House of Lords confirms protection for Overseas Credit Card Purchases

[major_clanger]

Even as someone who might fairly be accused of sometimes approaching law with the fervour of the convert, I don't often post about the latest case in the House of Lords. But Their Lordships' decision in Office of Fair Trading v Lloyds TSB Bank plc and Others may well be of great interest to anyone who buys goods overseas via credit card, be it in person or online. The House of Lords has confirmed the decision of the Court of Appeal that Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act applies to overseas as well as domestic credit card transactions; this is important because s.75 means that if you buy goods valued between £100 and £30,000 with a credit card, then in the event of any dispute over the terms of the contract of sale, the credit card issuer is liable. And this includes terms implied by legislation such as the provisions of the Sale of Goods Act regarding quality and fitness for purpose.

In a nutshell, if you spend £400 online buying a widget from an online store and what you get is not what you ordered, not what was described, doesn't work or plain fails to arrive, you can claim damages off your credit card company rather than having to sue the store - and this applies wherever the store is. Note that this only works for purchases in the range I mentioned, and only applies where a credit card is used, not a charge or debit card.

Comments

[antonia-tiger.livejournal.com]

I predict that the next big case will be over an eBay purchase, involving the tortuous path fropm credit card to seller via Paypal. With added complications from Paypal being based in another EU country (Luxembourg, now?). The seller has a Paypal account, but not what I gather is called a merchant account with a credit card company.

Of course, the people with the particular legal knowledge of these issues are free to laugh at a layman's misconceptions. I know auctions are different from shops.