Refund of returned goods lost in post

Stagedhigh

Hi there,

I hope someone can help. My boyfriend bought a watch from a UK based online shop at the end of August, it turned out that the watch actually comes from Hong Kong and when it arrived the face was cracked.

He took photos of the damage and e-mailed these and details of the damage to the seller. The seller told him to return the watch (to Hong Kong), he did this and told the seller what the postage costs were and he got a refund for that.

The problem is, he has not had a refund for the watch and the package appears to be lost in the post. He sent it recorded delivery with Royal Mail and the tracking says that it has arrived in Hong Kong and is saying the item "was in transit within Hong Kong or its destination on 17-Sep-2011". It looks like this is not going to be delivered.....is the seller legally required to refund the money for the damaged watch without having the return back?

Thanks in advance,

Stagedhigh

esuhl

Stagedhigh wrote: »

...is the seller legally required to refund the money for the damaged watch without having the return back?

So... are you dealing with a UK company or an HK one?

If UK law applied, the DSRs would require the refund to be made, while the SoGA wouldn't (so it depends under which legislation you are claiming). It would be your responsibility to ensure that the item was returned safely, so if the item doesn't turn up then you would be liable (and may have to recover any losses from any insurance provided by the courier).

I suspect that you are dealing with a HK shop, however. So if you don't get a refund, you would need to establish whether this is a contravention of HK law, and if so you could go to Hong Kong and take them to court. Assuming that isn't an option, I think the only thing you can try is appealing to their good nature and hope that they refund you...

What was the website you used?

Stagedhigh

Thanks, after doing some research I have come to the conclusion that it's a UK company, a trading name of Toyo Trading Ltd the website was called uk2usa.co.uk. I came up with an address after searching for Toyo Trading Ltd online. UK2USA don't actually give a physical address anywhere on the site and the only contact details are an e-mail address and a voicemail only telephone number....

How do I know if we'd be claiming under the DSR's or the SoGA?

unholyangel

esuhl wrote: »

So... are you dealing with a UK company or an HK one?

If UK law applied, the DSRs would require the refund to be made, while the SoGA wouldn't (so it depends under which legislation you are claiming). It would be your responsibility to ensure that the item was returned safely, so if the item doesn't turn up then you would be liable (and may have to recover any losses from any insurance provided by the courier).

I suspect that you are dealing with a HK shop, however. So if you don't get a refund, you would need to establish whether this is a contravention of HK law, and if so you could go to Hong Kong and take them to court. Assuming that isn't an option, I think the only thing you can try is appealing to their good nature and hope that they refund you...

What was the website you used?

SoGA would if it was an outright rejection - consumers are allowed to demand a full refund then and only then. Once acceptance of the goods has taken place, it falls to repair, replace or refund where consumer can request one but retailer can refuse.

OP......are they registered with companies house website? Nvm, found them: http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk/3846f3f56b74f6ac0e6cd3ebbcab65dc/compdetails

Interestingly, if this is the same company, they are registered in the UK as a ltd company. However, their T&C's are in direct contradiction of UK law (DSR's) with as follows;
We cannot accept any return that has had shrink-wrap or security seals removed. UK2USA.co.uk reserves the right to impose a 15% restocking fee and revoke the free shipping if its felt this policy is being abused.

Order cancelation : Orders made in error can be cancelled within the first few hours of the transaction or before the item has shipped. Once the item has been shipped the order will adhere to the Items ordered in error policy as above.

Stagedhigh

So, do you think we can ask for the refund anyway, regardless of the fact that the return hasn't been received?

esuhl

The website is registered in Malaysia:

J R D Langley
13 Jalan Delima 3
Kawasan 1
BANTING
SELANGOR
42700
Malaysia

While Toyo Trading appear to be a Honk Kong company:

Company: Toyo Trading (HK) Co., Limited
Contact Person: Mr. York Zhang
Position: Sales Manager
Office Address: Flat B, 6/F, Hung Mou Industrial Building, 62 Hung To Road, Kwun Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Telephone:
Fax:
Country/Region: Hong Kong
Website:

www.toyo2000.com
www.hktdc.com/em/toyotrdghkcompltd

I wonder whether the UK business that unholyangel found is unrelated, or whether it might have been set up independently to give consumers false re-assurance if they do a bit of digging...?

visidigi

FYI Royal Mail won't track door to door if its just registered post, so don't take the tracking result as gospel that it hasn't been delivered.

Stagedhigh

It won't let me post proper links, but there's a website called alibaba.com that has a Toyo Trading Ltd that looks like it's associated with uk2usa and has them listed as a company in Ipswich...

alibaba dot com/member/uk2usa/aboutus.html
alibaba dot com/member/uk2usa/contactinfo.html



It all just seems pretty dodgy to me.

bod1467

Do a chargeback to your debit/credit card? Or did you pay via Paypal?

Stagedhigh

It was paid for by debit card, I thought you could only do chargebacks with credit card purchases?

bod1467

Depends on the debit card.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/section75-protect-your-purchases#debitcard