Trying to cancel furniture order - where do I stand?

Hi All

I'm hoping someone here can help us out!

In late October myself and my partner put down a deposit on some furniture for our new apartment.

Last week the store called to say that they needed authorization to debit my card for the full amount before they could arrange a delivery date AND guarantee pre-christmas delivery, if this was done before December 1st.

I authorized then and there, and they managed to give me December 1st as a delivery date.

Due to unforseen circumstances, we now are not in a position to accept the delivery until Thursday 6th December, or some suitable time shortly after.

The store are now telling us that they will not deliver the furniture until after christmas, and they are going to charge us 8 Euro a day for storage.

Its bad enough that they cannot deliver the goods at any stage between now and Christmas, but to then turn around and say they will charge storage for goods they will NOT deliver is ridiculous!

I then said I wish to cancel the order completely and I did not mind losing my deposit. The assistant manager then said this was not possible, and later in the day when he heard we had paid the full amount (when chatting to my partner), said we definitely could not cancel the order!

Its now a case of, "we've got all your money, so tough"!!!

All we want is some flexibility on their part and arrange a date before christmas, but they will not budge......I would also gladly pay their storage rate in that case!

Can they keep all our money, even though we have not received any goods from them?


Tomorrow we get to talk to the manager, as she was not available today, but I doubt things will improve any and all Consumer Affairs lines are closed for the weekend!!

Thanks!

Were there any terms & conditions on the order form? Was the delivery date specified on the order form?

RainyDay said:

Were there any terms & conditions on the order form? Was the delivery date specified on the order form?

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Hi, Thanks for the reply!

"Appproximate Delivery Date 5 Weeks"
This was based on the order date of 20th October

To guarantee pre-xmas delivery we had to authorize full payment from my credit card. We then set-up a delivery date for Dec 1st.

This is the delivery we have had to cancel.

Considering we cancelled and tried to arrange a new date BEFORE Dec 1st, it should stiil be feasible for them to deliver before xmas, as the goods are just sitting in their warehouse.

We also have a second delivery from another of their stores coming in approx. 2 weeks (from the same warehouse!) which we have asked if this delivery could be combined with!.....no luck there either!

We do not want to cancel, but if they insist on NOT delivering before xmas, this is definitely the route we want to take!

Main Terms and Conditions
====================
"Cancellations : No order may be cancelled except with our agreement. Your deposit will be forfeited on any orders we are unable to cancel or alter."

"Ownership : The goods remain the sole property of the Company until payment has been received at which time title passes to you. You will be responsible for the care of the goods once you have received delivery of them."


Their website also states:

"We can change or cancel an order up until it is dispatched. If the order has been dispatched, you can return the item to us and we will organise a refund (excluding delivery cost)."

Moved from Legal & Financial issues to Good Deals,Bad Deals & Consumer Issues which is were the consumers rights are discussed.

Pen said:

To guarantee pre-xmas delivery we had to authorize full payment from my credit card. We then set-up a delivery date for Dec 1st.
This is the delivery we have had to cancel.

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You had a contract that included a delivery date of 1 December. You cancelled the delivery date, i.e broke the contract. This weakens your position considerably.

Pen said:

Can they keep all our money, even though we have not received any goods from them?

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Have they actually debited your debit card? In which case title has passed to you and you should be able to arrange to collect the goods yourself.

PMU said:

You had a contract that included a delivery date of 1 December. You cancelled the delivery date, i.e broke the contract. This weakens your position considerably.



Have they actually debited your debit card? In which case title has passed to you and you should be able to arrange to collect the goods yourself.

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I agree the cancellation is our fault and would gladly accept the storage fee and re-delivery charge IF they deliver before xmas. We may have broke that part of the contract, but the contract did not mention any policy of not delivering before xmas should you cancel.

Either way, we simply had to cancel, it was totally out of our control. Its not like the delivery date just didnt suit us. We would love to have the furniture now!

Any customer who paid up before Dec 1st is gauranteed pre xmas delivery, we cancelled and tried to re-arrange a new date before Dec 1st, so it should not be a major problem, considering we have a second delivery coming from them in a couple of weeks anyway!

From the legal perspective, I'm sure they are in the right because they deal with customers every day of the week! Its their lack of understanding or flexibility that annoys me.

You only see how good a company is when you have problems!!! Up until now we were delighted with them (bought from 2 of their stores) and have purchased all the furniture for our new apt with them.

The Dublin store has been excellent by the way, they have tried to look beyond company policy and treat the situation as an individual case. Their staff appear to be more empowered than the other store.

We're both new to all this, so we've learned a good lesson.....dont put all your eggs in one basket because the stores dont appreciate your business regardless how much you spend with them...

you could try and speak with the manager of the store and calmly explain the situation rather than assistant manager.. If that does not work, see if you can collect the stuff yourself, but this may not be possible as it may have to be delivered. Read through the small print of your receipt etc and see if it states what % the deposit is, though I think losing a deposit would not be the way to go. I would keep pushing to see if they can deliver some other date on this. If there was an unexpected issue that you couldn't be available, reiterate this. keep getting back to them. do not assume they know what they are doing and if they are in the right. Even get a friend to phone in to inquire about an item (something simple like a mattress) and get them to find out if delivery is still available before Christmas and also what the deposit is for this.If still no satisfaction, contact someone in the head office and explain that you have this other order coming out. let us know how you get on.

The retailer may have valid reasons for being unable to deliver pre Christmas on any other date than that initially agreed but charging you storage on items that you have paid for is unacceptable.

I bet if you check other T&Cs there’s one that says the delivery date is not the essence of the contract. If the retailer had to cancel a delivery and put it back by 10 days they would quote that at you. As with all T&Cs, it works both ways.

With regards to cancelling an order, there may be a condition of sale that goods can only be returned if faulty and orders cannot be cancelled if items were special order. Check that out first before looking for a refund.

If I were in your shoes I would tell the retailer you can make yourself available for a delivery during business hours anytime between now and Christmas with 2 days notice.

Thanks for all the replies!

We still have some hope left, in that we have the second delivery still to come from the Dublin store.

Since talking to the Dublin store, the "Non Dublin" store seems more open to trying help us out! Maybe its just words, but sometimes you just want to feel like they're trying to be reasonable, rather than spouting company policy at you!

Hi Pen
This Furniture store is ridiculous. For God sake, they'd have the furniture delivered in the time their coming up with storage charges and excuses. I work in a furniture store in Mayo. we'd never treat a customer like that as theres a saying 'if you treat a customer good they might tell one person but if you treat a customer bad the're sure to tell ten'. My advice is to ring joe duffy on Live line or threaten this company to ring Joe and I'm sure they won't want that sort of 'free' advertisment. Also in the down turn in the number of house sales they might be dam glad to deliver furniture in the near future. Best of Luck

lots4home said:

Hi Pen
This Furniture store is ridiculous. For God sake, they'd have the furniture delivered in the time their coming up with storage charges and excuses. I work in a furniture store in Mayo. we'd never treat a customer like that as theres a saying 'if you treat a customer good they might tell one person but if you treat a customer bad the're sure to tell ten'. My advice is to ring joe duffy on Live line or threaten this company to ring Joe and I'm sure they won't want that sort of 'free' advertisment. Also in the down turn in the number of house sales they might be dam glad to deliver furniture in the near future. Best of Luck

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Thanks!...obviously, I agree totally, its a crazy situation!

Joe Duffy and Ray Darcy are on the cards.....maybe "fix it friday"!

However, I will wait and see how it pans out with the second delivery...they may come good yet!!

I can completely see the stores point of view here. They are obviously extremely busy in the run up to christmas with customer swanting delivery of their furniture before then.
I dont see why they should be responsible for YOU cancelling the delivery date. The have schedules to keep and you cannot just expect to be slotted into a tight schedule just because the date no longer suits you.

The condition you refer to - pay before 01st Dec , guarented delivery was being kept by them but you cancelled. As a matter of interest how much notice did you give them. You posted here on 30/11 about it, the day before you were originally to be delivered the goods. If you cancelled and tried to arrange another Dec date weeks ago then i think they should try their best to accomadate you, but if you gave them a couple of days notice then you must understand they may not physically have the time to deliver the goods to you.

Also im sure the truck the second delivery is coming in is full and thats why they cant be combined.

I would suggest you arrange to get the good scollected as title has now passed to you.

Thrifty1 said:

I dont see why they should be responsible for YOU cancelling the delivery date. The have schedules to keep and you cannot just expect to be slotted into a tight schedule just because the date no longer suits you.

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At the risk of repeating myself, I'm not saying they are responsible for my cancellation AND I did not cancel because it did not suit me.

Obviously with xmas they are busy, but they admitted to me (after I had to cancel), that any new customers who paid before Dec 1st (and in certain cases, even after Dec 1st) would get xmas delivery.

They just will not do pre-xmas for cancellations.

The very least they could do when you arrange a delivery date is to warn people of their xmas policy.

Thrifty1 said:

The condition you refer to - pay before 01st Dec , guarented delivery was being kept by them but you cancelled. As a matter of interest how much notice did you give them. You posted here on 30/11 about it, the day before you were originally to be delivered the goods. If you cancelled and tried to arrange another Dec date weeks ago then i think they should try their best to accomadate you, but if you gave them a couple of days notice then you must understand they may not physically have the time to deliver the goods to you.

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Yes, you are right! I only gave 2 days notice....as I stated, it was due to unforseen circumstances.

Thrifty1 said:

Also im sure the truck the second delivery is coming in is full and thats why they cant be combined.

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We're still hoping they can be combined...

Thrifty1 said:

I would suggest you arrange to get the good scollected as title has now passed to you.

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Title has only passed to me because they insist on full payment before they will give a delivery date.

At this moment, they will not give us a delivery date for after xmas. Therefore in my eyes, they can hold my goods OR my money....but they certainly cannot hold both AND charge me storage for the pleasure.

If its their policy to store cancelled deliveries over xmas, they can pay for it. I want the goods before then and certainly do not want to occupy their storage space.

Just my opinion, as a simple consumer!!

What is the name of this company. Listening to whats gone on I would certainly not buy from them. I can understand they might not be able to give you a delivery date before Christmas but to charge storage is rediculous.

col said:

What is the name of this company. Listening to whats gone on I would certainly not buy from them. I can understand they might not be able to give you a delivery date before Christmas but to charge storage is rediculous.

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Thanks for your reply!

At this point I dont want to name and shame, I'm still being optimistic!!

If it all ends and misery, then perhaps I will and people can decide themselves if they wish to do business with them or not....but thats not the purpose of my thread!!

I guess the main theme now is just be aware and that some policies are not always listed in the T&C's!!!

For me, its all a learning experience...