Refunding not received items in different currencies.

j3nl3a

Hi all,

Some advice on this would be greatly appreciated. At the end of Nov 2011 I bought a few clothing items from a Swedish clothing store (owned by the H&M chain, but not H&M). After two weeks of not receiving any packages or hearing from the store I contact their customer services and they informed me that the courier was unable to process my parcel past their UK depot as they had an incorrect postcode. The postcode was corrected but a week later I still hadn't received the items. Again, I contact the company who said they would look into it and get back to me. I didn't hear from them. I contacted them again, except this time I didn't even receive an auto responder to my email. I phoned their CS who said they would contact the courier and get back to me. A week passed and no email or phone call. Again, I contacted by email outlining that the address the parcel was meant to be delivered to would be closed during the 26th Dec - 3rd Jan and, if I didn't receive the order in two working days I would cancel it. No response. Called CS and reiterated this and the girl said she would call the courier and then call me and let me know if they could deliver it. She did call me back and said that the courier were "looking into" the issue. I told CS that if I didn't receive the parcel by Fri 23rd Dec 2011 I would be cancelling the order. No parcel received and order cancelled on 23/12.

I received a refund a few days later. However, this is where my issue lies. I paid 116 Euros for the items, which when converted to sterling worked out at £102.47. However, I was only refunded £99.73. Is this an issue with my credit card company (who processed the transactions) or the company I bought the items from? Basically I've paid £2.74 for the luxury of not recieving the items and 5-6 weeks of back and forth with a call centre.

Thanks!

aldredd

could it be a variation of exchange rate?

Your statement should show the amount paid in euros and the exchange rate used - compare this to the refund - see if they (the euro amount) matches.

wealdroam

As well as what Aldredd says, commission would've been charged both when your money was converted to Euros and again when converting back again.

aldredd

wealdroam wrote: »

As well as what Aldredd says, commission would've been charged both when your money was converted to Euros and again when converting back again.

Do they not reverse the commission? Yike - thought they did.

Spent a few years living overseas (but using UK account) - but now I think about it, don't think I ever had a refund onto my card.

shaun_from_Africa

Even if the commission was reversed but there will still be the difference in the buying and selling rates to consider.

If you went into a bank and bought Euro (commission free) paying with Sterling, you would get €118 (xe.com rates). If you then changed this money back into sterling you would receive just under £98 so you would have lost about £2 simply because of the buying/selling rate difference.
This is essentially what has happened to the OP.

It can occasionally work in your favour.
A few years ago I booked a hotel in the USA and prepaid for this on my credit card. The total was about £200 or $360. (This was when the £/$ rate was very good and I got an exchange rate of about 1.8 to 1).
I had to cancel the booking a month after making it, by which time the rate had altered in my favour and although it was still $360 paid back to my credit card, I actually received £210.