Hotel Chocolat

pazza2000

Hotel Chocolat....

What a hassle. Signed up three weeks ago today to there tasting club @ £7.95 for the first month with the option to cancel withi 4weeks, was charged £9.95 -chased for the £2 refund which i got. No Chocs as of this weekend so i emailed saying basically 'i understand they might have taken a little longer than usual to be posted out what with the postal striking and perhaps even the issue of my being overcharged, however surely it should not take this long'. I received a reply from them yesterday morning which reads as follows:

Dear xxxxxxx,

Thank you for your email.

We do have a replacement selection in the post which should be arriving shortly, unfortunately this is infact the next selection which has been sent.

We have taken a payment of £16.95, I am very sorry for the inconvenience and the delay.

If there is anything further we can help with please do contact us.

Kind regards,

xxxxxxxxx
Service Support Team
Hotel Chocolat Ltd


So.... I checked my credit card and they had indeed taken £16.95 at the weekend. I called straight away as i have been charged twice essentially for a product that i had not received and a service i was probably intending to cancel anyway.

The person i spoke with explained that they had taken payment earlier to get the product out in time, and that they were in the process of applying me a £9.95 refund for the first purchase but i asked shouldnt it be the £16.95 refunded to which she said no, you can arrange that after you have received your box -which doesnt make sense to me. Im not good on the phone and i want to send tham an email chasing for this refund of £9(£16.95 - £7.95), or if they have indeed refunded me £9.95 i would still be owed £7. I am not good with wording but i know they are completely wrong. I want to cancel this service and have one box of chocolates for £7.95.

If anybody here os good with words then please help me. I want one final email to there customer services to be done with this.

Cheers

geordieracer

what a palaver for a box of chocolates and a refund, they dont sound like they know what they are doing and are just confusing themselves and you... Wouldve been better going to thorntons!!

pazza2000

geordieracer wrote: »

what a palaver for a box of chocolates and a refund, they dont sound like they know what they are doing and are just confusing themselves and you... Wouldve been better going to thorntons!!

Lesson learned i know!! But i want this refund and my Chocs.

What do i say?? & how do i say it?

pinkshoes

Dear Chocolat Hotel.

Having recently joined your chocolate tasting club, I am writing to say I am bitterly disappointed with the experience.

Despite the first month payment being £7.95 (with the right to then cancel membership), you have charged me £9.95.

To make matters worse, not only did you fail to delivery my chocolates, you then decided to take a further £16.95 from my account with out my consent.

Because of this, I would like either:

A) My membership cancelled, and a refund of £29.90

or

My membership cancelled, a refund of £16.95, and my initial box of chocolates that I have already paid for.

I look forward to your prompt reply,

Pazza.

Don't forget to send it recorded delivery in the post!

LemonGrove

I always liked the look of Hotel Chocolat but never like to get involved in subscription kinda things - guess I was right not to! There's a Hotel Chocolat shop near me though, if you ever find one it's really worth going in, 10x as much as Thorntons but 10x the taste IMO - and no subscriptions!

pazza2000

Thanks. Great idea. Pending the arrival of this '2nd' box they claim to have posted out then all they will owe me is £7(they claim they are refunding me £9.95 which i paid for my first month -even though in the end it was only £7.95) but i sure want it along with the cancellation of my subscription

Ivrytwr3

Excellent letter Pink bits.

I love Hotel Chocolat, we always treat ourselves to a box at Xmas!!

willo65

Doesn't sound like their normal high standards of service been with them for a while and not had any problems.

HopeAndDriftWood

I had the same problem, and they continued to charge us for three months after we'd cancelled, despite us reminding them, until we got our bank involved and they finally blocked the payments.
They even tried to tell me I wasn't entitled to cancel...And delivered my little sisters easter egg to her four days late, charging me extra for Easter delivery, and maintaining it was delivered on the right day until I sent evidence otherwise.

Lovely chocolate, terrible service. It's not worth the hassle unless you can get to a shop!

Lip_Stick

hmmm.. they have an online shop. I'm very tempted, but I'd probably eat a box in a night!

pazza2000

They ave granted me the refund. Now to cancel...

Thanks