Advice Please re Child purchases

[dexyblue]

I wonder if anyone can help me, my son turned 14 on 31st January and got a lot of cash from relatives for his birthday. Yesterday I allowed him for the first time to go to the Trafford Centre with some of his friends, un be known to me he had been in my handbag and took £150.00 of his birthday money, the jist of this is that he came home having bought a pay as you go Sony Ericcson W810i from Phones 4 U which was supplied with a T-Mobile sim card.

I bought him a mobile several months ago but was egged on by peer pressure to buy the phone.

 

I have been back to the shop today and explained whats happened but they wont give refund they gave me a number for customer services but they wont give refund either.

 

Can anyone advise please is it legal to sell such an expensive item to a 14year old?

To purchase from phones 4 U via the internet it stipulates that you must be 18 years old.

 

Advice needed urgently please

[tiglet]

sorry, but IMO unless it is a product which clearly states an age limit (i.e. computer game over 18 etc) then it's entirely legal for him to buy it. you could try appealing to head office and see if you can provoke an attack of conscience.

[blacksheep1979]

See it the other way - if your son had gone in with his birthday money to buy a phone and been turned away as being to young you would have been annoyed. The shop has sold a product that isn't age restricted, there is no legal necessity to refund unless the product is faulty, everything else would just be good will.

[Bookworm]

And to add to the above, I would instantly confiscate said phone until further notice to teach him he can not get away with things like that. ;-)

[ED1237]

Hi Dexy,

 

What a nightmare for you. There is some positive news though. I have just seen one of these phones sell on Ebay on a buy it now for £189. Could be a way of getting the money back.

[dexyblue]

Thanks all, sent an email to phones 4 u because on their web site you have to be 18 to purchase so whats the difference to the stores, as yet I've had no response

[blitz]

The age-18 requirment usually refers to the contract phones, in which you must be 18 to recieve credit. This does not apply to pay-as-you-go mobiles.

[Sidewinder]

The age-18 requirment usually refers to the contract phones, in which you must be 18 to recieve credit. This does not apply to pay-as-you-go mobiles.

 

The over 18s only rule does apply to web purchases on PAYG with Phones4U as well. Use of the website requires acceptance to many terms and conditions regarding use of private data, passing of details to third parties and agreements which form a 'contract' with P4U. The law stipulates that no contract can be enforced until one reaches the age of majority, therefore you must be 18 to legally accept those terms and conditions.

 

It does open a debate on how the 'contract' relating to your son's purchase of the phone can be enforced though. An offer to sell and his agreement to exchange money for goods is as much a contact as agreement to abide by T&Cs on a website surely?, I stand to be corrected by anybody with a greater knowledge of contract law however

 

If that is the case, and it may be a rough road to pursue it, I would take the advice given above and write a firm but polite letter to Head Office, stating that you consider that whilst the store manager may feel that he has right on his side with regard to the Sale of Goods Act, and you quite understand that your son is not without fault for acting without the authority of an adult, the fact that the consumer was in this case below the age of majority would render the contract of purchase unenforceable - precisely the reason that they require web purchasers to be over the age of 18. For the sake of £150 odd quid I can't see this causing too much of a problem, although P4U do not have a particularly good reputation for customer service!

[rosiecotton]

In theory anyone under 18 does not have the capacity to contract unless the goods are a necessary.

 

In practice, how do you define "a necessary"?

 

People under 18 make contracts every day. Just nipping to the shop for a bag of crisps is making a contract. Buying a top in New Look is a contract. Neither of these contracts would be unenforceable. Therefore in order to prove that your son did not have capacity to contract, you would have to be able to prove that this is different to the day-to-day contracts for "necessaries".

 

It's certainly worth exploring their terms and conditions some more though, if they themselves are stating that under 18s cannot contract in their stores they are almost admitting that they do not have legal capacity...

[mortis]

I wonder if anyone can help me, my son turned 14 on 31st January and got a lot of cash from relatives for his birthday. Yesterday I allowed him for the first time to go to the Trafford Centre with some of his friends, un be known to me he had been in my handbag and took £150.00 of his birthday money, the jist of this is that he came home having bought a pay as you go Sony Ericcson W810i from Phones 4 U which was supplied with a T-Mobile sim card.

I bought him a mobile several months ago but was egged on by peer pressure to buy the phone.

 

I have been back to the shop today and explained whats happened but they wont give refund they gave me a number for customer services but they wont give refund either.

 

Can anyone advise please is it legal to sell such an expensive item to a 14year old?

To purchase from phones 4 U via the internet it stipulates that you must be 18 years old.

 

Advice needed urgently please

 

one of my most hated arguments if your 14 year old is not mature enough to go shopping on his own then dont let him do so.

 

your his parent not the staff member or manager of the shop in which he bought the item.

 

you are at fault not the store.

[Parva]

one of my most hated arguments if your 14 year old is not mature enough to go shopping on his own then dont let him do so.

 

your his parent not the staff member or manager of the shop in which he bought the item.

 

you are at fault not the store.

Take delight in the knowledge that your son has many more brain cells than the amoeba to which I am replying here. You have many guises mortis but your simplistic mentality shines through like a beacon.

[demon_x_slash]

This one's from February...

[mortis]

Take delight in the knowledge that your son has many more brain cells than the amoeba to which I am replying here. You have many guises mortis but your simplistic mentality shines through like a beacon.

 

confused many guises?

 

and simplistic how? because i fell that a 14 yr old should be able to shop responisbly or that a parent should take responsibility for there own child?

[patdavies]

 

And simplistic how? because i felt that a 14 year-old should be able to shop responsibly or that a parent should take responsibility for his/her own child?

 

 

English 2/10

 

Write out responsibly 10 times.

Look up the differences between their, there and they're.

[marianiamh]

Take delight in the knowledge that your son has many more brain cells than the amoeba to which I am replying here. You have many guises mortis but your simplistic mentality shines through like a beacon.

 

 

Lol Parva do i sense a hint of sarcasm there!!! Really cheered me up that comment!!!

 

Moving on lol i would suggest selling it on ebay! Good Luck !!

[sweetnsexyenglish]

one of my most hated arguments if your 14 year old is not mature enough to go shopping on his own then dont let him do so.

 

your his parent not the staff member or manager of the shop in which he bought the item.

 

you are at fault not the store.

 

Teenagers nowadays are different to when I myself was growing up and can understand where dexyblue is coming from. As a parent myself, we try to allow our children a little trust and freedom, but whether the money was his or not he stole the money, that does not make the mother at fault, my daughter also 14 stole my bankcard and drew money out on my card, now some would say why did she know the pin...simple thing is if I can't trust my eldest who can I trust, when I am ill she is the person I have to depend on, but that doesn't put me at blame for putting trust in my child. It just shows how selfish and thoughtless they can be and highlights the abuse of trust.

 

Peer pressure and misguided facts was what lead my daughter to take my card to get money to top up her phone. But at some point we have to allow our children some freedom, but as the saying goes give them an inch an they take a yard, and this is the case with the purchase of the phone and I'd say stupidity in taking the money without permission.

 

I agree confiscate the phone, and if you are determined to get back the cost of the phone sell it on ebay.

[demon_x_slash]

whether the money was his or not he stole the money

 

Got to pull you up on that - it was the boy's birthday money, his property, not his mother's, and throwing it away like that will be a fine life lesson.

[sweetnsexyenglish]

He is under age as the parent and gaurdian the mother has the right to put up the money. so yes it's still theft as it was in her personal and may I add private handbag, and if what the child did was within his rights then he should have asked. So therefore there is no need to pull me up on that matter.

 

Further more as I have noticed this is a feb issue it is of no importance now but I stand by what I said.

[demon_x_slash]

No, it's not an important issue - but since when do you have to be 16 or 18 to have money, especially money gifted to you? Nonsense, underage indeed.