Return posted in February remains undelivered, who has liability?

pinkballoons

I’m in England and so is the company Urban Excess, I bought from their website. I bought five items totalling £385 and paid by debit card and I returned two items totalling £193.

I followed Urban Excess’ return procedure  - You can order an exchange or book a UK subsidised return (£3.00) through Royal Mail Tracked 48 up to 30 days after purchase. I didn’t have to pay for the return before posting, the charge was to be deducted from the refund. 

I posted the return the day after receiving the order, this was back in February and the return parcel has never been delivered. Royal Mail tracking is stuck on - Your item has reached Romford MC and will now be forwarded to your local delivery office.

Urban Excess claim they are not responsible as they have this disclaimer on their website - Please note that customers are responsible for all return items whilst in transit.

Royal Mail claim Urban Excess are responsible as the postage was billed to Urban Excess’ business account and the tracked returns service used is not available to the general public, so Urban Excess have the contract with them. So who is right?  Do I have legal rights in this situation? At the moment it feels like I’m playing a pointless game of ping pong with both of them. 

littleboo

it sounds as if the return was arranged through Urban Excess, and not by you direct with RM, in which case my understanding is that they are responsible for the items while in transit as its their courier,not yours

Undervalued

littleboo said:

it sounds as if the return was arranged through Urban Excess, and not by you direct with RM, in which case my understanding is that they are responsible for the items while in transit as its their courier,not yours

60:40 I would agree.

However, the firm will no doubt try and argue that as the OP had agreed to pay for the cost of the return they take on the responsibility for any issues with it.

It would be interesting to know if there have been any test cases of similar scenarios.

tightauldgit

Undervalued said:

littleboo said:

it sounds as if the return was arranged through Urban Excess, and not by you direct with RM, in which case my understanding is that they are responsible for the items while in transit as its their courier,not yours

60:40 I would agree.

However, the firm will no doubt try and argue that as the OP had agreed to pay for the cost of the return they take on the responsibility for any issues with it.

It would be interesting to know if there have been any test cases of similar scenarios.

They can't take on any responsibility for issues with it as they have no contract with the courier and the courier wont deal with them. They have paid UE to provide the return service perhaps but the provision of that service is still the responsibility of UE

jon81uk

If Urban Excess are the ones paying Royal Mail then they need to chase Royal Mail, that disclaimer doesn't hold up as you don't have a contract with Royal Mail.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

(Might be missing it as usual) but can't see a mention of the right to cancel on the website? 

I've not seen it clarified who is responsible for risk during return but if the company didn't give OP any information regarding the right to cancel they could cancel now, provide proof of return and be entitled to a refund within 14 days of providing that proof. 

May well need a letter before action to see a result. 

Manxman_in_exile

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

(Might be missing it as usual) but can't see a mention of the right to cancel on the website? 

I've not seen it clarified who is responsible for risk during return but if the company didn't give OP any information regarding the right to cancel they could cancel now, provide proof of return and be entitled to a refund within 14 days of providing that proof. 

May well need a letter before action to see a result. 

I'd agree.

If the OP cancelled (or can still cancel) under The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (legislation.gov.uk), then the reteiler should cough up no more than 14 days after being provided with evidence of the OP sending the goods back:

"Reg 34(5) If the contract is a sales contract and the trader has not offered to collect the goods, the time is the end of 14 days after—

(a)the day on which the trader receives the goods back, or

(b)if earlier, the day on which the consumer supplies evidence of having sent the goods back"

pinkballoons

Thanks for all the responses.

On the delivery note it advised to register a return following the same return procedure that is online.  So I followed UE’s instructions and I didn’t have a choice of return carrier or service used. I did receive a confirmation email from UE that they had registered the return but I didn’t email UE outside of that. 

I had shopped at UE a few times before in-store when I lived in London so I never expected their online arm to be so unprofessional. Their responses are very blunt and often what I would consider rude. 

Should I contact UE again quoting the legislation Manxman_in_exile has quoted?