The Perfume Emporium have stolen my money

mattwallisuk

Don't be so negative. Use the correct channels and you should receive your money back. So far nobody has "lost" their money that has taken the right actions (read this thread) and claimed their refund.

Honestfriend

OK maybe I am being negative.

However, the point is that no one should have to go to so much trouble to get goods or money back. He/she must be the unluckiest person in the UK to get so many packages lost! I receive at least one package/parcel a week through internet/ebay shopping- most of them via Royal Mail (some signed-for, some not). In 6 years I have only had one item that has gone astray; that was due to the fact that it was two weeks before Christmas and because of the volume of parcels it had gone to a different sorting office. However, the sender managed to locate it for me and it was duly delivered on Christmas Eve.

Why don't you speak to Royal Mail and see how many of these "lost parcels" the sender has claimed for? It might give you some idea as to how many of them actually existed.

kuffdam73

I have received my refund from The Perfume Emporium 32 days after cancellation and request for refund and 54 days after placing the original order (that seems pretty good compared to others on here...).

It still seems to me that this is a highly dubious operation with 'Chris' using a systematic method to obtain funds and then return them after a time period (of his choosing) has elapsed whilst hiding behind distance selling regulations.

We have seen almost identical cases that use template emails to fob-off unsatisfied customers blaming Royal Mail for the delay in goods arriving (if they were ever despatched) and banks for monies not being returned.

I hate to think how this refund process would be functioning without the input from Matt Wallis at United Hosting. Matt must really be applauded for taking the time to assist the people who have been refunded in this forum. I wonder at what point United Hosting will take the view that having to intercede on such a regular basis is cost effective and if they really want to do business with a company that is clearly attracting so much negative attention??

I still don't think I've seen a positive, and credible, review of this site anywhere and that must be a sign of some sort?!? I take into account Matt's point about the number/volume of orders seen going through this site that would indicate a high degree of 'successful' orders completed so where are all these people????

I have spent far too much time on this already all for the sake of £30 and I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that I hope The Perfume Emporium is shut down ASAP. I guess it's always wise to check out an on-line retailer before you part with your cash, lesson learnt! If I wanted to make an interest free loan to someone I would rather they just asked me straight out and didn't promise to deliver goods in return.

Good luck to all the other folks on here, I'm sure that if Matt Wallis and his team at United Hosting keep up their good (un-paid) work on behalf of 'Chris' you should all receive your money back in time.....

mattwallisuk

Glad to have helped. If you could update your ticket/email us to confirm you got your refund so we can close our tracking of your issue and tick you off the list that would be great.

We have given Chris somewhat of an ultimatum this weekend explaining that all the open cases we have need to be dealt with, within a certain timeframe, or we will have to recommend he finds an alternative home for his site. I was trying to avoid this, because currently I don't mind assisting people, but obviously the next host of the site may not be so helpful!

kuffdam73

mattwallisuk wrote: »

Glad to have helped. If you could update your ticket/email us to confirm you got your refund so we can close our tracking of your issue and tick you off the list that would be great.

We have given Chris somewhat of an ultimatum this weekend explaining that all the open cases we have need to be dealt with, within a certain timeframe, or we will have to recommend he finds an alternative home for his site. I was trying to avoid this, because currently I don't mind assisting people, but obviously the next host of the site may not be so helpful!

Matt, Just sent an email to your abuse address stating refund received and ticket to be closed. Thanks again for your input.

How many cases are on this list of yours then I wonder????

Glad to see you have taken some firm action with regard to Chris and his site. I appreciate the fact that you don't really want to be losing business during this current economic climate.

I am still taking an interest in TPE and have been making a point of re-directing people from Ciao.com to this forum.

mattwallisuk

I would also suggest that those of you investing a lot of time into this, and truly believing the company to be a scam, may want to contact appropriate authorities to see what can be done. Obviously internet review sites, forums and web hosting companies can make no enforcements on the company, so regardless of if they move hosts etc etc they can continue to trade in this way until appropriate authorities are involved.

Joelleski

Having received this from Chris last Friday:

"Hello,
Please accept my sincere apologies. Upon checking with out payment processors, the refund was processed but for some reason, it wasn't included in the batch that gets sent to the banks every night.
I have requested this be processed urgently and it should be sent over tonight.
Unfortunately it will take a further 3-5 working days as your bank will need to process the request.
Regards
Chris"

I am still awaiting my refund ... I'll let you know what happens ... glad to hear Kuffdam that you finally got your refund, and I also appreciate the intervention from Matt ...

Dean_Hamilton

Well done Kuffdam73 :T. I too have/will be keeping an eye on how things are transpiring with theperfumeemporium. After spending every day chasing Chris its become a bit of a habit.

I also wanted to see if these occurances would continue. I'm sure I saw a posting a few pages back saying that Chris had told UnitedHosting that he was having a problem with a particular batch which was processed within a 2 week period. Another fib from Chris me thinks! I'm sure Matt is thinking the same thing.

I'm really wary about this change of address. I just hope everyone (present and future) in our situation gets their money back. It's bad enough waiting 50 to 80 days from ordering but at least we got there.

Good luck to everyone and thanks again to Matt Wallis. If Chris ran his company half as well as you seem to run yours then I'm sure we wouldn't be on page 5 (and counting) here!

On the plus side, my wife no longers wants the £56 perfume that I had ordered for her. I can put it towards a new keyboard and some blood pressure pills.

rosie789

mattwallisuk wrote: »

I would also suggest that those of you investing a lot of time into this, and truly believing the company to be a scam, may want to contact appropriate authorities to see what can be done. QUOTE]

I'd also like to thank Matt for his help. I think that even if Chris started as a reputable trader, it's clear that he can no longer fulfil his orders and rather than cease trading he's "borrowing" customers money for as long as he can to keep himself afloat. This seems to keep him just within the constraints of the law, so it seems very little can be done. I've contacted all the appropriate authorities I can think of:

1) United Hosting : Very helpful, thanks
2) SAGEPAY: Nothing they can do apparently
3) Trading Standards: Helpful until I got my refund, then no longer wanted to be involved (even tho' I expressed real concerns about the legitimacy of this company and directed them to this forum)
4) Office Fair Trading: Got a very nice reply, basically saying they don't deal with this type of issue. (If they don't who does then!)
5)BBC Watchdog: Still awaiting any response, but I think they will probably need hundreds of complaints before they investigate. So I would urge everyone to drop them an email. Only then may we find out the full truth behind Perfume Emporium.

If anyone can think of anyone else I should complain to, please let me know. I have also invested far too much time getting my £58 refund, but I don't like being taken for a MUG!!

Joelleski

Checked with my bank this morning, and at last, a refund! :j I'd like to thank Matt for his help in getting it back (and I will be updating my ticket with your abuse team, Matt) ... and if I were you, I would think very carefully about hosting that site - I'd hate for your company/name to be dragged down because of one individual's sorry actions. I know it was only £28, but it's the principle of the thing!

To all of those still awaiting your refunds - hang in there, if you haven't already, get UnitedHosting involved, it certainly did the trick for me. Thanks again, and lesson learned. Never again will I blindly visit some random website, give it my money and hope for the best without doing some investigation first!