Please help, in tears - clothes subscription taken money

Pollycat

It won't help with getting your £319 back immediately but if the clothes are as good as they make out on their website, could you list them on eBay to recoup some money? You'll be charged fees but better than nothing.

Have you thought about shopping in charity shops?
There's a long running thread on the Old-style board about posters' bargains which makes interesting reading.

lisyloo

pinkshoes said:

shiraz99 said:

pinkshoes said:

As their T&Cs state:

6 AT-HOME TRY ON OF THE GOODS We will send you Goods in your Style Box that we have selected based on the results of your Style Quiz. Please try on the Goods as soon as possible when received. You have a free 7-day home trial of the Goods from the date the Style Box is delivered to you (the “Home Try-On Period”). It is your choice to keep some, all or none of the Goods.

I would state back to them that as you were away, the goods were not delivered to you until X date, and you are now returning the goods within 7 days of them being delivered to YOU.

Where has the OP indicated that they were away when the goods were delivered, or attempted to be delivered.

Where does it say they WERE at home? The OP said they had a family crisis, so they may or may not have been at home. If they were not, then the parcel was not delivered to them, and as per the T&Cs it says you have 7 days from when delivered to YOU. It doesn't say attempted delivery in their T&Cs.

Their T&Cs are highly ambiguous and it is whether you can conclude that this is distance selling (in which case the OP has more than 7 days to return) and therefore the T&Cs are incorrect.

Do you have a reference for this?
im interpreting this as you claiming delivery to a given address is not sufficient.
is there a legal reference or precedence for this?
always interested in learning.

born_again

alex207 said:

Hi all, thanks so much for responding. I called Citizens Advice today and sadly they are within their rights to charge after seven days. 

What upsets me the most is back in March I agreed a later return with them for that month’s box as I was away, and received an email 14 days after the original return date from someone who didn’t know about the agreed delay to the original return, saying if I didn’t send the returns back ‘soon’ they’d take it further. 

Yet this time I’d logged the return within their 7 day period, and just 5 days later bam they charged the whole £319 and sent a narky email spouting their t’s and c’s. Tellingly they said they’d seen I’d unsubscribed from the service (which I had as there was never anything I wanted in the boxes) and ‘we would've suggested you might like to do anyway, as this service may not be right for you.’ The difference in their customer service and protocol this time therefore seems like a metaphorical poke in the eye for unsubscribing.

Which may also explain the most upsetting part of this - despite my having explained the awful circumstances surrounding why I had prepared the return but not yet been able to send it, I was met with hostile attitude and cold intransigence. 

This circumstance was beyond my control involving my young child and something I wouldn’t wish on any child or parent. I called three other stores this morning to explain that my return to each of them would be late and why, and each one said ‘don’t worry, send it when you can and we’ll refund you’. Not Circle of Style. Their attitude appears to be ‘tough, we don’t care about your reasons, we’re happy to profit from your circumstances.’ 

I fully appreciate their t’s and c’s are there for a reason but in the face of my genuine and distressing explanation you would think some compassion and flexibility would have been shown, particularly only five days since I had logged the return online. When I said I would send it the very next morning I was told it was my property now and if I sent it to them and didn’t retrieve it they would just give it to charity. 

Anyway, as I say I am desperately upset. I really appreciate your having taken the time to respond, thank you. 

Looks like they may operate a one strike for late returns.

Sandtree

I think part of your problem is that you had a gesture of goodwill return in March and now two months later you are asking for the same again. Companies normally have a cap on how frequently they'll bend the rules for you. They may be more flexible if you are a big spender but I'm getting the sense that most the items have been going back each month. 

Whilst you say they are cold/inhumane the reality is that customer service does that to you... if you've ever worked in the industry you very quickly realise that people make up horrible stories all the time to try and get goodwill... some of the stories are just daft. Remember one customer who was asking to reduce her payments to 10% of what they should have been as her mother died last week and she's got to pay for the funeral etc... could have considered doing something if she hadn't phoned up and said the almost identical thing circa 8 times over the last 5 years... either she keeps getting adopted as an adult or the majority of those were lies. Then there was the woman who wanted us to change the bill into her soon to be ex-husbands name as he had got up in the night and left taking with him everything she'd bought from us inc four 3 seater sofas, two range style gas cookers (plumbed in), 2 double and 1 king size bed, washing machine, dishwasher and vast amounts of womens clothes. She slept through it all allegedly 

unholyangel

alex207 said:

Hi all, thanks so much for responding. I called Citizens Advice today and sadly they are within their rights to charge after seven days. 

What upsets me the most is back in March I agreed a later return with them for that month’s box as I was away, and received an email 14 days after the original return date from someone who didn’t know about the agreed delay to the original return, saying if I didn’t send the returns back ‘soon’ they’d take it further. 

Yet this time I’d logged the return within their 7 day period, and just 5 days later bam they charged the whole £319 and sent a narky email spouting their t’s and c’s. Tellingly they said they’d seen I’d unsubscribed from the service (which I had as there was never anything I wanted in the boxes) and ‘we would've suggested you might like to do anyway, as this service may not be right for you.’ The difference in their customer service and protocol this time therefore seems like a metaphorical poke in the eye for unsubscribing.

Which may also explain the most upsetting part of this - despite my having explained the awful circumstances surrounding why I had prepared the return but not yet been able to send it, I was met with hostile attitude and cold intransigence. 

This circumstance was beyond my control involving my young child and something I wouldn’t wish on any child or parent. I called three other stores this morning to explain that my return to each of them would be late and why, and each one said ‘don’t worry, send it when you can and we’ll refund you’. Not Circle of Style. Their attitude appears to be ‘tough, we don’t care about your reasons, we’re happy to profit from your circumstances.’ 

I fully appreciate their t’s and c’s are there for a reason but in the face of my genuine and distressing explanation you would think some compassion and flexibility would have been shown, particularly only five days since I had logged the return online. When I said I would send it the very next morning I was told it was my property now and if I sent it to them and didn’t retrieve it they would just give it to charity. 

Anyway, as I say I am desperately upset. I really appreciate your having taken the time to respond, thank you. 

With all due respect to CAB, they can be a very good source of basic information but unfortunately things like this are beyond their capability or comprehension. 

The problem with these types of cases is that it's rarely ever worth getting legal advice, because the costs would likely be disproportionate to the sums at risk. 

But their terms are clear, there's no obligation on them to sell you any of the goods they send you and their terms don't put a 7 day limit on your contractual right to send them all back. The 7 day term and others may give them a claim for damages if the goods are damaged or destroyed while in your possession, but there's nothing in their terms I could find that actually prohibits you from doing so. 

Send them an LBA, include a link to unfair contract terms guidance from CMA. Particularly, off the top of my head so there may be others, binding consumers hidden terms, traders varying terms generally, clauses which allow the trader to determine or vary what is supplied, price variation clauses and formality requirements. 

But, ultimately, if they don't budge then you may need to assess if the sums involved warrant further effort and action.

sheramber

unholyangel said:

shiraz99 said:

Sandtree said:

Have you actually spoken to them? Nothing in your original posts suggests you have

alex207 said:

My question is - can a company’s return policy override the statutory 14-day returns right for unseen goods via the internet? 

In most cases you have 14 days to advise the company to cancel your order from the date of receipt of the goods and T&Cs cannot override this. For a service you have 14 days from placing the order to cancel.

The problem is going to be defining what you have with this company... on the one hand it looks a lot like a service because they are sending you a curated box of items to choose from however it involves physical goods, potentially, as well. Assuming they resist your attempts to return they presumably will argue that they have a service contract with you and as such the cooling off period has ended.  

Even if it were a sales contract rather than a service, and I'm not sure it is, as it's a regular delivery of goods over a set period, the 14 days cancellation period ends after the first item(s) are delivered.

CCRs Section 30.6 state: "If the contract is a sales contract for regular delivery of goods during a defined period of more than one day, the cancellation period ends at the end of 14 days after the day on which the first of the goods come into the physical possession of".

It may be a regular delivery of goods, but you seem to be overlooking the "sales contract" part of that provision. There's no obligation on the customer to buy and there's no obligation on them to sell. Therefore there can't even be an agreement to buy, nevermind a sales contract. 

To the OP, their T&C's are poorly worded. Take this section for example, which they seem to be relying upon: 

6 AT-HOME TRY ON OF THE GOODS We will send you Goods in your Style Box that we have selected based on the results of your Style Quiz. Please try on the Goods as soon as possible when received. You have a free 7-day home trial of the Goods from the date the Style Box is delivered to you (the “Home Try-On Period”). It is your choice to keep some, all or none of the Goods.

Where does it state they lose the right of "your choice to keep some, all or none of the goods" upon expiry of the "free" 7-day home trial (use, not just inspection) of the goods? Or that the 7 days is a cancellation period? That quite literally just states they can use the goods as much as they want within those 7 days at no charge. It doesn't set any period of limitation on cancellation. 

The problem with their terms is they seem to suggest the sending of the goods is  not legally binding. Meaning there's no offer & acceptance when the goods are dispatched. It may even fall foul of inertia selling since they seem to decide the goods and the price while making it binding on the consumer. 

term 8 

8.2 If we have not received the returned Goods from you by the end of the Home Try-On Period, we will assume that you have chosen to keep the Goods and we will charge your payment method for the total Price of those Goods. 

alex207

Thank you, I know their t’s and c’s, what’s upsetting me is how they are refusing to budge on them in the awful circumstances we’re in and fully explained to them. Imagine being told that your child’s distressing circumstance is not a good enough reason for them that your return was a whole five days late, and that they’re happy to knowingly profit from that circumstance. That is what upsets me the most, more than the money. I understand that t’s and c’s are there for a reason but to hide behind them to knowingly profit from someone’s distress, and knowingly add to that distress (I told them that’s what they were doing when pleading to make the return which had been sitting there boxed up and ready before the family situation occurred) is inhuman in my view. 

mattyprice4004

alex207 said:

Thank you, I know their t’s and c’s, what’s upsetting me is how they are refusing to budge on them in the awful circumstances we’re in and fully explained to them. Imagine being told that your child’s distressing circumstance is not a good enough reason for them that your return was a whole five days late, and that they’re happy to knowingly profit from that circumstance. That is what upsets me the most, more than the money. I understand that t’s and c’s are there for a reason but to hide behind them to knowingly profit from someone’s distress, and knowingly add to that distress (I told them that’s what they were doing when pleading to make the return which had been sitting there boxed up and ready before the family situation occurred) is inhuman in my view. 

I can understand how upsetting it is, but your circumstances aren’t their concern - the customer service staff will just be following the script. 

I know it’s terrible, but I really don’t think they’re going to budge on this one. 

bris

This isn't a an outright sale, it's a subscription service.
The right to cancel ended 14 days after after the first box was sent. 
I can't see where they have went wrong here.

Goodwill comes into it yes  but that one has already been used, how many should they give?

Ath_Wat

unholyangel said:

alex207 said:

Hi all, thanks so much for responding. I called Citizens Advice today and sadly they are within their rights to charge after seven days. 

What upsets me the most is back in March I agreed a later return with them for that month’s box as I was away, and received an email 14 days after the original return date from someone who didn’t know about the agreed delay to the original return, saying if I didn’t send the returns back ‘soon’ they’d take it further. 

Yet this time I’d logged the return within their 7 day period, and just 5 days later bam they charged the whole £319 and sent a narky email spouting their t’s and c’s. Tellingly they said they’d seen I’d unsubscribed from the service (which I had as there was never anything I wanted in the boxes) and ‘we would've suggested you might like to do anyway, as this service may not be right for you.’ The difference in their customer service and protocol this time therefore seems like a metaphorical poke in the eye for unsubscribing.

Which may also explain the most upsetting part of this - despite my having explained the awful circumstances surrounding why I had prepared the return but not yet been able to send it, I was met with hostile attitude and cold intransigence. 

This circumstance was beyond my control involving my young child and something I wouldn’t wish on any child or parent. I called three other stores this morning to explain that my return to each of them would be late and why, and each one said ‘don’t worry, send it when you can and we’ll refund you’. Not Circle of Style. Their attitude appears to be ‘tough, we don’t care about your reasons, we’re happy to profit from your circumstances.’ 

I fully appreciate their t’s and c’s are there for a reason but in the face of my genuine and distressing explanation you would think some compassion and flexibility would have been shown, particularly only five days since I had logged the return online. When I said I would send it the very next morning I was told it was my property now and if I sent it to them and didn’t retrieve it they would just give it to charity. 

Anyway, as I say I am desperately upset. I really appreciate your having taken the time to respond, thank you. 

With all due respect to CAB, they can be a very good source of basic information but unfortunately things like this are beyond their capability or comprehension. 

The problem with these types of cases is that it's rarely ever worth getting legal advice, because the costs would likely be disproportionate to the sums at risk. 

But their terms are clear, there's no obligation on them to sell you any of the goods they send you and their terms don't put a 7 day limit on your contractual right to send them all back. The 7 day term and others may give them a claim for damages if the goods are damaged or destroyed while in your possession, but there's nothing in their terms I could find that actually prohibits you from doing so. 

Send them an LBA, include a link to unfair contract terms guidance from CMA. Particularly, off the top of my head so there may be others, binding consumers hidden terms, traders varying terms generally, clauses which allow the trader to determine or vary what is supplied, price variation clauses and formality requirements. 

But, ultimately, if they don't budge then you may need to assess if the sums involved warrant further effort and action.

I would think that unsubscribing from the service while still in possession of goods past the return date was a bit of a red flag for them as well.