Account locked for getting a refund?

[PumpkinP]

I bought my son some trainers using something called clear pay, don’t know if anyone is familiar with them but it’s basically like klarna but they don’t credit check, anyway after 6 weeks the trainers had a massive hole in them. I contacted the retailer who I bought them from who basically said tough luck, I contacted clear pay who said they wouldn’t get involved, so I opened up a dispute with my bank who did a charge back. Anyway I’ve now been suspended from using clear pay and my account has been “locked” Aibu to think this doesn’t sound right? The item was faulty and I got a refund, it’s like getting a refund from eBay and then them locking your account so you can’t use it again! I’ve emailed clear pay who have confirmed that is the reason. Has anyone had any experience with them? It’s not a massive issue but when money is tight being able to pay things off rather than all at once was nice, and I never missed a payment.

2nd comment I made on page 2 said I had just finished paying it off, I emailed clear pay as I was unaware of what the issue was at first. I just thought it was because I’m always forgetting my password.

Name changed.

Trading Standards Officer here!

Your statutory rights (that goods should be of satisfactory quality (and last a reasonable amount of time) and be fit for purpose) apply to goods, regardless of the method of payment. Although the law does not define what a reasonable amount of time is, it can be easily argued that £30 trainers worn by a child should last much longer than 6 weeks (or however long it has been) and therefore JD Sports are in breach of contract. As JD Sports refused to put the matter right (repair or replacement- not refund as it was after 30 days so you can't reject them) and Clear Pay didn't want to get involved, the OP did the right thing by getting her bank to do a chargeback and what any Trading Standards Officer would have advised to do. Clear Pay can now raise a dispute with JD Sports to get the money back from them. As the fault also developed within 6 months of ownership, it is presumed that the fault was there when you took receipt of them and it is up to JD Sports to prove otherwise!

I would email both JD Sports and Clear Pay, with photographs of the faulty trainers, and explain the situation if you still want to use Clear Pay. State that the goods were not of satisfactory quality and JD Sports are therefore in breach of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 but they and Clear Pay both failed to resolve the matter.

Good luck OP!

So OP shouldn’t spread the costs of purchases because she’s not working?
Clearpay spreads payments, interest free, over 3/4 fortnightly payments.

If OP can afford the repayments, then who are people to judge really? No different to saving £20 per fortnight for uniform imho.. what a judgey lot you are!

Contact clearpay OP and trading standards about the retailer. That shouldn’t be happening. A word of advice, won’t they know your card if you try to set up a different account?

When I’ve done a chargeback through visa my bank asked for details of all correspondence between myself and the retailer. Once it was found in my favour I didn’t have to do anything. No contact with the retailer nor Visa. So not sure why pp are advising you to contact either of those parties

Thank you OopsISnappedAndFarted I don’t know how some people think people who don’t work (I’m a carer for my disabled child so can’t work, not that it matters) and are single parent, get no maintenance money (some people get half from their ex for school uniform, I don’t get a penny but that’s a whole other thread) and not entitled to any grants for uniform afford to buy their children uniform especially with 3 to buy for, I always paid on time and have been using clear pay for about 6 months with no issues, never a single missed payment so yes I think it is harsh.

Good advice namechangedtoda will contact them both tomorrow.

Pumpkin there's nothing at all wrong with using ClearPay in my opinion. It's a Godsend for people who can't just chuck 50 quid here there and everywhere.

@Lhastingsmua I worded that poorly... I meant specifically chargeback and section 75 consumer protection. Your statutory consumer rights still apply.

@PumpkinP no judgement from me. I’m just wondering why you’d want to use clearpay specifically when they’ve been really unhelpful and there are other companies out there. Pretty sure PayPal does interest free credit, and they have their own consumer protection.

I had this problem with an Amazon seller, they absolutely refused to give me my money back on shoes that fell apart after I had worn them twice. Said it was over the 30 day limit, I couldn't get them to see that I was asking for my money back because the shoes were faulty, not because I had changed my mind. I asked Amazon to get involved and at first they also used the 30 day rule as well until I started asking awkward questions about UK consumer law and if they thought they were above it? In the end Amazon did a refund, I don't know if they then claimed it back from the seller but I hope they did!

I don't see you have done anything wrong OP.

You haven't done anything wrong exactly but clearpay are the ones out of pocket. You have your money, the retailer has their money, clearpay don't. I actually think the bank was wrong, they couldn't charge back credit card payments if you bought something faulty. You probably should have insisted on a refund from JD, who would have got the money from the manufacturer.
Anyway, you have your money back so your part is done, it's between JD, clearpay and the bank.

Today OP has already clarified that she did complete payments.

People like to use things like clear pay, buy a tonne of stuff, lie and say its faulty to get the cash back from their bank without going through the companies, both companies told you that you weren't able to get a refund (and i'm not arguing if that's right or wrong, they sound like awful quality trainers, try contacting the trainer brand directly for that) and you got the money back from your bank regardless, they probably assume your being a CF and have locked your account for that reason.

People like to use things like clear pay, buy a tonne of stuff, lie and say its faulty to get the cash back from their bank without going through the companies, both companies told you that you weren't able to get a refund (and i'm not arguing if that's right or wrong, they sound like awful quality trainers, try contacting the trainer brand directly for that) and you got the money back from your bank regardless, they probably assume your being a CF and have locked your account for that reason.

I agree. I remember someone once mentioning a similar issue with PayPal and craft-sellers where buyers would request a chargeback from PayPal in bad faith claiming that the work they received wasn't up to standard etc. It's nothing personal, just companies erring on the side of caution.

I understand why you did what you did, but I understand why Clearpay have locked your account too. Factually speaking, what you did was 'wrong' in terms of how you should have handled the situation in accordance with consumer sales act.

"You have 30 days from taking ownership of a product (this could be the date of purchase or the date it was delivered to you - whichever is later) to claim a refund if it is faulty
After this time you have to give the retailer an opportunity to repair or replace it before you can claim a refund.
In the first instance, write to the customer services department politely and objectively, so you have a written record as evidence. Then escalate if you're not happy with the response
Quote the relevant laws. Say what you want to happen - refund, repair or replacement."

www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/what-do-i-do-if-i-have-a-faulty-product

There are template letters on the Which website for before and after the 30 day mark.

If you don't want to rectify the situation with Clearpay then do nothing and it is up to them to chase JD for the money. If you do want to reinstate your account, ask them if they will do so if you can get JD to refund them and then use the template letters that Which have with the caveat

"please refund all monies paid for this item to Clearpay directly".

Also, anyone who is questioning the use of Clearpay should first look at how Clearpay works.

If you wish to buy an item for £20 and pay with Clearpay, they divide that payment into 4 payments. You then pay the first payment (£5 in this instance) and receive your goods. Then you will pay £5 per fortnight until that item is paid off. There is no interest added. I presume the retailers pay Clearpay a % of the sale value.

Its actually a brilliant tool for those on low incomes, this is the way credit companies should approach things rather than charging the poorest people the highest interest! It seems a much more humane and ethical way of doing things compared to the likes of Brighthouse et al, putting a small dent in retailers profits rather than taking extra from people who are already unable to pay in full!

@BillHadersNewWife the bank would have charged back from clearpay, they can't charge back from JD because that isn't who OP paid. The only people currently out of pocket are clearpay

You have to be working to use PayPal credit!! All the other companies insist that you are working. I am not because I am a carer.

PayPal credit
Are a UK resident aged 18 years or older
Have a good credit history
Have not recently been declared bankrupt
Are employed and have an income greater than £7,500 per year

Anyone can use clear pay, hence why I wanted to use it again, I’ve had bad customer services in various shops doesn’t mean I’m never going to go in them again, same applies.

I think the problem now is that ClearPay might not agree to do business with you in the future. Taken from their site:

Clearpay does not approve 100% of orders. We are committed to ensuring we support responsible spending.

I don’t work yet use PayPal?!?

They're talking about PayPal credit instead of normal PayPal.