[ntnm] How to Claim Back
- From: "Dan Roche" <dan.roche@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <ntnm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 11:12:53 +0100
Hi All,
Thought some of you might like to read this article from today's Daily Mail.
Headline is a bit messed up. That's there fault and not mine!!
We show you lame excuses trottedes to avoid paying u how to fight back
EVERY week, hundreds of you get in touch to complain about shocking customer
service that has left you out of pocket.
Yet in many cases, the error is entirely of the company's making.Thanks to
poor training, lack of knowledge or sheer incompetence, you've ended up
being
asked to pay for someone else's mistake.
So to help you out, here are the top clangers made by shop, bank and call
centre staff and what to know to rebuff them on the spot.
'TOASTER NOT WORKING? CALL THE MANUFACTURER' YOU buy a new microwave, take
it home and use it for the first time at lunch the next day. Nothing happens
except for a horrible burning smell and a bang. You take it back to the
store only to be told:
'Sorry, it's not our
responsibility. Call the factory instead.' Yet under the 1979 Sale of Goods
Act, you've all manner of protection which puts the cost of sorting it out
firmly back in their
court.
The act says any item must be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose and
last a reasonable length of time. So whether it's ripped clothing, dodgy
electronics or a
misfiring new car, take the item back to the retailer. It's their legal duty
to put it right.
Return goods within six months and the store has to accept they were faulty
when you bought them and make amends with a refund, repair or replacement.
You can get a refund if you spot something wrong quickly say you spy a rip
in a sofa hours after delivery or a new vacuum cleaner develops a fault
within a matter of
weeks. You'll need proof of purchase usually a receipt.
Six months after purchase, the onus falls on you to prove your item was
faulty when you bought it, which usually requires finding an independent
specialist for tests.
Not all retailers stick to this rule. If it's cheaper for the shop, it'll
usually first offer you a repair but this must be done in a reasonable
time.
As a last resort, if a number of repairs fail to solve the problem your
microwave keeps failing to work properly you're entitled to a replacement.
'WE CAN'T CANCEL YOUR MONTHLY GYM SUBSCRIPTION' YOU'VE tried in vain to
cancel an online subscription for gym membership, a magazine or even dating
agency, but the company still keeps taking your money.
So you call your bank, only to be told there's nothing it can do either.
You've fallen victim to a type of payment known as a recurring transaction,
also called a
continuous payment authority.
They look like direct debits, but are very different. Instead of taking your
bank details, companies take the 16-digit number on your credit or debit
card instead.
This allows them to grab as much as they want from your account whenever
they like.Unfortunately, permission for this will normally be buried in the
smallprint, and
many customers don't know they've signed up for it.
Yet even though you have a right to tell your bank to cancel, many bank
staff don't know this and will tell you they can't do it.
You can point to the Payment Services Regulations (2009), which make it
clear the bank must act in such cases. 'The payer may withdraw its consent
to the execution
of a series of payment transactions at any time,' it says.
Last year, a probe by the City watchdog Financial Conduct Authority found
banks were failing customers. It ordered them to ensure staff cancelled
recurring payments
when asked. Even better, if a payment goes through after you have asked the
bank to cancel, it must refund you.
'OUR WARRANTY GIVES YOU TOTAL PEACE OF MIND' YOU ask for help browsing TVs
in your local store and a friendly staff member points out all the
differences.
Just as you're about to pay for one, the assistant says: 'If you don't buy
our warranty, you won't be covered if it
breaks down after a year.' Shops love to terrify you into buying costly
warranties that cover the risk of electrical goods breaking for up to five
years.
In some cases, the cost of the warranty can be as much as a third of the
cost of an item itself.But you have more protection than you may think. If
what you buy falls
apart at any time up to six years after you bought them (five years in
Scotland
), you can ask for a repair or partial
refund.Critically, though, you must take into account how much use you've
already made of your
goods.
It must also be reasonable for what you bought to still be working. For
example, you'd expect an £600 washing machine to last for several years, but
what about a £150
model?
Unfortunately, there's no legal basis as to what 'reasonable' actually is.
Common sense should apply but any dispute could only end up in court for
resolution.
'PAID BY DEBIT CARD? NO REFUND' YOU'VE bought a pair of shoes online using
your debit card but the sole keeps coming off. Repeated attempts to contact
the
offending firm have failed, so you write it off as bad luck because you
didn't buy it using your credit card? Wrong.
Most people know Section 75 of the 1974 Consumer Credit Act means your
credit card company must take responsibility if something goes wrong with
your
transaction. So if goods don't turn up, say, or they're dreadful quality and
the seller won't recompense you, your card
company must pay out.If if you paid with a debit card, banks often tell you
you don't have any protection. But this isn't
true.
A scheme called chargeback run by most banks and card providers promises to
reverse your payment if something goes awry.
This applies to faulty goods and fraudulent transactions, or if you buy
something and the company goes bust.
There are limits, though. You need to prove you've tried to get your money
back by the usual routes, so keep notes of complaints.
And you usually have only 120 days from becoming aware of the problem to
report it to qualify.Even better, while section 75 protects you only for
purchases over £100,
chargeback applies if you spend less than this.
'YOUR HIRE CAR NEEDS MORE COVER' YOU'RE tired after a gruelling flight, the
kids are yelling and you're desperate to grab the keys to your hire car
you'll sign
anything to be on your way. Car hire firms exploit this familiar situation
to bulldoze exhausted holidaymakers into
handing over their cash. Fail to do so, they warn, and you face being
charged up to £1,000 to repair even a tiny scratch.
But you don't need to buy this policy. For a fraction of the price, you can
buy one-off waiver policies here before you go. Try websites such as
icarhireinsurance.com.
Remember to take a credit card with you as the car hire firm is likely to
ask for a deposit in the event of a bump.
'NOT INJURED? THEN WE CAN'T PAY OUT!' TIME and time again, we see readers
wrongly
told they can't get an insurance policy payout because of a clause buried in
the smallprint.Recent cases flagged up by the Financial Ombudsman reveal
customers
refused a payout for their mobile phone because they were not physically
harmed when their phone was stolen.
It found an example of a man walking home when a thief shoved him to the
ground and ran off with his mobile phone.
Yet despite this being a clear theft, his insurer wrangled over whether the
thief had given the customer a light or a hard shove because the policy
would pay out only if
force had been used.
The Ombudsman upheld the claim because, in its eyes, any force is sufficient
force.Similarly, many travel insurance policies have entire clauses written
in about
whether you are eligible for a claim if you injure yourself after drinking
alcohol.
The Ombudsman takes a dim view of such attitudes. A spokesman says: 'Firms
are not allowed to fob off customers like this. Just because a rule is in
the terms of a
contract doesn't mean it is fair.' If you're unhappy with your insurer's
decision, contact the Financial
Ombudsman at financial-ombudsman.org or call 0800 0234567.'A PIN ON PAPER
CAN SCUPPER A CLAIM' IF YOU lose money through fraud and your
bank account has been hacked under rules introduced in 2009, your bank must
reimburse you. The only exception is if you have been grossly negligent.
But during the past two years many High Street banks have revamped their
smallprint to introduce changes which could allow them to block
compensation.
For example, some banks demand customers have a separate Pin for every card
and account, and others will dig their heels in on a payout if you wrote the
number
down.
But these rules are not hard and fast, says the Financial Ombudsman. It very
much depends where you keep your details and whether what you did would make
it easy
for criminals to target you.
Did For example, say you stick a folded note of your Pin in your wallet with
your card.There cases fraud in year £ You might keep it hidden in a zipped
compartment or
behind a library card, but this would amount to gross negligence.
However, keep a note of it somewhere safe at home and your bank should pay
out. The more measures you take to keep it secure such as writing it in
code or locking
it in a safe the less trouble you'll have getting your bank to cough up.
'LOST THE RECEIPT? WE CAN'T HELP YOU' ALTHOUGH the paper evidence is most
people's first point of call, proof of purchase can be a bank statement
instead.
If you're in a dispute with a shop over faulty goods, for example, and have
lost the original receipt, then the entry on your bank account or credit
card statement will
suffice, Trading Standards says.
If you can show the line on your document that refers to the purchase, then
a retailer will have to honour its usual returns policy.
'OVERPAID ON GAS? IT'S OURS FOR A YEAR' OVER half of households have built
up a huge amount of credit with their energy supplier. Many struggle to get
it back.
When you pay by monthly direct debit, your annual bill is split into 12
equal payments. This means that in the summer when the heating is off, you
overpay and rack up
a credit. But in the winter when you use more energy you eat into the
surplus. The idea is that at the end of the
year your bill balances out at zero.But households often build up bigger
credits than they should because their direct debit is set
too high or they use far less gas and electricity than their supplier
thought they would.Most firms refund you any cash owed at the end of the
year. But you don't have to
wait. Under condition 27 of the Gas Supply Licence you have the right to ask
for this money back
whenever you want unless your supplier can give you a decent reason
otherwise you do not have to wait until the end of the 12-month cycle.
you You will need to provide an up-todate meter reading.
know? Don't be fobbed off by your were 221,000 of identity the
UK
last alone, costing £1.2bn supplier offering to lower your monthly
payments. They should do this
anyway after refunding you a chunk of your balance as it very likely you're
paying too much.
If your provider won't return your cash, complain and ask why. If you still
don't get anywhere call the Energy Ombudsman on 0330 440 1624. Energy
regulator Ofgem
has the power to fine firms that breach the Gas Supply Licence.
'BOTH MUST SIGN TO SHUT JOINT ACCOUNT' WHEN a relationship breaks down, an
unhappy partner may go on a reckless spending spree.
This forces the other half of the former couple to try to bar the account.
But when they visit a branch to try, bank staff frequently say that they
can't block a joint account
with the authorisation of just one signatory.
But there is no official law governing this and, in most banks' smallprint,
it usually says one person can close the account.
The Financial Ombudsman Service says it expects a lender to treat the
consumer fairly and sympathetically if they are experiencing financial
hardship.
Did you know? There were 221,000 cases of identity fraud in the
UK
last year alone, costing
£1.2bn you
Dan
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