Problem with House of Fraser return

Growlybear

My husband returned a jacket to HoF for a refund on 22 March. He subsequently bought the same jacket in a larger size in a separate order. The jacket cost just over £100, plus the delivery charge, and the subsequent cost to return it. HoF did not send a pre-addressed returns label with the jacket, so my husband checked the website for the return address. He sent the jacket to the address given on the website. Foolishly, he only obtained proof of posting from the Post Office and did not use an insured or tracked service.

He contacted Customer Services when he did not receive a refund. This proved very difficult because HoF no longer provide telephone customer service support; all communication has been via email, and HoF are painfully slow in responding. My husband has been told that HoF changed their warehouse address at the time he was returning the jacket. He took the return address from the website on the day he took the jacket to the Post Office. HoF have confirmed that the address on the website at the time he returned the jacket was correct, but the warehouse moved to its new location between 22 March (when he took the jacket to the Post Office) and the time that delivery was attempted by Royal Mail. HoF have confirmed in an email that delivery was attempted to the old warehouse on 30 March, but they refused delivery, and said that the parcel should either have been forwarded to their new warehouse or Royal Mail would have marked the parcel as ‘return to sender’.

He hasn’t received the jacket back from Royal Mail yet, and after almost two months, it’s starting to look as though it may have been lost. My understanding is that he won’t be able to claim the full cost of the jacket because he only obtained a proof of posting rather than sending the jacket by an insured service. However, would HoF have any liability for the loss of the jacket or is this just an expensive mistake on my husband's part? HoF provided the wrong returns address, and there was clearly someone at the old warehouse who was able to tell Royal Mail that they wouldn’t accept delivery. Any advice would be gratefully received!

custardy

Did he put a return address on it?
Was it wrapped in brown paper?
was the address the XPOI warehouse at Milton Keynes?

davidmcn

Growlybear wrote: »

there was clearly someone at the old warehouse who was able to tell Royal Mail that they wouldn’t accept delivery

They weren't necessarily anything to do with HoF though.

Did he put his return address on the outside of the packet?

Growlybear

Thank you for the quick responses. The jacket was returned in the original HoF black mailing bag, to the address my husband found under the returns information on the website at the time, which was Shaw Close NN8 6BN.


There was a return address on the outside of the parcel, and the delivery note/invoice was included inside the parcel which also had our address on it.


Whilst I realise the person who refused delivery was not necessarily an HoF employee, the email confirming that delivery was attempted said 'As Royal Mail have attempted to deliver this on 30/03/19 we would not have been able to accept this for return '. The use of 'we' implies to me that delivery was refused by someone connected with HoF.

davidmcn

Growlybear wrote: »

Whilst I realise the person who refused delivery was not necessarily an HoF employee, the email confirming that delivery was attempted said 'As Royal Mail have attempted to deliver this on 30/03/19 we would not have been able to accept this for return '. The use of 'we' implies to me that delivery was refused by someone connected with HoF.

It doesn't to me. They probably just mean "we would not have been able to accept it because on 30/3/19 we weren't there any more."

Fosterdog

If it wasn't sent by a tracked method how do they know that delivery was attempted on the 30th? Also I know Royal Mail can be slow at busy times of the year but 8 days before they even attempted delivery seems a bit too long to me. Plus I'd expect a huge company like HoF to have a redirection service set up.

Growlybear

I have no idea how HoF know that delivery was attempted on 30 March, but this is what they have said in the latest email. I agree that it took a long time before Royal Mail apparently tried to deliver the parcel, but this is the information HoF have provided. I also agree that I would expect such a large company to have arranged for mail to be forwarded to the new address, or at least to have advised customers that their warehouse was moving.

custardy

Fosterdog wrote: »

If it wasn't sent by a tracked method how do they know that delivery was attempted on the 30th? Also I know Royal Mail can be slow at busy times of the year but 8 days before they even attempted delivery seems a bit too long to me. Plus I'd expect a huge company like HoF to have a redirection service set up.

They didnt when they went into liquidation. They just refused all packages point blank.
So much so, RM printed specific HOF return labels
Wonder if they continued the same methods

Growlybear

I didn't realise that. Maybe that's what they did when they changed warehouses then. I suppose the package might still make its way back eventually.

Growlybear

Thinking about it again, HoF didn't say in their emails that they weren't accepting returns in general, but said that they couldn't accept my husband's return because he had sent it to the wrong address.



I've just looked at his order receipt, which shows that the deadline for return to refund to the original payment method was 1 April, and the return address is given very clearly as the NN8 6BN (Wellingborough) warehouse. The parcel was returned well within the deadline, and to the address on the receipt. My husband had no way of knowing that the HoF warehouse was moving, or that the information they provided was incorrect.

pinkshoes

Proof of postage has a number you can use to track the parcel.

How did he pay?

If by card, them I would contact the card provider for a refund as he returned as per their T&Cs to the correct address at the time (get a cached version showing the postal details on that day) and postage has been attempted.

HofF should have used a forwarding system if they were changing address.