Help required - company refusing to cancel my order

candycane15

I placed an order on the evening of 1/12/25 and paid for Royal Mail 48hour tracked delivery. The website stated if you ordered before 3pm it was dispatched same day, so I was expecting it to be dispatched on 2/12/25 the day after. The item never arrived. 

On 8/12/25 I contacted the company and asked for an update. I received a a reply to say that one item had been out of stock which is why it wasn’t sent, but was now back in and my order would be dispatched the same day (8/12) and i could expect it in the next 48 hours. Item never arrived.

On 11/12/25 I emailed the company and asked for them to cancel my order with immediate effect and to refund me. I then got a reply to say an item was out of stock but was due in today (15/12) so the order would be sent then.

I replied and said I wasn’t happy with that. They had failed to keep their delivery promises on 2 occasions and I wanted to cancel the order under my rights of the Consumer Rights Act 2015. I then received a reply which said they can’t cancel orders. I have to wait for the order to turn up and then request a refund. Considering the date kept being pushed back I wasn’t convinced it would ever arrive so I again went back and said I wanted to cancel immediately, and refund within 5 working days which I deemed a reasonable amount of time and as I had told them twice to cancel, if they chose to dispatch the item after exercising my right to cancel I would presume they had sent the goods to me as a gift and would not be returning/accepting delivery (if I was in and it wasn’t left dumped on the doorstep).

They ignored.

Yesterday 14/12/25 I received a email to say my order had been dispatched….i replied and said I had asked them on at least 2 seperate occasions to cancel the order and they had chosen to ignore my requests and they needed to refund my order as I would not be accepting/returning it. I received a response within 3 minutes (conveniently since they ignored both requests to cancel) and said once an order has been dispatched they can no longer cancel it.

I later discovered that the reason they want me to wait to get it before returning is because they will deduct the cost of return postage from me.

Can anyone help with what my rights are? Can I refuse this delivery if it turns up? I have no intention of trying to get free products, I’m just very frustrated that they keep messing me about. Refusing to respond when I ask to cancel the order but respond quickly for everything else. They are clearly choosing to ignore and now it’s most likely going to cost me to send it back to them which I don’t feel it should as I excercise my right to cancel before the order was sent.  

Thanks in advance. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Which website did you buy from OP? Answer will vary depending upon their terms on acceptance.  

candycane15

It was Upcircle Beauty. I’ve checked all their t&cs and it’s all over the place. Different versions of the same policy on different areas of the site and they have just made up their own policies as they please.

This is one example on their returns section: ‘Returns
We offer a 14 day money back guarantee. If you are not happy with your products for any reason you have 14 calendar days from the moment your order is placed to return them.’

Obviously in line with distance selling regulations this is false as you actually have 14 days from the day you receive the item to advise them and another 14 days after that to return. In this case, I wouldn’t be able to return anything even if I wanted too as I placed the order 14 days ago and still haven’t received it. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Thanks OP, had they taken payment when you first messaged to cancel?

If not I’d say no contract, full refund due and they should pay to collect the goods but enforcing this is going to be a headache, this is a company that thinks it’s address has its own laws…

If you refuse delivery risk hasn’t passed, technically they could withhold the direct costs the courier may charge for returning the parcel. They mention £2.99 in this situation in their terms. 

It really is a question of how far you are willing to go over £3.

You can report your experience to Citizens Advice, the more who do the more chance of Trading Standards looking at their terms and behaviour. 

p00hsticks

Terms of service - UpCircle Beauty

SECTION 18 - GOVERNING LAW

These Terms of Service and any separate agreements whereby we provide you Services shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of 118 Croxted Road London GB SE21 8NR.

Ergates

p00hsticks said:

Terms of service - UpCircle Beauty

SECTION 18 - GOVERNING LAW

These Terms of Service and any separate agreements whereby we provide you Services shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of 118 Croxted Road London GB SE21 8NR.

Is that in Pimlico?

savergrant

Ergates said:

p00hsticks said:

Terms of service - UpCircle Beauty

SECTION 18 - GOVERNING LAW

These Terms of Service and any separate agreements whereby we provide you Services shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of 118 Croxted Road London GB SE21 8NR.

Is that in Pimlico?

I love that film. "and it’s just because we are English that we’re sticking up for our rights to be burgundians"

candycane15

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Thanks OP, had they taken payment when you first messaged to cancel?

If not I’d say no contract, full refund due and they should pay to collect the goods but enforcing this is going to be a headache, this is a company that thinks it’s address has its own laws…

If you refuse delivery risk hasn’t passed, technically they could withhold the direct costs the courier may charge for returning the parcel. They mention £2.99 in this situation in their terms. 

It really is a question of how far you are willing to go over £3.

You can report your experience to Citizens Advice, the more who do the more chance of Trading Standards looking at their terms and behaviour. 

Thanks for your reply! Oh my gosh, hadn’t even seen that bit about the law and their own address 😂.

Yes they had taken payment at that point as it was 11 days later. But I cancelled the order after they failed to dispatch twice within timescales which I thought I was entitled to do.  I feel they have dispatched it now to basically make me out of pocket. After looking deeper into their FAQs I’ve also found the following, so it’s not just the return postage cost they want to charge me. 
 

‘If the order is returned to us you can request a refund minus the shipping and packaging costs and a £10 handling fee.’

On a different FAQ they also say this:

‘If you request a refund this will be minus our shipping cost and a £3.99 restock fee.’

They aren’t allowed to charge a restocking
/handling fee by law but I don’t think it’s going to stop them, so it’s going to cause me issues.

I’m happy to keep on at the them for as long as it takes. I know by trust pilot reviews I’m not the only one they have done this too, so I feel like o should prove a point to them by continuing with it now. 

saajan_12

candycane15 said:

I later discovered that the reason they want me to wait to get it before returning is because they will deduct the cost of return postage from me.

How much is the item? It doesn't really benefit them to incur the postage to have you cover it, so I'd generally advised against such consipiracy thinking.. more likely that they just can't get their processes aligned. 

However if they plan to try it on with a relatively larger restocking fee then maybe?