The Perfume Emporium have stolen my money

Dean_Hamilton

Hi,

I too have been awaiting a refund from Chris Collings of theperfumeemporium. Like many others I am annoyed at myself for getting into this situation. My hopes have been raised and some fight restored by finding this forum and seeing the posts from Matt Wallis.

My correspondance is very lengthy so to summarise.

24th APRIL 2009 - Ordered goods costing £51.39 including delivery (used a vouvher code also.
6th May 2009 - Initial e-mail from me stating no goods received
8th MAY 2009 - The same response as the posts above blaming Royal Mail
21st May 2009 - The 15 day period required by Royal Mail expires, I send another e-mail. A replacemet order is supposedly sent. Low and behold that blasted Royal Mail lose it again! I had agreed with Mr Collings that if the replacement package was lost then the 30 day distance selling regulations guidelines would be adhered to from 21st May.
4th June 2009 - Another e-mail sent from me stating that I would expect the refund on or before Monday 22nd June 2009.
26th June 2009 - Still no refund, I e-mail again stating that Chris is in breach of the regulations and ask again for the refund.
30th June 2009 - Chris responds saying the refund was made on 29th June and should be with me before 5th July 2009 (a Sunday). Alas no refund
7th July 2009 - I email Chris informing him of my intention to raise this in a small claims court.
8th July 2009 - Response saying he is sorry to hear that but that he is not liable as the refund has been processed.
8th July 2009 - Further searches find new posts on here. I have since e-mailed Chris back and raised an Abuse on UnitedHosting.co.uk

Hopefully this may help with my ongoing saga. For anyone who is reading this and hasn't posted or reported to UnitedHosting please do. I is the only way to hit back. I know it is time consuming but really worthwhile.

Wasn;t really a summary at all oops. In between that Chronological rundown I could have posted that my wife had a baby on 1st June 2009. I really could be ding without all this!! if I can find time, so can you.

Dean

dylan1273

just found a phone number supposedly fro them but havent tried it yet

0845 299 8584

just in case anybody wanted it!

KatJ

mattwallisuk wrote: »

Hello

From what my team have been able to investigate (as the web host of this site) we have been able to determine that they are NOT just another scam website. Chris processes over 30 perfume orders a day, and most orders are apparently forfilled with a happy outcome for the consumer.

HOWEVER they obviously do have some sort of problem with either lost post, a bad order management system or just inefficient/unhelpful staff. None of these are acceptable reasons for anyone to lose out when shopping on the website.

We have provided hosting services to this site for 2 years, and over that period there have only been a total of 6 abuse reports made to us (out thousands of orders) all of which have occured in the last few weeks only.

Each of these reported cases has had a fresh response from us today asking for more specific order details. We will provide that specific information back to perfume emporium for them to resolve each case to our satisfaction (refunds) where the order has passed the 30 days distance selling regulation. Should they fail to act on each valid case then we would be in a position to take further action as the site would breach our hosting Terms of Service.

I hope this update helps, and goes a little way to re-assure some of you that there should be light at the end of the tunnel.

Thanks Mattwallisuk for all your help regarding this matter, i have received my email but wont be replying because i was lucky enough to get my refund however with all due respect not everyone knows to contact Unitedhosting, i didn't know until i saw it on here so there may be many more complaints of the same nature that you are not aware about. A lot of people wont know how to lodge a complaint on a review site or who to complain to when it comes to online shopping. Saying you only have 6 complaints out of thousands sounds good but i fear there are many many more.
Thanks again for all your help.

dylan1273

Well ive been very busy of late but have managed to complain to trading standards albeit via consumer direct, and have reported to united hosting.

IF ANYBODY ELSE HAS LOST MONEY OR HAVE RECEIVED FOB OFF EMAILS FROM CHRIS PLEASE REPORT TO TRADING STANDARDS ! i have also supplied the 2 addresses and phone number for this company to trading standards.

medical

Finally got my refund today. all i can say to anyone in thesame situation, persist with the emails until you get your refund. i paid on 1st may, got refund today after i had being emailed all sorts of excuses under the sun.
To Perfume Emporium -Never gain
medical

Dean_Hamilton

Glad to see that at least one recent refund has been made (I feel almost like Congratulations are in order . Still awaiting mine though . Ordered 24th April at a cost of £51.39, latest e-mail saying that the refund has been "processed". Chris indicated that this was done on 29th July and would be in by 5th July (This was a Sunday so lets say Monday 6th). I would have thought I'd have received it by now???

Simon from UnitedHosting has replied asking for my original order number. Hopefully I will see something from Chris Collings come via. this avenue.

Dean_Hamilton

At last! I have received my refund. 3 days after contacting UnitedHosting (76+ days after ordering!!) Chris has kindly repaid MY money.

I really thought that I had been scammed, it turns out theperfumeemporium are simply extraordinarily slow at running their business. Shear incompetence rather than thievery.

For anyone reading this who find themselves in the position I've been in since early May, keep on contacting Chris and contact UnitedHosting as soon as you can. I don't imagine Chris will survive through these next few years, companies need to become more efficient to stay in business. He has a long long way to go. Stay clear is my advice...

kuffdam73

Dean_Hamilton wrote: »

At last! I have received my refund. 3 days after contacting UnitedHosting (76+ days after ordering!!) Chris has kindly repaid MY money.

I really thought that I had been scammed, it turns out theperfumeemporium are simply extraordinarily slow at running their business. Shear incompetence rather than thievery.

For anyone reading this who find themselves in the position I've been in since early May, keep on contacting Chris and contact UnitedHosting as soon as you can. I don't imagine Chris will survive through these next few years, companies need to become more efficient to stay in business. He has a long long way to go. Stay clear is my advice...

Nice one Dean :beer:

76+ days is a long wait.

kuffdam73

medical wrote: »

Finally got my refund today. all i can say to anyone in thesame situation, persist with the emails until you get your refund. i paid on 1st may, got refund today after i had being emailed all sorts of excuses under the sun.
To Perfume Emporium -Never gain
medical

Glad you got your money back:j

Rooies

Hi Everyone,

I am experiencing exactly the same problem where the parcel were lost in the mail.... In my case the parcel was resent and it got lost again. The 2nd time I managed to get a Royal Mail tracking number from Chris but when I checked on Royal Mail's website Royal Mail had no reference of it. How can a parcel get lost to the same address twice?

I have placed an order for £56.78 on 19 May 09 and to date have not seen the product nor have I received a refund. As per Chris I will receive my refund by 30 July 09.

It seems though as if the money is deliberately kept for an extended period of time. A few £ here and a few £ there can add up to a huge amount. Maybe the money was put away in a fixed deposit account to generate a bit of interest?

Another interesting fact is that my Perfume Emporium ticket was in a closed status after I received my first e-mail response from Chris. How can a problem ticket be closed if the problem was never even resolved?

I will also raise the matter with United Hosting.

TO ALL CONSUMERS OUT THERE, AVOID THE PERFUME EMPORIUM(.co.uk)

Kind regards,

Gerhard