Harrods Online Refund Policy and lack of online upfront transparency.

cmthephoenix

All you really need to do - having clearly told them that you are cancelling the order - is send the perfume back to them.  (I see Harrods and others have suggested you use special delivery or whatever but I know nothing about any of those - it's up to you to choose.  Just ensure you obtain proof of posting in case you need it later.)

I mostly agree with just about all of your posts but this part I do have a different point of view on. I would say obtain proof of posting and adequate insurance for the delivery and that they are happy to send perfume. Insurance for the delivery is relatively cheap compared to it not being delivered, I don't post anything to know but royal mail tracked 48 hour seems to cost a bargain £2.85 to collect from home and cover £100 in compensation. No idea how they can make a profit on that but it's not my business.

elsien

The perfume is 390 quid. I’d be going special delivery as well.

Manxman_in_exile

Yeah.  I'm not saying that the method of return is unimportant. 

I'm saying that as I have absolutely no clue as to the relative pros and cons of the different return methods available that I'm not in a position to recommend any one over another.  Except to advise the OP that he needs to satisfy himself that whatever method he selects offers adequate protecton for the value of the goods they are returning.

Several posters (including @the_lunatic_is_in_my_head) and Harrods themselves have suggested RM Special Delivery, so I suppose that's the one to go for.  But I don't know as I haven't a clue about any of that.  I'm probably more in the dark than the OP.

elsien

I was more responding to cmthephoenix who suggested a method with a compensation value of £100. 

Should have quoted it. 

cmthephoenix

elsien said:

I was more responding to cmthephoenix who suggested a method with a compensation value of £100. 

Should have quoted it. 

In my defence I did say that you should have adequate insurance for your postage method, and stating that RM 48 advertised it gave £100 rather than recommending it. I was just surprised at the value of it. I don't mail anything but I think you always weigh up (no pun intended) how much something costs vs how much it could give you back if things go wrong. I was just trying to say I didn't think going by just the certificate of posting route was a good idea and that there were relatively cheap alternatives, which presumably the OP was interested in as they were trying to see if there was any route to them getting a free return. 

Manxman_in_exile

elsien said:

I was more responding to cmthephoenix who suggested a method with a compensation value of £100. 

Should have quoted it. 

Sorry - I was responding to them as well!

Just to make it clear - I hope I've not suggested anywhere that the OP's choice of how to return the perfume is unimportant.

What I was trying to tell the OP in the passage quoted by @cmthephoenix was that I don't feel knowledgeable enough about return postage methods to recommend Special Delivery or anything else, but that as both Harrods themselves (in their email) and the_lunatic recommended Special Delivery then that's the way to go.  But the OP needs to make the choice what method to use.  At the same time the OP needs to make sure they obtain proof that they've sent the perfume back.

By writing "All you really need to do - having clearly told them that you are cancelling the order - is send the perfume back to them," I wasn't suggesting that the OP should just chuck the perfume in any old parcel and post it in a letter box.

I'm sure they haven't done that...

makemboy

Good morning everyone,

I wanted to sum up the outcome of all this.

On the 16th December I returned the perfume using Post office Special delivery. It is next day arrival by 1pm. I had proof of sending and also proof of delivery. The insurance cover was up to £500. The cost £8.95

As the 16th was a Friday delivery was the next working day. The perfume was delivered 10.30am on Monday the 19th December.

This morning 20th December I received notification that the full refund process had commenced. 
Shortly after Paypal confirmed that a refund had been received. 

I would just like to thank everyone who posted a huge thank you for assistance in this matter. It has been a huge learning experience. 

Ray

Manxman_in_exile

Well done.

Goes to show that even when a seller's customer service staff tell you that something isn't returnable under their T&Cs, but you think it should be returnable, it's always worth arguing the toss with them.

Thanks for letting us know it was successful.

Now we can wait for the next Harrods online perfume purchase...