Advice for refund of deposit for goods/services never received (NY)

[mc33433]

New York.

Looking for some advice. We ordered cabinets and counters from a family owned company in NYC and never received the products. We made 2 deposits for a total of 50% of the total project cost. One deposit was through Mastercard while unfortunately one deposit was a personal check.

The second deposit was provided 11/2014, and kitchen plans were completely finalized 12/2014. From that point we were told it would take 14 weeks to receive the products.

It is now June 2015 and we have nothing, and receive the runaround from the company. We've called 40 times since January (I have phone records to show this) and have been back to their showroom 3 times in person. Early on we were told the delay was driven by the cabinet manufacturer, but later on it turned into them dodging phone calls and not returning messages. We've finally given up, feel the order was never even placed, and have been demanding a refund of our deposit. They've refused and have stopped calling us back.

I've made a formal written request to Mastercard for a chargeback of the deposit made by credit card. Waiting to hear back. We also made a written request to the company through certified mail to return our deposit.

I documented all of this and also notified BBB and the NYS Department of State Division of Consumer Protection.

Should we get a lawyer? What are recommended next steps? We want to move on to get a kitchen elsewhere but really need this deposit money back.

 

[Zigner]

New York.

Looking for some advice. We ordered cabinets and counters from a family owned company in NYC and never received the products. We made 2 deposits for a total of 50% of the total project cost. One deposit was through Mastercard while unfortunately one deposit was a personal check.

The second deposit was provided 11/2014, and kitchen plans were completely finalized 12/2014. From that point we were told it would take 14 weeks to receive the products.

It is now June 2015 and we have nothing, and receive the runaround from the company. We've called 40 times since January (I have phone records to show this) and have been back to their showroom 3 times in person. Early on we were told the delay was driven by the cabinet manufacturer, but later on it turned into them dodging phone calls and not returning messages. We've finally given up, feel the order was never even placed, and have been demanding a refund of our deposit. They've refused and have stopped calling us back.

I've made a formal written request to Mastercard for a chargeback of the deposit made by credit card. Waiting to hear back. We also made a written request to the company through certified mail to return our deposit.

I documented all of this and also notified BBB and the NYS Department of State Division of Consumer Protection.

Should we get a lawyer? What are recommended next steps? We want to move on to get a kitchen elsewhere but really need this deposit money back.

MC won't allow the chargeback this late in the game.

 

[mc33433]

MC won't allow the chargeback this late in the game.

Thanks for the response. Can you help me explain how it works?

We made the second deposit 11/2014 and the final plans were signed off 12/8/2014. At that point we were told it was 14 weeks. That brings us to around mid-March for the expected delivery. Once we hit mid-March and nothing arrived, we spend the next few weeks being told that there was a problem with the manufacturer of the cabinets and things were delayed. We did call the manufacturer but they don't have an individual records of clients and couldn't help. We were then playing phone tag with this company in May until early June when we gave up, making the complaint to MC and Consumer Affairs.

My understanding was that MC does chargebacks 120 days, +/- depending the circumstances, from the time of expected services/ delivery. Wouldn't that be 4 months from our original delivery expectation of mid-March, which would put even mid-July into the consideration period?

I know the federal guideline is 30 days, and the 120 days is the MC guideline, but maybe I was completely ill informed.

 

[Zigner]

Thanks for the response. Can you help me explain how it works?

We made the second deposit 11/2014 and the final plans were signed off 12/8/2014. At that point we were told it was 14 weeks. That brings us to around mid-March for the expected delivery. Once we hit mid-March and nothing arrived, we spend the next few weeks being told that there was a problem with the manufacturer of the cabinets and things were delayed. We did call the manufacturer but they don't have an individual records of clients and couldn't help. We were then playing phone tag with this company in May until early June when we gave up, making the complaint to MC and Consumer Affairs.

My understanding was that MC does chargebacks 120 days, +/- depending the circumstances, from the time of expected services/ delivery. Wouldn't that be 4 months from our original delivery expectation of mid-March, which would put even mid-July into the consideration period?

I know the federal guideline is 30 days, and the 120 days is the MC guideline, but maybe I was completely ill informed.

My understanding is that have 60 days from the statement date on which a charge occurs to dispute the charge. You will need to refer to your cardholder agreement.

 

[mc33433]

My understanding is that have 60 days from the statement date on which a charge occurs to dispute the charge. You will need to refer to your cardholder agreement.

Thanks, very good tip. I'm going to check that now.

I did call Citicard and they said because of the time that passed that I had to make the dispute in writing and gave me the address. That is what I did. They did not say I was out of luck.

Seems weird to me that the consumer only has a right 60 days after the statment when a delivery date can be I guess the moral is to ensure the business is reputable. We thought it was - 40+ years of business and we had used them before 10 years ago without a problem.

Thanks again, Zigner, for your responses.