This could save you £30,000 - seriously.

[Duffer]

After the collapse of Farepak a number of people who paid by credit card OR DEBIT card got refunded by their bank. So if you pay a deposit or upfront for a boat etc and the manufacturer goes bust before delivery you might get your money back this way (Credit cards however may not be accepted or may attract a surcharge). NB this applies to some Debit cards e.g. Mastercard Visa and NOT others e.g. Switch Maestro i.e. check carefully if you want this free protection for your advance payment/deposit of £100 to £30,000... Farepak savers thought they were safe - how safe is the part payment on your new boat?

 

[Guest]

It's worth thinking about. However I have a dim recollection that the protection is under the Consumer Credit Act, and that much of the Consumer Credit Act protection applies to purchases up to something like £15,000. But I could (easily) be wrong. Anyone else know?

 

[sighmoon]

I'm in the process of trying to recover £800 for a Seahopper dinghy purchased, but not received as described at the last London boat show.

It's gone to the credit card company, but they are saying that as it's been such a long time, (9 months since I paid for it that I finally figured out it wasn't arriving) the money has already gone to the merchant, and all the creedit card company can do (and have done) is write to him, but they can't force him to do anything.

The small claims court seems to be more able to help me, but that's another story.

What I learned from this (and I'm sure it's counter to many people's experience) is not to buy a new boat. What if I'd paid out for a new yacht (in my dreams...), and the dealer/ manufacturer had gone bankrupt?

 

[Duffer]

Limits used to be £30 - £15,000 under s. 75 of CCA 1974 for credit cards. Message seems to be act fast and be firm i.e. know your rights.

 

[Guest]

You should be able to claim the amount from the credit card company for the same reasons as explained in the original post - because of the Consumer Credit Act. The credit card company obviously aren't too keen to tell you about this!