trouble getting my refund without returning item

Mages

Hiya Guys, need some feedback.
In April 2019, I succumbed to an advert for dietary product online, 'today's special price' etc.
Followed the link, paid the price, and sat back to wait for my deal. Thought I'd just check the email details an hour later, and realised I had pressed the wrong amounts and was charged for 5 times the amount of product. Costing me £153.00:shocked::eek:
I immediately sent them an email -(International) saying I had made an error, and that I wished to cancel the order, and please refund my money.- Customer service response was 'we are very busy and will get back to you as soon as possible'.
I then contacted my card company, and told them, they told me that I could request the funds back, and there was a system to do this- However, Customer service of the dietary product had now responded, and said the order was now already on its way!:doh: I should wait for delivery, send it back, and a full refund would be given, once the returned item was lodged in their return center.
Now....several days later I got a Royal Mail card posted through the letterbox saying that an item was waiting for me to pick up at the sorting office. When I got there ,there was a customs charge fee of £22. on it, so in order to get it I would have to pay this charge:(:( I asked at the sorting office. 'what happens if I don't pay the charge'?. Was told that, if not paid for ,it would be returned to company after several weeks.
Me thinks.... I've already made an error, costing me 4 x more than I can afford. can't throw more money away on paying for customs fee, AND returning cost to the company International postage etc. I'll sit it out...Wait for the Royal Mail to send back the item in several weeks, contact the company and request my Full refund.
I continue to email the company each month to chase my refund, and each month am told that its still has not been returned.
I then contact Royal Mail to check if they have in fact sent back the item. They say that there is no way of knowing, as returned items are not tracked in the same way. However, they also said that this seems to be happening quite a bit. Companies say that they are still not in receipt of returned items.
So. I wrote another email this week saying. I did not receive the item, it was returned by royal Mail. (as far as I know) . I do not have the product....If the item is missing, they should claim off their own insurance. .Please can I have a full refund. The company has responded, when the item is returned, and checked off against my name and details they will give me the refund.
I'm at a loss....I cannot afford to lose that sort of money..just like that! Any ideas?? Thank you for reading. Bless.

Alter_ego

Difficult to answer as UK consumer laws only apply in UK.

KatrinaWaves

The only recourse would be through your bank, but the company can contest this fairly easily as you can see.

The company wont give you the money back until they have the item back.

shaun_from_Africa

KatrinaWaves wrote: »

The company wont give you the money back until they have the item back.

Even then it's not guaranteed that the OP will ever see their money again.
One problem is that as the OP already knows, they may deny getting the goods back and another is that as it is a dietary product, the delay in the company receiving it back (they placed the order in April) and not knowing how it was stored in the meantime, they may decide that it's not safe to resell it.

All in all, with the amount of time it's taken so far, I would be very surprised if the money was eventually refunded.

born_again

I was going to post the quote below.

But that is of no use to the OP as there are only 120 days to action a chargeback. This will be from date of debit, or expected date of delivery. If a later date is given (not applicable in this case)

So sadly OP has waited far too long and now lost the £153, unless company refunds them.

Given you have not received the items. it is a simple non-reciept chargeback.
I would not mention that you had a card from the post office saying you need to pay a charge to get the goods.
Non-reciept can only be contested on the basis of proof of deliver (something signed)