Legal Question in Consumer Law in North Carolina

unfair trade practices
Very brief. We got a visit from a Kirby vacuum salesman on 7/7/00. He said that if we buy a vacuum he could win a trip. we agreed to allow him to run our credit through only with MG Distribution but that if we were not approved we would not buy. he called his manager ran everything and we were approved. contract was signed. we got credit for our old vacuum, was told again that we had 5 days to decide if we wanted it, that he would return our old one and pick up the Kirby. I called within 5 days both the salesman and MG. No one returned our calls. We received a bill 1 month later from Carmel Financial(?)We again tried to call MG to no avail. We refused to pay telling Carmel the whole story. This has been going on for 3 years now. Harassing calls, etc. We received a civil summons dated 7/2/03 from carmel assignee of MG. We responded to the questions and added a counterclaim of unfair trade practices & requested a jury trial. We filed this with the courts. We go to court march 22 for a summary judgement. What do we need to do to prepare for this? Can we file a counterclaim against MG or Carmel for harassment and ruining our credit for 3 years. No payment was ever made. There is more. Please help! Thank you.

Asked on 2/25/04, 1:17 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Jim Griffin The Law Office of James L. Griffin

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Re: unfair trade practices

Did you read your contract? I believe, off the top of my head, that there is a 72 hour grace period. Whether the salesman said 5 days or not is irrelevant if the written contract states 72 hours. Did you physically attempt to take the Kirby back to the sales office? Really, the only thing here is was there a valid contract? Did you act within the prescribed time to back out of the deal? If so, did you try to return it in the manner prescribed in the written contract or if none, in a way that was reasonable calculated to give the sales office notice that you wanted to back out of the deal?

This is a tricky situation. I may have an alternative solution to retaining an attorney to help with this issue on an ongoing basis. If you would like more information, please e-mail me and I will send it out to you.

[email protected]

Either way, I wish you good luck.

Answered on 2/25/04, 2:55 pm

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