Retailer lying about returned item

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Veritas_Lux said:

Yes there is a photo of the parcel as well as the signed tracking. It's in a pile with other returns, sitting on top. 

Veritas_Lux said:

And yes it was returned via the post office and weighed. 

Thanks OP, worth grabbing a screenshot of the photo, I assume the parcel looks fine and nothing obvious to suggest it was opened/something missing?

I would hope Paypal would side with you on this one as you have the tracking and weight, if they don't as per the first post you are looking at small claims, should Paypl not refund pop back for more advice and cross that bridge if you need to  

Veritas_Lux

Thank you.  There is nothing in the image to suggest the box is damaged or has been tampered with. The parcel tape I used to seal the box still looks to be intact. There are no visible holes or anything to the box. 

Hopefully PayPal will resolve this properly.

Ergates

Veritas_Lux said:

Thank you.  There is nothing in the image to suggest the box is damaged or has been tampered with. The parcel tape I used to seal the box still looks to be intact. There are no visible holes or anything to the box. 

Hopefully PayPal will resolve this properly.

Given you have: a receipt from the post office showing the weight (which indicates that *something* other than the free sample was in the parcel), and a photo showing an intact parcel having been delivered - this pushes the balance of probabilities heavily in the direction of contents of the parcel arriving safely and having been lost subsequently.

If they were claiming you'd returned some *other thing* instead of the actual item then that would make your case harder to prove.  But given that they've stated that the parcel *only* contained the sample then that kind of undermines their case - how do they explain the weight of the parcel according to the Post Office?

It's probably worth going back to them with this once more.

Veritas_Lux

Thank you, this is my point. I've tried to point this out to them but I'm just getting generic copy and paste customer service bot responses. Just leaving it to PayPal to decide the outcome. If they decide in the retailers favour, I'll take it further from there. 

Okell

Veritas_Lux said:

Ergates said:

Veritas_Lux said:

I can't believe this retailer is blatantly lying about what was returned. I've ordered from them loads, have VIP status with them and have never returned anything to them until now, so it's not like they can make out I am a serial returner or make a habit of trying to commit fraud. I can't fathom why they are doing this. 
 

They're almost certainly not - the far more likely reason is that the item you returned has gone missing after receipt (or en-route).  They're doing this because they *believe* this is what has happened.

Who arranged the delivery for the return?  Was it them, or you?

So, I had to contact the retailer to get the return approved - you can only access the return form if they approve the return.  They advised to send tracked via Royal Mail which I did. It cost me nearly £13 to send the parcel back, ... 

So how does this retailer allow you to exercise your statutory right under The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (legislation.gov.uk) to cancel a distance contract if they have to "approve" returns?

The regulations don't require a trader's "approval".

If you ended up paying the return costs anyway, why did you need their approval for the return in the first place?

Who is this trader?

Veritas_Lux

I don't know why I needed their approval, there just isn't any way to access the returns form without them approving it.

I did try to cancel the order before dispatch when I realised I would not be able to use the item ( the product description did not mention something which I feel is pertinent, but that's a separate issue). They couldn't cancel as it had already been processed. So they approved me returning it and sent me the return form. 

The retailer is Look Fantastic ( also known as The Hut Group). Going by some of the research I have done into the company, this dodging refunds is a pretty common tactic of theirs. They either refuse the return or claim they haven't received it when tracking would suggest they have. But that's by the by.  I have ordered from them for years and never had an issue until now. I certainly won't be ordering from them again. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Okell said:

So how does this retailer allow you to exercise your statutory right under The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (legislation.gov.uk) to cancel a distance contract if they have to "approve" returns?

T&Cs say you have the right to cancel and to check return policy, return policy doesn't mention right to cancel (that I can see) ....