Legal advice needed

[chippy1970]

I was in the process of getting prices for around £3000 pounds worth of power tools but someone else has gone ahead and ordered them all from our fixings supplier at a much higher price than I had sorted out with another tool supplier.

I told him to cancel the order the very next day and they are saying he has to have them they will get a re stocking charge. They have not yet been payed for as we have an account with the fixing company who have been pretty useless all the time anyway with late deliveries etc etc.

What I want to know is can he tell them to stick their order where the sun don't shine and are they just trying it on as I think.

Cheers Chris

 

[Karl]

Hi Chris

Have they been despatched yet? If not, how can they charge a re-stocking charge?

I had a similair incident recently (although not with £3k of gear!), and told them to stick the charge up their.........

Which they did.

I suspect your supplier is trying it on.

Cheers

Karl

 

[matt]

Them being useless aside... Why not see if they will honour the price you've found elsewhere?

 

[wizer]

AFAIK Distance Selling law says you have a 7 day 'cooling off' period. I don't know if this covers business transactions.

 

[CWatters]

Says here that it doesn't apply to B2B orders..

http://www.berr.gov.uk/consumers/fact-s ... 38102.html

 

[Anonymous]

If they value your business they will waive the charge. If they don't then tell them it was an unauthorised order and refuse to pay the restocking charge. If they persist I would definitely close the account with them.

 

[Jake]

Yes, exactly. Legally, it's probably a bit messy, but if they value your business they'll waive it, and if even if they don't, they are most unlikely to sue or anything unless they are plain mad.

 

[Freetochat]

Firstly, B2B has different rules and consumer protection doesn't apply. Even if it was an unauthorised purchase, it is an internal matter for you, and not for the trader.

Having been in this situation personally, as the product has not been dispatched, then any re-stocking charge will be difficult to prove, unless the items were a special order. However, even if the items were ordered in especialy for you, if they are catalogue items then they are being offered for sale on normal terms. Only non catalogue items can be termed special.

Goodwill or not, I would stand my ground and decline the order. It sounds more like they don't want to loose their order rather than anything else. In today's world there are always other suppliers.

 

[lurker]

The replies are all very true.
However morally you (or your company) made the mistake so I don't see why they should loose out - they must have put work into processing the order that was received in good faith.

Pay the restock fee & charge it to the employee who did not follow the rules.

Maybe some customers & suppliers deserve each other!

 

[chippy1970]

Thanks for all the replies guys.

Lurker ,

No need to make nasty comments mate you don't have all the facts. As for "some customers and suppliers deserve each other" what a stupid comment you have never met me or any of my colleagues, we are all very skilled hard working reliable unlike this fixings supplier. :evil: and dont say "why do you use them ?" because I dont its the main contractor.

The facts are as follows:

The main contractor who I sub contract for decided to help a few of us out on site by making a bulk order up for us all I being a helpful chap said I would try a few of my suppliers to get the best value deal.

I narrowed it down to Axminster and PS Tools who were both very helpful.

I texted the main contractor to say yes I can get all the stuff at a good price which he forgot about and went and ordered all of it from his fixings supplier.

So yes its down to the main contractor for forgetting and not the fixings supplier but at the same time if they want to keep regular business then their prices should reflect that. As for the restocking charge thats what they will get charged from the people who supply them supposedly.

Anyway its all been sorted as they have agreed a discount to the same as PS Tools nearly.

Any how thanks very much for all the helpful comments

The only thing I have on the list is my new Makita LS1013 mitre saw to replace my old Elu cant wait