Company won't refund my money

[CurlyQ284]

I'm not sure what the next step might be, does anyone know?

I wrote a check for an appliance repair on Dec 18th. My H found out how much it was going to cost and said we should just get a new stove. I called and cancelled and they got nasty with me but they said they cancelled the ordered part and would refund me $346 (the amount I paid less the service fee). They said the refund would go out after the first of the year because of bookkeeping reasons.

I called on February 14th and they got nasty again and said they would get it out by the end of the week. Called on the 28th and they didnt answer the phone. A bunch of emails have also been sent with no response.

My H emailed yesterday, followed up with a phone call and no answer. He called back blocking his number and they picked up and got nasty with him and said they have 90 days to issue a refund and hung up.

I'm not waiting 90 days, they've lied to me several times or outright ignored me. I tried going through my bank but they said there's nothing they can do because it was a check.

This is a local small business, there is no corporate office or anything like that.

[Deleted]

Can you shame them on social media? Businesses are generally pretty quick to resolve things when they are forced with having to try and save face.

[calamity]

How infuriating!! I agree if they have social media, try there. You could try the BBB, not sure how much help they will be though.

[CurlyQ284]

Feb 6, 2020 10:38:35 GMT -5 @sameoldstory said:

Can you shame them on social media? Businesses are generally pretty quick to resolve things when they are forced with having to try and save face.

So I called them based on google reviews, they had a 4.3 star rating. One of the times I was trying to pull up their phone number, Yelp results came up and they had a bunch of negative reviews. The asshole responded to each one saying "This review is from John Doe who lives ar 17469 Main Street" he's like posting the name and address of all the negative reviews and then arguing with their review underneath it.

I wish I found that prior to this!

To make things weirder, the other reason I went with them is because they operate from home and they literally live down the street from us. I've mentioned several times that we live down the street so we can come pick up the refund, trying to hint that we are neighbors so maybe don't make things weird but apparently he and his wife give zero fucks.

[wildrice]

I would try to find any laws in your state about this. If the law says they have 90 days I think I'd wait until then and see if it shows up.

Is it too late to cancel the check? I don't really know how that works I guess.

Maybe look into small claims court? I did that many years ago and I think it was pretty cheap to file. It seems sometimes filing is enough to spur action since it won't be worth it to them to hire a lawyer.

[CurlyQ284]

Feb 6, 2020 10:46:06 GMT -5 wildrice said:

I would try to find any laws in your state about this. If the law says they have 90 days I think I'd wait until then and see if it shows up.

Is it too late to cancel the check? I don't really know how that works I guess.

Maybe look into small claims court? I did that many years ago and I think it was pretty cheap to file. It seems sometimes filing is enough to spur action since it won't be worth it to them to hire a lawyer.

I tried. It's too late, I got the banks rejection letter yesterday. I could kick myself, after they got nasty DH told me to do that and I thought it was a dick move and I believed her when the wife said she would give my money back.

I figured that wouldnt be too bad to do but I wasnt sure if there were any steps in between. I'll look into some state agencies to find out how many days they actually have but now I'm reading the FTC says 30 days so maybe this is our next step.

[ssmjlm]

Once you have the correct info, I would send a certified letter. You may also want to reach out to your state's consumer division as they may also be able to help.

[Gato]

You could sue them in small claims court. My dad did that and won. Then the law is on your side, although this sounds like a business that is going under, so the money may never come back to you.

I would be tempted to egg their house, lol.

[bbdoll]

Could you physically go to the business to speak to someone in person?

[noodleoo]

Does your local news have any kind of service for issues like this? Our local channel has a "solve it" segment where they often resolve issues like this very quickly.

[CurlyQ284]

We called the state bureau and they said to check the estimate they gave us for the work and at the bottom in small print it says they have 90 days to refund. UGHHHH I'm so pissed!

I don't know why she lied to me twice then!

So they have until March 17th and then we can escalate.

[dutchgirl678]

Have you tried calling your bank? Is there anyway they can request a refund?

[Que?]

Ok so you wrote a check without reading the fine print, then cancelled a service and an already ordered part. This is a small home based business, and you’re pissed that they didn’t refund your money immediately after they technically did you a favor by allowing you to cancel in the first place?
If they don’t refund your money by the 17th, then you can act on it but right now your anger is misplaced.

[VillainV]

Feb 6, 2020 13:35:46 GMT -5 Que? said:

Ok so you wrote a check without reading the fine print, then cancelled a service and an already ordered part. This is a small home based business, and you’re pissed that they didn’t refund your money immediately after they technically did you a favor by allowing you to cancel in the first place?
If they don’t refund your money by the 17th, then you can act on it but right now your anger is misplaced.

In fairness, she was promised twice that the money would be refunded sooner than that. And then the company stopped taking her calls. So I think most of us would be a little frustrated.

It would be different if she was told upfront, the day she requested to cancel, that it could take up to 90 days, and likely would be almost that long. Obviously the company wasn’t legally obligated to remind her that, but managing expectations is better than repeatedly breaking promises.

[mags]

Contact the BBB, fill out a complaint, give all the info. I have had wonderful results the 2 times I went to them.

[CurlyQ284]

Feb 6, 2020 13:35:46 GMT -5 Que? said:

Ok so you wrote a check without reading the fine print, then cancelled a service and an already ordered part. This is a small home based business, and you’re pissed that they didn’t refund your money immediately after they technically did you a favor by allowing you to cancel in the first place?
If they don’t refund your money by the 17th, then you can act on it but right now your anger is misplaced.

They said they cancelled the part so they were not out the cost of the part. And yeah, I'm pretty annoyed that they ignore my emails and when I speak to them on the phone they give me a different answer every time.

In any case, I got it! When she said 90 days on the phone to my H, I didnt really believe her because they have basically lied to me twice. I'm still not even sure they will get me my money back but now I get it and we will see.

[nicbreeful]

Feb 6, 2020 13:56:33 GMT -5 mags said:

Contact the BBB, fill out a complaint, give all the info. I have had wonderful results the 2 times I went to them.

I'm glad it worked for you but I HATE the BBB.