Dorothy Perkins returns/exchange, is this right or have I been conned?

fizzyfozzy

I bought 2 dresses from the Dorothy Perkins website last week when they had their VIP discount code running offering 25% when entering the code at checkout.
I'm a size 12 usually but the dress I wanted was out of stock in size 12 so I bought the 10 and 14 as with fluctuation of sizes I figured one of these may fit anyway.
The dress was £22 (so £16.50) with the 25% discount. All in I paid £37 - £16.50 for each dress and £4 delivery.
Anyway typically this time I was an exact size 12 as the 10 was too small and the 14 too big so, as i really liked the dress, I checked online and the 12 was in stock at my local store.
I went in there this morning with the hope of exchanging one of the dresses for a size 12 and returning the other. But they told me as the VIP discount deal had ended I would have to pay full price for the size 12 (£22) and they will refund my card for the other 2 dresses less the postage (£33).
Is this right? I feel conned as because they don't refund the postage I have now actually paid £26 for a £22 dress that I originally bought online for a discounted price of £16.50!!??
Can they do this? Isn't there some distance buying law to cover this? I would have thought as I was buying the same dress just in a different size I would still have been entitled to my original discount???

shaun_from_Africa

You've not been conned.
What DP have done is perfectly legal and in line with the relevant consumer trading regulations.

When buying online your purchases are normally covered by the Distance selling regulations, and these regs give you the right to cancel your purchase within 7 days of receiving the goods.
When you do this you are entitled to a full refund (including P&P).

However, as you have kept one of the dresses that you ordered they will still charge you the P&P for the order as this charge of 4 pounds applies whether you order 1 or more items.
The DSR's give you the right to a refund and not an exchange so the replacment dress that you bought would class as a totally new transaction and if the DP promotion had finished then they can charge you the new price.

arcon5

Also, you should be grateful they allowed you to do this instore. As the online business and the stores will be run seperately they don't have to let you return the items to a store, but instead post them back to the warehouse that run the online business -- for which they can make you pay the return postage costs.

halibut2209

She didn't "keep one of the dresses". She returned both, then bought a 3rd one (size 12).

She should get her postage back.

charlieann

halibut2209 wrote: »

She didn't "keep one of the dresses". She returned both, then bought a 3rd one (size 12).

She should get her postage back.

She'll only get postage back if she rejects under DSR and returns to online company, not instore.

fizzyfozzy

So even though I'm only effectively exchanging the dress because my online purchase didn't fit I'm no longer entitled to the original discount because the deal period has ended? That's hardly fair considering the items weren't delivered until after the deal period had ended!

arcon5

No.

Lifes hardly ever fair. You win some, loose some.

If you ordered the wrong size, quite simply thats not their problem. In the same way if you buy an item in a shop and realise you have purchased the wrong one/size you don't have any statutory rights to return or exchange it -- it's just many stores have their own policies which allows you to do so.

Sorry if that sounds harsh, but thats the way it is. They only have to offer you a refund (plus original postage if returning the whole order) because you purchased at a distance, which as I said before, if their systems meant you had to return it to their warehouse (rather than a store) you would also be liable for return costs.

visidigi

fizzyfozzy wrote: »

So even though I'm only effectively exchanging the dress because my online purchase didn't fit I'm no longer entitled to the original discount because the deal period has ended? That's hardly fair considering the items weren't delivered until after the deal period had ended!

Although you call it an exchange, the retailer call it a return and purchase in real terms - and that occurs on a different date to the discount validity, so hence no discount.

Could be worse, when I was in the US and I returned items I bought online I was only refunded the current price not the price I paid - and all the stuff had gone on sale the day I returned them - cost me a fortune...

bod1467

arcon5 wrote: »

Sorry if that sounds harsh, but thats the way it is. They only have to offer you a refund (plus original postage if returning the whole order) because you purchased at a distance, which as I said before, if their systems meant you had to return it to their warehouse (rather than a store) you could also be liable for return costs.

Corrected that for you - it depends on the seller's T&Cs.

(If seller's terms don't explicitly say the purchaser pays for returns postage then seller is liable for them).

arcon5

DP offer their own 14 day policy for which they don't refund original postage unless orders incorrect or damaged.

They also allow returns under DSR 7day period which states:

Order cancellations must be made in writing to Customer Services quoting your order number. In this case, we will provide a full refund but you must return the cancelled items to us.

shaun_from_Africa

halibut2209 wrote: »

She didn't "keep one of the dresses". She returned both, then bought a 3rd one (size 12).

She should get her postage back.

You are of course, 100% correct provided the goods are returned to the online company.
A return to a shop when the original purchase was made online isn't in accordance to the requirements of the DSR's so DP can probably refuse the refund of the original postage because of this.