Flannels Refusing to Refund all items 5 December 2022 at 4:08PM in Consumer rights 15 replies 892 views

Nellyw

Hi - My son returned 6 items online to Flannels.  He only received refunds for 5 items.  When he finally managed to speak to them, they said that only 5 items were received.  As this item was worth £220 you can image he was horrified!  He pushed back and they said "We have CCTV so we are happy it was only 5 items".  He asked for the CCTV evidence was told NO and that's the end of the discussion.  They closed his chat and won't discuss it?

Any ideas pls?

eskbanker

What evidence does he have to support his version of events, e.g. filming the repacking, weighing the parcel, etc?

If he's confident in his position he can always take them to small claims (or card chargeback), but those processes will inevitably weigh up the competing versions of what happened and if it's just his word against theirs then they could go either way....

Nellyw

Thx eskbanker - no he didnt film it etc - (i guess lesson learnt)  but by law can we get a copy of the CCTV?

user1977

Nellyw said:

Thx eskbanker - no he didnt film it etc - (i guess lesson learnt)  but by law can we get a copy of the CCTV?

No, but if it went to court the company would then have to produce it if they wanted to rely on it. 

MalMonroe

Hi, it might be worth just contacting Citizens Advice to see if they can point you in the right direction. Obviously, £220 is a lot of money to lose. There should have been a packing slip inside the package your son returned, and it usually asks for reasons for return - 'too large', 'too small', etc. Was that inside the package that was returned? 

It is very odd that they will not discuss the matter any further and also that they SAY they have CCTV footage - of WHAT exactly?! is what I'd be wanting to know. But they won't let anyone see that footage - that is weird. Anyone can SAY anything, can't they? I don't believe they have any CCTV footage at all.

And honestly, who ever makes a video or film of themselves packing up parcels for return?? Who has the time, for one thing? And who has a personal camera operator for another? I never have, and I've just prepared one today to go back to Amazon. That would never occur to any customer, unless they were very organised and maybe a little pedantic. Or had been asked to do that by the recipient.  I DO always put a packing, or return slip in with the parcel though.

I don't think you can get a copy of the CCTV yourselves by law, no - but maybe someone acting on your behalf could at some point. (If there even IS any footage, of course - you only have their word for that.)

The following link might be useful -

https://www.resolver.co.uk/companies/flannels-complaints/contact-details

And after going round the houses a few times via google, it appears that Flannels is part of the Frasers group - their details are in the link below. 

https://frasers.group/contact/customer-service

and the current CEO is Michael Murray, I'd ask to speak to him - his full details seem to be missing but I can bet that he wouldn't let any company treat him the way your son has been treated. Ask for him by name.

I hope some of that is helpful because really, they can't get away with stealing in that sneaky way.

SiliconChip

Your son will be wasting his time trying to speak to the CEO, there is next to no chance that any CEO is going to speak to a random customer. So forget that route, I would suggest that a chargeback should be his first port of call (assuming he did pay by card) as that'll be free even if it's not successful. Next would be a Small Claim, for £220 I think it would be worth the court fee and it might be that Flannels would decide not to defend it and just pay out anyway - although it's very likely that they would also decide not to want your son as a customer in future.

eskbanker

MalMonroe said:

And honestly, who ever makes a video or film of themselves packing up parcels for return?? Who has the time, for one thing? And who has a personal camera operator for another? I never have, and I've just prepared one today to go back to Amazon. That would never occur to any customer, unless they were very organised and maybe a little pedantic. Or had been asked to do that by the recipient.

....or were sending six items, of which just one was worth £220.  I'm not claiming ever to have done this myself btw, but have certainly read on here of others doing so - there's no need for a 'personal camera operator' when the vast majority of people have a hi-res video-capable camera in their pocket or bag!

ThumbRemote

eskbanker said:

MalMonroe said:

And honestly, who ever makes a video or film of themselves packing up parcels for return?? Who has the time, for one thing? And who has a personal camera operator for another? I never have, and I've just prepared one today to go back to Amazon. That would never occur to any customer, unless they were very organised and maybe a little pedantic. Or had been asked to do that by the recipient.

....or were sending six items, of which just one was worth £220.  I'm not claiming ever to have done this myself btw, but have certainly read on here of others doing so - there's no need for a 'personal camera operator' when the vast majority of people have a hi-res video-capable camera in their pocket or bag!

Unfortunately it's almost impossible to pack a parcel one-handed, while holding the other hand far enough away to capture all the detail wanted. 

eskbanker

ThumbRemote said:

eskbanker said:

MalMonroe said:

And honestly, who ever makes a video or film of themselves packing up parcels for return?? Who has the time, for one thing? And who has a personal camera operator for another? I never have, and I've just prepared one today to go back to Amazon. That would never occur to any customer, unless they were very organised and maybe a little pedantic. Or had been asked to do that by the recipient.

....or were sending six items, of which just one was worth £220.  I'm not claiming ever to have done this myself btw, but have certainly read on here of others doing so - there's no need for a 'personal camera operator' when the vast majority of people have a hi-res video-capable camera in their pocket or bag!

Unfortunately it's almost impossible to pack a parcel one-handed, while holding the other hand far enough away to capture all the detail wanted. 

I'm not really convinced that there's much merit in continuing to debate this, but of course a phone can easily be propped up rather than held....

mattyprice4004

ThumbRemote said:

eskbanker said:

MalMonroe said:

And honestly, who ever makes a video or film of themselves packing up parcels for return?? Who has the time, for one thing? And who has a personal camera operator for another? I never have, and I've just prepared one today to go back to Amazon. That would never occur to any customer, unless they were very organised and maybe a little pedantic. Or had been asked to do that by the recipient.

....or were sending six items, of which just one was worth £220.  I'm not claiming ever to have done this myself btw, but have certainly read on here of others doing so - there's no need for a 'personal camera operator' when the vast majority of people have a hi-res video-capable camera in their pocket or bag!

Unfortunately it's almost impossible to pack a parcel one-handed, while holding the other hand far enough away to capture all the detail wanted. 

What detail do you need? It’s easy enough to hold a phone and video you putting clothes in a box, perhaps with a wave of a newspaper for a time stamp. 

Definitely not a job that needs 2 hands IMO 

sheramber

Of course, nothing to stop you filing you packing it then opening  it again  and removing something.  So, it doesn't really prove anything.