Paypal and Paying Return Postage?

Ladyshopper

I made an order with a company called Artscow who have their office in America but all orders come from Hong Kong (and so do answers from customer services judging by the level of English used).

The first order I placed for personalised purses was great, really pleased. I actually only ordered because they were recommended by a lot of people here on MSE, but as I was so pleased decided to order again.

The next order has not gone so well. Ordered 27 personalised coasters. Out of the 27, 17 I would describe as faulty. There are 3 that haven't been printed straight and the writing is therefore cut off the bottom. A couple have ink smudge marks on them, and all the rest the material is kind of frayed round the edges (hard to describe, but a noticeable issue).

I contacted their customer services and explained the problems, and sent photos at their request. Difficult to see the frayed edges in the pictures unfortunately.

They have basically told me that the frayed edges are a "natural" part of the cutting process, and I can re-order but no guarantee it won't happen again. No mention of this possibility in the description of the item, and I have 10 items with no signs of fraying at all. For the 3 that are printed not straight and have ink smudges they have said they will apply credits to my account so I can re-order them - not helpful as they are christmas presents and coming from Hong Kong its now unlikely I will get them back in time to then post off myself for christmas presents.

I stated I wasn't happy, and asked if as a gesture of goodwill they would consider refunding for the 17 faulty coasters - they were 75 cents per coaster as on special offer. They have replied saying that if I'm not happy to return the whole order for a refund, but that they won't pay the postage. This is obviously going to be expensive to Hong Kong.

I paid via paypal, so is it worth opening a dispute? If I did it via there and had to return would I get the return postage paid, or do I just have to suck it up? I would like to keep the 10 coasters that are fine, is that a possibility?

Am no annoyed, and will definitely not be using this company again.

Obviously_the_best

if you paid via PayPal then you'd either have to return them to the US or HK, depending on which place the company has specified as a return address, and it would have to be fully tracked, which would mean using a courier

Ladyshopper

Obviously_the_best wrote: »

if you paid via PayPal then you'd either have to return them to the US or HK, depending on which place the company has specified as a return address, and it would have to be fully tracked, which would mean using a courier

Specified address is HK.

If paypal refund the postage as well in a dispute am happy to send back, but using a trackable method to Hong Kong is obviously going to cost more than I probably due to get back as a refund, so thats why my reluctance unless I know the return postage will be refunded too.

Thanks for answering though.

Obviously_the_best

If you do the dispute through eBay then they might send you a prepaid postage label, but that's rare, otherwise you'll have to return it by tracked courier, not royal mail, at your own cost

hermum

I think the OP ordered direct from the sellers website, not ebay.
OP Paypal can only get the seller to refund the initial payment, not return postage. You will need to foot the bill to return.
DSR's say that you shouldn't be worse off, and I think they say you can make the item available for collection, how you get a company to refund though without returning an item, I don't know.

Ladyshopper

No it wasn't bought through ebay, was direct through website and paid by paypal.

Guess I will just chalk it up to experience, am not going to pay more for postage than I did for the whole order. Still cross though, and will find the thread on here about the company and warn people about the shoddy coasters and poor customer serice. Grr.

MyOnlyPost

hermum wrote: »

DSR's say that you shouldn't be worse off, and I think they say you can make the item available for collection, how you get a company to refund though without returning an item, I don't know.

As the company is either American or Chinese I doubt whether the Distance Selling Regulations Apply here. Also I have not seen the term that a buyer shouldn't be worse off either. The Distance Selling Regulations state it should be made clear before purchasing who is liable for return.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2000/2334/regulation/8/made

the supplier shall provide to the consumer in writing, or in another durable medium which is available and accessible to the consumer...... information as to whether the consumer or the supplier would be responsible under these Regulations for the cost of returning any goods to the supplier, or the cost of his recovering them, if the consumer cancels the contract under regulation 10; Regulation 10 being the right to cancel. This is the only reference I have found in the DSR's with regard to who pays to return items.

Unfortunately as OP said I think they will have to chalk this up to experience and we should all take note this is a risk you take when buying on line, especially from overseas.

*Edit. Also just occurred to me that DSR's exclude personalised items.

hermum

MyOnlyPost wrote: »

As the company is either American or Chinese I doubt whether the Distance Selling Regulations Apply here. Also I have not seen the term that a buyer shouldn't be worse off either. The Distance Selling Regulations state it should be made clear before purchasing who is liable for return.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2000/2334/regulation/8/made

the supplier shall provide to the consumer in writing, or in another durable medium which is available and accessible to the consumer...... information as to whether the consumer or the supplier would be responsible under these Regulations for the cost of returning any goods to the supplier, or the cost of his recovering them, if the consumer cancels the contract under regulation 10; Regulation 10 being the right to cancel. This is the only reference I have found in the DSR's with regard to who pays to return items.

Unfortunately as OP said I think they will have to chalk this up to experience and we should all take note this is a risk you take when buying on line, especially from overseas.

*Edit. Also just occurred to me that DSR's exclude personalised items.

I think the bit that you're quoting from is cancellation of an order, cooling off period. The OP has been sent damaged goods.
I'll see if I can find the bit that's mentioned on here before.

hermum

I've found it, I don't know how you enforce it with an overseas company but it does state that if a UK company sells outside the EU they need to work within the regs for the country they sell in. I'm pretty sire that it would work the same way.

http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/general/oft698.pdf

3.57 If the goods are faulty or do not comply with the contract, you will
have to pay for their return whatever the circumstances.