.
Mesh advertise as providing “excellent service” which is clearly not true.
Mesh advertise as giving “effectively free technical support” because of their ringback service which was not true in my experience.
Mesh advertise as a “plc” which may not be true.

By all means ask Mesh for their side of the story, I suspect they may dispute some of the above, but if you get back to me I will probably be able to prove that I am right.”

If you are interested, you can read the details of my nightmare, and how nottsfedup, a magistrate, and smallpack, a company director, successfully went about extracting refunds from Mesh, on the following thread entitled “A Midsummer Day Message to all Mesh Victims” :-
https://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/thread-2552623.php

When it comes to putting a stop to disreputable retailers “getting away with it” …..

Together we can make a difference !!!!!!!!!!!!!! :thumb:
Best Wishes,
MeshVictim :)
 
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the saga continues

Interesting article MeshVictim, hope you have not gone to OTT on it;)

We had a "mesh employee" in the current mesh thread yesterday.
Wanting to voice their own unique view on their illustrious employer:rolleyes:
 
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Hi

I nearly bought a mesh computer 2 month ago, glad I cancelled it. I got terrible service before I even confirmed the order, so i happily cancelled it. Mesh service is absolutely appaling and the company should be under investigations by the watchdog. The staff in mesh are rude have no experience in dealing in good practical manner with customers. My advice is keep away from mesh and buy from reputable companies like dell, pcworld etc.
 
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Hi ricky101 :)

ricky101 said:
Hi
I nearly bought a mesh computer 2 month ago, glad I cancelled it. I got terrible service before I even confirmed the order, so i happily cancelled it. Mesh service is absolutely appaling and the company should be under investigations by the watchdog. The staff in mesh are rude have no experience in dealing in good practical manner with customers. My advice is keep away from mesh and buy from reputable companies like dell, pcworld etc.
Welcome to the PC Review Forum ricky101
happywave.gif

A forum free from the influence of any computer retailer
nod.gif


Yes, you may have avoided enduring an absolute nightmare with Mesh Customer Service. If you have anything to add about your experience of Mesh, as you have probably seen, there is an ongoing debate about Mesh on this thread .....

https://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/thread-2552941-1.php

Together we can make a difference !!!!!!!!!!!!!! :thumb:
Best Wishes,
MeshVictim :)
 

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