11 months to get refund from Trespass: should I pursue further

RunDeckardRun

Hello MSE People, 
My first posting here but been a follower of MSE for some time. The following has taken place over a pair of shoes bought from Trespass:
Oct 2019: Bought shoes for £34.99 from the outlet village branch in Street
Dec 2019: returned to Bristol store because they were already falling apart after only normal use. The service I received was poor: the shoes could not be refunded there and then because they would (actual quote) 'Have to be sent away to the lab for investigation'.
During 2020: Still no word on my refund. Made return visit to the store only to be fobbed off; made multiple requests via Trespass website for customer services to sort the matter out; phoned Trespass as well. No member of staff did anything about it.
Nov 2020: Finally managed to get the matter resolved by a helpful Trespass employee (via online) who refunded the money without any further delay.

After 11 months of contacting Trespass I'm relieved to have finally got this matter sorted out but I'm in two minds about just leaving it there: should I try and take the matter further or would I just be causing more frustration for myself? 
Opinions from anyone who may have experienced similar very much welcome!

Penguin_

What more do you hope to get? You've got your money back job done.

Spank

You might get a goodwill voucher (would you want to buy from them again?) but they owe you nothing

Aylesbury_Duck

How are you thinking of taking it further?  Some sort of ombudsman or Trading Standards, for example?

Or is the question actually: How much do you want?

CardinalWolsey

To be fair, the OP has been without both shoes and the cash for a significant period of time. Recompense should at least be what that money could have earned the OP if they had left it sitting in their bank account.
Picking a high street bank at random, Lloyd's Club account pays 0.6% per annum. That would be £0.21. Reduce that for 11 months worth of interest, and you get £0.19. If we then take in to account inflation, this is currently running at 0.7%, we actually realised that the OP's £34.99 would have changed in value by -0.1% over the period, or £0.03. So to settle this issue the OP should pop in to their nearest Trespass store, hand over some coppers, and job done!

RunDeckardRun

Trespass could, as a gesture of goodwill, at least have given me a voucher. It's more the principle of the matter though: no-one took any responsibility and, unless I had continued to 'hassle' them, I would have lost out on the refund altogether. It would have been good to have had this properly acknowledged by a senior member of staff. 

ssparks2003

RunDeckardRun said:

Trespass could, as a gesture of goodwill, at least have given me a voucher. It's more the principle of the matter though: no-one took any responsibility and, unless I had continued to 'hassle' them, I would have lost out on the refund altogether. It would have been good to have had this properly acknowledged by a senior member of staff. 

They could have given you a good will voucher, the could of given you a foot rub and copy of the people's friend. Ultimately you got what you was legally entitled to, your money back.

You could try to wear them down into giving you a tenner voucher, or you could give them a wide birth since their customer services sucks and the products are poor quality.  Up to you really. 

Manxman_in_exile

If I'd been waiting 11 months for a refund I'd be hopping (    ) mad too.

It probably won't get the OP anywhere, but if I were them I would write a formal complaint to Trespass, and to their CEO, saying I think it's wholly unacceptable that a customer should (1) have to wait 11 months for a refund on a pair of clearly faulty boots/shoes, and (2) have to be subjected to such useless customer service from Trespass.  I would also highlight the excellent service the OP eventually got from one single agent who promptly sorted the refund out for them.  (I'm sure it wasn't quite that straightforward but it might have been, and when complaining, a little praise where it may be due always helps).

It probably won't result in anything, but may make the OP feel happier.

Aylesbury_Duck

RunDeckardRun said:

Trespass could, as a gesture of goodwill, at least have given me a voucher. It's more the principle of the matter though: no-one took any responsibility and, unless I had continued to 'hassle' them, I would have lost out on the refund altogether. It would have been good to have had this properly acknowledged by a senior member of staff. 

Write to them to say that.  You never know, it might get somewhere. 

A few years ago I had problems with a building society constantly mucking up overpayments on my mortgage and charging penalties on them even though I was allowed to overpay up to 10% of the original loan amount each year without penalty.  All the penalties were reversed but not before it had got to the point where I turned up at my branch to speak to a manager and they literally hid from me!  

In the end I wrote to head office to complain.  I wasn't after money - I didn't suffer any financial loss - but I just wanted them to acknowledge their uselessness at even trying to address the problem.  A few days later I got an apology letter from the director, then a call from the director's PA asking if I'd help them with something.  I ended up "starring" in an internal customer service training film, where they got real, peeved people like me to explain their situation, how it made them feel, etc.  They came to my workplace and interviewed me on camera in my office.

I got a thank you letter from the company, the contact details of the director in case I had any future problems, and then totally out of the blue, two months later they sent me a small hamper.

davidmcn

ssparks2003 said:

RunDeckardRun said:

Trespass could, as a gesture of goodwill, at least have given me a voucher. It's more the principle of the matter though: no-one took any responsibility and, unless I had continued to 'hassle' them, I would have lost out on the refund altogether. It would have been good to have had this properly acknowledged by a senior member of staff. 

you could give them a wide birth

Sounds painful.

Pollycat

RunDeckardRun said:

Trespass could, as a gesture of goodwill, at least have given me a voucher. It's more the principle of the matter though: no-one took any responsibility and, unless I had continued to 'hassle' them, I would have lost out on the refund altogether. It would have been good to have had this properly acknowledged by a senior member of staff. 

Why didn't you suggest that at the time to the 'helpful Trespass employee'?