Missguided are Refusing to Refund Me!

tigerm25

My fiance bought a dress from Missguided online on Saturday 9th July 2016 for £20.00 (plus £1.99 for delivery). According to their tracking system, it arrived on the morning of Monday 11th July 2016. She tried the dress on, she didn't like it, so she packed it back up, ticked the box for a refund, and posted it back (with the tag still on, and unworn other than trying it on this one time) to them on the afternoon of Thursday 14th July 2016.
According to the Collect+ tracking, Missguided received the dress back on Wednesday 20th July.
On Monday 25th July, she received her first correspondence from them to say they are refusing her refund. The following is what they emailed her saying:

"We have received your return, relating to (order number) . After inspecting the item, our Quality Control Department have noted that the (product name) has “been washed” which means it is now in an unsaleable condition. As you were intending to return the item due to reason code 2 (too small) and, as per our returns policy, a refund or exchange cannot be offered in this instance. We understand that this may not have been caused deliberately, so we will send the item back to you via our Standard Delivery service, which we will process free of charge for you. Please allow up to 7 days to receive the item back. If you have any questions or require any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us."

Firstly, I'd like to put on record that the people reading this post don't know who my fiance is, or what she is like, so who knows she could be trying to cheat the system. All I can say, as her fiance, is that she certainly isn't that type of person at all, and this is the first time in her online purchasing history that an online company has refused a refund, after literally 100's of transactions in the past.

Secondly, she can't fully recollect which reason code she ticked, but she's surprised to hear she ticked the box that said 'Too Small', as that wasn't the issue with the dress. However, there is the possibility that the option of 'Don't like it' wasn't an option, and maybe 'Too Small' was the closest option to disliking it.

After receiving this email, she immediately complained, indicating that if the product was returned in an 'unsaleable condition', it must have also been sold and delivered to her in an 'unsaleable condition'. She then received an auto response from Missguided saying we'll be back in touch within 24 hours.

It has now been over 72 hours and she's received no response. She has now attempted to get in touch on 3 occasions. Also, as of this morning, the dress has now been delivered to our house, and is back in our possession. The last thing we wanted!

She feels really hard done by here. What should we do next? Do I look into some form of independent complaints system? An Ombudsman or something?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

unholyangel

First things first, even if you returned the goods damaged, this is not grounds for them to refuse a cancellation.

However it can mean they're entitled to make a deduction from the refund if:
1) Your handling goes beyond what is necessary to establish the characteristics & functioning of the goods.
2) that handling diminishes the value of the item
3) They informed you of your right to cancel, the time limit, conditions, circumstances the right to cancel can be lost etc in a durable medium before being bound by the contract.

I'd maybe try an email to them or perhaps even a letter before action, but for £20, I wouldn't spend much time on this (you can however still raise a complaint with trading standards as the company are not trading fairly).

wealdroam

tigerm25 wrote: »

Also, as of this morning, the dress has now been delivered to our house, and is back in our possession.

You haven't said, but is the dress you now have the same one that you returned?
Does it still have the tags attached - as when you sent it back?
Does it look like it has been washed?

fleshandbone

Was it washed before you sent it back?

pinkshoes

As above, what is the returned dress like??

I think I would be telling them to send a courier to collect it and issuing a full refund otherwise you will take them to court for the full amount and cost of returning.

How did she pay?

[Deleted User]

pinkshoes wrote: »

otherwise you will take them to court for the full amount

For twenty quid??

Chucky1234

If the tags are still attached, wouldn't you be able to tell if it had been washed by the state of the tags?

Maybe not but just a thought.

tigerm25

Hey guys, thank you for all of your help so far. I'll respond to your individual comments/questions shortly. I have an update on the situation for you;

We got home from work last night and had a look at the returned package. They returned the dress, and the original return note we sent back to them with the refund box ticked. Firstly, I seriously cannot see why they have rejected this dress. There is absolutely no marks on it, or anything else that they could reject it for. It just smells clean and new. The tag is still on the dress, and it clearly hasn't been affected by a wash. It's fully intact. I'm very puzzled by this.

Next, I can confirm that the return note doesn't give the option for 'do not like' or 'doesn't suit me'. The 8 options are as follows:

1. too big
2. too small
3. ordered more than one size
4. ordered more than one style
5. not like picture
6. faulty/quality
7. arrived too late
8. incorrect item received

Finally, 91 hours later my fiance at last received a response this morning to her emails. Not quite the 24 hours promised. Anyway, here is their response:

"I'm really sorry about the late reply, this is not the standard Missguided aim for.

I've checked your order for you and we only refund for the returned item and we take £2.50 due to postage fee's. As a gesture of goodwill I will refund your £2.50 and this will go back into your account within the next
48 hours.

I hope this helps and you have a great day.

Anything else, let us know. Why not chat with us for an instant response here; https://www.missguided.co.uk/help/

Peace and love,"

So frustrating! This is not relevant to my complaint at all. The 'Peace and love' bit is a bit of a kick in the teeth as well... I'm going to reply one more time and ask for the money, then I'll go through trading standards I reckon. If you have any more advice I'd greatly appreciate it! Thank you again guys!

tigerm25

unholyangel wrote: »

I'd maybe try an email to them or perhaps even a letter before action, but for £20, I wouldn't spend much time on this (you can however still raise a complaint with trading standards as the company are not trading fairly).

Thank you for your help. I'm going to look into the trading standards if the next email doesn't get anywhere. You're right about the £20, I won't go too far with it. The most damaging thing we can do is not shop with them anymore, but this still feels like an injustice.

wealdroam wrote: »

You haven't said, but is the dress you now have the same one that you returned?
Does it still have the tags attached - as when you sent it back?
Does it look like it has been washed?

It looks to me like it is the exact same dress. The tag is attached, and it's clear to me it hasn't been washed.

fleshandbone wrote: »

Was it washed before you sent it back?

It was not washed before it went back.

pinkshoes wrote: »

As above, what is the returned dress like??

I think I would be telling them to send a courier to collect it and issuing a full refund otherwise you will take them to court for the full amount and cost of returning.

How did she pay?

The dress is in excellent condition in my opinion. Clean and new, ready for sale. She payed for it via PayPal.

Chucky1234 wrote: »

If the tags are still attached, wouldn't you be able to tell if it had been washed by the state of the tags?

Maybe not but just a thought.

Yes you're right. Now that I've been home and seen the tag, I can clearly see that this hasn't been through washing washing machine. Certainly not mine.

susancs

As they have sent it back and you have had little joy in regards to a refund in my opinion, it is now worth escalating it up to the CEO. Take a photo of it with the tags clearly shown and attach to a ceo email. Google "missguided ceo email" and Mr Nitin Passi email is the first on the search. It will probably get passed to a senior member of staff to resolve. I usually give customer services a chance but if they are unhelpful I usually get a good quick resolution from a direct to CEO email.

Fosterdog

You say it smells "clean and new" but what exactly do you mean by that? New clothes don't usually smell the greatest, whether it is smells from the factory they were made in or from the packaging they are stored or sent in I wash every new piece of clothing after trying on but before wearing for the first time for this reason. If the clothes have more of a "clean" smell to them is it possible your partner was wearing perfume when she tried it on or possibly just out of the bath/shower and smelling of shop/body wash/moisturiser/shampoo that may have transferred to the clothing?

That could be why they think it has been washed.

Are the tags the fixed kind that once cut off can't be put back on or the kind with a piece of ribbon that can just be untied to remove and put back on?