Please help me. I bought a defective brand new wedding gown off the rack and the seller (local bridal shop) is unable to restore to original condition (the laces are broken).
Tried the Office of Fair Trading, who told me the seller refused to resolve the matter. In addition the seller is starting to charge me with a storage fee for the gown (the gown is with him as I never picked it up after their attempt to repair it). Also, the seller said if I did not pick up the gown by April they will keep both money and the gown.
Fair Trading advised I take the matter to small claims court. Obviously I did not pick it up nor file a small claims court dispute as the credit card dispute was underway. Credit card reversed the charge. 45 days later (yesterday), I was told by credit card that they have reversed the credit, i.e. the seller won the dispute!
I am confused and shocked. 2 weeks ago, I called the dispute centre to confirm if the dispute is completely closed in my favour and they assured me that it is and seller can no longer counter dispute hence I went ahead and bought the same gown elsewhere.
Now I am in a more complicated situation.
First of all, if I continue to pursue this case, it might take beyond April to resolve which means seller will keep my gown and money. Even if seller return the gown, I will have 2 same gowns thanks to the credit card dispute team's inconsistent advise. And the gown from the first seller is defective. Who can I refer this matter to? It seems to me fair trading can't do anything. The seller seem to have a pattern of doing this to consumer.
Not long ago, I saw a review detailing a dispute between a customer and the seller but days later, the review is taken down. I assume due to legal threat from the seller. He also threaten to file a defamation suit against me if I write any review about my purchase. Also, the receipt the store provided was a blank receipt with no company headings or details, not even a stamp. Literally the receipt only contains the name of my gown, date and price.
I was lucky I had the credit card transaction docket as a proof of purchase from their shop. Isn't that illegal? There was no clear return or refund policy either. Nothing on their website nor their receipt, nothing was pointed out to me when I made the purchase too.
I feel like even though small business needs protection but the law also created loophole for them to manipulate the system. Such as I cannot write any review to warn others about things to be aware of.
Tried the Office of Fair Trading, who told me the seller refused to resolve the matter. In addition the seller is starting to charge me with a storage fee for the gown (the gown is with him as I never picked it up after their attempt to repair it). Also, the seller said if I did not pick up the gown by April they will keep both money and the gown.
Fair Trading advised I take the matter to small claims court. Obviously I did not pick it up nor file a small claims court dispute as the credit card dispute was underway. Credit card reversed the charge. 45 days later (yesterday), I was told by credit card that they have reversed the credit, i.e. the seller won the dispute!
I am confused and shocked. 2 weeks ago, I called the dispute centre to confirm if the dispute is completely closed in my favour and they assured me that it is and seller can no longer counter dispute hence I went ahead and bought the same gown elsewhere.
Now I am in a more complicated situation.
First of all, if I continue to pursue this case, it might take beyond April to resolve which means seller will keep my gown and money. Even if seller return the gown, I will have 2 same gowns thanks to the credit card dispute team's inconsistent advise. And the gown from the first seller is defective. Who can I refer this matter to? It seems to me fair trading can't do anything. The seller seem to have a pattern of doing this to consumer.
Not long ago, I saw a review detailing a dispute between a customer and the seller but days later, the review is taken down. I assume due to legal threat from the seller. He also threaten to file a defamation suit against me if I write any review about my purchase. Also, the receipt the store provided was a blank receipt with no company headings or details, not even a stamp. Literally the receipt only contains the name of my gown, date and price.
I was lucky I had the credit card transaction docket as a proof of purchase from their shop. Isn't that illegal? There was no clear return or refund policy either. Nothing on their website nor their receipt, nothing was pointed out to me when I made the purchase too.
I feel like even though small business needs protection but the law also created loophole for them to manipulate the system. Such as I cannot write any review to warn others about things to be aware of.
