Unresolved order cancellation since 11/6/21 and now owner claims cancer causing delay. What can I do

Jack_Bauer

Hi,

I am stuck in a situation I don't know how to resolve.

Back in December 2020 I placed a pre-order for some collectible trading cards at £550 from an online store which has a physical store in Birmingham. I live in London btw.

The items should have been delivered around February 2020 but since this was a pre-order I waited patiently as delays can happen and we were in a pandemic situation. By June 2020, 4 months later, I still hadn't received anything, even though the stores website were selling the items regularly. I sent an email to the store requesting a cancellation and full refund on the 11th of June. I received no correspondence at all but the items were delivered on the 28th of June, 17 days after I requested a cancellation. I believe that the the owner had misplaced my order and rather then placing the cancellation, he decided to just silently ship them and claim he didn't receive the cancellation email. The DPD delivery was only setup on 26th June, 15 days after my cancellation request.

This really annoyed me as I was now tasked with sending the items back, as I had sourced them from elsewhere.

After a few back and forth exchanges regarding the missing cancellation email and DPD delivery, the owner was evading my request on paying for my return delivery fees of £35 insured and I was getting nowhere. Furthermore, two of the items I had requested as part of the order were out of stock and rather than informing me, the owner placed some different products from the same collection in the box which I had not requested to make up the difference.

On the 12th of July, I again followed up with the store owner, saying "Just following up as I've not heard back from you on this. Can you please let me know how I can get my refund.?"

I received a reply from a different person (a lady) who said that the [owner] "is off atm his stitches opened back up from his emergency operation. Thats why you not had a  email back yet. He is back in Hospital. As soon as he is out again he will message to sort whatever needs to be sorted.  I know you will have to return it all via DPD at your cost." This was on the 12th of July.

Again I didn't receive any reply and I followed up again on the 5th of August saying "I hope all is well.I am just following up as I have not heard back from you on this. Can you please advise on how and when I can arrange my return and refund?"

I received a response the same day from the owner saying "You will have to return I'm afraid. Must be DPD who you said with. Spoke with DPD they won't pick it up."

After a bit of toing and froing I reluctantly relented and arranged for the items to be returned, fully insured, at a cost of around £35 I believe. According to DPD they were received by the store at 14:39pm on Wed 25 Aug 2021.

On the 2nd of September, I followed up again as I still hadn't received a refund. I received a reply from the previous lady who said

"Right now we have a few stuff back but we need the owner to open them and check them off and then he can issue refunds . We don't work for him so we can't access anything 

we just help the shop to stay open while he is off for cancer treatment.

But right now he is off for chemo.

We have the boxes here and safe and sound and as soon he is well enough to come in and check he will be.

He is in the hospital right now not sure when he is out I think it's next week as he is very ill atm.

But as soon as he is well enough he will be down to sort everything and  refunds will be issued by him.

A email will be sent once he has sorted ."

I then chased again on the 15th of September...

"I am sorry to hear about [owner] and I wish him a speedy and full recovery.

I consciously decided not to chase, hoping that I would have someone get back to me, but it has now been 3 weeks since my parcel was returned, and 2 weeks since your reply to me. I would like to know what the status of my refund is.

You mentioned you're not employees yet you're opening the store for trading. Is the business operating, or isn't it?

Whilst I sympathise with Joe's plight, customers like myself cannot keep waiting indefinitely and I cannot accept the business is able to continue trading but only to make money, but not to return it.

So please, can you let me know definitively when I will be issued my refund.

I look forward to hearing from you

I received a reply the next day on 16th September 2020...

"1. we  are not employees. We have all our own real jobs. We volunteer to help out and keep the shop running for [owner] once he is back. We don't get paid we do this as we love the shop and want to help.

2.We have no access to the business side if things just able to print off orders and order stock via email.

3. All refunds are issued via website panel only [owner] can do this who is in Hospital for 4 more weeks. He is due back in 5 weeks time when all refunds are gonna be sorted by him. Now I know its a pain to wait so long but we can do anything to help on this. Unfortunately its a bad time for the owner with his health and he is in Hospital for a good reason and as soon as he is back around October the 11th. 

Your not only person waiting for a refund and most people understand whats going on and are happy to wait as it will get sorted.

4. The business can keep trading as we are running the shop for him while he is fighting cancer and we are happy to help him out while he has to deal with such a !!!!!! hand he has been given.

5. Your refund will be issued once he is back just alittle time to wait I'm afraid while he gets better. he has not access to the work PC while he is in Hospital and he has no immune system so he can even come the shop and simply sort it out as well.

But he will be back and will sort it.

Regards "

Now whilst I found the reply unfair, I also decided to again wait the 5 weeks and see what happens. It is 5 weeks to the day since the last email and I have again sent a request for my refund. Now assuming this issue lingers or the worst happens, the owner condition get's worse, assuming everything I have been told is the truth, what are my options? What can I do?

Thanks for reading it all if you got this far and I'd love some advice.

Thanks!

sparklep0ny

Take them to court.

Whether you're happy about taking someone suffering from cancer (maybe) to court or not is up to you, but ultimately you're entitled to your money back.

Bradden

I would suggest sending them a "letter before action" and give them 14 to refund and if they don't start a money claim.

pinkshoes

It's a business and I find it hard to believe that no one else in the shop is capable of issuing a refund.

Just send a "Letter Before Action" stating on X date you returned the item, on X date they informed you of having received the items back, so they now have until <14 days later> to issue a full refund of £550 otherwise you will start court procedure to get your refund where they will then become liable for the costs including the additional £35 for the return postage that you incurred for returning a cancelled order. 

Al_Ross

Jack_Bauer said:

Hi,

I am stuck in a situation I don't know how to resolve.

Back in December 2020 I placed a pre-order for some collectible trading cards at £550 from an online store which has a physical store in Birmingham. I live in London btw.

The items should have been delivered around February 2020 but since this was a pre-order I waited patiently as delays can happen and we were in a pandemic situation. By June 2020, 4 months later, I still hadn't received anything, even though the stores website were selling the items regularly. I sent an email to the store requesting a cancellation and full refund on the 11th of June. I received no correspondence at all but the items were delivered on the 28th of June, 17 days after I requested a cancellation. I believe that the the owner had misplaced my order and rather then placing the cancellation, he decided to just silently ship them and claim he didn't receive the cancellation email. The DPD delivery was only setup on 26th June, 15 days after my cancellation request.

This really annoyed me as I was now tasked with sending the items back, as I had sourced them from elsewhere.

After a few back and forth exchanges regarding the missing cancellation email and DPD delivery, the owner was evading my request on paying for my return delivery fees of £35 insured and I was getting nowhere. Furthermore, two of the items I had requested as part of the order were out of stock and rather than informing me, the owner placed some different products from the same collection in the box which I had not requested to make up the difference.

On the 12th of July, I again followed up with the store owner, saying "Just following up as I've not heard back from you on this. Can you please let me know how I can get my refund.?"

I received a reply from a different person (a lady) who said that the [owner] "is off atm his stitches opened back up from his emergency operation. Thats why you not had a  email back yet. He is back in Hospital. As soon as he is out again he will message to sort whatever needs to be sorted.  I know you will have to return it all via DPD at your cost." This was on the 12th of July.

Again I didn't receive any reply and I followed up again on the 5th of August saying "I hope all is well.I am just following up as I have not heard back from you on this. Can you please advise on how and when I can arrange my return and refund?"

I received a response the same day from the owner saying "You will have to return I'm afraid. Must be DPD who you said with. Spoke with DPD they won't pick it up."

After a bit of toing and froing I reluctantly relented and arranged for the items to be returned, fully insured, at a cost of around £35 I believe. According to DPD they were received by the store at 14:39pm on Wed 25 Aug 2021.

On the 2nd of September, I followed up again as I still hadn't received a refund. I received a reply from the previous lady who said

"Right now we have a few stuff back but we need the owner to open them and check them off and then he can issue refunds . We don't work for him so we can't access anything 

we just help the shop to stay open while he is off for cancer treatment.

But right now he is off for chemo.

We have the boxes here and safe and sound and as soon he is well enough to come in and check he will be.

He is in the hospital right now not sure when he is out I think it's next week as he is very ill atm.

But as soon as he is well enough he will be down to sort everything and  refunds will be issued by him.

A email will be sent once he has sorted ."

I then chased again on the 15th of September...

"I am sorry to hear about [owner] and I wish him a speedy and full recovery.

I consciously decided not to chase, hoping that I would have someone get back to me, but it has now been 3 weeks since my parcel was returned, and 2 weeks since your reply to me. I would like to know what the status of my refund is.

You mentioned you're not employees yet you're opening the store for trading. Is the business operating, or isn't it?

Whilst I sympathise with Joe's plight, customers like myself cannot keep waiting indefinitely and I cannot accept the business is able to continue trading but only to make money, but not to return it.

So please, can you let me know definitively when I will be issued my refund.

I look forward to hearing from you

I received a reply the next day on 16th September 2020...

"1. we  are not employees. We have all our own real jobs. We volunteer to help out and keep the shop running for [owner] once he is back. We don't get paid we do this as we love the shop and want to help.

2.We have no access to the business side if things just able to print off orders and order stock via email.

3. All refunds are issued via website panel only [owner] can do this who is in Hospital for 4 more weeks. He is due back in 5 weeks time when all refunds are gonna be sorted by him. Now I know its a pain to wait so long but we can do anything to help on this. Unfortunately its a bad time for the owner with his health and he is in Hospital for a good reason and as soon as he is back around October the 11th. 

Your not only person waiting for a refund and most people understand whats going on and are happy to wait as it will get sorted.

4. The business can keep trading as we are running the shop for him while he is fighting cancer and we are happy to help him out while he has to deal with such a !!!!!! hand he has been given.

5. Your refund will be issued once he is back just alittle time to wait I'm afraid while he gets better. he has not access to the work PC while he is in Hospital and he has no immune system so he can even come the shop and simply sort it out as well.

But he will be back and will sort it.

Regards "

Now whilst I found the reply unfair, I also decided to again wait the 5 weeks and see what happens. It is 5 weeks to the day since the last email and I have again sent a request for my refund. Now assuming this issue lingers or the worst happens, the owner condition get's worse, assuming everything I have been told is the truth, what are my options? What can I do?

Thanks for reading it all if you got this far and I'd love some advice.

Thanks!

You are being spun one I believe.

CKhalvashi

This is one for the courts, after a letter before action.

I had severe health problems a few years ago, and this highlighted the importance of having a plan in place for director illness, which I wish I hadn't been sorting when already unwell.

I fear you're being played here too.

Jack_Bauer

Hi all, thanks for this. I will do as suggested.

As a follow up question, am I within my right to request I also be reimbursed for the £35 I spent returning the items?

I did send a cancellation to the store well ahead of time of my delivery (15 days in fact) and their website terms and conditions states “Due to covid 19 items might not be with you for release date. With how things are right now we can't I can't guarantee you'll get it on the day but I will try my best to make this happen. So please keep this in mind when ordering anything on pre-order for new releases. If you wish to cancel as its not with you on time, then I can do that but £5.00 will be taken for a Restocking fee for this.”

The store owner claims he did not receive the email but the email I sent was definitely correct and to the right address.

pinkshoes

Jack_Bauer said:

Hi all, thanks for this. I will do as suggested.

As a follow up question, am I within my right to request I also be reimbursed for the £35 I spent returning the items?

I did send a cancellation to the store well ahead of time of my delivery (15 days in fact) and their website terms and conditions states “Due to covid 19 items might not be with you for release date. With how things are right now we can't I can't guarantee you'll get it on the day but I will try my best to make this happen. So please keep this in mind when ordering anything on pre-order for new releases. If you wish to cancel as its not with you on time, then I can do that but £5.00 will be taken for a Restocking fee for this.”

The store owner claims he did not receive the email but the email I sent was definitely correct and to the right address.

Personally I would request the £550, but make it clear that if they don't pay within 14 days that you will take it to court where you will then chase them for the additional £35 that they owe you for return postage, as well as them having to pay all the costs of filing the court claim. 

e.g. make it in their best interest to refund NOW.

Jack_Bauer

Letter before action sent.

Thanks everyone.

As a side note I don't think the owner is lying about the cancer. I decided to do some googling today and found a GoFundMe page created by the store owner in early August, raising money for Cancer Research UK whilst he undergoes chemo.

Still I think I have been patient enough and since the store is still being operated, I fail to see why someone who is running the store cannot issue the refund, contrary to their claims that only the owner can process refunds.

mattyprice4004

His poor business planning (having no one to take over) isn't your problem - while the situation is unfortunate, it's not your problem and there should always have been another person who has access to the systems needed to resolve issues like this. 
Court would be my next stop, while their illness is unfortunate they have half a grand of your money. 

CKhalvashi

Jack_Bauer said:

Letter before action sent.

Thanks everyone.

As a side note I don't think the owner is lying about the cancer. I decided to do some googling today and found a GoFundMe page created by the store owner in early August, raising money for Cancer Research UK whilst he undergoes chemo.

Still I think I have been patient enough and since the store is still being operated, I fail to see why someone who is running the store cannot issue the refund, contrary to their claims that only the owner can process refunds.

He should still have planned for it though.

I didn't plan and was left scrambling at the last moment to get my work covered for 3 days a week so I could work part time the other 2. We now have a full plan in place to cover such absences, even though we hope it will never be used, and this is an important lesson for everyone to do the same.

I don't believe that with your bank details (which I'm sure you'll supply if requested) he couldn't refund from his phone in the hospital. I have various financial apps on my phone for ease of access and would be surprised if the majority of the population don't.