To accept I’ve been ripped off? Advice please..

[ToffeeNosed]

Hi all, new to posting so sorry if etiquette and category is wrong… Could do with some advice if anybody has experience in law or consumer rights ...

We ordered a wooden play house back in November by a good company we’ve used before, we paid ¼ deposit with ¾ remaining after delivery in February and were given a written invoice of what we had paid and what was outstanding.

Heard nothing since except beginning of Feb when we had an email query and telephone call about delivery.

Came last week and after they finished erecting it the one guy stayed behind and produced the remaining written invoice, he stood over me while I was getting my bank card and just before I started entering my chip and pin said: there’s extra on there for toughened glass, don’t ask me. I felt a bit under duress and was inputting the pin as he was stood over me holding the machine (so he also saw my pin too). Also on the invoice it says they can take away the structure if full payment is not taken. I just assumed he’d entered the outstanding correct price into the pin machine. The extra was over £100 which wasn’t much compared to what we’ve paid but we could do with the money as we’ve faced redundancy over Christmas (after we ordered the play house).

I contacted the manager and asked why the extra cost wasn’t mentioned in the last 3 months or previous contact - He said me and DH verbally agreed to this when we ordered (we didn’t) and they didn’t know the price of the glass until it was delivered to them and they always get this glass now and was annoyed at us at implying it was underhand practice on their part.

I’m not sure how to proceed now, DH says its my fault for inputting the pin and nothing I can do unless I report it as CC fraud but it’s not really is it?

However, I feel this is wrong and on the second invoice you can clearly see someone has written it in as an afterthought because the outstanding balance is written on the top of the invoice so I think there is a strong case for dispute.

Do you think I have any rights or is it yet another thing we have to suck up? Thanks in advance for any advice…

How did you pay? If credit card you can ask the cc company for help

how would it be cc fraud ? they haven't stolen your card / details, it's the adding on of an extra cost that you say you didn't agree to.
if the total amount was going to the company as opposed to a third party i'm not sure what case you'd have. but you could take it up with the company boss unless that is the guy you've already spoken.too.
perhaps try money saving expert on line for advice or c.a.b.

it's so nice of dh to blame you for this rather than trying to work together and think how it can be sorted out.

Accept they are cowboys and give them a suitable review.
A bad review will cost them more than £100 I expect...

Thanks for your replies, yes it was the boss who I've been in contact with.
I think because I agreed to it in principle (inputting pin) then I will just have to leave it.

Chalk this one up to experience. If someone pulls a stunt like that on you again you will know better than to pay the extra. It’s a lesson learned.

And definitely put an online review if possible warning other people to be on their guard for unexpected charges from this company.

Surely a playhouse needs toughened glass anyway.

''we paid ¼ deposit with ¾ remaining after delivery in February and were given a written invoice of what we had paid and what was outstanding.''

And the outstanding amount on this first invoice didn't include an extra £100 for toughened glass?

''I just assumed he’d entered the outstanding correct price into the pin machine.''

that's not good OP.

You have my sympathies though. I'm dealing with accepting and paying for loads of construction materials here at the moment for our house build and sometimes i don't know weather i'm coming or going. It's easy to just pay what someone's asking when you're flustered and there's a lorry blocking the road and they're waving a pin machine in your face.

I was going to say - all things considered - the toughened glass is a good idea ...

In situations like this, you need to write "paid under protest" on their copy of the reciept/invoice. You can then go back and argue it.

Thanks for all your comments:
The first invoice didn't have toughened glass on it. It had been added to the second.

Yes they do argue (and I agree) that the glass should be toughened but if they knew that why not factor it in initially? We could have then allowed it in our budget.
Only I have the written invoice so writing "paid under protest" would only be for my benefit but I'll remember that in future.
I think they took a chance at the last minute as I was on my own and I was caught out while typing in my pin.

The threat about taking away the structure, on the invoice, sounds reasonable until a situation like this arises. Then it becomes a sneaky tactic to bully money out of you.

I'd have expected toughened glass to be standard in a play house.

This seems relevant as I've literally just ordered a piece of glass for the garage (I seem to do this every year for the garage/greenhouse/neighbour's greenhouse, my kids like ball games)
It's about 600mm x 500mm. The guys at my friendly local glass place I should get a loyalty discount by now quoted me £7.39 for standard 4mm clear glass and £7.93 for the same but toughened glass.
Do the maths.
How much glass have you got in your playhouse??

Playhouses ofte don’t have glass at all, they have plastic windows.