No bed and no money!

[Red23]

Hi all,
I've joined up today to finally get some help with trying to get back £1000 which I spent buying a bed back in March 08.

I paid for the bed on 31st March 2008 by debit card and was told that it would be delivered free of charge the next weekend. When the bed didn't arrive I tried finding contact details on the website for the Sleep Depot Limited, which told me they had gone in to administration on the same day I had bought the bed and supplied me with claim form to fill out to send to their administrators Kroll.

I received a letter from Kroll on June 3rd 2008 telling me:

" I have now had the opportunity to review the Company's records and bank statements in detail and your payment does not appear to have cleared in the Company's bank account. We will, therefore, be unable to action a refund to you from the Trust Account.

I understand the company who processed card transactions on behalf of the Company are currently holding a number of customer payments. You may be able to claim a refund from your card issuer and you should, therefore, contact them to discuss the process for making a claim."

I have been in touch with the bank and they assure me that as the payment had been taken, it is now an issue with the company with whom I had originally made the transaction.

I have phoned Kroll many times and every time I hang up in frustration at not getting a straight answer. I've given £1000 away and I have nothing to show for it. Nobody can tell me who has my money and how I can go about getting it back.

Please help!!!

Thanks in advance

[yourbank]

unfortunately as the company has gone into administration you may have to wait and see if the company is bought by someone willing to honour the orders. Unfortunately, debit cards do not have the same protection as credit cards and I am afraid there may not be much more you can do.

[rippedoffagain]

You should ask your bank, and the administrator who the merchant service provider is. They will be holding onto funds. It may be the administrator will try to get the funds from them, arguing that they belong to the company, while the bank will try to charge back.

If they give the money back to the bank, the administrator might try to force them to pay the company. If they pay the company, the bank might try to force them to repay the bank. you are likely to be stuck in the middle until the company is formally dissolved.

[yourbank]

Chargebacks will only be done when it is fraud these days and not when there is a retailer dispute.

[Red23]

Yeah, I thought I might've hit a wall with this one. I did actually speak to the bank about a chargeback and they said exactly that. I suppose I'll just have to try and be nice to the administrator and cross my fingers.

Thanks for the help though guys