In order to know your rights under sale of goods and/or service agreements, it is important firstly to understand the basic principles of contract law. Contract law is all about enforcing promises and making them legally binding irrespective of whether there is something in writing to this effect. Despite the word ‘contract’, and contrary to popular belief, a written contract is not required in order for these obligations to exist in law. A contract may also be formed verbally or by implication, simply by one party making an offer and the other party accepting that offer – even purchasing an item in a shop, or getting into a taxi are examples of this. Of course it must be proved that both offer and acceptance were clearly communicated and understood, that both parties were legally capable of making those promises, and there was something being offered in exchange for the promise (usually money). And while ‘putting it in writing’ is not necessary for a legally binding contract to exist, as the next section will show us, it may be hard to prove what was otherwise agreed.
Is it a legally binding contract?
Jun 25 | 83 comments
Hi can anyone help I ordered a bathroom 9days ago my husband has work reduced so unable financially to go ahead the bathroom wasn’t due to be done till Dec we paid 50per cent deposit company won’t give me refund as they say they have ordered items I have invoice it doesn’t state anything about non refundable deposit can anyone e help
I signed contract to sell my home 7 months ago with an agency with the understanding I might decide NOT to move out of town to help care for my disabled brother. I NEVER allowed them to take pictures of my home, or put up a for for sale sign, or list in MLS. I let the agent know I decided NOT to move out of town within 30 days of signing.
Yesterday, I was driving around with a good friend (also a real estate agent) and saw a small condo I liked. I have been wanting to downsize my life and expenses. I’ve come to the realization that eventually this plan will allow me to move my disabled brother here near me.
I loved the condo and my friend and I wrote a offer to purchase as well as set everything up for her to sell my house (including signing an exclusive contract for her to be my agent).
I totally forgot about signing with other agent.
I’m embarrassed and worried sick that I could be liable for *something*. I don’t want to tell my friend. I don’t want to call the other agent either. I’m 99% positive I listed 1st contract for a term of no less than 3 months but not more than 6 months. It’s been 7 months now. I’m no longer selling my house for the same reason at all.
Can anyone give me any insight about my culpability?
I purchased a gas hob from an online business via EBAY it clearly stated that the hob may hay virtually invisble slght blemishes which turned out to be nicks and scratches from pan support grating against hob probably from being on display. Importantly though it was avertised with a instruction manuals registrations etc. and a hob as new. there was no fixing clamps or putty strips which are required to fix hob in worktop and as mentioned no instructions. The hob arrived late and was wrapped well but cheaply in old bits of alien carboard. The supplier has been contacted but i think these items are lost and they are not responding.The hob cannot be fitted without this and guarantee cannot be applied either. If I return this within 14 days i have to pay for postage! Under sale of goods, fit for purpose etc. etc. Where do i stand please?
Hi
I booked a holiday and lost my job before final payment was made. I only paid a deposit. But now they are asking for £400 because I’m cancelling as im due to go in 7 weeks. If I don’t pay the £400 can they persue the money
Hi I hired a Sunbed from a company in the town where we live. I’ve had nothing bt trouble with the Sunbed from day one faulty tubes, plugs getting very hot, Sunbed tripping electric etc. the signed contractual agreement ended last Friday. They were supposed to come and collect it and 4 days later I am still waiting. Everytime I fne the guy to come and get it I get nothing bt abuse down the phone. He is the most vile man I have ever had to deal with. I explained that I need the space back in my house and his reply was “oh wot a shame”. Am I within my rights to put the Sunbed outside as it is no longer my responsibility and hasn’t been since Friday when the agreement ended????? He’s basically saying everytime I ring him that he will collect it when he’s ready??? Is this allowed????
I’ve placed a bid on ebay for a motorhome for family holidays and there is 2days and 12hours of auction to run my problem is (and I am still in shock,)at the end of work this evening we were all handed letters telling us the factory was closing next Friday and as we are all self-employed means no redundancy I can no longer afford this item have tried contacting the seller but no response.
(a worried family)
Hi . I purchased a mobile phone for £250 from a lady on the shock website via bank transfer. I never received the item and the seller wont respond. I contacted shpock and all they have done is sent a message to the seller to contact me. As you can gather there has been no contact. Is there anything I can do to get the money back.
Hi I sold my plot of land on eBay a buyer made a clear winning bid on a buy it now price including a text message he sent me to remind me to state he won the bid & asked me to remove my listing & confirm he won.I insisted on a deposit & reminded him it was none refundable if he pulled out.He agreed & paid the deposit via a bank transfer he done this without using a solicitor or doing any form of conveyance he asked me a list of questions I told him I didn’t own the land very long even though in my description it says I owned it for years as I made a mistake in how long I owned the land in the listing I gave as much information as I possibly could to give the different options the land could be used for even using the previous edit owners information they used the land for in my eBay description although I copied there words. he was more than happy to continue In fact he said it was just what he was looking for.I advised him to get his solicitor to instruct searches etc even though I already had recent searches & even offered Them to him to save him for a small fee he refused.in the meantime I instructed my solicitor to take care of the sale.The buyer wanted to keep the costs down & didn’t want to fully instruct a solicitor of his own instead he wanted to use a friend who is a solicitor but informally.I then find out he changed his mind to continue with the purchase but then decided to use any excuse to avoid paying the balance including saying I lied about my length of ownership & used this as an excuse to avoid paying the balance.?In the meantime he was also continually emailing my solicitor to the extent that I had to reply untold untold emails & phone calls which incurred even more costs he was even threatening .I lost at least 2 buyers on eBay through him wasting my time he then threatened to take me to court if I didn’t reimburse the deposit he also said he would not pay a penny in costs.So I decided to withhold his deposit He has issued me with a claim to get the deposit back on the bases of description on my eBay listing.However I have spoke to eBay legall department they advise me I done nothing wrong & im within my rights to withhold the deposit as eBay is an online auction site & bidders should only bid if they are 100 percent certain they want to buy in fact eBay advised me it is entirely the the responsibility of the buyer/bidder to do there own enquiries prior to bidding as a bid is classed as a contract regardless of description.Im in the process of making a counter claim to get the buyer to complete on the purchase.Can you advise me what I can do.Im determined to hold the deposit but what chances do you think I have to make a counterclaim to get the buyer to complete on the purchase.I thinks it’s a clear case of buyers remorse as once he done a land registry search & realise how little I payed for the land and how very recent I purchased it he used every excuse to not to proceed and constantly threatened me to give him his deposit back.ebay is an online auction site bidders should only bid if they want to buy..please can you give me you opinion
hi everyone,i signed a contract with an estate agent to sell my business,a week later the landlord changed the locks and we lost the business,i told the the agent that we no longer had the business so there was nothing to sell,yet still i was been harassed by debt collectors etc threatening me with this that and the other,at the time while i was signing iwas told by the agent that i would have to pay half the initial fee for the business to go LIVE on their website,i told him that i didnt have the money to hand and would try to pay him next week,anyway you know what happened next. now i am been taken to a small claims court 4 years later and are pursued for more than 8 times more than the inital fee, i reckon i have a shout at this claim against me.any help would be much appreciated,
Hope you can help I had a magazine ring saying to me about putting a section about my company in there production. I emailed saying yes please book. Nothing was signed. Due to finances I am unable to complete. They are now saying to them it’s a contract even if nothing signed. So I have to pay. Am I in my rights to refuse as iam a nursery and reduced funds . Thankyou
Hi I’m needing some advice please
I recently sold a salon and in the salon I had two sunbeds on a lease to own basis, the new owner was happy to take over the lease on the sunbeds the sale of the salon went through before he actually signed the lease for the sunbeds but he give me and the leasing company his word he would sign, he carried on paying of them each month, now a couple of months in he’s closed down the salon and stopped paying for the sunbeds, now the leasing company are asking me to pay the outstanding amount that is left on the beds, I’ve tried getting in contact with the new owner but can’t get hold of him. I’ve spoken to the leasing company but they said they wont chase him for the money because it’s my name still in the lease! Even tho he has told the company he’s gonna be selling the sunbeds so they know fully what is going on, I really don’t know where I stand!!!! Help???
Need to talk about a so called legally binding agreement that is associated with Shpock. Would appreciate your comments. Thank you.
My girlfriend bought a paternity test for our daughter due to claims from another male he was the father. I completed the paternity test and sent it off. She has since claimed she didn’t give authority and I have no paternal rights. She has phoned the DNA testing centre and told them not to proceed with the test. What are my rights?
Hello, I am currently in a dispute with my internet provider. I recently moved home, and, because this provider does not serve my new address, I had to terminate my contract with them. I have been a customer for 5 years, but a couple of months before moving out, I called to reduce my monthly payments, as they had crept up. The provider claims that at this point, I committed to a new 12 month contract, which means that on moving home, I still owed them 10 months of subscription. I have written and called several times, asking them for evidence of my commitment to the 12 months. There is no signed contract (I never signed anything) but they claim I agreed to it by phone. I have therefore asked for a recording of this call, but this not been forthcoming. What is my position?
Recently made an offer on a tenancy agreement for a flat which was accepted and a deposit was taken with a Tenancy issued and signed on our behalf but not on the behalf of the realtor or landlord.
Following this, the realtor stated they had a better offer and would reneg on ours and look to return the deposit money.
However, in the meantime I had given notice on my current property and am stuck now unless I find something in the next week.
Is this legal or does the offer being accepted and deposit taken constitute a contract or does it only occur on finalization of the tenancy agreement? If I had reneged, they would have been able to keep my deposit.
I purchased a transmission on EBay received it . immediately found damaged to it contacted machivmotoros the seller and was told to fix and they would give me a partial refund. I responded and they said LET them know what it would take to make this right now. This went on for about four days when I was about to tell them how much it was to rebuild when now all they said was for me to send transmission back in original condition. And they would give me my money back Well I’ve got a sizeable amount of money in the transmission rebuild so I couldn’t send back or lose a whole lot of money and they get a rebuilt transmission. Before purchased transmission I asked many questions about the transmission and they told me it was in excellent condition misrepresentation so far EBay and PayPal haven’t done anything. Could have ]urchased a one for the money I have in it. PayPal had the nerve to tell me even though Machivmotors told me to fix transmission I should have sent it back then on the other they want seller and buyer to comunicate in the selling process. I always felt PayPal account was a safe way to purchase items BEWARE. BEWARE BEWARE Your money not safe 32cjk
Hi
I’m am relatively new to sphock. I found a seller selling two items. The first a pair of diamond earrings for £400. A deal was agreed. After deal was agreed i.e. Price I made a further request of seller if she would sell the paid of tanzanite gems she had on there on a different listing for £10 instead of £20. She agreed. I had said to her that I had been scammed prev by buying a ring listed as platinum which turns out to be white gold. I paid by PayPal, £400 for diamond earrings and the additional
£10.00 for th gems. When they arrived the earrings are not hallmarked other than there is a back which says 14k. So they were clearly not 18ct gold at all and whilst nice pair of earrings not what I thought I was buying. I contacted seller who said genuine mistake and offered money off. I didn’t really want this and said would like to return and I would pay the costs. It’s ways as she said it had been genuine mistake. She said she wanted both items back if I wanted a full refund. The tanzanite gems were a separate agreement although payments were together on PayPal. I can’t seem to get back into the sphock conversation page. I’ve sent a report to sphock but did not even give me a chance to copy the sellers comvo with me. She now being really quite rud and upsetting. I am loathed to send the tanzanite gems back which I even offered to give her the full
Money for (her having sold at £10) difference to what they had been sold. Advices please. Absolutely fed up with this app and won’t be buying again from it! :/
Hi , we got a quote for curtains from JL and agreed to the quote via email. We was told the work on the curtains would not be started until full payment was received ( verbally) . We have received phone calls and emails demanding payment as the curtains are ready. We are not ready as want to change our windows first .I’ve range the store and spoken to a saleswoman who confirmed that they only will make the curtains on full payment, but she has been made aware of the situation by the curtain workshop and has refused to but this in an email to confirm. Many thanks for your help and support..KT