15year old ordered online and they won’t refund

Aylesbury_Duck

mdarrant said:

It was direct from the seller via TikTok 

Oh lord.  That money's gone, then.  And he'll have to pay the import fees I'm afraid.

lr1277

I am hesitant to post this, but here goes. Feel free to ignore.

In life there are risk takers and risk avoiders. You will know your son better than any of us but is he a risk taker?

If he is, shouldn't he learn the lessons of taking risks? And if he is going to take those risks, should he not be aware of them and know how to mitigate those risks?

This situation presents itself as one where there is a learning opportunity on the risks to take and how to mitigate them.

Edited to add: your son may not mitigate risks in the way that you would, but he should learn to mitigate risks till he is comfortable with the situation. That is his life lesson.

outtatune

So, the seller artificially inflates the value on the custom declaration, increasing the likelihood that the customer will refuse delivery and have the goods returned which they can then sell on to the next mark customer.

Clever!

Undervalued

outtatune said:

So, the seller artificially inflates the value on the custom declaration, increasing the likelihood that the customer will refuse delivery and have the goods returned which they can then sell on to the next mark customer.

Clever!

Even if that is right (and I'm not sure it is) any redress would be in the American courts. If that is anything like the UK reporting it to the proper authority (and potentially getting the supplier prosecuted) doesn't directly help in getting a refund.

All we know as a fact is that a product was advertised at a fairly high price and ordered by a teenager, using money in their own bank account and paid by their own debit card.

We might well suspect sharp practice, maybe illegality, but is there any proof? Let alone any practical redress.

Murphybear

tacpot12 said:

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. 

As  I live in a rural area I buy virtually everything, apart from food, online.  I’ve had very few problems and the odd one or two have been dealt with by Amazon or EBay.  I’ve only bought one thing from overseas, some cosmetics from the USA.  I paid about £40 and there were no extra costs.  They never arrived and when I contacted the firm, a well known American cosmetic company, I asked if they could send me a replacement.  They said they couldn’t do that but they refunded my money very quickly.

Online sales in the U.K. are worth billions and statistically most things don’t go wrong.  It’s just we tend to hear about them when they do.  

screech_78

Everyone saying the son should accept responsibility but it sounds like the son is fine with the purchase. It’s the OP (the parent) who isn’t happy with him spending the money. 

DullGreyGuy

mdarrant said:

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. 

Hows he gotten the money in his account? If it's not his to spend how he wishes why is it in his account?

Who's "the company"? You say they're US based but like the UK the US isn't a single jurisdiction and so you need to check the state and what consumer rights he may or may not have. Generally there is significantly less rights in the US than the UK, this in part explains pricing differences. 

mdarrant said:

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.  

So presumably you are refusing to pay the customs bill meaning they're going to return the goods?

Have the couriers said what happens to the bill if they return it? normally you'll still have costs to pay. 

Given they have a no return policy, which we'll assume is compliant, them getting the goods back won't mean they have to refund you so he still loses £138 he spent plus whatever import costs you have to pay and doesn't even have the overpriced tracksuit to show for it. 

ripplyuk

If your son wants this tracksuit, then let him pay the fees. If he doesn’t, or can’t afford it, then since he’s a minor I can’t see him being taken to court if he doesn’t pay. He’s not old enough to enter a contract. 

Grumpy_chap

ripplyuk said:

 He’s not old enough to enter a contract. 

I don't think that is complete.  A minor can enter a contract for necessaries (food, clothing and such like) which a track suit would fall under.  Also contracts to benefit the minor, such as for education or employment.

powerful_Rogue

ripplyuk said:

If your son wants this tracksuit, then let him pay the fees. If he doesn’t, or can’t afford it, then since he’s a minor I can’t see him being taken to court if he doesn’t pay. He’s not old enough to enter a contract. 

Of course he's old enough to enter into a contract. How would he be able to purchase anything if he couldn't.