No response from company after order

hmaffin

Hi there I'm looking to see if there's any other steps I can take after I placed a substantial order with an online company who although they looked legit, have taken the money, not supplied the goods, and gone silent.

I ordered on March 4th from Linen Fields (linenfields.co.uk). The website looked legit; UK-based, family run, all the right things on the site including address phone number etc, all looked official.

Had an email with the order details then a second to say my order was complete. Money was taken.

5 days later no update and no goods. I emailed them, no reply, phoned them, it told me to email them. Checked their legitimacy on companies house, still trading. But then I googled the name and started to see other people complaining about the same thing. Saying they are scammers. I was devastated. I have never been defrauded or bought from anywhere dodgy before, I'm so careful and consider myself savvy usually, so I was hoping there may be someone on here who can help?

I contacted Chase as I paid for the order on their debit card (another thing I regret but y'know, cashback and all). They have submitted the case to their fraud team but I am uncertain if that will lead to a refund.

Is there anything else I can do in the meantime? Anywhere else I can go or something to try? It'll be an expensive lesson for the future if I don't get the money back but would be lovely if I could get it back 😟 

I now have a cashback credit card and will be making all future larger purchases on that (also down to chase taking away the cashback) but also because I believe you get better protection?

Thanks in advance.
Helen 

Aylesbury_Duck

Don't take any action in the meantime, you've started what sounds like a chargeback.  Let that play out.

If it's unsuccessful then small claims court would be the next step, with the hope that a letter before action would stimulate a response before it got to court.

Ergates

There is an update on their website:

"View Updates on Despatch Dates

Sheridan orders placed will take 10-12 working days to be shipped rather than our standard delivery times stated on the website, unfortunately this is due to warehouse fulfilment delays that are out of our control.

Euroquilt orders placed will take up to 1 working week (mon-fri) but could well be sooner to ship rather than our standard delivery times stated on the website."

Which suggests the might be having problems getting things sent out.  This might be an indicator of supply chain problems (e.g. a shipment is delayed, or their supplier has gone bust), or might be an indicator of a financial problem.

born_again

Is Chase a Visa or Mastercard?
As timescales are different.
Visa 15 days
Mastercard 30 days

For non receipt chargeback which this would fall into. On a dispute basis, will not be fraud as OP made transaction.

hmaffin

Ergates said:

There is an update on their website:

"View Updates on Despatch Dates

Sheridan orders placed will take 10-12 working days to be shipped rather than our standard delivery times stated on the website, unfortunately this is due to warehouse fulfilment delays that are out of our control.

Euroquilt orders placed will take up to 1 working week (mon-fri) but could well be sooner to ship rather than our standard delivery times stated on the website."

Which suggests the might be having problems getting things sent out.  This might be an indicator of supply chain problems (e.g. a shipment is delayed, or their supplier has gone bust), or might be an indicator of a financial problem.

Sadly I think that message has been there for a while. Also I didn't order from Sheridan range. It's also been more than that length of time. Thank you for responding.

hmaffin

born_again said:

Is Chase a Visa or Mastercard?
As timescales are different.
Visa 15 days
Mastercard 30 days

For non receipt chargeback which this would fall into. On a dispute basis, will not be fraud as OP made transaction.

Apologies its a MasterCard debit card yes. And I think you are right it's a non-receipt chargeback that I have applied for, not a fraud thing, so I will certainly wait for the full 30 days and see what happens. Thank you so much for the info!

hmaffin

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Don't take any action in the meantime, you've started what sounds like a chargeback.  Let that play out.

If it's unsuccessful then small claims court would be the next step, with the hope that a letter before action would stimulate a response before it got to court.

That's right I know the terminology now thanks to this forum! 

I shall hold off until he full 30 days or I hear from chase about the chargeback, and if no good will look at the small claims route.

I much appreciate your input.

DullGreyGuy

I've spotted the problem, their T&Cs say they will never pass your personal data to anyone else other than if they sell the business or the law requires... so they can't give your address to the courier. I'm surprised a small bed linen company has bothered setting up their own data centre for their website though. 


It's a tiny loss making business, owned by a 80 year old chap who has a co-director of the same name so presumably son or grandson, other family members used to be involved but have resigned over time. Hopefully being so small they are just inefficient at sending the goods out etc but if not you can chargeback at the appropriate time as already pointed out. 

outtatune

The registered address is a firm of accountants rather than an accommodation address, so I suspect they're legit but incompetent.

hmaffin

Thank you everyone who has given me information and advice! Hoping it is exactly what @outtatune says and they're just not even aware their site is actively taking orders! I shall monitor this post and also come back when I have an outcome. Thank you all again!