What Would You Do?

SallyUK

I recently purchased a dress from Ebay which was decribed as being brand new from M & S but had had the labels removed to prevent returns. No problem there.

However, once it arrived, I decided it wasn't suitable for the occasion, and I sold it again on Ebay using the same description, ie new, from M & S, unworn, labels removed, etc.

The person who bought this dress has now written to me saying that this dress is obviously not from M & S and she'd taken it into them to ask if it was one of theirs?? She went on to say that she suspected it might be from George at Asda and that she would take it into them today to check and see?

Now, where do I stand with this? Do I need to give her a refund? Do I need to do anything as I sold this in good faith? Why would she think to check whether or not it was from that shop? I'd never have thought of checking something like that??

Thanks for any advice,

Sal
x

shellsuit

Sal, you should ask her to send you the dress back and then give her a full refund.

It doesn't matter if you sold it in good faith, if it's not as described, then it's upto you to sort your buyer out, then go back to your seller and sort it out with them.

Maybe she could tell from the quality that it wasn't a M&S dress, but to be fair, she has only double checked with what you said the dress was.

Have you got an item number or picture of the dress, maybe someone here would know?

EmmEve

Sounds a little weird why would you bother doing that!

Did it not say on the inside labels where it was from? You can often tell. If those had been removed as well then i think you might have been scammed by the person you bought from? Or could be the buyer is trying to scam you?

I would just tell her what happened and offer her a full refund and she can return the item to you.

celyn90

EmmEve wrote: »

Did it not say on the inside labels where it was from? You can often tell. If those had been removed as well then i think you might have been scammed by the person you bought from? Or could be the buyer is trying to scam you?

Often charity shops will remove the inside labels from M&S stock so that they can't be returned for a refund on the full price. I know that their refund policy is stricter now than it used to be but I have dealt with people wanting to return items that were 4 or 5 years old.

If it was described as "brand new", I would expect it to be stock from the recent season so most staff with the help of a catalogue would be able to identify it, so I don't think it is unreasonable to ask in store for help to identify the dress.

I would refund and apologise as you sold in good faith but can't be sure of the provenance of the item.

EmmEve

oh right i didn't know that, thanks. Don't think i would have the nerve to try and take back something that could possibly be years old lol

Lucyxx

EmmEve wrote: »

oh right i didn't know that, thanks. Don't think i would have the nerve to try and take back something that could possibly be years old lol

I used to get returns from years ago when I worked in a kids clothes shop. Or things that had convieniently been folded to hide coffee stains, or people saying they hadn't worn/washed an item when it was clear they had. Halloween items being returned after halloween etc. I remember a lady complaining that our white t shirts went grey/pink in the wash :rolleyes: trying to explain to her that they don't just change colour by themselves it's to do with the water resting in the washing machine or what they are washed with. Then there was the lady who kept returning boys school trousers, her son had split the crotch on over 10 pairs, bearing in mind we sold literally thousands and never had anyone else bring any back it was a bit bizarre, I have no idea what that boy was doing to them or why she kept coming back to us if she though they were rubbish!!

People tried anything and everything!! I could never do that either!!!

ETA: if there is a care instruction label left in the seam of the item then it should say on there where it was from, possibly in tiny letters but should be there. Fingers crossed it's still got it in. I think I would just explain to her that you were probably the one scammed in the first place from who you bought it from & get her to send it back for a refund. That makes it seem like you are taking the blame and less likely to get a neg. you can then check for the seam label when it gets back to you, presuming she hasn't cut it out herself. She seems a bit anal to be taking it round the shops to be verified tbh. Fair enough to suspect it's not M&S, but to try and guess and then get it verified at George is a bit like she has too much time on her hands! or she could have got a SA in M&S who doesn't know the stock/wasn't there when that dress came out. It could have been a dress that never made it to the shop as it was rejected on quality grounds that got sold off by a trade clearing place - I've seen them mention where something was from, but have to remove the label.

sorry for long rambly post!

SallyForth_2

Then there was the lady who kept returning boys school trousers, her son had split the crotch on over 10 pairs, bearing in mind we sold literally thousands and never had anyone else bring any back it was a bit bizarre, I have no idea what that boy was doing to them or why she kept coming back to us if she though they were rubbish!!

I had this with my son, virtually every pair of "supermarket" trousers would go in that particular spot within weeks and I would be forever sewing them back up. In the end I gave up on cheaper ones and went to John Lewis instead. Never had to sew up the seams on those.

Oh and the knees, there would be holes in the knees - drove me crazy.

Lucyxx

SallyForth wrote: »

Then there was the lady who kept returning boys school trousers, her son had split the crotch on over 10 pairs, bearing in mind we sold literally thousands and never had anyone else bring any back it was a bit bizarre, I have no idea what that boy was doing to them or why she kept coming back to us if she though they were rubbish!!

I had this with my son, virtually every pair of "supermarket" trousers would go in that particular spot within weeks and I would be forever sewing them back up. In the end I gave up on cheaper ones and went to John Lewis instead. Never had to sew up the seams on those.

Oh and the knees, there would be holes in the knees - drove me crazy.

:eek: perhaps it was you!!!

:rotfl::p

It wasn't supermarket ones I was selling, and we sold the same ones from the same supplier for the 7 years I was there with no other incidents like it. They were really good quality, and our customers were the first to complain if anything went wrong. After the first few pairs I logged it all with customer care, who were at a loss to explain it aswell. I can imagine it from the cheapy supermarket ones though!

I used to hate having to box up the returns to be sent back, allsorts of minging things people had brought in. Some were pants, that had apparently given a rash , so they had picked up all of them to return. We only noticed when she had left some had been worn and not washed :eek:

EmmEve

i think it was argos who stopped doing refunds on xmas lights. people would buy them use them, then take them back after xmas!

celyn90

Looking for the care label is a good idea - often if they don't have the shop name on them, they may have an item code on them which should help identify it - again charity shops sometimes slice off the name bit, but will leave the washing instructions/codes in place. Sometimes you can also tell from the label style and the font.

Lucyxx wrote: »

I used to get returns from years ago when I worked in a kids clothes shop. Or things that had convieniently been folded to hide coffee stains

Worse one I ever dealt with was a multipack of pants - all folded neatly. When I went to open it to check, she tried to stop me - and I just explained I had to check all the sizes of each pair so it could go back on sale - I pulled out the first set and she got *really* angry - then as I unfolded it, she grabbed the pack from me and ran for the door. Oh they were grim _pale_ :rotfl:

Maximum age I had on something was a shirt 11 years old - had started to fade

alfiesmum

celyn90 wrote: »

Worse one I ever dealt with was a multipack of pants - all folded neatly. When I went to open it to check, she tried to stop me - and I just explained I had to check all the sizes of each pair so it could go back on sale - I pulled out the first set and she got really angry, then as I unfolded it, she grabbed the pack from me and ran for the door. Oh they were grim _pale_ :rotfl:

Well that's put me right off me nutrigrain......_pale_