Change of returns policy

elephant18

Please can someone help. I ordered some items from a company on Friday who advertised free returns on their website and stated free returns on my order email which I have screenshots for both. I tried to return an item from the order yesterday and they are now saying I need to pay for returns. I have contacted them explaining that when I ordered it advertised free returns so don’t feel it’s fair to have to pay but they’ve said I do, any advice please as it’s the principal thank you.

eskbanker

If it was a distance sale then you may have the legal right to return without charge under generic consumer rights, by cancelling the contract rather than following the retailer's own returns policy, who is it?

elephant18

Thank you for your reply, I want to keep some items and return just one item from the order so don’t think I can cancel the contract as thought that involved sending the whole order back?

eskbanker

If it's too late to cancel the whole order, e.g. if you've worn clothes or whatever, then yes, that will limit your options, although if the retailer refuses to comply with its own policy then it might also take the same view with legal obligations too.  Have they updated their website with new terms or are they simply refusing to comply with what's published, and did they give any indication of why they expect you to pay when promised a free service?

elephant18

They removed the banner saying free delivery from their website yesterday which had been their policy. They have just said that they’ve changed their returns policy from yesterday to start charging. I feel that if their policy was free delivery when I ordered then it should be honoured and they are entitled to start charging for returns for orders placed from yesterday when they changed their returns policy. What do you think do I have any rights to these thoughts?

elephant18

*should say ‘free returns’ not delivery above

noitsnotme

You could probably argue that the offer of free returns, that you have evidence of, formed part of the contract.  However if they will not budge then you would have to take it to small claims court, which is probably not worth the hassle for the couple of quid it's likely to cost to return.

elephant18

Thank you, I agree I just hate being ripped off!

eskbanker

I can certainly understand your point of view, but am unsure if it's actually clearly supported by legislation - there would probably be a case that any claimed right to unilaterally vary the terms of a contract to the customer's disadvantage is an unfair term, but if they're unwilling to agree then it comes down to how much that principle is worth to you, i.e. is the unexpected cost of returning an item really likely to be worth going to court for?

noitsnotme

elephant18 said:

Thank you, I agree I just hate being ripped off!

Yep, it sucks.  Best 'revenge' is to never use them again and tell everyone you know about the bad service you received.

elephant18

Totally agree thank you, I think I’ll try one more email to them and if they still won’t agree to honouring free return as advertised I’ll have to accept and move on with my day! Thank you for your help