Do I have any rights on purchase via leely uk website

redjet

Hi. My daughter purchased two dresses from Lily UK. It turns out it's a US company which is actually a shell for a Chinese company. They took about a month to a arrive and neither fitted well. They gave her 7 Days to return her online order despite the UK law being 14 days. They also say they will charge a 20% fee for restocking even though that's also illegal in the UK. Do I have any rights here??

powerful_Rogue

redjet said:

Hi. My daughter purchased two dresses from Lily UK. It turns out it's a US company which is actually a shell for a Chinese company. They took about a month to a arrive and neither fitted well. They gave her 7 Days to refund her online order despite the UK law being 14 days. They also say they will charge you 20% fee for restocking even though that's also illegal in the UK. Do I have any rights here??

Sounds about right for US consumer rights. If you purchased from a site where the governing law is a state within the US, UK consumer rights wont apply.

Aylesbury_Duck

Your daughter has rights with whatever consumer laws apply in this situation, which sound like China's consumer laws.  UK laws don't apply.

Best outcome here is to sell them on for whatever you can get, thereby limiting your losses.

The advice is always to check the registered address of companies on their websites.  And don't buy anything sold on or advertised on things like Instagram, tiktok or Facebook.

PHK

Their website terms and conditions say the governing law is Ireland. (The terms are clearly copied from a different type of site, such as a review site).

Ireland being in the EU will have similar laws to the UK but I don't know the details. 

outtatune

Even if Irish law applies, I'm assuming that the company has no actual assets in Ireland so any judgement would be unenforceable.

Pollycat

Just because a company has a co.uk address doesn't mean it's a UK company.
Many threads on here about similar companies.

The website is clear it's a Chinese company.
It has a Chinese contact phone number (086).

You have no UK rights here.

pinkshoes

redjet said:

Hi. My daughter purchased two dresses from Lily UK. It turns out it's a US company which is actually a shell for a Chinese company. They took about a month to a arrive and neither fitted well. They gave her 7 Days to return her online order despite the UK law being 14 days. They also say they will charge a 20% fee for restocking even though that's also illegal in the UK. Do I have any rights here??

Unfortunately as you've chosen to order from a non UK company then you don't have UK consumer rights. 

Always look for a UK address and phone number on the website as having UK in the title doesn't mean its a UK company. It'll just be the version people in the UK see.

You'd be better off either getting the dress modified by a seamstress or selling them on yourself.

redjet

Thank you everyone. Despite being Ireland terms and conditions, they demand return within 7 days back to an address in China and they also charge a restocking fee. 

I tried telling them. With a 3 day turnaround on messages, they pretty much ignored everything I said.

Both of these do not follow EU law. Living and learning. Certainly didn't think they were just a shell for a Chinese supplier. Buyer Beware I guess.

Pollycat

redjet said:

Thank you everyone. Despite being Ireland terms and conditions, they demand return within 7 days back to an address in China and they also charge a restocking fee. 

I tried telling them. With a 3 day turnaround on messages, they pretty much ignored everything I said.

Both of these do not follow EU law. Living and learning. Certainly didn't think they were just a shell for a Chinese supplier. Buyer Beware I guess.

Did you miss this comment?

PHK said:

Their website terms and conditions say the governing law is Ireland. (The terms are clearly copied from a different type of site, such as a review site).

I've seen this a lot on company T&Cs.

They are not a shell for a Chinese supplier.
They are a Chinese supplier.

Exodi

I think in a way UK consumers are intoxicated by relatively generous UK consumer rights, including the right to return something you bought online for no reason at all, shafting the merchant for the outbound delivery cost potentially through no fault of their own. As many often say, it is a cost of doing business in the UK. Consumer expectations are then inflated further by many UK retailers also offering free returns as a sales strategy.

But, to be fair, it is a bit unrealistic when UK consumers also expect the same of international companies shipping from different countries or continents, where the delivery and potential duty costs will be significantly higher.

Now I appreciate that some people will be unaware they were not purchasing from a UK based company, and most will only do the research after they've been stung but unfortunately this thread will not serve as a warning as someone else, just like the OP's daughter, will buy from a different site without doing any research. E.g. the signs were already there (as above but also look at the most recent revisers: https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.leely.co.uk).

In reality they hold the cards.