The Perfume Emporium have stolen my money

campermoose

So the promised 30 days came and went, and when I chased again, he says I should receive the refund within 54 days. I've gone back and asked him to confirm the date by which time I should receive my refund.:mad:

campermoose

I've reported them for fraud on actionfraud.org.uk
and linked to this thread so they can see how many people have been scammed. Might be useful if others did the same.

mikee1504

I was advised by Trading Standards today that he is unlikely to refund ANY orders. (I got the impression that this is what he told them)

I would strongly suggest that you attempt to recover your money from your Bank or Credit Card Provider.

In he mean time please feel free to report him to trading standards as they build their case against him.

The annoying thing is that whilst they may shut this site down I suspect he will simply start another site and continue to trade in the same incompetent mannor he has to date.

Good luck people.

tescobabe

I too "have been had" by con artist "Chris". be warned, his website is a very convincing one. My "experience" with him is identical to all the others, including the "lost the item in the post" excuse as well as all the e-mails with his excuses for the delay for the refund. I ordered a perfume on the 09/04/2010 and still have neither perfume nor money back. Is there anyone who can help me??? I`ve contacted "canyoutrustthem", BBC Watchdog as well as Trading Standards to no avail. Is there no protection agaist these scum bags?

jan1479

months even years after these posts I have been conned in exactly the same way as the others. i.e. Royal mail lost parcel.....wait 15 days......refund or replacement offered but not received. Trading Standards & the hosting company have obviously not managed to stop Chris trading. Future customers beware!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

fleckneyfox

Evening folks. I was also scammed by the Chris and the perfume emporium but have been successful in getting my money back. My original order was made at the end of April and I requested a refund in June and received a refund after just one request.

All I did was highlight his legal obligations which are as follows. As an online consumer you are protected under the Distance Selling Regulations.

This is a copy of the email I sent him:

Chris,

Ok, a refund will be sufficient and would like to cancel my order with you, order no 28314. I would also like to point out that my refund should be repaid as soon as possible and within a period not exceeding 30 days of now in accordance with The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 Section 14 (3).

Thank you,

If any of you are still having problems it might be worth quoting this piece of statute to him and seeing if he gives you a refund. Just to make it clear it's Section 14(3) Distance Selling Regulations 2000 that I used for a successful refund.

LilacLouisa

Hi everyone

I have finally managed to get a refund from Chris Collings, but I had to contact Trading Standards (and another agency that works with them) first.

He has refunded my money now though, so if anyone is still waiting I hope you get your money back too.

cochran_2

I placed an order for over £80 on June 17th 2010 for my wife's birthday. Received email saying that goods despatched 21st June by Royal Mail First Class signed for.

Emailed "Chris" that goods not arrived. He replied Royal Mail were at fault, give it a few days. When a few days were up I emailed again. Received the standard reply that "Chris" was "upset" with Royal Mail and then we entered into many emails where "Chris" was telling me that Royal Mail would not investigate until after 15 days and that any refund would be after many more days after that, as per "distance selling".

Suffice to say that I made it abundantly clear to "Chris" that I was not prepared to wait that long and that if he did not refund me straight away, or send the goods, he would regret it.
By this time I had belatedly read reviews and knew what sort of person I was dealing with.
I also knew that I lived reasonably near to his address (it is on his website) and made him aware that I was quite happy to arrive on his door and sort out the problem if we could not resolve it by email, he knew that I could be there in under an hour.
For some reason he did not want this and said it would achieve nothing
I had asked for proof of posting and despite the fact that the proof would show that he was genuinely an honest businessman, badly let down by Royal Mail, he declined to send me a copy or any details so that I could pursue the matter with Royal Mail.
I made a point of emailing him 3 or 4 times aday to ensure that he knew I meant business.
I contacted Consumer Direct, got a reference number and immediately rang Notts. Trading Standards on 0115 9507932 where I spoke to Anna Potter. Although she could not comment on The Perfume Emporium as it was an on-going investigation, I got the impression that such cases were very drawn out. I had a further conversation with Trading Standards during which I told them that I had told Chris Collings that I had managed to contact a large number of irate customers who had posted reviews on a number of forums and were willing to give up their time to have a demonstration outside his house at .... I had also notified John Robinson of This is Nottingham (0115 9644065), a local journalist who had expressed interest in covering the idea.
I told Trading Standards that I hoped their role in this saga was robust, as it would undoubtably come out during the following publicity.

I had already informed Collings that unfortunately I would not be able to let him know when the demo. would take place, but it did not matter if he was not there, as the media would catch up with him after the event if necessary.
I had been advised by Consumer Direct to send Collings a letter stating that if goods not received by a certain date he would be in breach of contract. I did this, recorded delivery. I was still sending him 3-4 emails per day and he acknowledged receipt of this letter in a reply.
He is obviously worried by complaints to Notts .Trading Standards

It was at this point that I found an item referring to The Perfume Emporium on the BBC Watchdog web-site which had a statement from Collings saying how he had run out of money in 2009 and was trying to pay refunds back and should be clear by end of year.
This was followed by a joint statement by Notts. Police and Notts. Trading Standards which stated that they had had a meeting with Collings on 25/11/09 and he had given certain undertakings. Although still trading, they were "monitoring" him.

I was furious. Here he was, still pulling the same stunts and they were supposed to be monitoring him.
I rang Trading Standards and asked a manager what it was that Collings had to do to not conform to their requirements, as it appeared that he was still carrying on in exactly the same way, but now with their joint approval since 25/11/09.
I should add that I was insistent that a manager speak to me and I was phoned at home by them. I was told that they could not discuss this case as it could prejudice the outcome, but I got a 10 minute lesson on current legislation.
By this time Collings was being worn down by various things that I had proposed to him and promised me a refund which was put back on my card account on about 20th July. Very quick.
I had already been refunded by my card provider, so was never going to be out of pocket.
My advice. Deal through Consumer Direct, then Notts. Trading Standards. Keep the pressure on them, this guy should have been shut down by now.

The other things I proposed to Collings were to make him believe that he had picked the wrong person for his scam and spoil each day for him. (I did send one early in the morning to keep him on his toes). The fact that he refunded so quickly makes me think that he actually did believe that.

I still send him an email or two just to let him know I have not forgotten him and intend looking him up next time I am in the area.
I am watching the reviews to see if new ones are still being posted and intend letting Trading Standards know if this is the case. Just in case they do not realise it.
I would love Watchdog to pick this up and examine Trading Standards role.

jan1479

Hi everyone
am still awaiting my refund despite emails almost daily to Collings. His most recent reply was that he has until the 20th of August to refund me, he stretches the law to the absolute limit & gets 2 months of money plus interest to use as he likes. Trading Standards reply to me when I asked why his company was still allowed to operate after so many complaints to them was:
Consumer Direct and Trading Standards do not have any power to shut a business down and stop them from trading.

With reference to your individual case at this moment in time the retailer is not in breach of the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000.

KJ5858

I am so cross with myself for not finding this thread sooner. I also ordered from this company and am waiting for my order to arrive. Does anyone actually receive their order?!!!
I have already sent two emails and heard nothing. Now that I have read a lot of the posts on here, I am fully aware of this situation and will use all your tips to get my money back. In fact, it isn't so much the money, it's the principal. I will also be getting onto trading standards and watchdog to make a complaint - why is this person still trading - it's unbelievable. :mad: