Postgoldforcash.com – Are their T&Cs compliant to the UTCCR’s 1999’s? or is this a perfect crime?

[fork-it]

My partner was about to post a large amount of gold including Victorian Soveriegns into a mailbag to postgoldforcash.com - until I read their letter and put the mockers on it.

 

Very salesy, but half way down it says...

 

In the unlikely event you are not delighted with out offer, we will promptly return your gold – again at no cost to you*. We are happy to make that commitment because we pay great prices and offer a fantastic service – so we know you will be delighted.

 

The asterisk point to the words * see www,postgoldforcash.com for T & C’s

On their website http://www.postgoldforcash.com/terms-and-conditions about half way down it says:

 

You need to list the quantities of the items you are sending us on the form provided and you need to complete your details in full and sign the Customer Declaration. Postgoldforcash reserves the right to reject any forms (and the items they are sent with) which are not properly completed and signed. Postgoldforcash also reserves the right to reject delivery of any package which appears to be opened, damaged, or tampered with in any way. Any such packages we reject will be returned to you - at our cost – but without any liability to Postgoldforcash.

 

It appears this company has excluded itself from liability when returning the goods, Its T&C's place no obligation on them to the consumer at all, effectively acquiring the consumers goods for nothing.

 

In a subsequent police investigation, the detective would be told its in the post guv and produce a certificate of posting to satisfy Section 7 of the Interpretation Act 1978 - which could be for anything sent to the consumers address.

 

Call me a cynic if you like, but this looks like a perfect crime - theres no evidence!

[KerryPatton]

Hi there, my name is Kerry Patton and I am the Customer Acquisition Manager at Postgoldforcash. com

 

I would like to reassure you that at no time are we attempting to pull the wool over any of our customers eyes, and acquire the goods for no cost. We have over 40,000 very happy customers, and mystery research conducted by the BBC One Show and independent research company TNS have proven that we pay over double the amount paid for gold, than by our competitors.

 

Similarly, we work in partnership with WHSmiths, which is one of Britain's most respected brands

 

Our Terms and Conditions are designed to protect both us and our customers, but at all times we aim to treat our customers fairly - indeed, over 91% of our customers rate our customer service as good or excellent

 

I would be happy to answer any queries you may have

 

Kind Regards

 

Kerry

[biggeorge]

Have you Postgoldforcash.com considered offering a gold calculator like your competitors?

 

I have used a company before and was quoted online for the weight of my gold and next day received

a phone call confirming the quote, Minus a few pounds the money was in my account the next day.

 

I have more gold to sell and very tempted to go with the company I used before who currently buy at £9.50 a gram

http://www.howcashforgold.co.uk/

 

From your web site I am unable to get a quote without sending in my gold, Even showing the current buy rate would give the customer some idea of what they would be likely to receive if they sent in their gold.

 

George

[KerryPatton]

Hello George

 

We have chosen not to use a gold calculator, unlike many of our competitors. We have spoken to many of our customers who have been badly mislead by these on other websites. The reason being that in many cases, the price quoted by the calculator online is unachieveable once you send your gold in - the companies will make deductions for postage, admin, insurance etc. Additionally, many of these companies will simply issue a cheque for the amount they are prepared to pay, with a very short window for you to return it if you are dissatisfied.

 

In contrast, at Postgoldforcash.com we will contact you within 24 hours of receiving your gold to make you an offer, which you can choose to accept or decline. If you accept, we will pay you by cheque, straight into your bank or even in actual CASH which we will send back to you via Special Delivery.

 

I would be happy to send you a free gold selling pack for you to send your gold in, and I am sure that you will be happy with the price that we offer you.

 

Thank you for your feedback

 

Kerry

[fork-it]

Hi Kerry, thank you for taking the time to reply to my concerns. I think you should revise the following clause in your terms of business for the reasons mentioned in my post above:

 

Any such packages we reject will be returned to you - at our cost – but without any liability to Postgoldforcash.

 

 

It is not consistent with Regulation 5(5) of Schedule 2(1)© of the The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 which says...

 

 

©making an agreement binding on the consumer whereas provision of services by the seller or supplier is subject to a condition whose realisation depends on his own will alone;

 

It is only fair that your business postgoldforcash.com accepts responsibility for loss or damage to consumers goods while it is in your possession.

 

Added: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1999/2083/schedule/2/made

Edited September 28, 2010 by fork-it

[barracad]

Hi Kerry, thank you for taking the time to reply to my concerns. I think you should revise the following clause in your terms of business for the reasons mentioned in my post above:

 

 

 

 

It is not consistent with Regulation 5(5) of Schedule 2(1)© of the The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 which says...

 

 

 

 

It is only fair that your business postgoldforcash.com accepts responsibility for loss or damage to consumers goods while it is in your possession.

 

Added: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1999/2083/schedule/2/made

 

The snippet you have quoted from the T&Cs appears to relate to items which postgoldforcash which "appears to be opened, damaged, or tampered with" - i.e. where the loss or damage occurs before postgoldforcash receive the item. If you send a package to them and upon receipt it is damaged or openened then any claim you have should be with your chosen postal carrier. I disagree with your statement that suggests postgoldforcash should take responsibility for these kind of losses, as they have taken place before they entered their possession.

[biggeorge]

Thanks for the reply Kerry.

 

Not sure how other companies work as I have only used the above mentioned company and had no problems at all.

 

Received an online quote from my own weight of £208 and next day received phone call with offer of £206, slight difference in weight but most likely stone/s left in 1 of the broken rings I sent in.

Money was in my account the next day, Top class service and I had a real good idea of the worth of my gold I was sending in.

 

I'll decline the offer of sending a gold pack.

 

I have no connection to the above name gold company just a very happy customer.

 

George

[AtlantisZPM]

The snippet you have quoted from the T&Cs appears to relate to items which postgoldforcash which "appears to be opened, damaged, or tampered with" - i.e. where the loss or damage occurs before postgoldforcash receive the item. If you send a package to them and upon receipt it is damaged or openened then any claim you have should be with your chosen postal carrier. I disagree with your statement that suggests postgoldforcash should take responsibility for these kind of losses, as they have taken place before they entered their possession.

It doesn't go that far they will refuse delivery. What concerns me is the last part of the the T&Cs where if you reject there offer they are not liable for the goods when they send it you back. So they could just send it second class or possibly not send it at all. if I was stuck in this situation I would have no problem taking them to court and providing proof they received the goods. If their only defense was there highly unfair T&Cs I would be happy as I believe a judge would certainly see common sense. I am guessing the T&Cs were not written by someone that is legally qualified.

[mightymouse_69]

It doesn't go that far they will refuse delivery. What concerns me is the last part of the the T&Cs where if you reject there offer they are not liable for the goods when they send it you back. So they could just send it second class or possibly not send it at all. if I was stuck in this situation I would have no problem taking them to court and providing proof they received the goods. If their only defense was there highly unfair T&Cs I would be happy as I believe a judge would certainly see common sense. I am guessing the T&Cs were not written by someone that is legally qualified.

 

 

Where do they state this?

 

As far as I can see, Postgoldforcash only exclude liability for items they send back if they were damaged on receipt.

 

None of the terms seem unfair.

[barracad]

What concerns me is the last part of the the T&Cs where if you reject there offer they are not liable for the goods when they send it you back.

 

It doesn't state that at all. The snippet posted relates specifically to items which they never receive, basically saying they are not liable for items which they haven't received. The information regarding items which they return to you is as follows:

 

In the unlikely event that any of your items are lost once we have received them, Postgoldforcash will pay you their replacement value, or provide items of a near equivalent value. If you are not happy with the near equivalent items we provide, we will jointly appoint, and jointly pay for, an independent valuer to assess them and we will both be bound by his or her judgment.

[AtlantisZPM]

Apologies in that case mis read T&Cs i thought they refered to all returns they were saying they were not liable...