C.Lee wrote:No one likes to feel duped, short-changed or taken advantage of. The customer, instead of simply assigning blame, should seek to achieve resolution. I like what Micheal referred to as getting livid. All these mild-mannered bespeakers should be turning green a la Incredible Hulk. It's one thing to confer with the community, it's another to engage with the issue at hand. The two together bring results.
Don't worry, I intend to take my issue further. My silence has been due to illness. The last thing that I wanted to do was schedule a meeting with the MD when I was feeling under the weather. I have now recovered.
I have also been taking the time to seek some legal advice (admittedly free at this stage), not because I intend to adopt the persona of a faux lawyer in the meeting, but because I wanted to have some idea of the wider picture for my own reference.
There is some debate as to whether the commissioning of a bespoke garment would be considered as the sale of goods (covered by the Sale Of Goods Act 1979) or as goods and services (covered by the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982). Goods and services seems to be the more likely choice with the goods being the materials used and the services being the fitting and making. It doesn't actually affect the situation since both of these Acts have similar clauses and are implied terms in any contract of sale, or supply of goods and services , and I have a contract for sale so these Acts form part of that contract.
Both acts cover the case where the goods are transferred by description and contain clauses such as "goods are of satisfactory quality if they meet the standard that a reasonable person would regard as satisfactory, taking account of any description of the goods, the price (if relevant) and all the other relevant circumstances.".
The website of the particular tailor in question contains a description of the bespoke process that clearly describes a first fitting, a second fitting, and only after the second fitting is going to finishing mentioned. I am advised that this description, together with reasonable expectations of standard practices at this price point, should be sufficient to demonstrate a failure to match the description.
There is also a clause in the goods and services act: "13) Implied term about care and skill - In a contract for the supply of a service where the supplier is acting in the course of a business, there is an implied term that the supplier will carry out the service with reasonable care and skill."
I don't intend to go in there acting like an amateur lawyer, there is a reason why real lawyers spend so long in study and training. Laypeople who think they have become instant experts on some specific area of the law and attempt to use a miniscule amount of knowledge to intimidate usually look rather pathetic and absurd to me. I did however want to have some idea in my own mind of the legal situation in case an amicable discussion fails to achieve the desired outcome and I might need to resort to briefing a solicitor. Having such knowledge can also subtly affect one's attitude and body language in a negotiation which can help achieve a positive outcome without needing to resort to threats.
Regardless of the outcome I can do without this annoyance and I can't ever see myself placing another commission with this particular tailor however good the end result turns out to be. Once I do find my preferred tailor (there's probably no such thing as ideal) I intend to place at least a couple of commissions a year for the next 5 or 10 years so this short-changing, if deliberate, certainly seems to have been self-defeating in this case.
- Julian
