THE Consumer Crew are here to solve your problems.
Mel Hunter will take on readers’ consumer issues, Jane Hamilton will give you the best advice for buying your dream home, and Judge Rinder will tackle your legal woes.
Jane Hamilton, property expert
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Colour has a comeback
READY for cheery colour after the storms? Banish grey skies with the top new trends for spring.
Interiors expert Liza Prideaux shares her picks for a new season makeover on a tight budget. Follow her at @LizaPrideaux.
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COLOUR BLOCKING: Transform a small space such as a home office or nook with contrasting colour. It adds instant personality for a couple of pounds. Lilac and pastel shades are my favourites for spring.
GINGHAM: Not just for dresses, gingham looks fresh and modern for interiors and works especially well in bathrooms and children’s bedrooms. Add using rugs, cushions, curtains and tableware.
VINTAGE: Try a quirky display made from vintage fabrics, which you can update with the seasons. For spring and Easter, pick vibrant greens and yellows. Find inexpensive items at charity shops, antiques shops or car boot sales.
COLOUR DRENCHING: Not as messy as it sounds. This trend takes one colour and contrasts different tones and shades of it across a range of surfaces. Add it to walls, furniture, fixtures and fittings and even bedding for a bold but complementary feel.
COTTAGECORE: Popular since 2020, this look is even bigger this year. Think traditional English cottage. Embrace any unusual and homely features in your pad or add them using wooden or natural finishes.
Most read in Money
Buy of the week
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ESCAPE to the country and the market town of Corsham, Wilts. It has seen the UK’s highest level of buyer demand so far this year, with a 124 per cent surge in enquiries. This pretty two-bed cottage needs a full renovation but it’s yours for £250,000 at rightmove.co.uk
STORM DAMAGE
SUFFERED storm damage to your property?
Make sure you take photos and include the time to prove to your insurer the repairs are needed.
You should also provide pictures before the damage to show the extent of any destruction. Michael Foote, of consumer site Quotegoat.com, said: “If you need to make temporary repairs, tell your insurer and keep any receipts because this could form part of your claim.”
Deal of the week
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GET closer to nature.
This industrial-chic two-seater trough and bistro set in grey was £75, now £60 at Habitat.co.uk. At 1.05m wide, it is great for small spaces.
SAVE: £15
Judge Rinder, legal expert
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‘Despite estate agent’s assurance, the vendor pulled out. Can I claim £1,000 solicitor fees from them?’
Q) THE estate agent I was buying a property through assured me the vendor, an employee of the same agency, was intending to move in with her daughter on sale of her house.
She accepted my offer and I paid for searches and a survey. Twelve weeks later I was told by the agent that the vendor couldn’t find a property and although she wanted to sell to me, moving in with her daughter was no longer an option because she had bought a dog.
Disappointed, I pulled out of the purchase to save wasting other opportunities. I had to pay my solicitor, regardless. The bill was £1,000. Can I claim this money back from either the agent or the vendor?
Julia, Twickenham, South West London
A) You are still liable for your solicitor’s fees despite the vendor pulling out.
If you had exchanged contracts and reached a point where you had been assured the sale would be completed, it might have been possible to argue that the vendor should be required to pay the money you now owe your solicitor. You were not at that stage of the transaction.
There are calls for the law to be changed, making it harder for vendors to pull out of a sale in circumstances like this without compensating purchasers. But I’m afraid that’s a long way off.
FEELING PUTT OUT
Q) I HAD a golf weekend booked for June 2020, which was cancelled due to Covid.
The hotel gave me a gift voucher, which can be used for bookings up to 2023. But when I went to use it, the cost of a weekend’s golf and accommodation had increased 50 per cent so my voucher does not cover like for like.
Is this legal or should I be entitled to the stay I had booked at no extra cost?
Colin, Bucks
A) This is an increasingly common problem as hotels’ prices (and everything else) have risen.
If you had booked a golfing package holiday, the travel company would almost certainly be required to cover the full cost of the new trip regardless of price increases.
In this case, it seems to me that the hotel was legally bound to offer you the value of the room you paid for. It was not bound to guarantee you a room at 2020 prices.
If you don’t want the voucher (given the expense now) you might insist on a full refund instead, which may be your best bet in this case.
Be mindful in your correspondence as hotels will often be prepared to do deals in cases like this.
Q) I RECENTLY bought a meat slicer and on unpacking found it to be damaged. I made this discovery after the allotted seven days return period as I was isolating due to Covid.
I have contacted the company several times and sent a formal complaint.
To date, all they have done is offer me a £30 goodwill payment. It cost me £395.98 and I have asked for a full refund.
They are ignoring my request and I have threatened court action. What is my best move now?
Hilary, Barnsley
A) Whatever is stated in this company’s refund policy, you are legally entitled to your money back in full.
Assuming that you notified the company of the problem within 30 days of receiving this broken slicer, the law is perfectly clear. Seven-day no-refund policies can apply to certain goods (perishable food, for instance) but not to broken equipment like this.
Email the company again quoting the Consumer Rights Act (which clearly states your entitlement to return faulty goods) and invite it to explain how its refund policy is consistent with the law.
Remind this company that the item was broken when it arrived, so is unused, and provide any evidence you have of this.
If you do not receive a full refund, I would make clear to this company that you intend to take it to the small claims court.
Mel Hunter, reader’s champion
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Jet2 no clue on shut hotel
Q) IN March 2019 we booked the H10 Andalucia Plaza hotel in Puerto Banus, Spain, with Jet2 for my son’s wedding, which is set to happen nearby in June 2022.
We found out the hotel is under new ownership and would be closed for refurbishment until the end of this year. I messaged Jet2 last August but was told the holiday is scheduled to operate as planned and no refund will be given.
Other wedding guests who have booked the same hotel through different operators have had their bookings cancelled and refunds given.
Mrs J HAWKINS, Essex
A) Weddings are stressful enough without all this. You tried for six months to get answers from Jet2 despite having an email from the hotel itself saying it was closed.
I asked Jet2 to clear this up so you could book elsewhere if necessary. It’s still not clear when the hotel will reopen but with me on the case, Jet2 did finally refund your £500 deposit so you could make new plans and get properly excited for the big day.
Jet2 told me: “The hotel Mrs Hawkins originally booked is currently closed while undergoing refurbishment and is scheduled to reopen under new ownership this summer.
“We have since been in touch with Mrs Hawkins to apologise for any confusion and are pleased to say the matter has been resolved.”
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Q) THERE has been a problem with my Bulb energy account for a long time.
Bulb set up my £130 direct debit in 2018 and I’ve given regular readings. My latest statement says I’m nearly £1,000 in debit. This makes no sense.
I’ve contacted Bulb many times hoping it would say there had been an error but I can’t make any sense of its automatic replies.
GLYNIS BARNETT Croydon, South London
Most read in The Sun
A) Your bill was a confusing tally of credits, debits and corrections.
The £130 you were paying each month should have covered your energy costs, as this was before recent price rises kicked in.
Even if you were using more, Bulb should not have allowed a £1,000 debt to build up without raising it with you. The firm, which went into special administration in November and has been propped up with £1.7billion of public money, agreed to look again at your account.
It reckons it had not been getting proper readings between January 2019, when a new meter was installed, and June 2021. Instead, it used estimated figures to calculate your bills.
When this was spotted, last summer, Bulb sent updated statements showing you owed more. But it agreed the corrections on your account were confusing.
A spokesperson said: “We didn’t handle this well and we’re sorry.”
It wrote off a debt of £803, gave you £110 compensation and suggested you hike your monthly payments slightly to cover your energy use.
