Sale of goods/consumer rights

daviddee

hi 
I was wondering if anyone could answer a question about returns policy for online buying.  
I bought some Christmas crackers from a website and was aware at the time of buying that the cost of returns was on myself and that to return I needed to contact the website/seller to get the returns address.
After deciding the product was really poor quality for the cost of the goods I contacted the seller telling them I want to return the goods only for them to give me an address in Germany to return the goods to and say they wanted a tracked service. Had I known before buying the goods that the return was outside of the UK I would not have bought the goods from them The return postage costs is approximately double the cost of returning in the UK. I have looked at their returns policy and nowhere does it say goods may have to be returned outside of the UK. The only information I can find on the website is that it's a UK company and has a registered address in London. 
I have spoken to their customer helpline and all they're saying is their returns policy is clear, that return costs are for the seller to pay. 
Is it unreasonable to expect to have known that the returns address was in Germany before purchasing the goods? Or do companies not have to tell you this? 

68ComebackSpecial

daviddee said:

hi 
I was wondering if anyone could answer a question about returns policy for online buying.  
I bought some Christmas crackers from a website and was aware at the time of buying that the cost of returns was on myself and that to return I needed to contact the website/seller to get the returns address.
After deciding the product was really poor quality for the cost of the goods I contacted the seller telling them I want to return the goods only for them to give me an address in Germany to return the goods to and say they wanted a tracked service. Had I known before buying the goods that the return was outside of the UK I would not have bought the goods from them The return postage costs is approximately double the cost of returning in the UK. I have looked at their returns policy and nowhere does it say goods may have to be returned outside of the UK. The only information I can find on the website is that it's a UK company and has a registered address in London. 
I have spoken to their customer helpline and all they're saying is their returns policy is clear, that return costs are for the seller to pay. 
Is it unreasonable to expect to have known that the returns address was in Germany before purchasing the goods? Or do companies not have to tell you this? 

What website is it? I very much doubt you're going to be able to send them overseas - they're on the prohibited list of all the carriers I've seen.

lincroft1710

In my experience, Christmas crackers have never been good value for money. The cost of trying to pursue this won't be worthwhile and although consumer law could be on your side, it will be nigh impossible to get a result.

bris

Cost of goods and quality are always subjective. Having a .co.uk website does not mean it's a UK based site,just that they sell in this country.

I don't see a consumer rights issue here, just a change of mind.

Point us to the website to see their terms.

daviddee

bris said:

Cost of goods and quality are always subjective. Having a .co.uk website does not mean it's a UK based site,just that they sell in this country.

I don't see a consumer rights issue here, just a change of mind.

Point us to the website to see their terms.

You mistake my point. I'm not trying to get a refund based on quality, in fact I'm not here asking about how to get a refund, I had literally just written it off as a lesson learnt, I wasn't going to bother with getting a refund once I realised the cost of returning to Germany, that was until they wrote an email today asking if I'd returned them. I pointed out that I had intended to return them until realised that it was to Germsny and I pointed out that they should have made that clear on their website before consumers buy goods. 
Their reply was simply to say their returns policy was clear, which I disagree about given it doesn't state returns wound be outside the UK
I can afford to return them, or indeed write them off completely but other people might not and that's why I was asking about rules/laws  a company running a website is legally obliged to include in their returns policy. 
Anyway you might see something on the site returns policy I missed 
Www.trouva.com

anmarj

Looking at that link, you have brought from a site that is similar to etsy, you have loads of individuals under a web platform. Its states in returns that they will give you the address of the boutique that you need to return to,  you are not necessarily buying from a uk company.
https://www.trouva.com/pages/returns

JJ_Egan

Rules laws etc depend upon in this case German law .

daviddee

JJ_Egan said:

Rules laws etc depend upon in this case German law .

The company is a U.K. Registered 

daviddee

anmarj said:

Looking at that link, you have brought from a site that is similar to etsy, you have loads of individuals under a web platform. Its states in returns that they will give you the address of the boutique that you need to return to,  you are not necessarily buying from a uk company.
https://www.trouva.com/pages/returns

It says that in the returns policy does it? I didn't see it say that. 

daviddee

68ComebackSpecial said:

daviddee said:

hi 
I was wondering if anyone could answer a question about returns policy for online buying.  
I bought some Christmas crackers from a website and was aware at the time of buying that the cost of returns was on myself and that to return I needed to contact the website/seller to get the returns address.
After deciding the product was really poor quality for the cost of the goods I contacted the seller telling them I want to return the goods only for them to give me an address in Germany to return the goods to and say they wanted a tracked service. Had I known before buying the goods that the return was outside of the UK I would not have bought the goods from them The return postage costs is approximately double the cost of returning in the UK. I have looked at their returns policy and nowhere does it say goods may have to be returned outside of the UK. The only information I can find on the website is that it's a UK company and has a registered address in London. 
I have spoken to their customer helpline and all they're saying is their returns policy is clear, that return costs are for the seller to pay. 
Is it unreasonable to expect to have known that the returns address was in Germany before purchasing the goods? Or do companies not have to tell you this? 

What website is it? I very much doubt you're going to be able to send them overseas - they're on the prohibited list of all the carriers I've seen.

This is the address they said to return them too

"Please re-package the item and send it to the boutique, at the address below

Aachener str. 2

Erkelenz

41812"

anmarj

4. Send your product back to the boutique at the address details we give you, within 14 days of notifying us of your intention to return.

point 4 then. Its appears to be sent back to the original store you purchased from. 

Trouva are a market place, for shops to sell online. Its not a company supplying the item.