Protection When Purchasing an Expensive Item - options?

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Soldato
Joined
15 Apr 2009
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Hi

I am looking to purchase some bi fold doors from one of the smaller suppliers. So my inclination had been to use a credit card to provide protection on the purchase against the seller going into liquidation. However I now understand that the seller uses worldpay for credit card transactions which I believe are not covered by section 75 (the credit card clause that allows you to recover the money in this instance) as it is processing the transaction through a third party.

What options are their in this instance, are there insurance schemes, escrow or similar that can be used - what would others do in this instance or would you just walk away as the risk although remote is still there?

Really appreciate any thoughts.
 
What makes you think s75 doesn't apply to a Worldpay transaction? My understanding is that as long as there is sufficient link between the payment and the transaction you are covered, i.e. if you deposited money on to Paypal from a credit card and used the funds to pay for something you could have a problem as there is break in the transaction. However Worldpay are simply facilitating the payment in this instance.

Happy to be proved wrong though.
 
It's a good point and you are correct that worldpay is effectively acting as a gateway for the seller and doesn't hold the money. Although it is unclear and i've come across numerous guides on the internet that state worldpay as one of the third partys which you may find means you can't claim under section 75 or more importantly the credit card company will use as an excuse to get out of it

This one specifies worldpay as one that would be effected

http://www.totallymoney.com/guides/section-75-consumer-credit-act/

and Martin Lewis which is a reasonably respected site lists worldpay as being one that would prove difficult to claim
http://justice4.co.uk/martin-lewis-on-section-75/

This is another good example although not specifying world pay does cover the matter that it is an indirect relationship between your card and their bank

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/PayPal-Section75

and from the Ombudsman

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org....es/goods-and-services-bought-with-credit.html

For section 75 to apply, there must be an unbroken connection between the consumer, the lender and the supplier. Without this connection, the law says that section 75 cannot apply - and so we could not find that the credit card provider was liable to put things right for the consumer.
 
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Agreed that looks like its a grey area and if the ombudsman is siding with the credit card providers (as it appears in the MoneySavingExpert article re Paypal) the bank will certainly object should you make a s75 claim, and whilst it doesn't look like this is something that has been tested in court its not the peace of mind you want from a sizable transaction.

Does the seller have a shop you could visit where you could make a credit card payment directly?
 
They have a shop which we have been to but no place to process transactions. Real pain as we really like their product. I'm going to give the credit card company (tesco) a call tomorrow as their terms and conditions seem very open (on a good side) re the protection to see what they say. It is a loophole that needs closing in my view and the omnbudsman isn't helping in this :(
 
it isn't a loophole, it is there for a reason surely... if the credit card company isn't directly dealing with the company you're purchasing from then it isn't fair on them. They can take action against the firms they deal directly with, if their only interaction however is with some third party payment company then they can't.
 
That does make sense but it adds quite a bit of confusion to your own rights as a consumer. So I would guess a lot of people purchasing using a cc would rightfully think they are protected and use the CC for that sole reason and then find they are not. I rang tesco and immediately the answer was they could see no reason why I wouldn't be covered. I then dug in and said it wasn't clear cut at which point I was advised that tesco just put claims through to mastercard and arn't involved in the process.

Ultimately if we are going to take a simplistic view anyone that spends money with a seller should have a right to expect the items they have purchased or their money back. Now you could argue quite strongly that a vendor who doesn't have full credit card facilities probably is best avoiding
 
Yes Paypal is even clearer and is generally the one that is listed. So without that protection in place you don't appear to have much protection. You can delve into the companies history but this is a fairly new company with no history at this point.
 
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