Dunelm triple payment

gethro

Hi
Don't know if this is in the right place but need advice.
We bought several bits of furniture online from Dunelm and were happy with all of them,good quality and no problems.
We then realised they had a sale on and wanted to get a sideboard for the back room,I went online and kept checking the website as they had no stock of the one we wanted,on the 26th Oct we went out for a day trip and I checked on my phone and they had it in stock ,so I entered all my details,clicked on purchase,entered my bank details and it came up "unable to complete your transaction" so I thought must be my debit card so I tried again with a credit card,got the same again" Unable to complete your transaction" .
So I left it for a while then tried again with my debit card and every thing went through,when I got home I checked my accounts and I had had 2 payments of £254.94 (£509.88p) taken from my bank account and 1 x £254.94 from my credit card,I contacted Dunelm on face book and explained what had happened and was told that only 1 had been ordered and as they had not taken the money the funds would be back in my account within 5 days,the credit card payment was refunded on the 29th but not the debit card payment.
I contacted them again and they said their IT dept was looking into this,on the 1st Nov I contacted them again as the payment was still not returned and was told their IT dept was still investigating this,again on the 2nd I pointed out that it's been 1 week since the payment was taken and still no refund,they said it has been processed by them and will be back in my bank in the next few days depending on how fast my bank processes it.
On the Friday 4th I received the sideboard I had ordered ,it was damaged I again contacted them on facebook and they agreed to give me a £50 refund to cover the damage.They also said the second refund of £254.94 has been processed and will be in my account within the next few days.
On Monday 7th still no refund so I contacted them again and was told the refund was processed and left them on the 5th and as this wasn't a working day this should be in my account shortly.
I then queried if this was the £50 refund for the damage sideboard or the £256.94 ? they said it was the £50 refund and the refund for the duplicate payment was processed on the 1st Nov.
the refund for the £50 turned up in my account on the 8th but not the £254.94 refund,they asked for my details again so they could check they were looking at the right refund,their IT dept were looking into it.
On wed 9th I point out that it was 2 weeks since the payments were taken and it still hasn't been refunded and I have asked my bank to get involved as their IT dept have been looking for long enough.
The reply I got was " sorry it has taken so long ,our IT dept are aware we have taken it twice and have advised that the refund was processed to you when we sent this over at the end of October,this was processed on the 31/10 and can take 3/5 days as you haven't recieved this yet we have sent a chase over to get this looked into.
I then told them that my bank (co-op) that as they have confirmed the payment was refunded back to my card they require a refund voucher confirming the amount ,the date it was processed and the last 6 digits of the card it was refunded to,i also said that I dont understand why the £50 was refunded in 2 days and it's over 2 weeks and still no refund of the £256.
The reply I got back beggers believe.......Thanks for getting back to us,i have looked on the notes and the partial refund has gone through which was the £50 discount on your order number ***** this will take 3-5 working days to clear in your account,this is a refund that can be done from your order ,so it is quite a simple process for this one,i hope this helps.
My reply
Do you people actually read these messages,I know the £50 refund was processed,i am concerned about the £254,94 refund which has gone missing !!! it has been over 2 weeks since this was taken and more than 10 days since you told me this has been refunded and it would take upto 5 days to be back in my account THAT WAS 10 DAYS AGO ,I know your IT dept is looking into this and they have been for the last 2 weeks !!!! this is not good enough and if this money is not back in my bank account i will take further advice and see what action I can take against Dunelm
Any advice :mad:

daytona0

How does their email reply "beggar belief"? It is effectively saying that the £50 refund was easier than the duplicated refund. Sounds like the agents have the power to refund IF AN ORDER NUMBER has been generated, of which there may not exist one with the duplicated payment (if there did exist one then your post may be titled "Help, I received two/three items!")

2 weeks is an unfortunately long time to be without your money, but sadly this is likely something out of the agent's control! Payments which hold no physical order record usually need to be handled by the accounts/finance department and that takes a few days/weeks. It is generally a case of having to contact the payment provider and verify that they accepted a payment and then cross-reference it with their accounts to see what has gone out.

Of course, given your CC refunded quickly there is every possibility that YOUR BANK still have the money held in "pending", in which case you could always give them a quick call. In fact, you would need to speak to your bank if you are having no joy with the retailer. If you are dealing with a "pending" transaction then Dunelm's investigation may not lead to anything and they may just refer you to the bank! So yes, contact the bank and see what they say.

ThumbRemote

gethro wrote: »

I then told them that my bank (co-op) that as they have confirmed the payment was refunded back to my card they require a refund voucher confirming the amount ,the date it was processed and the last 6 digits of the card it was refunded to,i also said that I dont understand why the £50 was refunded in 2 days and it's over 2 weeks and still no refund of the £256.

I don't quite understand this bit. Who requires a refund voucher - the co-op, or Dunelm?

Either way, I'd contact your bank and ask about a chargeback for the missing money.

wealdroam

Didn't bother reading all that stuff.

Quite simply, speak to your card issuer about a chargeback.

You might like to read MSE's Chargeback article first.

gethro

daytona0 wrote: »

How does their email reply "beggar belief"? It is effectively saying that the £50 refund was easier than the duplicated refund. Sounds like the agents have the power to refund IF AN ORDER NUMBER has been generated, of which there may not exist one with the duplicated payment (if there did exist one then your post may be titled "Help, I received two/three items!")

2 weeks is an unfortunately long time to be without your money, but sadly this is likely something out of the agent's control! Payments which hold no physical order record usually need to be handled by the accounts/finance department and that takes a few days/weeks. It is generally a case of having to contact the payment provider and verify that they accepted a payment and then cross-reference it with their accounts to see what has gone out.

Of course, given your CC refunded quickly there is every possibility that YOUR BANK still have the money held in "pending", in which case you could always give them a quick call. In fact, you would need to speak to your bank if you are having no joy with the retailer. If you are dealing with a "pending" transaction then Dunelm's investigation may not lead to anything and they may just refer you to the bank! So yes, contact the bank and see what they say.

The fact that they tell me that the £50 has been refunded and how easy it was to do it when the £256 is still missing. beggers believe.
I have spoke to my bank and they say " I have looked at your account and the only refund I can see from Dunelm was for £50 and this was authorised on the 05/11/16.
If the merchant has confirmed that the full amount of £254.94 was refunded back to your card then we will require a refund voucher from them confirming the amount of the refund ,the date this was processed and the last 6 digits of the card the refund was processed onto,once you have sent this we can proceed through Visa international.
We are an issuing bank only we do not process payments to your account it is up to the merchants bank to do this.

wealdroam

Did you read this in that Chargeback article I linked to:

It's worth noting most bank staff don't really know about this procedure, so you may need to explain it to them.

Anyway, that aside, perhaps you need to be more forceful in insisting that Dunelm supply the information that your bank are asking for - the 'refund voucher'.

Failing that, write a letter, head it Letter Before Action, to Dunelm warning them that if they do not refund your money within 14 days, specify a date, you will start court action and their obligation will increase to cover those costs. Google Letter Before Action for many samples.

chancesare_2

wealdroam wrote: »

Did you read this in that Chargeback article I linked to:

Anyway, that aside, perhaps you need to be more forceful in insisting that Dunelm supply the information that your bank are asking for - the 'refund voucher'.

Failing that, write a letter, head it Letter Before Action, to Dunelm warning them that if they do not refund your money within 14 days, specify a date, you will start court action and their obligation will increase to cover those costs. Google Letter Before Action for many samples.

Don't make the LBA as long as your OP. I didn't read it and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

wealdroam

chancesare wrote: »

Don't make the LBA as long as your OP. I didn't read it and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

I agree - a very good point.

Yes OP, your Letter Before Action must be concise.
I would suggest that any LBA that runs on to a second page is too long.

gethro

Had a message from Dunelm this morning saying that the full amount was refunded yesterday so please check this again with your bank.
So i have to assume that they never made the refund on the 31st Oct.
Nothing in my bank today but as it's the weekend I am not surprised so will check on Monday,if not will go for the LBA.
Thanks for your help,sorry about the length of the OP but it seemed important at the time

ThumbRemote

gethro wrote: »

Had a message from Dunelm this morning saying that the full amount was refunded yesterday so please check this again with your bank.
So i have to assume that they never made the refund on the 31st Oct.
Nothing in my bank today but as it's the weekend I am not surprised so will check on Monday,if not will go for the LBA.
Thanks for your help,sorry about the length of the OP but it seemed important at the time

Have you read the chargeback article. This would be a much better option for you.

gethro

Someone from Dunelm said they would phone me everyday to check if this has gone back into my account and send me the refund number so I could follow it up with my bank .No phone call today and no refund number....time to read the charge back article.