Waiting months for Topshop refund

lolamindi · 19 March 2020 at 5:47PM

On the 27th of November I placed an order on Topshop.com for 299€ and waited patiently at my home in Spain for it to arrive. When it still hadn't arrived by around the 20th of December, I contacted the Topshop customer services department and they quickly processed a full refund, stating that it must have got lost in the post. The order then arrived a few days after that so I informed Topshop and they said they'd have to call me to take the payment by card over the phone.

An agent called me at the beginning of January and took the payment via my debit card. As he said he'd have to take the money in GBP I ended up paying 309.62€ (more than the original amount due to the exchange rate) to 'MAC Finance'. I asked him at the time if paying by card in this way would cause problems with my refund, as I'd already sent back three of the six items I ordered on the 30th of December. He said it might do so I should contact customer services by email if my refund wasn't with me within 28 days of returning the items.

The refund never appeared so I sent emails to Topshop and was eventually told after a lot of confusion that I was due a refund of 153€ and would receive the money within 7 to 10 working days. I waited and the money never appeared. I then got in touch again and after a lot of confusion once more, they said I'd have to phone their customer service line as only a phone operator could do it. I phoned on the 3rd of March and the operator could see my order and asked what items I had returned. She also calculated that I was due a refund of 153€ and processed it over the phone, telling me that it would be with me within 7 to 10 working days.

I waited for this refund as I was told to but it still hasn't appeared in my account and it's now 12 working days since the phone call. I have sent emails to the Topshop customer service account for the last three days and have written on their Facebook and Instagram accounts but no one replies to me. I also wrote an email to the financial ombudsman and told Topshop as much via Facebook and in an email.

I'm really not sure what to do now, can anyone offer any advice or suggestions? Thanks in advance, Laura