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Owners Club Director
Rover 75 Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Sherfield-on-Loddon
Posts: 4,872
Thanks: 137
Thanked 996 Times in 444 Posts
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Resolving Disputes: New Guidelines For Traders & Buyers
It has become apparent that we need to introduce a more formal set of criteria that both buyers and sellers can work to when trading within the club.
Effective immediately all forum traders (those whose names are in dark blue) must comply with Consumer Rights Act 2015. The full text of this legislation can be found here. A brief synopsis of the legislation can be found here. Although the legislation applies to UK based traders, in the interests of ensuring a fair and level playing field for all any trader within the club must abide by UK law. In addition to compliance with recent legislation we are going to trial a formal procedure for grievances between a buyer and a trader. While we believe neither a buyer or a trader should be censored from making concerns public, in practice this has taken place before the two parties have had a chance to communicate and try to agree on solving the issue at hand. This at times almost eagerness to 'jump the gun' has seen others, who are not involved in the dispute, then get involved with at times incorrect comments or unhelpful comments that serve no purpose whatsoever - leading to long-term damage to the trader's reputation. So, as a trader you will now be required to undertake the following: Please communicate fully and promptly with customers. You must make your customers aware of any delay in the delivery of your product. Be available. No-one expects you to be online 24/7, but you must respond within a reasonable amount of time to queries from customers, be it via email or the club's Private Messaging facility. We consider that to be within five working days of receipt of the query from the buyer. If you are experiencing issues in supplying customers - for example, you are waiting for stock - then you must state this in any relevant advert. We advise letting them know when the issue will be sorted and give them the opportunity to advance order. Similarly, if you are taking a break or going on holiday then you must state this in any live adverts, and state when you are returning. In practice many traders already do this. In future, failure to reply to a customer's query in the stated timeframe may result in a negative strike against you. We will of course take into account mitigating reasons for a prolonged delay in communicating with the customer such as a family bereavement, ill health requiring a suspension of trading operations. However, this strike will be recorded on file and can be accessed by the club team for future reference should the issue repeatedly occur. Communicate with the club If either party experiences an issue they must bring it to the attention of the club via PM. Posting messages about issues without following this step will result in them being summarily removed and the poster advised accordingly. While the issue exists between the trader and buyer, we will step in as arbitrator where necessary. Disputes should be directed to Pete, who will look to help both sides reach an amicable agreement in line with UK legislation. Where a dispute is brought to our attention both sides will be given the opportunity to give their side BUT only where supporting evidence if provided, such as emails or messages showing date and time stamps. Where a conclusion is reached both sides must agree. If they don't then they are free to take the matter further by formal legal process. They are not free to then indulge in public critiques via the club forums or elsewhere; this will result in a summary suspension. We are always happy to listen to any points you feel might be useful to add, and will consider additional points (or rephrasing of points) that you think may help both improve buyer confidence and reduce negative posts. Lastly we also hope you understand that, far from trying to exert control over how you operate, we are looking to help you deliver an even better service to club members and ensure your reputation extends far beyond the confines of this forum. |
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