Returning goods bought online - company being obstructive

stinginsteve

Hello,

We bought an item online (a "kick 360 football trainer") in December which we want to return to the supplier for a refund as the item isn't suitable.

The item in question cost around £58 with shipping.

The item was received on 20th December and we notified Kick 360 that we wished to return the item on 30th December. We requested that they provide details of the return process (address to return the goods to etc).

The company have been and are continuing to be incredibly evasive and awkward in allowing us to return the item. They have tried every trick in the book!

Firstly they pointed us to their (invalid) returns policy which stated that sales items were excluded and that returns had to be requested within 7 days. I responded via email, pointing out that under UK legislation (Consumer Contracts regs) we had 14 days to request a refund and sale items could be returned for a refund, therefore our return request was valid. Their response to this was to ignore the email.

I chased this up a few days later via email, to which they did respond. The response stated that I was based in the EU (I'm not, I live in the UK and the item was delivered to the UK) and as they shipped the item from the UK, then I was responsible for the return postage (I know this, not a problem) and that I may encounter custom charges (I don't think so). Their "gesture of goodwill" to avoid this was to offer a 30% refund on the item in lieu of me returning it.

I declined their offer, stating that I still wished to return the goods. I asked for the return address, stating I would arrange a courier and share the tracking information with them once the item was dispatched.

Then we get to the best bit......they responded to this and provided the return address, which is in Australia!!!!! It's a PO box (or the Australian equivalent).

Bear in mind they've admitted previously that the item was shipped from the UK, to me this is obviously them taking their obstructiveness to another level! I expect posting the item to Australia will cost around 50% of the item's value so isn't feasible (which they know) I've gone back to them again asking why the return address is in Australia but I'm not holding out much hope that they will provide me with their UK address.

We paid for the item on a debit card, so I may try to instigate a chargeback with my bank, but does anyone have any other advice or steps I can take?

Thanks for reading this far.

Isthisforreal99

Being shipped from the UK doesn't mean you have bought from a UK retailer (search for dropshipping). 

What was the actual website you bought from?

You won't be able to do a chargeback without returning the item.

MyRealNameToo

According to their terms the agreement is governed by the laws of Slovenia, 

Looking at their site they are almost certainly not in the UK, I doubt they are in the EU. There is a range of problems with the site. 

They may have distribution in the UK but thats not the same as being in the UK. Plenty of logistic companies will take pallets of goods and just post them out to their clients customers for a modest fee. Doesnt mean they have to be able to accept returns there. 

I'm surprised they say send it back to Australia, normally it would be China. You cannot chargeback for goods until you have returned them, normally when its elsewhere in the far east the return never tracks as being delivered so the chargeback often fails but with it being Australia its more likely the courier will track. Have you looked at the address they've asked you to send it to? Does it exist? Is it a business premises? 

Isthisforreal99

One look at www.kick-360.com should have had you running. No contact address, governed by laws of Slovenia and many more red flags.

born_again

Got me @ hosted at Shopify Inc

Copy of their std Terms of Service, but omitted to alter where links are required. [LINK TO PRIVACY POLICY]

Woodstok2000

This has all the hallmarks of a China drop shipping scam, but the return to Australia is a new twist. Was the address you were given one of these:

• Sydney: Ultra Football, Unit 8, Graphix Row, 140 Bourke Rd, Alexandria NSW 2015.
• Melbourne: Ultra Football, Abbotsford. 

Those are two addresses for an Australian media company (also called Kick360). Nothing to do with your product, and suffice to say if you shipped it there you'd never see the product or your refund.

Your best bet is to try and negotiate the refund % upwards and take whatever you can get.

CliveOfIndia

Isthisforreal99 said:

One look at www.kick-360.com should have had you running. No contact address, governed by laws of Slovenia and many more red flags.

And a gmail contact address to boot - always a massive red flag for any supposedly commercial company.

soolin

Woodstok2000 said:

This has all the hallmarks of a China drop shipping scam, but the return to Australia is a new twist. Was the address you were given one of these:

• Sydney: Ultra Football, Unit 8, Graphix Row, 140 Bourke Rd, Alexandria NSW 2015.
• Melbourne: Ultra Football, Abbotsford. 

Those are two addresses for an Australian media company (also called Kick360). Nothing to do with your product, and suffice to say if you shipped it there you'd never see the product or your refund.

Your best bet is to try and negotiate the refund % upwards and take whatever you can get.

I agree, this is about the 4th Thread like this in the past week or so. The best thing is to try and negotiate as much of a goodwill gesture as possible, although 30% seems to be the highest that has been reported here on MSE. 

Undervalued

stinginsteve said:

Hello,

We bought an item online (a "kick 360 football trainer") in December which we want to return to the supplier for a refund as the item isn't suitable.

The item in question cost around £58 with shipping.

The item was received on 20th December and we notified Kick 360 that we wished to return the item on 30th December. We requested that they provide details of the return process (address to return the goods to etc).

The company have been and are continuing to be incredibly evasive and awkward in allowing us to return the item. They have tried every trick in the book!

Firstly they pointed us to their (invalid) returns policy which stated that sales items were excluded and that returns had to be requested within 7 days. I responded via email, pointing out that under UK legislation (Consumer Contracts regs) we had 14 days to request a refund and sale items could be returned for a refund, therefore our return request was valid. Their response to this was to ignore the email.

I chased this up a few days later via email, to which they did respond. The response stated that I was based in the EU (I'm not, I live in the UK and the item was delivered to the UK) and as they shipped the item from the UK, then I was responsible for the return postage (I know this, not a problem) and that I may encounter custom charges (I don't think so). Their "gesture of goodwill" to avoid this was to offer a 30% refund on the item in lieu of me returning it.

I declined their offer, stating that I still wished to return the goods. I asked for the return address, stating I would arrange a courier and share the tracking information with them once the item was dispatched.

Then we get to the best bit......they responded to this and provided the return address, which is in Australia!!!!! It's a PO box (or the Australian equivalent).

Bear in mind they've admitted previously that the item was shipped from the UK, to me this is obviously them taking their obstructiveness to another level! I expect posting the item to Australia will cost around 50% of the item's value so isn't feasible (which they know) I've gone back to them again asking why the return address is in Australia but I'm not holding out much hope that they will provide me with their UK address.

We paid for the item on a debit card, so I may try to instigate a chargeback with my bank, but does anyone have any other advice or steps I can take?

Thanks for reading this far.

Disappointing as it is the best advice is almost certainly to accept this partial refund and try and recoup a bit more by selling the item on Gumtree or similar. Maybe, try one more email to see if they will up the percentage a little.

Regardless of your theoretical rights the chances of actually being able to enforce them in these circumstances is next to zero. If you return the item on the promise of a full refund the chances of actually getting the money is slim to non-existent I'm afraid. You then end up with neither the item or the money,

MyRealNameToo

Undervalued said:
Regardless of your theoretical rights the chances of actually being able to enforce them in these circumstances is next to zero. If you return the item on the promise of a full refund the chances of actually getting the money is slim to non-existent I'm afraid. You then end up with neither the item or the money,

There is no named legal entity and/or physical address so any attempt of recovery fails at the first hurdle. These are really reasons why no purchase should have been made in the first place but too late for that now. 

stinginsteve

Thanks all for the responses.

Absolutely I should have done some more due diligence on the company! My heart sank when I was looking at how to get in touch with them and I found the gmail contact address, website T&Cs etc.

The return address is a PO box - Google street view it shows as an Australian post office.

The chargeback was my last hope so it's a shame that won't be a go-er. Posting the item to Australia isn't worth the hassle and likelihood of not getting my money back.

Lesson learnt - one to put down to experience.