Hoping someone can help.

We called into a local fire/stove shop as we wished to have our gas fire removed and a wood burner installed.

Chap came round, checked everything and advised due to space we could only have an inset wood burner.

He showed us no physical examples just a couple of pictures from the web.

He provided us with an esitamate with his terms stating payment of half upon ordering and the remaining half five days before installation, the fitter to be paid directly upon completion as they are sub contractors. We duly paid and arranged a fitting date of last Friday.

The fitter removed our gas fire and found a live electrical socket embedded in the chimney behind it, and advised he could not fit the wood burner whilst it was still there which was quite understandable.

A builder working next door came and had a look and arranged for an electrician to come and make the socket safe, which he did and he advised that he had no idea where the wires were coming from as they were encased in concrete in the chimney breast. The fitter said he was still not prepared to fit the wood burner as it stands.

We rang the shop and the guy originally said the manufacturer would take the item back less a hundred quid, we felt we were entitled to a full refund because it can't be fitted due to health and safety issue.

We agreed to have the hundred quid knocked off the refund and advised that we would look to recoup that amount later,

the guy in the shop promptly hung up on us..

we emailed and asked him to process the refund and he emailed back threatening to charge us for storage of the wood burner and said it was totally fit for purpose and that we would come round and chase the wall so the wires could be pushed back, we declined as he is not a qualified electrician but we can't understand why he suddenly changed track and went on the defensive.

We paid by credit card, despite him wanting us to pay by Bank transfer so I guess we can down that route if he doesn't give us our refund?

Also because we did not physically see the wood burner before it was brought in by the filters we think we might be protected by the Consumer Rights Act which says you have fourteen days from receipt of the goods to return it because the law states you should be allowed to see the product or experience it before making a final decision.

We don't really want to go down the legal, route if we can help it but we can't afford to write off £2K

Anyone offer any advice on whether we are protected or not?

Thanks

i wonder why he wanted you to pay by bank transfer.... he knows that by CC there are rules. Bank transfer, once the money is in the account, you have zero comeback

That was why I paid by CC and I'm so glad I did, but we would just like him to refund us without having to go down that route

Well, he;s obviously trying to avoid his responsibilities. And legal route? Just go to the CC and start a chargeback.

But will they do it?

Effectively there is nothing wrong with the goods apart from they can't fit them unless we have electrical works carried out which will be costly and which we can't afford,

he has the woodburner and our money but could say we can have the woodburner back

(obviously we don't want it back as it's no use to us)

so were hoping that because we hadn't seen the item before it was delivered we would be covered by the consumer contract regulations

Could use an ADR

What is one of those?

alternative disputes resolution

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/alternative-dispute-resolution/settling-out-of-court/using-alternative-dispute-resolution-adr/

There's a good CAG stikky on ADR as well, RI.

https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?433406-Alternative-Dispute-Resolution-(Mediation)

HB

Ahh thanks. Its silly i never noticed that.

We spoke to a solicitor yesterday who says we are covered by the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2015 and are entitled to a full refund.

We have once again emailed the guy,

advising he has to give us a full refund within 14 days of our cancelling in writing which we did on 31st Jan,

solicitor says if he doesn't refund by 14th Feb he will take up on our behalf.

You don't need a solicitor. You can do it yourself for free

you cant reclaim solicitors costs so you would be better off staring a claim yourself.

We can advise what the procedure is and what to put in the claim.

It is usual for the sller to pay up once the claim form hits their doormat as they know that you arent going to let the matter slide.

You have been a member long enough to work out how to navigate the forum and to pick out the relevant bits

so from now on you dont use email,

you write proper letters and send them to the business address.

We also put a couple of our emails in the post to him, and sent via signed for post,

he has signed for them so can't say he hasn't received them..

solicitor would just send a letter and if he still doesn't pay up we would go through small claims court,

I will come back as and when I need help with the forms etc.

Thanks for the advice so far

but at the moment you are throwing good money after bad.

recorded post, solicitors etc.

you have over 1300 posting so you should know a little about how things work by now or at least know where to look.

Just trying to speed things up and reduce your costs.

Fair point, my previous experience is with DCA's etc so I guess I'm a little apprehensive as never had to do this sort of thing before...so if he hasn't refunded by 14th February you think we should just issue small claims papers to him?

This bloke is still ignoring us, he won't reply to anything we send and hasn't issued refund.

Come Wednesday when the 14 days are up for issuing refund as per Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013..

.can we just issue small claims court procedure?

Been reading about pre action protocol but not sure if that is applicable in this case?

if you have sent a letter telling them what you want and when you expect it by and warned them that you will take court action to recover the amount owed plus expenses then yes, just get on with it.

For the CRA it is the date you raised the matter that is important, not the date of your last action.

your solicitor should have made this clear both to you and in his letter to the company.

It may be that he didnt knowing very well that he would then generate further business by doing things slowly

We've not used solicitor for anything more than a free phone call...

.we have letter before small claims all typed up and ready to send if he doesn't comply with refund by end of 14 day period,

we will give him a couple of extra days after then as I'm in hospital next week..

.so we send it off, give him 28 days to respond and if nothing whack in the small clams court?

Yes If you threaten to do it, make sure the second the timeframe elapses, you file that claim. Be professional with it. Don't feel you have to be kind to them. Get the claim in, and you want nothing short of a refund as a result.

Thank you, can't believe the bloke is being such an idiot!

why give him an extra couple of days? It makes you look like you arent aht bothered.

We've not used solicitor for anything more than a free phone call...

.we have letter before small claims all typed up and ready to send if he doesn't comply with refund by end of 14 day period,

 

we will give him a couple of extra days after then as I'm in hospital next week..

 

.so we send it off, give him 28 days to respond and if nothing whack in the small clams court?

Because I'm in hospital today for a knee replacement so getting to the post office won't be possible!

And also if he would give a refund on my credit card at the last minute it would take a couple of days to show up

but he didnt did he?

also give him 14 days to pay up, nor respond and then sue his pants off rather than wasting time hoping he will be nice to you. You either want to resolve this or you dont, just making noises wont resolve things