15year old ordered online and they won’t refund

mdarrant

My son is 15 and ordered a tracksuit from an American company which came to £138 - he hasn’t ordered online before so I wasn’t best pleased when he did this and asked him to request a refund. 

The company are in the US and have refused a refund stating that it is against their policy. They have basically said we can contact them again but it won’t change anything. 

Do we have any rights here? We have not received the item yet as it is at customs who have said they will return it to the company after 14 days.  

Aylesbury_Duck

You'd have to check the laws of the US state in question.  I don't think UK consumer laws apply in this situation.

Did he use your card?

Ayr_Rage

Did your son create his own account direct with the seller or was it through the likes of Amazon or eBay?

How was the order paid for?

mdarrant

He used his own account and bank card - he has an 11+ account with NatWest. 

I had no knowledge of the order until he told me a few days later. 

The company are saying they have a no returns policy. 

mdarrant

It was direct from the seller via TikTok 

Grumpy_chap

Is the £138 a fair price for the actual tracksuit that has been ordered?

What additional fees are required to clear customs?

If you allow the item to fail at customs and it eventually gets returned to the supplier in USA, there is no guarantee they will process the refund so your son will be without the tracksuit and without the £138.

I know this is not what you want to do, but it may be worth your son paying the customs fee so he at least receives the tracksuit.  Then use it as a life lesson to explain to him how easy things can be done on line, the complications that can arise etc...

mdarrant

I would say it isn’t a fair price but then I’m old and he’s a teenager - he has never bought anything that expensive ever. I get his clothes from H&M so it’s not like he’s used to designer clothes etc. it’s just a tracksuit that’s trending on TikTok so he got carried away with it. 

The customs charges are £158 so I think we’d rather lose the £138 than pay another £158 out for something he probably won’t wear. 

I was ideally hoping for a refund if they receive the item back but appreciate that may not be the case. 

MattMattMattUK

mdarrant said:

I would say it isn’t a fair price but then I’m old and he’s a teenager - he has never bought anything that expensive ever. I get his clothes from H&M so it’s not like he’s used to designer clothes etc. it’s just a tracksuit that’s trending on TikTok so he got carried away with it. 

Most stuff that is trending on TikTok is not worth it.

mdarrant said:

The customs charges are £158 so I think we’d rather lose the £138 than pay another £158 out for something he probably won’t wear.  

What is the calculation that is generating £158 of customs charges? There should be duty, for almost all clothing that would be 12%, then VAT at 20% on the goods, freight and duty, and then a clearance fee on top, likely £12-18. So in total customs charges should be £50-60 in total.

mdarrant said:

I was ideally hoping for a refund if they receive the item back but appreciate that may not be the case. 

It will almost certainly not be the case unfortunately.

Devongardener

Unfortunately if the order is currently at customs you will still have to pay all the import fees and VAT even if you refuse delivery because the charges relate to the import processing already carried out.  The costs have nothing to do with the supplier.   You will probably be charged even more if the goods are returned to the supplier.

lr1277

You may not want to hear this but my suggestion is to make him take responsibility for his decisions as he is 15.

So assuming he has the money, let him pay the import duties/fees. Then when he gets the tracksuit, make him wear it everyday in his time out of school. And as part of wearing it, he should also wash it and keep it spotless.

This way he gets to realise the true cost of things and not just have things bought for him. Also he has to care and maintain the things he has bought. All useful life lessons.

tacpot12

While I understand the comments that say that he should have to take responsibility for his actions, he has found a way to jump into the deep end of consumer problems! 

Having to deal with customs, import duties, VAT, consumer rights in the USA vs. in the UK, payment methods, etc. This is a whole load of stuff that even I wouldn't want to have to deal with.

I think the best that you can do is to share the costs, and use the experience to teach him the lessons he needs to learn. The most fundamental of which is that while buying stuff in the UK is not entirely without risk (buying online in the UK is still risky) buying stuff from abroad is very risky and contains hidden and quite variable costs. 

People forget how good we have it in the UK. All the detractors that say the UK is rubbish and going to pot really need to try living abroad for a while just so they learn how safe (relatively speaking) we are here.