Boots Kitchen Appliances- Not Happy!

HomerStig

My OH and I bought a fridge freezer from Boots Kitchen Appliances online for £368 inc. delivery with delivery within 3-7 working days. However they then rang my OH (purchased on her debit card) to say the item was out of stock and we would have to wait several weeks for delivery.
We decided therefore to cancel the order and bought the fridge from Comet instead. A few days later Comet debited the money... and so did boots. This left OH over her overdraft limit and with no money to pay due Direct Debits. She phoned Boots (apparently the kitchen appliances site is opperated by DRL Limited) to be told the money was debited by mistake and would be refunded within 48hrs. 72hrs later still no money and she had to transfer cash from her savings account to cover bills. She rang back this time to be told a refund could take 14 days! It's 14 days today (0870 no. BTW) and there still no refund. She rang earlier and this time was told it could take 28 days!!!

More savings money has been moved now and needless to say we are not happy! We have just bought our first house and are finding it difficult affording everthing we need as it is without Boots making things worse.

Anyone got any advice? Surely a refund should not take this long, especially when the money should not have been taken in the first place?

Thanks,
Jim

chatta

I had a similar thing about 6 months ago, I am afraid to say despite endless calls to them it took more than 3 weeks to refund my money :mad:

HomerStig

Was that with Boots or another company? We may have a word with the CAB. Probably won't get the money any quicker but might stop them doing it again.

chatta

Same as you Boots kitchen app online, I called and called, just got fobbed off with them saying it was a different company/department that was responsible for the refund to my acount. I paid by debit card, which they were so quick to take out of my account, but the refunding of it they seemed to imply was someone elses responsibilty. I was so polite all the time, I will never buy from them again.

mrbadexample

Write to the MD of Boots and request:

A. The refund in full.
B. Interest for the period they withheld the money, plus an additional amount to cover the interest you lost having to withdraw from your savings account.
C. Compensation for the inconvenience and aggravation.

Be factual and polite, and you'll probably end up with a little profit.

Pick the most helpful looking of this lot.

(Address on the home page)

HomerStig

Thanks for that. Definately won't be ordering with them again anyway. My OH is finding it very frustrating not being able to use her debit card for anything without transfering from our savings first!

Astaroth

The "problem" with doing card refunds is that they are firstly like any bank payment it can take up to 5 working days for the company to actually receive the money in the first place (same as you do a BACS transfer etc) and then from the day they key the refund it can take 5 working days for it to go back again. Add to this if they have removed funds from the merchant account they have to wait for money to be put in to transfer it back (though with the likes of Boots this is unlikely to be an issue) and there is always the fraud risk in refunds. If things arent done properly it isnt hard to pay by card, get a refund and then cancel the original payment so they get a double refund - hence some companies intentionally delay refunds to give more time to see if the original payment has been cancelled.

Fifer

However, given that such transactions are electronic and automated, is their any good reason why they should take five days rather than being instantaneous?

chatta

Astaroth wrote:

The "problem" with doing card refunds is that they are firstly like any bank payment it can take up to 5 working days for the company to actually receive the money in the first place (same as you do a BACS transfer etc) and then from the day they key the refund it can take 5 working days for it to go back again. Add to this if they have removed funds from the merchant account they have to wait for money to be put in to transfer it back (though with the likes of Boots this is unlikely to be an issue) and there is always the fraud risk in refunds. If things arent done properly it isnt hard to pay by card, get a refund and then cancel the original payment so they get a double refund - hence some companies intentionally delay refunds to give more time to see if the original payment has been cancelled.

More fool Boots then, sounds as though they upset more genuine customers than the fraudsters, they took my money within 3 days and took more than 21 to pay it back. I am not ever using them again, their loss not mine.

Astaroth

The money left your account within 3 days - it then takes up to 5 days on top of that to reach theirs.

Certainly cashflow is much more of an issue for smaller companies than it is for nationals like Boots and I agree that 21 days is an excessive amount of time.... just want to make sure people realise that it isnt the case that money instantly appears in a companies account the second a card says it is authorised and nor does it instantly appear back in yours when they key a refund.

HomerStig

It's not so much the length of time - though it is a big inconvienience - it's that they shouldn't have taken the money in the first place, They say they don't take the money until the item is in stock but they took it anyway. Also we weren't told straight the first time how long it would take. Still no refund :sad: