Latest news with #consumerrights
CTV News
2 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
B.C. tribunal settles dispute over ‘altered' love seat receipt, orders full refund
A reclining leather loveseat is seen in this stock image. (Credit: Shutterstock) A man who paid for a new love seat but received a used floor model must be refunded, after a B.C. tribunal found the business 'altered' the receipt after the purchase was complete. In 2023, Dhawal Sehgal paid $1,900 for a reclining leather love seat from Budget Furniture Land Ltd., according to a decision on the dispute posted online Tuesday. 'He says after signing a contract to purchase the couch, the respondent changed the contract from a new couch to a floor display model. The applicant refused to accept the floor model and cancelled the contract,' Civil Resolution Tribunal vice-chair Christopher C. Rivers wrote, summarizing Seghal's argument for a refund. The business, for its part, said Sehgal 'knew' he would be receiving a floor model and had no right to cancel the contract. Rivers reached his decision by comparing two copies of a signed invoice: a white original submitted by the company, and a pink carbon copy submitted by the customer. 'There are significant changes between the two copies. The respondent's white copy includes the word [floor] in square brackets in a separate column after the words 'Reclining love seat.' The applicant's pink carbon copy does not,' the decision said. 'These are not two separately prepared invoices, but one showing additions made after the parties both signed the agreement.' A representative for the store didn't provide any explanation for the change, leading Rivers to accept Sehgal's version of events as more likely than not to have occurred. 'The applicant asks me to find the respondent altered their copy without his knowledge and then attempted to depend on it. I do,' he wrote. 'I find it changed the parties' contract after signing and then attempted to substitute a floor model for the agreed-upon new couch.' Given that, the tribunal found Sehgal was justified in refusing to accept the love seat and entitled to get his money back. In addition to a $1,900 refund, the business was ordered to pay Sehgal $125 in CRT fees.
CNET
2 days ago
- Business
- CNET
These Faulty Solar Panels Might Get You a Payout. See if You Qualify
Did you ever buy Sanyo brand solar panels or move into a property that already had them installed? Well, if you noticed them getting less effective at producing energy, you might still be able to join a years-old class action settlement that's still accepting claims. Sanyo has been kicking around the electronics market for a long time, making everything from transistor radios to TVs to solar panels for decades. Founded in Japan in the 1940s, it was acquired by Panasonic in 2009 and formally dissolved into that consumer electronics giant by 2011. However, the brand name still matters for various reasons, one of them being a settlement to resolve a class action lawsuit accusing Sanyo and Panasonic of failing to cover a known solar panel defect under its 20-year warranty. While neither Sanyo nor its parent company acknowledged any wrongdoing, the settlement was agreed upon and received final approval in court all the way back in the summer of 2021. Can solar panels save you money? Interested in understanding the impact solar can have on your home? Enter some basic information below, and we'll instantly provide a free estimate of your energy savings. No lenders found matching this criteria It looks like we couldn't find any lenders that matched the provided criteria. Please try again at a later time. Close So why am I telling you this in 2025? Because the deadline to file a claim and get in on this settlement is still years away. If you've had issues with Sanyo solar panels and want to see if you're eligible, keep reading, and for more settlement news, check out if you're eligible for a piece of Cash App's spam texts settlement. Why were Panasonic and Sanyo sued? In the class action suit, Ziccarello v. Sanyo Energy, plaintiffs alleged that Sanyo and Panasonic did not honor delamination issues under their panels' 20-year warranty, despite being aware of the issues. This forced customers experiencing the issue to pay out of pocket for repairs or replacements. Delamination occurs when the layers of a solar panel become detached from each other, and it typically occurs between the glass component of the panel, the encapsulant and the backsheet. When this happens, air and moisture can creep in, speeding up corrosion of the panel and shortening its lifespan. As the plaintiffs in the Sanyo case argued, it can also decrease the energy-capture rate of the panels and increase the risk of house fires. Who qualifies for the Sanyo settlement? In order to be eligible for this settlement class, you'll need to have either purchased the right model of Sanyo solar panel in the past or purchased a property that already included them. The panels covered by the settlement include the ones with model numbers HIP-xxxBA2, BA3 and BA5. Considering Solar Panels? Our email course will walk you through how to go solar By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy . You may unsubscribe at any time. Joining this settlement will require providing proof of ownership, which you can do one of two ways: Show documented proof of when you bought the Sanyo panels, the original purchase price and a copy of the installation contract which should include a model number. Or, you must provide a photo of the affected panel or panels where they've been installed and a photo of the back label from at least one panel, which should include the manufacturer name, model number, date of manufacture and the serial number. If you can't prove your date of purchase, the settlement administrators will presume a date of three months after the date of manufacture on the back label. Considering Solar Panels? Our email course will walk you through how to go solar By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy . You may unsubscribe at any time. How long do I have to join the Sanyo settlement? The settlement period is still pretty wide open: You have until either Dec. 31, 2029, or 20 years after the original purchase date of the Sanyo solar panels, whichever one is earlier. To file a claim, you'll have to print out this official form and mail it to the included address: Ziccarello v Sanyo Energy (U.S.A.) Corp. Claims Class Litigation Administration Support Services P.O. Box 1272 Lancaster, California 93584 How much can I get from the Sanyo settlement? Via this settlement, you can either claim a replacement for your delaminated solar panels or a cash payout, but there are catches to both options. The terms of the settlement don't guarantee that you'll receive exactly the same solar panel, stating that it can vary in size, color, shape, model, manufacturer or power level. Whatever panel you end up with, it will, however, produce the level of power guaranteed under the 20-year Sanyo power warranty. Alternatively, you could choose the cash payout, which will be based on the original purchase price of your panels after depreciation is factored in. This will vary, but to give one example, a panel purchased for $700 a decade ago will net you a $350 payout. For more, see if you qualify for the AT&T data breach settlement.
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
‘My £700 garden furniture broke, but the seller won't refund an old bank card'
Do you have a legal question to put to Gary? Email askalawyer@ or use the form at the bottom of the page. Dear Gary, I recently returned some garden furniture to an online retailer. The reason I gave was poor quality, which they admitted was because of their manufacturing process. The defective garden furniture was collected. So far, so good. I paid on a credit card for the initial purchase. However, it was compromised in the interim and I had to cancel it. I asked the garden furniture retailer for the money to be returned to an alternative card. They are now stating they can only return the funds to the original card, which does not exist. What can I do? The sum involved is £689.98. – Nicholas by email Dear Nicholas, No one likes to be fobbed off – especially when nearly £700 is at stake. I have heard this old chestnut from retailers many times – 'we can only refund the card you used for the purchase' – and yet there are many reasons that card may no longer be available. More to the point, if the original card is not available, it should not be a barrier to you being refunded in full as soon as possible. First, check some facts with your credit card provider. Even though your original credit card was cancelled for good reason, your original credit card account should still exist. In other words, while the original card is defunct, the account behind the card is still live. To this end, you should contact your credit card provider and ask the question: 'If a refund is processed to my cancelled card, what happens?' Most often, they will still accept the refund and apply it to your account. If – for some reason – your previous account has been fully closed, they may forward the funds to your new account or send a cheque to you. Or if they reject the payment and send the refund back to the garden furniture retailer, the retailer must then contact you to arrange an alternative refund method. Once you have established how your credit card provider will deal with an attempted refund to your cancelled card, inform the garden furniture retailer of the process and ask them to initiate it. It is a modern-day reality that scammers are out to get us. This is why retailers often insist on refunding to the original payment card in order to comply with anti-fraud and other guidelines set out by the credit card industry. Your garden furniture retailer may be feeling caught in the middle of you rightly demanding a refund and the rules imposed on them, which they must comply with in order to have the benefit of transacting business using a credit card payment method. All of this means that to get your refund, you should tell the garden furniture retailer that you have confirmed with your credit card provider that a refund to the original card/account will still be processed and either redirected or sent to you. On that basis, they should proceed with the refund to the original card. This will shift responsibility to your credit card provider and also keep the retailer compliant with the rules imposed on them. If the refund is sent but does not arrive, then your card issuer must trace it. To mitigate this risk, ask the garden furniture retailer for refund proof (the transaction ID, date and amount) and send this proof to your card issuer and ask them to track or recover the funds. I hope this will help you understand the process of getting your money back. If the garden furniture retailer refuses to cooperate, or you suspect delay tactics, you should send a formal complaint via email or recorded letter. In your correspondence, mention the value of the refund that the card was cancelled but the account is still traceable, and finally that you are entitled to the refund under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 because, by their own admission, the goods you purchased were 'not fit for purpose'. You should also say that you may escalate to the Financial Ombudsman or take them to small claims court action if unresolved. If all else fails, you can contact your credit card provider again and file a Section 75 claim. This would be on the basis that under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, all credit card users have additional protection when purchasing goods or services. If a purchase between £100 and £30,000 is faulty, undelivered, or misrepresented, the credit card provider is jointly liable with the retailer. This legal rule means that a credit card company may be responsible for refunding the cost of the purchase, or other related expenses, if the retailer fails to do so. I hope it will not come to that, but it is good to have it in your back pocket as a last resort.
CNET
3 days ago
- Business
- CNET
Struggling to Cancel Your Subscriptions? Try These 3 Workarounds
The Click to Cancel rule would have made it as easy to cancel a subscription as it is to sign up so you can save on unwanted subscriptions. Cole Kan/CNET The Federal Trade Commission's "click to cancel" rule has been blocked. The rule would have made it easy to cancel unwanted subscriptions. However, the US Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the rule earlier this month because the FTC failed to conduct a preliminary regulatory analysis, which is required for rules that could impact the US economy by more than $1 million. "While we certainly do not endorse the use of unfair and deceptive practices in negative option marketing, the procedural deficiencies of the Commission's rulemaking process are fatal here," the court's ruling stated. As CNET's consumer insights editor and someone with quite a few subscriptions, I was looking forward to this rule being finalized. It's easy to rack up streaming subscriptions and other monthly services with just a few taps or clicks. Before you know it, you're paying more in subscriptions than you budgeted for. On average, we spend over $1,000 a year on subscriptions and waste around $200 a year on unwanted apps. And trying to lower that cost by canceling your subscriptions can be tricky when companies hide their cancellation buttons or require you to call or visit an office location just to cancel. If you're struggling to cancel your subscriptions, here's what CNET experts recommend. How to find and cancel unwanted subscriptions Before you can cancel your subscriptions, you'll want to do an audit to make sure you flag any services you no longer want to pay for. You can spot unwanted subscriptions by combing through your bank account and credit card statements from the past month and looking for recurring charges. If you spot any unwanted subscriptions, log in to your service account and cancel or pause the service. If you're struggling to find an option to cancel, call the service's customer service phone number to end your account. In some cases, like with certain gym memberships, you may be required to cancel in person. This app can cancel subscriptions for you If that sounds like too much work, CNET Money editor Kelly Ernst has an easier solution. "The budgeting app I use, Rocket Money, can help you find subscriptions you're not using and cancel them for you. It saved me $400 in 15 minutes." Rocket Money is CNET's pick for best budgeting app, and it comes with both a free and a paid tier. You can have the app look for recurring subscriptions for free. If you'd like it to cancel on your behalf, you'll need to sign up for the paid tier, which starts at just $6 a month. You can also find and cancel some subscriptions from your phone If you pay for subscriptions using Apple Pay or Google Pay, you may be able to cancel them from your phone. For Apple devices, navigate to your settings and click on your Apple account. From there, click "Subscriptions" and you'll see which ones you're paying for, the amount and when it will renew. From there, you can see other plans or cancel your subscription. If you have an Android device, you can cancel your subscriptions by opening the Google Play store and tapping your profile icon. From there, you'll navigate to "Payments and Subscriptions" to click on "Subscriptions." You can then see which subscriptions you're paying for, but which you'll need to cancel through the servicer's app or website -- like Netflix or Hulu, for example.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Money Problem: 'British Airways agreed over phone to refund nearly £1,500 - but then only gave me half'
Every week, our Money team gets an expert to answer your financial problems or consumer disputes. Today, our reader Simon Lawrence asks... We booked a holiday to Mexico for £2,362 but a few months later were seeing a lot of articles about how dangerous Mexico City had become. When I called, British Airways agreed to let us cancel with a £1,454 refund but then only gave me half. This was last July and I've been back and forth with them ever since. They're saying the complaint is closed. What can I do?Money blog editor answers... Thanks for writing in, Simon - I got a lot more details about your case from our correspondence. This helped me have a back and forth with BA - but before I get to where that ended up, I want to go through your rights. It's worth saying that you are not alone in having problems with BA. A Facebook group titled "British Airways Complaints Advice" has nearly 41,000 members - read from that what you will. Your 'ace card' I chatted to consumer rights expert Scott Dixon, AKA the Complaints Resolver, about your case - and he was impressed that you'd kept such meticulous notes. This is key when things go wrong. As a starting point, if BA or another company in a similar scenario is unfairly refusing to engage, Dixon suggests you can submit a data subject access request to retrieve recorded phone calls as evidence of what BA promised. "This is your ace card," said Dixon - and it may lead to a resolution in your favour. Refunds generally depend on the terms and conditions you agree to when purchasing something. "BA say they sell some tickets at discounted fares which may be partly or completely non-refundable," said Dixon. "You should choose the fare which best suits your needs and consider taking out travel insurance to cover instances where you might have to cancel your ticket." Regardless of the above, you may be entitled to a full refund in certain circumstances, such as: A serious illness or bereavement (proof may be required); If BA cancels the flight or makes a significant change to it. Promises made over the phone When making telephone calls, Dixon says you should always note: The name of the person you spoke to; Date and time of calls; Summary of what was said; Request written confirmation of any promises given. Don't accept vouchers This is one of Dixon's bugbears. "BA usually offers vouchers instead of cash to close complaints, which you do not have to accept," he told me. "You are entitled to what you are owed and promised in cash." Alternative dispute resolution If you disagree with an airline's decision, you have the right to go to an ADR service to dispute it. The main ADR schemes are Consumer Dispute Resolution Limited (AviationADR) and Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR). BA subscribes to CEDR - so that's where you'd go. "I have found the ADR schemes to be very good with legitimate claims, and it's clear that many airlines deliberately flout the law because they know most people won't pursue it," said Dixon. How did you pay for it? If you paid by credit card, you can submit a claim under S75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, which holds the credit card provider jointly liable for a breach of contract. Read more: Small claims court If all else fails, you could take your case to the small claims court if it is in England, or follow the Simple Procedure in Scotland. Dixon advises: "Before you file a claim, send screenshots of the draft court papers setting your case out and demanding a refund within seven days. Tell BA that if they fail to do so, you will lodge a claim in the small claims court. "This may resolve the dispute. If it does not, you can proceed and file the small claim papers online." What did British Airways do when we contacted them? A few hours after we emailed the BA press office, Simon received an email suggesting his case was open again. Neither we nor Simon then heard much for a week before he received £527.19 and a voucher worth £100. Simon sent us this email: "This is still £100 less than the £727.19 but it's better than nothing. "Still no explanation or proper apology from our standard-bearer airline, but perhaps that's too much to ask for. "At least the refund is an acknowledgement that they were wrong and had effectively lied to me when they said the refund was in line with their policy. Without your intervention, I would have just been continually ignored." It really shouldn't take an email from the media to sort these things out, but we are glad BA has now given Simon most of the money he was promised. In a short statement, the airline said: "We've apologised to our customer and have been in touch to make things right." This feature is not intended as financial advice - the aim is to give an overview of the things you should think about. Submit your dilemma or consumer dispute via: WhatsApp Or email moneyblog@ with the subject line "Money Problem"
