After months of saving, you finally buy your new bed from a local retailer on the High Street and are promised delivery the next day. Five days later the bed still hasn’t arrived, your telephone calls to the shop go straight to answer-phone and then you find out the business has actually gone bust!
Credit cards and protection under the law
Paying for your purchases, either goods or services, with a credit card may give you extra protection if there is a problem.
If a purchase costs between £100 and £30,000, including VAT and you pay with your credit card, Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act says that the credit card company and retailer may be jointly responsible for compensating you if something goes wrong. This is known as equal liability.
Even if you do not pay the whole cost of the purchase by credit card, for example you pay the deposit by cash or cheque and the balance by credit card, or vice versa you are still covered under equal liability rules.
Exceptions
You are not covered if you pay for goods or services with credit card cheques or by company credit card.
If your purchase costs less than £100, it is a good idea to check whether or not your credit card company offers a Chargeback scheme.
What to do if you have a problem with your purchase
Try to sort it out with the trader first. If you do not make any progress, inform your credit card company of the issue as soon as possible.
Ask them how to make a claim under equal liability rules, or if the amount is for less than £100, for details of the Chargeback scheme.
Why the credit card company may try to deny liability
A second cardholder made the purchase
You may have an additional card on your account that is used by a second card holder. The credit card company may argue that purchases made by the second card holder are not protected by equal liability, stating that it applies only to the person who signed the original agreement.
However, if the second card holder makes a purchase for the main card holder, such as a weekend break in a hotel, a claim might be possible because it could be argued the second card holder is acting as your agent.
The main card holder would have to make the claim.
You used Paypal
If you buy goods or services via an electronic money company such as Paypal, you may not be covered for equal liability by your credit card provider as there is no longer a direct relationship between the trader and the credit card company.
You may be able to make a claim using the company’s own protection scheme.
You bought the goods abroad
You are covered by equal liability if you:
Use a credit card to buy something while you are abroad
Order goods from a foreign trader while you are abroad, for delivery to a UK address
Discuss a purchase with a foreign trader in the UK but the contract is not completed in the UK.
You claim an amount less than £100
If for example you buy an air ticket that costs less than £100 but is part of a package holiday that costs more, you may be covered by equal liability.
If you need more help try the Consumer Credit Association. You can also contact the Citizens Advice Service Consumer helpline on 08454 04 05 06 if you would like information or advice about any consumer issue. The lines are open Monday to Friday from 9am – 5pm.
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Sue Phillips works at the Citizens Advice Bureau in Lincoln.
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The Lincolnite welcomes your views. All comments are reactively-moderated and must obey the house rules. Please stay on topic and be respectful of other readers.
A man who was assaulted on Saturday afternoon in Lincoln has died, with police now investigating his murder.
The 53-year-old victim died at the scene shortly after police arrived at around 5.55pm on October 24 on Newark Road.
Two men, aged 25 and 31, have been arrested on suspicion of murder and remain in police custody.
A police cordon was in place across several streets down Newark Road.
Detective Inspector Chris Marriott, from East Midlands Special Operations Unit, said: “We attended a report of an assault in which one man has died.
“To enable us to carry out our investigations, officers had to lock down the crime scene and as a result residents and workers were unable to enter or leave this location.
“The main scene cordon has now been lifted so residents can return to their homes. A small cordon remains in place on the roadside.
“We would like to apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused and thank people for their patience.
“Our investigations are ongoing and the two arrested men remain in custody and will be questioned in due course.
“Officers will be in the area today carrying out further enquiries and we are appealing for any witnesses or anyone with CCTV or dashcam footage of the area at around the time this happened to contact us on 101.”
If you can assist with the police investigation call 101, quoting incident number 346 of October 24 or email [email protected].
You can also report anonymously by calling Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
There have been 1,429 new COVID-19 cases confirmed in Greater Lincolnshire this week.
The latest UK coronavirus dashboard figures for Friday showed 153 cases in Lincolnshire, 44 in North Lincolnshire and 73 in North East Lincolnshire.
In total there have been 4,286 cases for the month of October.
This week has also seen 25 deaths of Greater Lincolnshire residents reported by government, with eight of those confirmed to be in the region’s hospitals.
NHS figures for Friday reported three further deaths in hospitals, with two taking place at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust facilities and one at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals Trust facilities.
The government’s own death tally, which includes those both in and out of hospitals and those of residents in hospitals outside the county, showed five new deaths, including four in Lincolnshire and one in North Lincolnshire.
Nationally, cases increased by 20,530 to 830,998, while deaths jumped by 224 to 44,571.
A chart of Lincolnshire’s cases up to October 23.
Lincolnshire is currently still on the medium (tier 1) level for the the new three-tier lockdown system of COVID-19 risk, which means it has no extra restrictions on top of the nation-wide ones.
As of Friday, there are 88 patients with coronavirus at United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust and Northern Lincolnshire NHS Foundation Trust facilities.
Also, parents are being urged to make sure children follow the social distancing rules during half-term, to avoid outbreaks in schools upon their return.
Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire for Friday, October 23
8,878 cases (up 270)
5,755 in Lincolnshire (up 153)
1,804 in North Lincolnshire (up 44)
1,319 in North East Lincolnshire (up 73)
446 deaths (up five)
299 from Lincolnshire (up four)
94 from North Lincolnshire (up one)
43 from North East Lincolnshire (no change)
of which 292 hospital deaths (up three)
155 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (up two)
6 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)
1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)
130 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (up one)
830,998 UK cases, 44,571 deaths
DATA SOURCE — FIGURES CORRECT AT THE TIME OF the latest update. postcode data includes deaths not in healthcare facilities or in hospitals outside authority boundaries.
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