Purekit Have Our Goods And Our Money And We Can't Even Do A Chargeback!

fallen121

I would like some advice on what to do next and to find out if anyone else has had dealings with this company?

To try and summarise, my husband bought a pair of Brasher walking boots for me as a Christmas present from purekit.com. You should never really buy walking boots without trying them on, but as these boots were the same size and model as ones I had already been wearing for years, he thought he was ok. The boots seemed fine indoors, and although most manufacturers won't accept returns on boots that have been worn, they seemed fine and I accepted the fact that Brashers generally take a long time to break in.

Two months later I was still trying to break them in. The blisters were indescribable. The number of times I had to call my husband to come and get me in the car because I physically couldn't walk anymore for the pain. Now blisters are normally caused by boots which are too tight. But these were really loose and in fact the laces would start to unravel after just a couple of miles. I thought it was me. I tried everything - new laces, anti blister socks, insoles, compeed plasters - nothing worked. Then the penny dropped. I asked my husband to try on the boots, which were a size 6. They fitted him perfectly. Except he is a size 8. And the boots stated quite clearly "Size 6" inside the tongue.

Obviously there was cause for complaint here, worn or not, so I asked my husband to complain to the company. He couldn't get them on the phone so he wrote a letter. No reply, so he wrote again, Recorded Delivery this time. Two months went by.

Eventually, after repeated calls to their "customer services" answer machine, I actually spoke to a Customer Services person called Lucy. I asked about the letter of complaint from my husband, but Lucy said they had no record of ever having received it. I read the address over to her, and it was the right address we'd used. She was very nice, and asked me to return the boots, which I did.

And then....silence. We phoned. We wrote. We texted. Nothing. We have no idea if the boots even arrived.

So...first port of call...the credit card company. But guess what? Purekit had strung us along so long that we were out of the 120 day chargeback period.

So now Purekit have the boots and our money and all I have to show for it is a bad taste in my mouth and some rather large blisters.... which have now become infected...!!!

I just know that Trading Standards or Consumer Direct or whatever are going to laugh at us for being so dumb as to be taken in by these con merchants.

Suggestions, please!!!

shaun_from_Africa

Are you sure that the time limit for a chargeback is only 45 days?
I was always under the impression that it was 6 months.
You should contact your card issuer and ask their advice about a chargeback, and also to and clarify their legal obligation with regards to a "section 75" claim.
(you will find details of this at on one of the posts at the top).

However, your biggest stumbling block will probably be that you are unable to prove that purekit have actually received the boots back.
If they deny this and you can't show otherwise, there won't really be anything that your card issuer can or will do to help.

fallen121

I obviously haven't explained things very well. The chargeback limit isn't 45 days, it's 120 days. I know, because I called the credit card company today and we are outside it.

The credit card company actually start the clock from the day the goods were delivered. So if there's a delay in between the goods being delivered and a Christmas gift being opened, and a further time delay whilst you wait out 7 foot high snow drifts and test out the merchandise (which can take time with walking boots, especially if you have blisters which prevent you walking), then this all counts toward the 120 days.

There will of course be a further delay whilst I ask the Royal Mail to investigate the apparent "non delivery" of the returned boots. This can take anything up to 3 months.

But as you say, I am pretty much out of options now anyway. So it's all relative. I am still !!!!ed though :mad:

gnaril

Visa regualtions are a pain in the !!!!.

Its 120 days from the transaction date. This can be extended depending on the circumstances.

From memory( dont work visa all that often now). you need proof of return of the goods to initiate a chargeback.

Checking the prices online potentially they could be over £100. However Section 75 covering you for breach of contract and/or misrepresentation , your post doesnt indicate this at all.

You have bought a pair of boots labelled as a size six, what someone with bigger feet has managed to get into them. They could be a big six i have no idea. I cant see how the merchant have misrepresented the size of the goods and mised you.

Nothing in your post shows the boots are not fit for purpose. THey are just unsuitable for you.

Your one saving grace may be that althought you are out with the chargeback timescales, if you have evidence the merhcant allowed you to return them, and you have proof of return. There may be a pre-compliance that can be actioned as the merchant cannot have both the goods and the credit.

I unfortunatly dont work visa often and have not actioned any pre-compliances( Visa regualtions tecnicality). Maybe someone else will be along shortly. I know there is someone on these boards that deals mainly with visa so might be able to shed some light on it.

All the best OP.

fallen121

To be fair, I don't think the merchant misrepresented the goods. Even I believed that these were a size 6, I mean, that what it says on the label, right? And the merchant sold them on that basis.


To give you some idea how big these boots are, I've since bought a pair of Scapa walking boots, also size 6. The liner from these boots fitted inside the liner from the Brasher boots, with a good inch and half gap at the front. Slightly big? I don't think so! These have been mislabelled. And as such these need to be returned to the manufacturer for investigation. However, consumer law states that the boots have to be returned via the retailer. Who just happens to have the WORST customer service on the planet.


I think the issue here is that a simple complaint -justified or not - has been deliberately strung out to ensure that a chargeback could not take place. As to whether or not the boots "suited" me, they obviously don't suit quite a lot of people, see these reviews on Amazon, wish I'd read these first:


I find the latest Hillmaster GTX boots to be a totally different fit to previous models.Two previous pairs fitted perfectly out of the box. After three weeks "breaking in" the latest pair are still not comfortable to wear for extended periods.


They have blistered my heels on several occasions (the only boots to have done that) and now they have failed.


I bought a new pair, same size as the old one, and they were hopeless, heel slipping badly. I spoke to Brashers themselves who were helpful, saying that the sizing of the newer boots has changed slightly.


Both of us got big heel blisters on the first outing! We persevered however on a couple of more shortish but painful blistered walks before contacting Brasher for advice. They suggested trying 'volume adjusters' (insoles!) and sent us two pairs FOC. These actually made things worse, and my left heel was totally wrecked on a walk of less than three miles.


These boots obviously have a major fault if so many customers are having difficulties with them. Most like me have had good experiences with older versions of these boots, made in the UK. However now that manufacturing has been outsourced abroad and cheaper materials have crept in to keep the costs down, the problems are appearing.


I really tried to persevere with these boots over many weeks, this isn't a case of "I don't like them". And so far all I've done is lay out money, on insoles, laces, plasters and postage costs - none of which I will ever get back.

halibut2209

So you spent 2 months in "indescribable" pain and spending more money, and then spent 2 months waiting on a reply to 2 letters?

If the boots are the wrong size, then your only recourse is to go down the SOAG route and say they are not fit for purpose. If they are not size six, then you will get a replacement or a refund. Expect a fight though as it's been so long.

arcon5

Have they received the return boots?

If not file a claim with the courer/postal service. Problem solved.

But imo you shouldn't have the right to return/refund/chargeback. You wore them for several months and didn't bother doing anything about it.

fallen121

I will file a claim with the Royal Mail if it transpires these boots were lost. But I will not recover the full cost of the boots, just a max of £42 and even that is discretionary. They may also discount any compensation because the boots were worn. So it is not a case of "problem solved". I wish it was that simple.

I could only claim the full cost had I sent them Special Delivery with consequential loss insurance, which would have cost me about £18. I suppose that would have given me peace of mind regarding their arrival, but at what point do you stop throwing good money after bad? The boots cost £95. I have spent another £2 on laces, £5 on insoles, £6 on compeed and £4.41 to post them back. Not even counting the time spent writing letters, emails, phone calls etc.

I have now contacted Brasher who have promised to look into the matter. But PureKit remain unresponsive, despite a note on their Facebook page slagging their poor customer service, a polite email, a phone message and two texts.

I take the point about having the boots for so long. But I could not walk for most of January because of the blizzard conditions in Scotland. I walk alone so hiking up Munros in poor weather is just asking for trouble. And blisters meant I could not walk for long periods also. And it took a while for me to realise that it was the boots that were at fault - I thought I had especially weird shaped feet or something. And the problems everyone else has been having with these boots only came to my attention recently.

I know it must seem to some like I wore these boots for months all day every day, did about 6,000 miles on them, wore them out and now want my money back. But these boots had maybe 36 miles on them max. They were unwearable most of the time.

Brasher have a really good name. And I wore a pair of their boots for many years with no problems. When you associate a company with quality, it is really hard to reconcile yourself to the fact that new manufacturing methods and cheaper materials mean that your shiny new boots aren't a patch on your old ones. And even Brasher themselves admit that their sizing is now much more generous. Yet they still allow their products to be sold online where this more generous sizing cannot be evaluated. We don't all live within travelling distance of a good outdoor shop. So sometimes you just have to trust the retailer. But to be fair, we did try phoning the retailer for some time before we wrote. So it's not like I sat around at home bewailing the situation and did nothing.

custardy

did you at least use recorded delivery?
you had no neede for consequential loss cover.
what further loss would you have incured for the loss of the boots?
the standard cover would have covered you for the boots

wealdroam

fallen121 wrote: »

And even Brasher themselves admit that their sizing is now much more generous. Yet they still allow their products to be sold online where this more generous sizing cannot be evaluated. We don't all live within travelling distance of a good outdoor shop. So sometimes you just have to trust the retailer.

It is for exactly this type of situation that Distance Selling Regulations were invented.
They allow you to inspect things ordered online just as you could in a shop, and return them for any reason you like.
But you only have seven working days to do this.

You seem to be suggesting that if you had bought them in a shop you would have been able to choose a pair that fitted you while you were in the shop.

You have told us that it took you over two months to decide they were the wrong size.
How would trying on in a shop versus trying on at home make that much difference?

fallen121

Unfortunately, because they were a gift more than seven days elapsed between the time they were delivered and the time I opened them.

I have since bought a pair of boots from a shop (different manufacturer) which I was able to wear pretty much out of the box and have had no problems with. Same size 6, but as I mentioned before, the insoles of these boots fitted well inside the Brasher ones!

You say it took me two months to decide they were the wrong size, but I honestly believed the label and thought my feet were at fault and ordered laces and insoles in an effort to rectify the problem....and these were delivered by post and took time to arrive. I only realised they were wrong when I stored them next to a pair of my husband's size 8 boots and noticed they were the same length! Ok so I am a bit slow on the uptake! The boots were a gift and I really liked them. I wanted to make them work. When something is a gift there's an added pressure not to offend.

Thankfully, Brasher have been in touch this morning [I wonder if this thread had anything to do with it?] asking if the retailer has phoned me (I've been in all day and they haven't). They have admitted there is a sizing issue and apparently the retailer is going to refund.