canceled a hired costume - no refund. where do i stand

[teletubby]

i intend contacting citizens advice tomorrow but cant wait till then and would like to see others opinions on the legalities of my predicament below.

my wife contacted an online mascot hire company and ordered a mascot - a fancy dress teletubby costume. the terms at booking noted below:
1 standard mascot hire £105.50
STANDARD MASCOT HIRE £25 per mascot
DEPOSIT £50 per mascot (REFUNDABLE)
RETURN DELIVERY £27.50
TRANSACTION FEE £3
Deposits are refunded the week following hire return
Delivery covers up to 2 mascots for both DELIVERY and RETURN journeys
All hire / delivery / transaction fees are non refundable, but subject to availability and circumstance may be transferable at the discretion of XXXXXXXXXX

the booking was confirmed, payment made via paypal. the item was due to be delivered in 10 days time for a party.

within 24 hours of making the booking my wife contacted the seller to cancel the order.

after 3 days of back and forth with texts and emails the seller has finally refunded £77.50 (which is £105.50 minus a £3 transaction fee and £25 for the cost of the hire).

i see the £25 charge for hire cost as an unreasonable amount to charge. am i correct, legally, in this view? am i entitled to a full refund of the £25 hire fee? bearing in mind that the £50 was refundable on return of the costume, the item wasen't delivered nor sent so the £27.50 delivery fee is irrelevant. £3 transaction fee seems steep but fair enough, we don't mind losing that.

i appreciate it is a relatively small amount but its the principle and left us both angry. especially as the seller had the audacity to claim they were refunding the deposit and delivery charge as a gesture of good will!

any legal opinion and or advice is much appreciated

an angry teletubby

(costume was for our 1 year old daughters birthday party)

[charitynjw]

Hi & welcome.

Generally, the courts will not interfere with a (bad) bargain, providing that the terms are such that a reasonable person would see & understand them.
This was made clear in the Supreme Court case of Arnold v Britton and others [2015] UKSC even though the term there proved to be particularly onerous.

http://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/markup...method=boolean

This is tempered somewhat with unilateral contracts. (Ones where one party, usually a consumer, has no input in formulating the terms....you take them or leave them.)
The Consumer Rights Act 2015 does give valuable consumer protection re unfair terms, but imho your complaint doesn't really fit the criteria.

That said, I haven't had the benefit of scrutinising the actual contract terms/conditions, so any opinion is qualified accordingly.

You can watch the judgment on youtube.

[Amethyst]

Do you have the cancellation terms ? ( or any terms ?) website address would be helpful.

Consumer Contracts Regulations - http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2.../contents/made

[charitynjw]

Do you have the cancellation terms ? ( or any terms ?) website address would be helpful.

Consumer Contracts Regulations - http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2.../contents/made

An interesting point would be to find out when the service actually begins.
If it starts immediately on acceptance of the order, it may be that the item has to be checked &, if necessary, cleaned.
I think that regulation 36 allows for a reasonable charge for services already performed (ie prior to the item being delivered.)
I could be wrong on this.

[teletubby]

thanks for the responses! really is appreciated, and quite interesting re the legal side. i still think they are in the wrong at least morally.

the website is http://www.rentamascot.com/welcome

the "terms" are quoted on this page http://www.rentamascot.com/pay-for-h...1-d8c90032664c nowhere else that i can see

the term they quote back to me and claim to be legally acceptable is:

All hire / delivery / transaction fees are non refundable, but subject to availability and circumstance may be transferable at the discretion of RENTAMASCOT

[teletubby]

An interesting point would be to find out when the service actually begins.
If it starts immediately on acceptance of the order, it may be that the item has to be checked &, if necessary, cleaned.
I think that regulation 36 allows for a reasonable charge for services already performed (ie prior to the item being delivered.)
I could be wrong on this.

to quote "reasonable charge for services already performed" which is more or less what citizens advice website says as well:

my gripe is that the £25 charge is excessive and unreasonable given that the time frame between ordering and cancelling was 24 hours (almost exactly). the item should be clean and ready for dispatch regardless, the item suffered no wear and tear, the item did not require to be cleaned again, the item is now available for hire as normal etc.

i just dont see how they can justify keeping the full £25 hire fee in these circumstances.

[charitynjw]

Contact them & ask them to justify it.

Written communication is best (Email should be fine.)

[teletubby]

Contact them & ask them to justify it.

Written communication is best (Email should be fine.)

they have made it clear that, for them, the matter is closed and they will not respond to any further correspondence. they have given themselves a licence to ignore everything we send them from here on in.

if it helps us from a legal standpoint then we will do it regardless.

[james_law]

Personally can't see an issue with this.

It quite clearly states that hire/delivery/transaction fee are non refundable and you agreed to this by entering into a contract for the hire of the costume.

This safeguards businesses from losing out when they are putting services on the line. 24 hours notice may be deemed acceptable however think about it on the other side, they may have turned down customers so you can have the costume and now have go to get another customer in 24 hours otherwise they lose out.

Neither legally nor morally have they done anything wrong. All they are doing is trying to run a business.

[teletubby]

they have made it clear that, for them, the matter is closed and they will not respond to any further correspondence. they have given themselves a licence to ignore everything we send them from here on in.

if it helps us from a legal standpoint then we will do it regardless.

thanks for your response James.

the hire was cancelled within 24 hours of being placed. they sill have 9 days to hire the costume out.

i was under the impression that terms and conditions are more or less meaningless if they are contrary to consumer legislation?

for example, if i sell something and state in my T&C's that i am exempt from the 14 day cooling off period and will charge full amount regardless of whether or not a product or service is rendered - i am legally allowed to do this?

[Amethyst]

They don't give any cancellation terms that I can see - did you receive a confirmation email with cancellation details on?

[james_law]

thanks for your response James.

the hire was cancelled within 24 hours of being placed. they sill have 9 days to hire the costume out.

i was under the impression that terms and conditions are more or less meaningless if they are contrary to consumer legislation?

for example, if i sell something and state in my T&C's that i am exempt from the 14 day cooling off period and will charge full amount regardless of whether or not a product or service is rendered - i am legally allowed to do this?

Ah I see my bad. Unfortunately my opinion on the matter still says the same. You purchase a 3 night hotel stay and it states its non refundable, regardless whether you cancel it minutes after booking, you lose your money. That is legal.

I understand your analogy but what they are doing is not, in my opinion, contrary to any part of the CRA 2015. The terms are not onerous and are reasonable.

[Amethyst]

Ahhh using google I can find this - http://www.rentamascot.com/terms-of-hire - can't seem to get to it through links on the site though ?

Once paid, the hire fee for each mascot is non refundable in all circumstances. In the event of a cancellation for any reason, Rentamascot.com reserves the right to deduct the hire fee plus transaction fees from any payment paid by the hirer including any holding deposit..

They seriously need to sort out their website, and sort out their terms and policies - put in proper cancellation at various times before hire... if cancelled after dispatch they seem only to have the right to retain the mascot fee.... and they also have a 'part pay' booking option at £10 .... if that's cancelled, then what, do they have to chase you for the £15 odd ?

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[teletubby]

Ahhh using google I can find this - http://www.rentamascot.com/terms-of-hire - can't seem to get to it through links on the site though ?



They seriously need to sort out their website, and sort out their terms and policies - put in proper cancellation at various times before hire... if cancelled after dispatch they seem only to have the right to retain the mascot fee.... and they also have a 'part pay' booking option at £10 .... if that's cancelled, then what, do they have to chase you for the £15 odd ?

Thanks Amethyst. i have checked with the wife, at no time were those terms quoted to her and no cancellation policy was provided. we weren't directed to the page you have found nor is it (as far as i can tell) possible to navigate to this page from within their website.

not sure where that leaves us to be honest.

[teletubby]

They don't give any cancellation terms that I can see - did you receive a confirmation email with cancellation details on?

your opinion is appreciated James. i shall have a look through the CRA2015, more so for my own education than any hope of getting any money back :-(

i shall post if i find anything that backs my claim