Company not refunding sales tax

charley261

Hi, i’d like a little advice please, I recently bought two pairs of shoes from a company called cariuma, and returned them within 30 days, and the company have partly refunded me but are saying they won’t refund the sales tax which is just under £25, both pairs initially cost me £129.26 including the tax so they are not refunding a big proportion. Surely this is not legal? I’ve emailed them saying I expect the full amount back and they have replied by saying that it is stated in their FAQ’s that only the product value is refunded and not the sales tax... is there an act or something I can quote to get them to refund me.
The shoes were shipped from Singapore.
Many thanks in advance,
Charlotte 

Alter_ego

Sorry  don't know Singapore laws

JJ_Egan

That would be Singapore Sales Tax .

Legal  depends upon Singapore laws not UK laws .

Acts to quote them you would need to look up Singapore laws as UK laws do not apply to the rest of the world .

Did you pay import duty/ vat on the goods in the UK / customs .

Sandtree

How much will I be refunded?
You will be refunded the original product value. We do not refund any shipping fees or taxes and duties paid to authorities. The amount will be refunded to your original mode of payment.
*Refunds made in Singapore will include product value and government tax.

The above is what is on their FAQ page which given sales tax is a government tax I would suggest it should be refunded.

As others have said, their T&Cs state that the contract will be bound by Singapore law and so you need to check what rights you may have under their consumer protection laws.

Manxman_in_exile

Sandtree said:

How much will I be refunded?
You will be refunded the original product value. We do not refund any shipping fees or taxes and duties paid to authorities. The amount will be refunded to your original mode of payment.
*Refunds made in Singapore will include product value and government tax.

The above is what is on their FAQ page which given sales tax is a government tax I would suggest it should be refunded.

As others have said, their T&Cs state that the contract will be bound by Singapore law and so you need to check what rights you may have under their consumer protection laws.

Isn't that only referring to refunding government tax on "Refunds made in Singapore"?   ie the refund and the sale/purchase need to have been within Singapore, not the UK.  Otherwise the bit you quoted makes no sense - taxes won't be refunded/will be refunded.

Sandtree

Manxman_in_exile said:
Isn't that only referring to refunding government tax on "Refunds made in Singapore"?   ie the refund and the sale/purchase need to have been within Singapore, not the UK.  Otherwise the bit you quoted makes no sense - taxes won't be refunded/will be refunded.

Possibly... in the returns process it has different approaches for US/Canada (which is return to a "Happy Returns Return Bar" in person or by post), UK/NZ/AU which is send to Singapore and RoW is contact us for instruction. The section I quoted is not split by country and so either its read as you suggest that it is only people in Singapore that get the sales tax back or its tying up with the different approaches so if you have to send it to a Happy Returns Return Bar in the USA you don't get the sales tax but if you have to send it to Singapore you do.

Manxman_in_exile

I think if you aren't Singapore resident, no refund of singapore govt. tax

charley261

Thankyou very much everyone, i’ll look into the Singapore laws, but i don’t have much hope! It’s just  an annoying situation to lose £25, you don’t normally check the faq’s before you place an order so i feel a bit cheated, I didn’t even know know they were coming from Singapore, it’s a company that advertises in the uk, offering free delivery and free returns 😠

Sandtree

charley261 said:

I didn’t even know know they were coming from Singapore, it’s a company that advertises in the uk, offering free delivery and free returns 😠

Whilst  can understand you didn't know they came from Singapore the website is plastered with it being a Brazilian company and so could have reasonably triggered further investigation if they were outside the EU. Though I fully accept there are other such footwear companies with a UK entity too.

We are living in a globalised economy which on the whole brings many benefits in my opinion but does mean you need to occasionally be a little more cautious. You lost £25 this time but imagine how much more expensive everything would be if it was all "made in England"? Too political? I'll get my coat