[JZ69]

I will never use these clowns again.

I orderd some Continental Winter tyres for the M3 over the weekend. Expensive, but I was looking at the forecast for the coming week.

Come Monday, I actually found the same tyres from the USA website TireRack for less than half the price and they are willing to ship to the UK. (Still much cheaper than Pneus Tyre or MyTyres, even with shipping).

I saw that the Pneus Order had not been dispatched and I contacted them by phone (no answer, their phone lines are only open from 9am to 12pm) and email. twice.

I confirmed in the evening with DPD, (courier) that the package reference number they were giving on the website was not actually valid, which meant that the tyres had not been collected from the warehouse.

Despite another phone call this morning with a woman who couldn't speak english, it turns out that two of the 4 tyres have still been dispatched and so if I refuse delivery they will charge me £22 per tyre to restock. They confirmed that the other two tyres were waiting for dispatch and so I reiterated again that those two tyres should be cancelled.

8 hours later I receive an email entirely in French which says that it was not possible to prevent the last two tyres being dispatched and so I am now liable for £88 to refuse delivery and have the tyres restocked.

This brings customer service to a new low. They don't answer their phones, they don't answer their emails and they use a UK based website in English to trade with UK customers. They deal with all customer service in french.

On top of that they charge an extortionate fee to return an item. Mytyres don't charge a thing.

If my credit card company doesn't have any success I will be taking this to Small Claims. These clowns could have and should have stoppd this transaction, instead, they work a 3 hour day and assume the entire world speaks French.

Use them with caution.

Rant Over

[zltm089]

thanks for the head up....

if u order from companies outside the UK, you 'll hav to pay tax on the goods anyways!...

[m1bjr]

If you pay the taxes in the EU country of origin, you don't pay any additional VAT here.

No point taking a French company to small claims either.

You bought something, paid for it and then found it cheaper afterwards
Thats just hard cheese mate.

Just learn from it, and buy British

[JZ69]

Not from the EU.

On the TireRack order from the US, you pay 2.5% excise duty on the value of the product and 17.5%VAT as well.

That STILL ends up cheaper by over £250 than Pneus Online - for german tyres shipped to America then flown back to the UK. It just shows how much of a rip-off the current UK winter tyre market is.

[G82Dude]

Distance selling regs? You can change your mind, can you not?

[JZ69]

Yep, distance selling regs apply in this case. They operate in the UK under UK law

[Boyd1963]

Originally Posted by uke92dude

Distance selling regs? You can change your mind, can you not?

Only if it is a UK company.

[m1bjr]

I think the 'distance' is not 'France'

Either way, you changed your mind and they want to charge you a small fee for messing them about.

Sounds fair to me.

[NFS]

If you reject the tyres under the Distance Selling Regs you are not liable for a 're-stocking charge' provided that you ordered as a private consumer rather than a business.

If you take delivery of the goods you are bound to keep them safe and make arangements to return them to the seller.

I would make a quick call to trading standards to ask their advise. I would be tempted to refuse to accept the delivery, but their is a danger that this might be seen as refusing to look after the goods until they are returned.

Ordinarily, you would be liable for 'reasonable' postage charges, which would be much less than £22 per tyre. However, if you can prove that you cancelled before the tyres were dispatched then this should not be your problem.

[F31-340i]

Originally Posted by m1bjr

I think the 'distance' is not 'France'

Either way, you changed your mind and they want to charge you a small fee for messing them about.

Sounds fair to me.

I agree. You bought them, changed your mind but they had already processed your order & it had entered their dispatch system.

These companies are all set up for efficient processing of orders with minimal overheads, not getting orders then running around cancelling them for free.

I don't see why the price I might pay, having usually done my research before buying, should go up to cover the costs of punters faffing around costing businesses time & money!!

[ss134]

JZ69 - How much were you quoted for the tyres and are you on 18 or 19 inch alloys? - I was told that i couldnt get winter tyres for my 19s and would have to buy a new set of 18s as well as the tyres costing £1800 or so.

[xenon]

Originally Posted by ///ajd

I agree. You bought them, changed your mind but they had already processed your order & it had entered their dispatch system.

These companies are all set up for efficient processing of orders with minimal overheads, not getting orders then running around cancelling them for free.

I don't see why the price I might pay, having usually done my research before buying, should go up to cover the costs of punters faffing around costing businesses time & money!!

I'm of a mind to agree with these comments too. It's a pisser, but court action?

[jimmylimmy]

If you sent them an email via their online contact form and ticked the box for "Receive a copy of this email" before the tyres were shipped, you have good grounds to argue that they were informed of the cancellation.

As they trade under UK law, your have distance selling protection. However, you agreed to their T&C regarding returns where it states £22 per tyre for restocking.

IMO, you have cause for complaint if you informed them via their instructed process i.e their online contact form on the website and could maybe threaten them with court action (maybe use https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk)

but as ordering from TireRack saved you £250, I'd probably offer to pay half of the refund penalty and leave it at that

[kaishang]

I know they are French, but it has got to be trouble ordering from a company with a name that reads like "penis"

[m1bjr]

Originally Posted by kaishang

I know they are French, but it has got to be trouble ordering from a company with a name that reads like "penis"

[Merv B]

Worth checking a few things before you order tyres from the US. Had a look at tire rack and thought I was on to a deal with some Dunlops ($139 each for 225/45R17 which is about £89 plus taxes) but then asked someone in the know about any problems which could be foreseen and this was their response;

They must have an E Mark
It is illegal to drive on a tyre without an E Mark in the UK
Check the load index of the tyre
In UK we adhere to ETRTO regulations, in America they adhere to TARA regulations, they stipulate different load indexes (they are lower than what we have in the UK).

Just a bit of food for thought as they could prove expensive if your insurance is void.

Merv

[JZ69]

Originally Posted by ///ajd

I agree. You bought them, changed your mind but they had already processed your order & it had entered their dispatch system.

These companies are all set up for efficient processing of orders with minimal overheads, not getting orders then running around cancelling them for free.

I don't see why the price I might pay, having usually done my research before buying, should go up to cover the costs of punters faffing around costing businesses time & money!!

I guess you have never returned a product you have purchased because you changed your mind?

If this company wishes to trade under UK law then they need to satisfy UK trading standards - which in his case includes distance selling regs. To charge me for a restocking fee for a tyre they dispatched from their warehouse 4 days after I cancelled the order, is poor business practice. My credit card company also agrees with me and they are taking this up on my behalf.

[JZ69]

Originally Posted by Merv B

Worth checking a few things before you order tyres from the US. Had a look at tire rack and thought I was on to a deal with some Dunlops ($139 each for 225/45R17 which is about £89 plus taxes) but then asked someone in the know about any problems which could be foreseen and this was their response;

They must have an E Mark
It is illegal to drive on a tyre without an E Mark in the UK
Check the load index of the tyre
In UK we adhere to ETRTO regulations, in America they adhere to TARA regulations, they stipulate different load indexes (they are lower than what we have in the UK).

Just a bit of food for thought as they could prove expensive if your insurance is void.

Merv

Thanks for the info. The tyres are E marked and have a load index of 101 on the back and 97 on the front. They are alos marked XL. As far as I can see, they are the same as any Conti Ts810S available in Europe. Infact, they have European barcoes for sale in europe, so I guess Continental use the same molds.

[Merv B]

JZ69 did your tyres turn up yet? And if you dont mind me asking what did they charge for delivery and how did you get on with VAT etc?

Cheers

Merv