Our money is being held ransom. Any CONSUMER'S RIGHTS ADVICE anyone???

[saturdayschild]

Our money is being 'held ransom' by a company we ordered a specialist car part from in April.
We asked them to ship it overseas to us, which they did using a courier. The first attempt didn't work since the courier company didn't include the paperwork and it was returned by cusoms over here. The second attempt was returned due to some insane customs regulations here which meant we were apparently not entitled to receive large parcels. There'll be more to that but so far it is proving difficult to find the correct information.
The company have been very nice and friendly thoughout and we know that these delays have not been their fault. As it stands now there is no way we can receive these goods (which we paid for) unless we drive back to the UK (too far, too expensive, not on the cards). So we have asked them to cancel the order.
BUT THEY SAY THEY 'simply cannot' CANCEL THE ORDER BECAUSE they 'have put far too much work into it for you'.
WTF!!!!!
Any advice? Do we have any rights? There were no Ts and Cs in the order or on their website and it was paid for with a debit card. Surely they can't just KEEP the money AND the product.

You don't say where you are living but as far as I'm aware your rights will depend on where the contract was made - the laws of that country will apply to any redress you may be entitled to.

Read this if the website is 'based' in the UK

sorry, yes, all angry and forgot to add that!

The company is in the UK. We are outside the EU but in Europe. The purchase was made on a UK debit card. And the order was placed through email - personally written by both ourselves and the company involved, rather than through an order form.

Thank you for the link - will check it out now.

And thanks for replying!!!

I guess it is beyond their control that they cannot deliver it to you since they have made and despatched it. However they/you probably should have checked up front before agreeing to the overseas shipment. Can you find a removal or alternative deivery company who can bring it perhaps on a part shipment run ?

.

Do you have a local equivalent of trading standards where you live?

i think you may be liable for the delivery cost as these are incurred costs and beyond their control.
you should however be able to get a refund of the rest.

thanks for the extra posts

latest is that we have been able to receive a similar parcel from another company today hence proving that it IS possible to receive...

have asked them to honour the order and resend with a better courier service on the basis that they say on their website that our country can be delivered to. (sorry about the grammar - typing fast before my connection drops again )

So will wait and see...

No trading standards here that we can find info on. It's a former communist country and to be honest they are still trying to work all these things out (or so it feels!!). But I believe that since we are ordering from a UK company using a UK debit card then we have UK consumers rights.

Bookworkmum - your website suggestion was great. We got the info we needed straight away. Thanks!

the trading standards website is really useful and has a section convering Europe.

www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/consumers/ceurope.cfm

I have used their helpine as well and they gave good advice and provided templates of letters I needed to send so I had all the legal jargon correct.

For the future,
My brother lives in Canada keeps his english debit card -like you. He buys stuff, has it delivered to us and we ship it over to him. Has included car parts (though not large parts) dvd's, post etc.

DHL have been very good and very resonable.

Still waiting for a reply or even an acknowledgement from this company... how rude! we have even offered to arrange courier collection from him and arrange it ourselves independently but they don't even have the courtesy to get back to us.

And it's a small company too - they often are better at customer service too.