Would you refund the deposit?

Spring Feather said:
Actually I'm not too surprised about their response. There are certainly cooling off periods for deposits on purchases however it depends on what it is as to how it works and what the goods are. The buyers are probably going after you as you were the agent in this sale and you were the one who took the money, so they'll likely use the Consumers Rights Act to get the money back that they paid you. No-one here can say for sure what the outcome will be in a small claims court tbh because it's pretty subjective. You could win or you could lose, either way it's a giant pain in the butt.
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Hardly subjective in this case SF, Trading Standards has told the vendor what English law on the matter is and would no doubt send a statement to the court to verify this.
 
Cooling off period does not apply in this case, period!

They are trying to threaten you, they cant win. Ive dealt with this numerous times, have spoken with Citizens advice, trading standards, solicitors the works - the buyer simply changing their mind means they forfeit the deposit end of.

Stand your ground, call citizens advice/consumer direct/trading standards etc - they will all tell you the same and give you peace of mind :)


As said above, there are only very very specific things that coolling off periods apply too.

Cooling off periods are for things like credit agreements, distance selling ( mail order - prior to the item being posted), people who sell things to you on your doorstep, time shares etc - they certainly do not apply here!

Next they will tell you that you never informed them that it wasn't returnable. ;)

You do not have to have gave any notice at all what so ever that a deposit is non-refundable, by the very nature of them - they are! No point in a deposit that is. Only if its the other way around, ie that you have specifically told the that the deposit was refundable - would they have a case.

http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index/getadvice.htm
http://whatconsumer.co.uk/cooling-off-and-cancellations/

Brownmare said:
The owner has taken advice from the CLA legal helpline who have said they are under no obligation to refund the deposit, as is the general consensus here.


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Good :) then dont give it another thought. Good luck with the sale when you find new buyers and finding nice new owners for the horse.
 
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alainax said:
Cooling off period does not apply in this case, period!

They are trying to threaten you, they cant win. Ive dealt with this numerous times, have spoken with Citizens advice, trading standards, solicitors the works - the buyer simply changing their mind means they forfeit the deposit end of.

Stand your ground, call citizens advice/consumer direct/trading standards etc - they will all tell you the same and give you peace of mind :)


As said above, there are only very very specific things that coolling off periods apply too.

Cooling off periods are for things like credit agreements, distance selling ( mail order - prior to the item being posted), people who sell things to you on your doorstep, time shares etc - they certainly do not apply here!

Next they will tell you that you never informed them that it wasn't returnable. ;)

You do not have to have gave any notice at all what so ever that a deposit is non-refundable, by the very nature of them - they are! No point in a deposit that is. Only if its the other way around, ie that you have specifically told the that the deposit was refundable - would they have a case.

http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index/getadvice.htm
http://whatconsumer.co.uk/cooling-off-and-cancellations/




Good :) then dont give it another thought. Good luck with the sale when you find new buyers and finding nice new owners for the horse.
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That! ^^^
 
I suppose it is a bit like a buyer wanting to return a horse after a short time. Most people I know would take the horse back for its own good, perhaps minus costs (although most people I know are not on yards so do not have livery spaces to faff with), but it isn't a requirement to do so and would of course be a huge inconvenience.
 
No I would not - because you held the horse for them potentially missing out on other sales, having to readvertise etc

If it was a big deposit I may return a part, but most people would not pay a deposit they are not comfortable losing
 
I think if you have stated to them that deposit is non refundable as it covers the cost of new ads and your time keep it, if you said nothing this time I would give back.
Give a receipt to buyers that states this and have them counter sign, keeps you right.
 
Deposits are by purpose non-refundable, otherwise they are completely pointless. It's up to her if she wants to offer a refund or not.
 
Alainx posted a link to the law relating to these circumstances & you clearly do not have to refund the deposit. The 'purchaser' is obviously annoyed at not being refunded, despite it being their fault that this has arisen & they are waving the 'big stick' of threatening legal action to recover the money. They can bluster as much as they want but the law is the law & the deposit is not refundable. If they actually go & get legal advice they will be told the same as has been posted on this thread........ they have no case!

You have told them this, do not bother entering into any further discussions with them it is pointless.
 
Toby_Zaphod said:
Alainx posted a link to the law relating to these circumstances & you clearly do not have to refund the deposit. The 'purchaser' is obviously annoyed at not being refunded, despite it being their fault that this has arisen & they are waving the 'big stick' of threatening legal action to recover the money. They can bluster as much as they want but the law is the law & the deposit is not refundable. If they actually go & get legal advice they will be told the same as has been posted on this thread........ they have no case!

You have told them this, do not bother entering into any further discussions with them it is pointless.
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I think they have done exactly this - they contacted the owner directly this morning and made a grovelling apology so the owner has agreed to return half the deposit as a goodwill gesture.

Now we just have to sell the horse...
 
Personally, regardless of the legal side of things, I would recover what I felt I had financially lost out on during the time I had the horse on hold and I would return the rest.

Sorry but it wouldn't rest easy with me to have kept a 20% deposit for a horse they hadn't bought if it was anything excess to what the horse had cost me to keep during those few days...
 
I think I would refund IF I hadnt lost other buyers and hadnt incurred any costs because i turned away other buyers. I would want to take out money to cover a future advert but if no costs losts I wouldnt be so mean to keep the deposit. But usually I would specify that the deposit is refundable if the horse failed ie a vetting.

I would give it back even if they were numpties, as i couldnt be bothered to have the arguements and agro etc. I would not give it back if I had turned away other buyers though.

What did you decide?
 
RunToEarth said:
Personally, regardless of the legal side of things, I would recover what I felt I had financially lost out on during the time I had the horse on hold and I would return the rest.

Sorry but it wouldn't rest easy with me to have kept a 20% deposit for a horse they hadn't bought if it was anything excess to what the horse had cost me to keep during those few days...
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Agree. I have returned a 10% deposit in the past - the horse went on trial to a local family and they returned him within two days as they had decided he was a little too much for their daughter. I asked if they wanted it back and they said yes, but had anything happened to him or his tack whilst he had been with them I would have not offered to return it. They were wealthy people and I was a pauper - that's how soft I am!!
 
I too would have refunded anyway, minus any expenses I had occurred for readvertising etc. 20% of £5000 etc is a heck of a lot of money to lose (and to earn for nothing!). I would treat people as I'd like to be treated, whatever the law says! I'm another one that wouldn't take a deposit, nor have I ever left one. I just come back asap to vet the horse (if I'm going down the vetting route) and pay cash then take the horse there and then, no fannying about! Luckily all the buyers I've come into contact with have been the same.
 
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