Return goods to US?

rickyroma

My partner bought a couple of clothing items from a website (chic me).  One came damaged and the other was the wrong size. She contacted Chic Me straight away to inform them she was rejecting the goods. They kept coming back with increasing offers of partial discount which were all rejected and a dispute case opened with PayPal.
 At this point they offered a refund but want the goods returned with tracking to America (they were despatched from the UK but they claim the nearest return centre is in the US)
We have since found out the company have a terrible reputation over refunds etc.  The goods have PayPal protection but obviously the return costs to the US would be out of our pockets and I doubt we would get that refunded too. 
 I'm assuming chic me are based abroad so I'm not sure if our consumer rights apply. Can they insist on us paying the costly return costs up front? 

 

68ComebackSpecial

Looks like the company is based in Hong Kong - with American and Çypriot companies processing US/ EEA sales. I wouldn't hold your breath that you're going to get a successful outcome.

user1977

rickyroma said:

I'm assuming chic me are based abroad

I was about to say surely their website clarifies that, though it unhelpfully says:

"the laws of HK、EEA、US shall apply in respect of all Terms & Conditions Notice and disclaimers. "

so goodness knows!

They have three different company details at the bottom of that page though, which are variously in Hong Kong, Cyprus, and Delaware, so obviously not the UK anyway.

unholyangel

They would seem to be based in hong kong. However they do appear to have several different parties you contract with, depending on where you are based. Unfortunately, they only cover hong kong, US and EEA (of which UK is no longer a member). If they still classed UK as EEA then the contract would be with the EEA company. If they didn't class UK as EEA than, according to their own terms, the contract would be with the hong kong company. 

However, their returns policy states they have return warehouses all around the globe and to contact them to get the details of your nearest one. Query this with them and if that doesn't work and you paid by card, approach your bank for advice. I'm not sure it will be covered as normally, the websites make it sound like they are UK based and only provide UK addresses while this company doesn't appear to have done that. 

Cheap prices normally come with hidden costs. It is why my old signature on here used to say something about cost and worth being two different things. 

rickyroma

unholyangel said:

They would seem to be based in hong kong. However they do appear to have several different parties you contract with, depending on where you are based. Unfortunately, they only cover hong kong, US and EEA (of which UK is no longer a member). If they still classed UK as EEA then the contract would be with the EEA company. If they didn't class UK as EEA than, according to their own terms, the contract would be with the hong kong company. 

However, their returns policy states they have return warehouses all around the globe and to contact them to get the details of your nearest one. Query this with them and if that doesn't work and you paid by card, approach your bank for advice. I'm not sure it will be covered as normally, the websites make it sound like they are UK based and only provide UK addresses while this company doesn't appear to have done that. 

Cheap prices normally come with hidden costs. It is why my old signature on here used to say something about cost and worth being two different things. 

I agree about cheap websites. We don't normally order from such companies but slipped up here!
 Surely PayPal offer some buyer protection even with foreign companies? 
 I've a feeling we may have to go along with what they want and put the cost of postage down to experience. If they won't refund after being given tracking info then I assume a PayPal dispute would side with us? 

unholyangel

rickyroma said:

unholyangel said:

They would seem to be based in hong kong. However they do appear to have several different parties you contract with, depending on where you are based. Unfortunately, they only cover hong kong, US and EEA (of which UK is no longer a member). If they still classed UK as EEA then the contract would be with the EEA company. If they didn't class UK as EEA than, according to their own terms, the contract would be with the hong kong company. 

However, their returns policy states they have return warehouses all around the globe and to contact them to get the details of your nearest one. Query this with them and if that doesn't work and you paid by card, approach your bank for advice. I'm not sure it will be covered as normally, the websites make it sound like they are UK based and only provide UK addresses while this company doesn't appear to have done that. 

Cheap prices normally come with hidden costs. It is why my old signature on here used to say something about cost and worth being two different things. 

I agree about cheap websites. We don't normally order from such companies but slipped up here!
 Surely PayPal offer some buyer protection even with foreign companies? 
 I've a feeling we may have to go along with what they want and put the cost of postage down to experience. If they won't refund after being given tracking info then I assume a PayPal dispute would side with us? 

doh, i missed the paypal part. While paypal do have their own policies, it can also cause issues with rights/redress you may have through other channels. Personally, I'd never use paypal for anything over £20 for that reason, but it's an individual choice. 

I'm not 100% familiar with paypal policy (others on here, perhaps soolin, will be able to answer with more conviction/accuracy) but I believe that yes, if the tracking shows it was returned then paypal normally decide in the buyers favour (which I believe has been a bone of contention for sellers, where buyers return something other than what they purchased).

Alderbank

As unholyangel says, PayPal requires the buyer to return the item first. It acknowledges UK law about shipping refund and says it expects sellers to respect UK law and refund shipping if goods are found to be faulty. There is discussion on boards elsewhere about whether PayPal itself has the duty in law to pay return shipping for faulty goods. PayPal claims it is the middleman, not the seller.

I like to buy clothes when I go to the US. Price and choice are much better but their sizing is different from ours and seems all over the place. I have tried things on which are bigger and smaller than I expect. I sympathise with the OP about US sized clothes not fitting.

KxMx

Might PayPal's Return on Us be useful? 

https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/refunded-returns

If eligible they will pay up to £15.

outtatune

Site looks scammy to me. For example their warehouse picture on their About Us page is a common stock image

https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en-GB&sxsrf=AOaemvKUe5ODCz0iQUSY2qNIgPWS9q_aZA:1635887204227&q=Warehouse&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&tbs=simg:CAESiAIJbw4_1G7xJLi8a_1AELELCMpwgaOQo3CAQSE_1cVjSjuBvseghjvDJIjgwXDC3EaGt9PzDY1nFUEY6C9x2CbZQXpQURvOHpuhMxPIAUwBAwLEI6u_1ggaCgoICAESBNYkLhcMCxCd7cEJGp0BChkKBXNoZWxm2qWI9gMMCgovbS8wZ2piZzcyChwKCWludmVudG9yedqliPYDCwoJL20vMDE4eV82CiAKDWNhcmRib2FyZCBib3japYj2AwsKCS9tLzA3NW5oZgodCgpjb2xsZWN0aW9u2qWI9gMLCgkvbS8wOF80c2QKIQoPbWFzcyBwcm9kdWN0aW9u2qWI9gMKCggvbS8wZ19rMAw&fir=7iWrz6x3cM6YUM%2CfQjdCz_QC5WVRM%2C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kRWy4SBujyWL-FtG6zBiWatkjbV0g&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwia48zdyvrzAhUJWsAKHf9rBUQQ9QF6BAgYEAE&biw=1920&bih=927#imgrc=8qDw_UskQgQKfM

longjohnjohnson

unholyangel said:

rickyroma said:

unholyangel said:

They would seem to be based in hong kong. However they do appear to have several different parties you contract with, depending on where you are based. Unfortunately, they only cover hong kong, US and EEA (of which UK is no longer a member). If they still classed UK as EEA then the contract would be with the EEA company. If they didn't class UK as EEA than, according to their own terms, the contract would be with the hong kong company. 

However, their returns policy states they have return warehouses all around the globe and to contact them to get the details of your nearest one. Query this with them and if that doesn't work and you paid by card, approach your bank for advice. I'm not sure it will be covered as normally, the websites make it sound like they are UK based and only provide UK addresses while this company doesn't appear to have done that. 

Cheap prices normally come with hidden costs. It is why my old signature on here used to say something about cost and worth being two different things. 

I agree about cheap websites. We don't normally order from such companies but slipped up here!
 Surely PayPal offer some buyer protection even with foreign companies? 
 I've a feeling we may have to go along with what they want and put the cost of postage down to experience. If they won't refund after being given tracking info then I assume a PayPal dispute would side with us? 

doh, i missed the paypal part. While paypal do have their own policies, it can also cause issues with rights/redress you may have through other channels. Personally, I'd never use paypal for anything over £20 for that reason, but it's an individual choice. 

I'm not 100% familiar with paypal policy (others on here, perhaps soolin, will be able to answer with more conviction/accuracy) but I believe that yes, if the tracking shows it was returned then paypal normally decide in the buyers favour (which I believe has been a bone of contention for sellers, where buyers return something other than what they purchased).

It will never show as being delivered.