Any recourse if lack of refund before chargeback timeframe expired?

Rbeck3137

Apologies, this is a bit of a saga so I will try and condense as much as possible.

I bought some products online from Furnwise (based in the Netherlands) in July. Delivery end August, requested return/refund mid September.

After many exchanges, chasing no response, requests for duplicate information, wrong refund forms sent, etc etc I finally received forms 6 Dec.

Returned 10 December. Having monitored Parcelforce, the site has said both packages received back in Netherlands to customs, but this morning packages arrived back at my doorstep. Email address is also now bouncing back emails.

I am well out of credit chargeback period. Do I have any other avenue to follow to resolve the situation? It feels a gaping loophole that companies can just delay, misdirect, avoid and if they do it long enough they keep the money?

Any advice on what I can possibly do now would be gratefully received.

Many thanks

born_again

Furnwise is based in the UK and the Netherlands. We have warehouses in more European countries, and we have our web shops live and running in the UK and France. 

I guess item returned from customs as the custom form was not filled in or wrong?

What was the reason for the return?
Paid via Credit or Debit card?
Cost per item excluding P&P?

Possible that the 120 days was reset on the 10 Dec return. But as item is back with you, there is now no chargeback right. As you need proof of delivery to them.

eskbanker

Not sure that this would have qualified for chargeback anyway, but were the products faulty or were you returning for a change of mind?

Rbeck3137

Thank you for responses.

My question is if there is any other recourse for a customer in this situation? If an online retailer stretches out the time, ignores messages, and doesn't honour their return and refund policy. 

It is clear from the escalation in bad reviews over recent months that I'm not the only customer who has long and ongoing issues with Furnwise.

It seems a good wheeze to be able to sell something online and then essentially ignore emails and messages, claim email threads have been lost, delay further by asking for basic information already held (email address, delivery address, etc), ignore some more, and provide incorrect customs forms so ultimately the goods are returned to customer. It's ultimately a very clever strategy if there is no protection from this for the customer.

FYI, all requests were responded to immediately on my side, instructions followed correctly, forms used were those supplied by the retailer.