Legal Question in Consumer Law in Maryland

Re: Can I get the charge taken off of my credit card?

The wording of your question is ambiguous. You say "I recently selected some furniture for purchase and put down a $2000

deposit. I told the salesperson not to orderd the furniture until I notified them. I later decided to cancel the purchase."

Now, in your question you say the word 'Selected' which, of itself, does not generally constitute a contract unless the seller holds specific goods for a specific sale at the buyer's request. However,

then you say 'purchase' and thus a contract may very well lie. It appears that at worst--for you that is--is that what was created was a

contract, where the seller's performance was conditioned on your indicating that the order was to be effected. Other wording issues are presented and not analyzed.

It simply appears that you attach synomous meaning to words that have distinctly different legal meaning. Your words could also be construed to indicate merely prefatory bargaining language. Most perplexing are the words "...complete the transaction..." Do you mean complete your performance or do you mean conclude the purchase contract??

In any event, it seems that you may be contributing to your problem by mis-use of certain terms. A discussion on the matter would be needed to clarify these matters.

All this aside, what you are dealing with is a Uniform Commercial Code, Article 2, Sale of

Goods issue. Looking to UCC 2-201, there is the following...

� 2-201. Formal Requirements; Statute of Frauds.

1) Except as otherwise provided in this section a contract for the sale of goods for the price of $500 or more is not

enforceable by way of action or defense unless there is some writing sufficient to indicate that a contract for sale has

been made between the parties and signed by the party against whom enforcement is sought or by his authorized agent

or broker.

So, the question of the momment is "Was there a writing that you signed?"

If not, the seller has no basis to enforce anything as there is no contract and you are due all amounts

given to the seller. There are technical requirements over what constitutes a sufficient writing. Nonetheless,

if you did not sign it then it is unenforceable.

DISCLAIMER: Nothing in this correspondence constitutes legal advice and should not be construed as such. When encountering a legal problem,

the advice and services of an attorney should be sought.

Re: Can I get the charge taken off of my credit card?

Contact your credit card company in writing, and explain that there was a misunderstanding with

the store and that you wish to put in contest the disputed charges. Your credit card company should then execute a charge back against the store for the disputed amount. MH