Ordering items from China

lincslass87

Good morning 

I recently bought some items from a website that I didn't realise was based in China. This package never arrived. I've looked at reviews on trip advisor and they're very poor. 

I've asked them to process a refund but they've said they can only do it once an item has been sent back to them  but have offered to send me a replacement - that I would then have to send back. They won't just not send it and refund me but said they'll refund me if I sent it back

Is this correct? Are they allowed to do this? 

Kind regards

TELLIT01

They are governed by the laws of the country they operate from, not UK law.  The only safe way to deal with companies based in China is not to purchase from them at all.  I do accept that you didn't realise where they were based but sadly it's vital to do your homework before purchasing.  I've learnt the same lesson as I was caught out by a Chinese company too.

DullGreyGuy

lincslass87 said:

I recently bought some items from a website that I didn't realise was based in China. This package never arrived. I've looked at reviews on trip advisor and they're very poor. 

I've asked them to process a refund but they've said they can only do it once an item has been sent back to them  but have offered to send me a replacement - that I would then have to send back. They won't just not send it and refund me but said they'll refund me if I sent it back

Is this correct? Are they allowed to do this? 

Tripadvisor is an unusual choice to look up an online retailer for physical products... most would go with TrustPilot or GoogleReviews etc. 

Ultimately its a Chinese company, what do you think you can do to them over there even if its not allowed?

When was it sent? What is the delivery terms on the order? How did you pay?

In most cases the parcels do arrive but delivery terms can be as bad as 30 days to send and 60-90 days after sending to arrive. What actually arrives however may not be the quality of goods you were hoping for. 

Have they given you a tracking link? What does tracking say? 

If you paid by card then you can look to do a chargeback for non-delivery but if their site does give a very long lead time you need to be beyond that before you raise it. If they have a tracking link and it says delivered then the chargeback will almost certainly fail. 

Ergates

lincslass87 said:

Is this correct? Are they allowed to do this? 

Are they *allowed* to do this?  Probably not.  Can you do anything about it?  Probably not.

Exodi

lincslass87 said:

Good morning 

I recently bought some items from a website that I didn't realise was based in China. This package never arrived. I've looked at reviews on trip advisor and they're very poor. 

I've asked them to process a refund but they've said they can only do it once an item has been sent back to them  but have offered to send me a replacement - that I would then have to send back. They won't just not send it and refund me but said they'll refund me if I sent it back

Is this correct? Are they allowed to do this? 

Kind regards

Just to point out, the nonsensical situation you illustrate of "[they] have offered to send me a replacement - that I would then have to send back [for a refund]" is of your own making.

Your complaint is that you haven't received the items. You contact them and they offer to send you the items again.

They are not sending the items to you again under the understanding that you will be sending them back to them for refund. As you highlight, this would be ridiculous.

Again, your complaint was that you haven't received the items, so it doesn't make sense why you would send them back for refund after you receive them.

If the problem is that you are now aware that the goods are made in China - so is everything else.

How long have the items been in transit? It's not unusual for it take over a month to receive items.

If you do intend to seek a refund now for the sake of it, please be aware that they are likely to insist you send the items back to China at your cost (which would also happen in the UK as you'd now be seeking a refund due to changing your mind). Not only this, but it isn't unheard of for Chinese merchants to just never accept delivery or provide the refund once returned back to China, leaving the customer out the original cost and now the cost of a tracked international delivery.

I'm sure you can appreciate, the time to look on Trustpilot (I assume instead of TripAdvisor) is before making a purchase.

born_again

lincslass87 said:

Good morning 

I recently bought some items from a website that I didn't realise was based in China. This package never arrived. I've looked at reviews on trip advisor and they're very poor. 

I've asked them to process a refund but they've said they can only do it once an item has been sent back to them  but have offered to send me a replacement - that I would then have to send back. They won't just not send it and refund me but said they'll refund me if I sent it back

Is this correct? Are they allowed to do this? 

Kind regards

Contact bank, start chargeback process.