Foreign suppliers - is there any way to get a refund?

JAS137

Firstly, why are foreign companies allowed to have a ".co UK" website.  It is misleading and it there is no reason for it other than to fool their customers into thinking they are a UK company.
Secondly, is there any way to get a refund?  I purchased two tankinis but they didn't fit properly.  I tried sending several emails but could only get the offer of another size to be sent.  There was no offer of a refund. 
I tried contacting the Citizens Advice but was advised that as it is a foreign company that Trading Standards would not be able to help.
I contacted PayPal as I paid via them.  They put in a disputed payment but that failed.  They can only dispute based on not being received or not as described but that was not my issue.
Can anyone advise me on this matter?

user1977

Where in foreignland is the company?

TheSpectator

JAS137 said:

Firstly, why are foreign companies allowed to have a ".co UK" website.  It is misleading and it there is no reason for it other than to fool their customers into thinking they are a UK company.
Secondly, is there any way to get a refund?  I purchased two tankinis but they didn't fit properly.  I tried sending several emails but could only get the offer of another size to be sent.  There was no offer of a refund. 
I tried contacting the Citizens Advice but was advised that as it is a foreign company that Trading Standards would not be able to help.
I contacted PayPal as I paid via them.  They put in a disputed payment but that failed.  They can only dispute based on not being received or not as described but that was not my issue.
Can anyone advise me on this matter?

No matter what domain the website shows (and it's not illegal what they have done), it's your responsibilty to carry out some due diligance. For example, what does the contact us details show?, what does the "whois" website checker show?

Probably zero chance of a refund.

JAS137

I don't think it should be legal though.  I didn't realise that any company can have one.  

Contact details was only an email address.

What is the "who is" website checker?

noitsnotme

JAS137 said:

I don't think it should be legal though.  I didn't realise that any company can have one.  

Contact details was only an email address.

What is the "who is" website checker?

Any company, sole trader or private individual can have pretty much any domain extension they like (bar some such as .gov for example).  I could set up a website with a domain relating to pretty much any country in the world even though I'm in the UK.  There is no chance that it will be made illegal any time soon.

As above, do your due diligence.  And if you find that too tricky then stick to well known retailers.

Unfortunately searching for cheap bargains is going to take you in to the world of overseas sellers of cheap tat.

TheSpectator

JAS137 said:

I don't think it should be legal though.  I didn't realise that any company can have one.  

Contact details was only an email address.

What is the "who is" website checker?

What you or I think should or shouldn't be legal is irrelevant. As things stand it's legal.

The fact there was only an email address is an immediate red flag.

who.is site will tell you the details of who has registered the domain name.

user1977

Having only an email address wouldn't be much help even if it is a UK business - you can't serve a writ on an email address.

DullGreyGuy

JAS137 said:

Firstly, why are foreign companies allowed to have a ".co UK" website.  It is misleading and it there is no reason for it other than to fool their customers into thinking they are a UK company.

In 1985 when the .UK top level domain was created there were many more rules, a company could only have one, it had to exactly match their company name, it was free etc and the governing body over it was a bunch of volunteers. Then the mid 90s happened and the internet exploded and a bunch of volunteers couldn't manage the volumes so Nominet was created as a not-for-profit company to oversee the .UK domain. 

Its members were more entrpenorial in nature than the old naming committee and over 96-02 implemented a lot of changes like dropping many of the rules and introducing fees. 


.UK was intended to be for content targeted at the UK rather than necessarily a UK company. .LTD.UK and .PLC.UK do have to be UK registered companies to buy and again it has to be exactly the name of the company rather than a trading style. 

UK is in the majority in allowing anyone to use their domains, there are a few that do restrict still like Andora (.ad) which requires you to be a resident or have a locally registered trademark 

JAS137 said:

Secondly, is there any way to get a refund?  I purchased two tankinis but they didn't fit properly.  I tried sending several emails but could only get the offer of another size to be sent.  There was no offer of a refund. 
I tried contacting the Citizens Advice but was advised that as it is a foreign company that Trading Standards would not be able to help.
I contacted PayPal as I paid via them.  They put in a disputed payment but that failed.  They can only dispute based on not being received or not as described but that was not my issue.
Can anyone advise me on this matter?

Where are they based? If you return them, at your own expense, then a chargeback may be possible once you have tracking showing its been delivered back but assuming its far east the cost of sending may be more than the value of the items. Normally if you keep on at them they do give a partial refund which may be better than the cost of postage

TELLIT01

As above.  dot.com, dot.uk really have no meaning any more, although it's not surprising that people do assume dot.UK means it is a UK based company.  It could certainly be considered as misleading for people who aren't tech savvy, which probably applies to the vast majority of the population.

JAS137

noitsnotme said:

JAS137 said:

I don't think it should be legal though.  I didn't realise that any company can have one.  

Contact details was only an email address.

What is the "who is" website checker?

Any company, sole trader or private individual can have pretty much any domain extension they like (bar some such as .gov for example).  I could set up a website with a domain relating to pretty much any country in the world even though I'm in the UK.  There is no chance that it will be made illegal any time soon.

As above, do your due diligence.  And if you find that too tricky then stick to well known retailers.

Unfortunately searching for cheap bargains is going to take you in to the world of overseas sellers of cheap tat.

I wasn't shopping for "cheap" stuff I just liked the design/style but unfortunately it didn't fit me well. 

DullGreyGuy

TELLIT01 said:

As above.  dot.com, dot.uk really have no meaning any more, although it's not surprising that people do assume dot.UK means it is a UK based company.  It could certainly be considered as misleading for people who aren't tech savvy, which probably applies to the vast majority of the population.

.com never did... the country TLD for the USA is .US and was the first country specific TLD created, .UK was second, but the US one just never was that popular 

.com, .edu, .gov, .net, .org etc were originally intended to be non-geospecific but controlled by a US entity and ultimately went in the other direction and changed the rules that some of these became a US only (eg .gov)