Cancelling an order placed online

timelessmelody

Hi all, looking for a bit of advice on my rights regarding cancelling an order I placed online yesterday,

I ordered two sofa covers from https://thesofacovercrafter.co.uk/ yesterday totalling £94. Whilst the website looked quite slick and didn't have any of the usual obvious signs of being scammy, something didn't sit right with me and I had a look at some Trustpilot reviews after I placed the order. What I discovered was many people suggesting it was a scam, with low quality or damaged goods which look nothing like the photos on the site taking weeks to arrive from China, and then returns only being possible by sending the goods back to China for basically the full cost of the goods, thus wiping out any refund. 

Now I fully appreciate my error, I should have checked on them before placing the order, etc. but where do I stand now in terms of putting my mistake right? I did send them a notice of cancellation within 1 hour to the email address on their website (they don't have a number to call) - this was using a letter template I found on the Which website. The order currently shows as 'Preparing for shipping' so my cancellation notice was issued prior to shipping. Reviews suggest they will simply ignore any correspondence and send the goods. Can I refuse these upon delivery? What legitimate steps can I take to ultimately receive a refund if they simply ignore my cancellation request?

Perhaps they will actually get back to me and honour my cancellation and refund, but I'm just trying to prepare for the more likely scenario where they don't!

Thanks in advance for any advice.

timelessmelody

Meant to add, I paid using my Visa Debit card so not sure I'll have any of the protections I might have had I used a credit card or Paypal.

ArbitraryRandom

Hmm... their terms of service seem to suggest they're a US company, but I can't see what state they're saying has jurisdiction. But in their terms and conditions they reference L. 217-4 (which I believe is referring to the FRENCH consumer code...?)

Broadly speaking, sending an email before dispatch doesn't mean it will be received and processed before dispatch - customer services and order processing could be different teams in different locations. 

Their terms and conditions say you have 14 days to return the item as long as it's in as new condition - and as change of mind you would be liable for the return costs (which is the same as in the UK given you have no reason as yet to assume the product you receive will be faulty or damaged).  

TELLIT01

If the goods arrive and they don't match the description you would be able to return and demand that the vendor pay the return postage costs.  That's the theory at least, but if the vendor isn't in the UK it's going to be close to impossible to enforce.

Pollycat

timelessmelody said:

Hi all, looking for a bit of advice on my rights regarding cancelling an order I placed online yesterday,

I ordered two sofa covers from https://thesofacovercrafter.co.uk/ yesterday totalling £94. Whilst the website looked quite slick and didn't have any of the usual obvious signs of being scammy, something didn't sit right with me and I had a look at some Trustpilot reviews after I placed the order. What I discovered was many people suggesting it was a scam, with low quality or damaged goods which look nothing like the photos on the site taking weeks to arrive from China, and then returns only being possible by sending the goods back to China for basically the full cost of the goods, thus wiping out any refund. 

Now I fully appreciate my error, I should have checked on them before placing the order, etc. but where do I stand now in terms of putting my mistake right? I did send them a notice of cancellation within 1 hour to the email address on their website (they don't have a number to call) - this was using a letter template I found on the Which website. The order currently shows as 'Preparing for shipping' so my cancellation notice was issued prior to shipping. Reviews suggest they will simply ignore any correspondence and send the goods. Can I refuse these upon delivery? What legitimate steps can I take to ultimately receive a refund if they simply ignore my cancellation request?

Perhaps they will actually get back to me and honour my cancellation and refund, but I'm just trying to prepare for the more likely scenario where they don't!

Thanks in advance for any advice.

I always look at the 'About us', Shipping & Returns pages.
There is no 'About us' page.
'refund policy' page refers to 'exceptions/non-returnable items' and says you can't return food, flowers, plants, beauty products.

They don't sell those items so wording is clearly lifted from another website.

ArbitraryRandom said:

Hmm... their terms of service seem to suggest they're a US company, but I can't see what state they're saying has jurisdiction. But in their terms and conditions they reference L. 217-4 (which I believe is referring to the FRENCH consumer code...?)

They also refer to Estonian law in 1.2.

Did you find this company through a Facebook advert by any chance?

timelessmelody

Pollycat said:

timelessmelody said:

Hi all, looking for a bit of advice on my rights regarding cancelling an order I placed online yesterday,

I ordered two sofa covers from https://thesofacovercrafter.co.uk/ yesterday totalling £94. Whilst the website looked quite slick and didn't have any of the usual obvious signs of being scammy, something didn't sit right with me and I had a look at some Trustpilot reviews after I placed the order. What I discovered was many people suggesting it was a scam, with low quality or damaged goods which look nothing like the photos on the site taking weeks to arrive from China, and then returns only being possible by sending the goods back to China for basically the full cost of the goods, thus wiping out any refund. 

Now I fully appreciate my error, I should have checked on them before placing the order, etc. but where do I stand now in terms of putting my mistake right? I did send them a notice of cancellation within 1 hour to the email address on their website (they don't have a number to call) - this was using a letter template I found on the Which website. The order currently shows as 'Preparing for shipping' so my cancellation notice was issued prior to shipping. Reviews suggest they will simply ignore any correspondence and send the goods. Can I refuse these upon delivery? What legitimate steps can I take to ultimately receive a refund if they simply ignore my cancellation request?

Perhaps they will actually get back to me and honour my cancellation and refund, but I'm just trying to prepare for the more likely scenario where they don't!

Thanks in advance for any advice.

I always look at the 'About us', Shipping & Returns pages.
There is no 'About us' page.
'refund policy' page refers to 'exceptions/non-returnable items' and says you can't return food, flowers, plants, beauty products.

They don't sell those items so wording is clearly lifted from another website.

ArbitraryRandom said:

Hmm... their terms of service seem to suggest they're a US company, but I can't see what state they're saying has jurisdiction. But in their terms and conditions they reference L. 217-4 (which I believe is referring to the FRENCH consumer code...?)

They also refer to Estonian law in 1.2.

Did you find this company through a Facebook advert by any chance?

Just found them via a Google search for sofa covers, they seem to pop up as one of the sponsored results.

My bad......looks like I'll just have to take the hit on this one and learn from my mistake!!

ArbitraryRandom

timelessmelody said:

Pollycat said:

timelessmelody said:

Hi all, looking for a bit of advice on my rights regarding cancelling an order I placed online yesterday,

I ordered two sofa covers from https://thesofacovercrafter.co.uk/ yesterday totalling £94. Whilst the website looked quite slick and didn't have any of the usual obvious signs of being scammy, something didn't sit right with me and I had a look at some Trustpilot reviews after I placed the order. What I discovered was many people suggesting it was a scam, with low quality or damaged goods which look nothing like the photos on the site taking weeks to arrive from China, and then returns only being possible by sending the goods back to China for basically the full cost of the goods, thus wiping out any refund. 

Now I fully appreciate my error, I should have checked on them before placing the order, etc. but where do I stand now in terms of putting my mistake right? I did send them a notice of cancellation within 1 hour to the email address on their website (they don't have a number to call) - this was using a letter template I found on the Which website. The order currently shows as 'Preparing for shipping' so my cancellation notice was issued prior to shipping. Reviews suggest they will simply ignore any correspondence and send the goods. Can I refuse these upon delivery? What legitimate steps can I take to ultimately receive a refund if they simply ignore my cancellation request?

Perhaps they will actually get back to me and honour my cancellation and refund, but I'm just trying to prepare for the more likely scenario where they don't!

Thanks in advance for any advice.

I always look at the 'About us', Shipping & Returns pages.
There is no 'About us' page.
'refund policy' page refers to 'exceptions/non-returnable items' and says you can't return food, flowers, plants, beauty products.

They don't sell those items so wording is clearly lifted from another website.

ArbitraryRandom said:

Hmm... their terms of service seem to suggest they're a US company, but I can't see what state they're saying has jurisdiction. But in their terms and conditions they reference L. 217-4 (which I believe is referring to the FRENCH consumer code...?)

They also refer to Estonian law in 1.2.

Did you find this company through a Facebook advert by any chance?

Just found them via a Google search for sofa covers, they seem to pop up as one of the sponsored results.

My bad......looks like I'll just have to take the hit on this one and learn from my mistake!!

I think you're getting ahead of yourself - the other reviewers at least got something (even if they said it was slow and poor quality), and generally people are more likely to leave bad reviews than good. 

I'd wait to see what arrives in 30 days (assuming they didn't inform you at checkout it would take longer). After 30 days if nothing has arrived you can contact them to cancel, and if they don't respond then you can go to your card issuer for a refund. 

Same if the item is faulty or not as described - you contact them for a refund, if they say you have to pay for the return ask them what jurisdiction they operate under/why their terms say different places (come back here if we can help). If at any point they refuse to engage you can go to your card issuer for a chargeback... 

Not guaranteed we can help get your cash back, but far from hopeless! 

timelessmelody

Well after all that, I received an email from Sofa Cover Crafter acknowledging my cancellation and confirming the refund will be in my account in the next few days!

I take back everything I said.....great customer service 

DullGreyGuy

Their contact number, WhatsApp only, is in the US. They say your data protection complaints should go to Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés which is in France. The company name is suffixed OU whereas in the UK it would be Ltd or PLC... only place that uses OU is Estonia 

Biggest clue though... they say the laws of the "United States" apply. Anyone remotely doing any form of business in the US will know they are federated and you have to state the state not the country. 


Chances are you'll get a low quality product and you'll have to post it back to China, which will be expensive and probably never show as delivered. Once you've proof you've sent it back you are then in chargeback territory