Postage refund from Dorothy Perkins?

gemmacarolyn

Looking for some advice, please?

Recently I purchased a top from Dorothy Perkins online. It wasn't suitable when it arrived and so I followed their returns procedure within 7 days and sent it back. They refunded me the cost of the top fairly quickly, but have failed to refund me the initial cost of posting me the item (£4.) It was my understanding that I am entitled to this, as it was the only item on the order?

I have emailed them to ask for the money, to which they replied fobbing me off. What can I do now?

Slowhand

Did you inform them in writing within 7 workng days you were returning it under the Distance Selling Regulations?

wealdroam

I struggle with phrases like "ask for the money" and "they replied fobbing me off".

You need to write to them stating that you cancelled your order as allowed under The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000, and as explained in Regulation 14, you expect them to refund the outward postage costs too.

It may help you to read this from page 25 of the OFT's guide to the DSRs...

What specifically do I have to refund to the consumer if they cancel?
3.48 The DSRs require you to refund any money paid by or on behalf of the consumer in relation to the contract to the person who made the payment. This means the full price of the goods, or deposit or prepayment made, including the cost of delivery. The essence of distance selling is that consumers buy from home and receive goods at home.

gemmacarolyn

Slowhand wrote: »

Did you inform them in writing within 7 workng days you were returning it under the Distance Selling Regulations?

Yes. They require you to inform them on their website before you send an item to them, which enables you to get a return number. I did this.

gemmacarolyn

wealdroam wrote: »

I struggle with phrases like "ask for the money" and "they replied fobbing me off".

You need to write to them stating that you cancelled your order as allowed under The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000, and as explained in Regulation 14, you expect them to refund the outward postage costs too.

It may help you to read this from page 25 of the OFT's guide to the DSRs...

I did this in the email and quoted the Distance Selling regulations. This is what they sent back:

Thank you for your email received 10 October 2012.
I can confirm that you have only sent back one item and that was refunded back on to your card on the 10th of October for £17.00. Please allow 7 working days for this to be refunded back on to your card.
If there is anything further I can help with, please do not hesitate to contact me by replying to this email address.


Regards,

Farida
Dorothy Perkins Customer Service

This is what I meant by fobbing me off. I'd be grateful if anyone could let me know what they think the best thing to do now would be, having replied to them again and not got an answer.

wealdroam

Gemmacarolyn, that reply from DP says "you have only sent back one item".
Maybe it's just me, but the way that is written seems to imply that there was more than one item in the original order but you have returned just one of the items ordered.

I know you said in your original post "as it was the only item on the order", but did you return everything that you received in that order?

The reason I ask is that if only part of the order was returned, then it is unreasonable to expect a full postage refund, or maybe even a partial one.

It seems really strange that their email reply totally ignores your request for a refund of outbound postage.

If you have already sent them an email stating exactly what you expected, and if you want to pursue this you'll need to write a Letter Before Action.

State the problem concisely.
Tell them that you will start a small claims court action to recover your money if they don't process the postage refund within 30 days.
Send it recorded delivery.

Google letter before action if you want samples.

But do keep in mind the amount of money involved and the amount of effort you are putting into this.

Edited to add:
You might get something useful from this thread.

gemmacarolyn

wealdroam wrote: »

Gemmacarolyn, that reply from DP says "you have only sent back one item".
Maybe it's just me, but the way that is written seems to imply that there was more than one item in the original order but you have returned just one of the items ordered.

I know you said in your original post "as it was the only item on the order", but did you return everything that you received in that order?

The reason I ask is that if only part of the order was returned, then it is unreasonable to expect a full postage refund, or maybe even a partial one.

It seems really strange that their email reply totally ignores your request for a refund of outbound postage.

If you have already sent them an email stating exactly what you expected, and if you want to pursue this you'll need to write a Letter Before Action.

State the problem concisely.
Tell them that you will start a small claims court action to recover your money if they don't process the postage refund within 30 days.
Send it recorded delivery.

Google letter before action if you want samples.

But do keep in mind the amount of money involved and the amount of effort you are putting into this.

Edited to add:
You might get something useful from this thread.

Thanks for your reply. To clarify, there was only one item in the order, which is why I was a bit baffled by their reply. I assume it is a standard reply to such an email. I agree with what you're saying, that for £4 a claim seems ridiculous. I suppose all I can do is not order from them again-it's very annoying though, considering they've effectively stolen from me. I suppose it makes them a good profit if it's their standard operating procedure. Thanks again for your helpful reply.

unholyangel

gemmacarolyn wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. To clarify, there was only one item in the order, which is why I was a bit baffled by their reply. I assume it is a standard reply to such an email. I agree with what you're saying, that for £4 a claim seems ridiculous. I suppose all I can do is not order from them again-it's very annoying though, considering they've effectively stolen from me. I suppose it makes them a good profit if it's their standard operating procedure. Thanks again for your helpful reply.

Not true, you can also report them to trading standards

I would try replying to them though stating that they must have made an error when dealing with your previous email as you only ordered 1 item. Therefore you returned the whole order and informed them of your intent to cancel so they must - by law - refund you in full under DSRs or they are technically breaking the law. Even tell them that you have reported the matter to trading standards (if you have already - dont lie ofc!)

Big companies like this recently came under fire and have been told to change their T&C's or face fines. Can't find BBC's story on it (well i could but i'm just being lazy :P) so heres another:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/oct/12/top-retailers-oft-action-online-services

Personally I dont think big companies like this should be shown any leeway at all. Why? If the posters on this forum can understand consumer legislation/rights - many of whom have no legal training - then a company like theirs who will undoubtedly have their own legal department have no excuse imo.

They have known for years that their terms and conditions were in breach of UK law and yet didn't change them. IMO that shows intent to purposely mislead consumers - which is a criminal act.

And i'm going to stop there and go back to my happy place

visidigi

Quick question, the return...did you use the Collect+ 'free' return process they offer?

As an aside...

WHAT ABOUT MY DELIVERY CHARGE?
If we have made a mistake on an item sent to you or it is faulty, damaged, of unsatisfactory quality or unfit for purpose, we will refund the delivery charges you have paid to receive that item unless it was sent to you with other items which you are not returning. We will also refund the delivery charges if you are an EU customer cancelling your purchase within the 7 day cooling off period.

http://www.dorothyperkins.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CatalogNavigationSearchResultCmd?catalogId=33053&storeId=12552&langId=-1&viewAllFlag=false&categoryId=278505&interstitial=true&TS=1302612896821#fragment-4

gemmacarolyn

unholyangel wrote: »

Not true, you can also report them to trading standards

I would try replying to them though stating that they must have made an error when dealing with your previous email as you only ordered 1 item. Therefore you returned the whole order and informed them of your intent to cancel so they must - by law - refund you in full under DSRs or they are technically breaking the law. Even tell them that you have reported the matter to trading standards (if you have already - dont lie ofc!)

Big companies like this recently came under fire and have been told to change their T&C's or face fines. Can't find BBC's story on it (well i could but i'm just being lazy :P) so heres another:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/oct/12/top-retailers-oft-action-online-services

Personally I dont think big companies like this should be shown any leeway at all. Why? If the posters on this forum can understand consumer legislation/rights - many of whom have no legal training - then a company like theirs who will undoubtedly have their own legal department have no excuse imo.

They have known for years that their terms and conditions were in breach of UK law and yet didn't change them. IMO that shows intent to purposely mislead consumers - which is a criminal act.

And i'm going to stop there and go back to my happy place

Thank you for that! It's so frustrating when big companies just refuse to reply. I completely understand how hard it is working in Customer Relations, but when their policy seems to be to intentially ignore the law, it does get a bit frustrating!

I think I will look into reporting them to Trading Standards, so thanks for the tip! I'm more annoyed than anything that they're getting away with it, since I suspect this is normal operating procedure for them, looking at the article you included!

I emailed them back about a week ago (After the incorrect email they sent me) and am still awaiting a reply. I also commented on their Facebook page today to see if I could get anywhere there.

Thanks for your advice

gemmacarolyn

visidigi wrote: »

Quick question, the return...did you use the Collect+ 'free' return process they offer?

As an aside...

WHAT ABOUT MY DELIVERY CHARGE?
If we have made a mistake on an item sent to you or it is faulty, damaged, of unsatisfactory quality or unfit for purpose, we will refund the delivery charges you have paid to receive that item unless it was sent to you with other items which you are not returning. We will also refund the delivery charges if you are an EU customer cancelling your purchase within the 7 day cooling off period.

http://www.dorothyperkins.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CatalogNavigationSearchResultCmd?catalogId=33053&storeId=12552&langId=-1&viewAllFlag=false&categoryId=278505&interstitial=true&TS=1302612896821#fragment-4

They included a free returns label in the package, so I went online and submitted a return request, as they asked me to do. Then I dropped it off at the Post Office. I was initially quite impressed at how easy it was to return an item!