Delivery protection Fee

Sillysenior

I am 76 years old, partially sighted and not comfortable with shopping online. I placed an order with Debenhams, who I thought were reputable. It was only when a confirmation e-mail came that I saw they had charged me an order protection fee of £8.49. Apparently there is a box already ticked by the site agreeing to this non-refundable payment. I did not agree to this and don’t know what it is. I tried to cancel the order but to no avail. What are my rights regarding this please? Sillysenior

eskbanker

You're not the first and won't be the last to believe that Debenhams is 'reputable' but the online operation has nothing to do with the old high street chain that collapsed a few years ago, and simply uses the name after buying it.

They are a UK business though, and are bound by UK consumer protection legislation, which includes the right to cancel orders - when you say you tried "but to no avail", what actually happened?

Alderbank

Sillysenior said:

I am 76 years old, partially sighted and not comfortable with shopping online. I placed an order with Debenhams, who I thought were reputable. It was only when a confirmation e-mail came that I saw they had charged me an order protection fee of £8.49. Apparently there is a box already ticked by the site agreeing to this non-refundable payment. I did not agree to this and don’t know what it is. I tried to cancel the order but to no avail. What are my rights regarding this please? Sillysenior

Welcome to the forum.

The Debenhams chain of department stores founded 200 years ago was indeed dependable but it went bust in 2021. 
The name (and reputation) was bought by the Frasers Group who use the name for a mail order business which has received a lot of criticism.

There are several threads on this site about their controversial order protection fee, such as this recent one which you might find helpful:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6638261/warning-and-help-debenhams-and-daylight-robbery-misselling-protection/p4

Did you pay with a bank card? One poster reported that they complained to their bank and had the fee refunded under the chargeback rules.

user1977

Alderbank said:

Sillysenior said:

I am 76 years old, partially sighted and not comfortable with shopping online. I placed an order with Debenhams, who I thought were reputable. It was only when a confirmation e-mail came that I saw they had charged me an order protection fee of £8.49. Apparently there is a box already ticked by the site agreeing to this non-refundable payment. I did not agree to this and don’t know what it is. I tried to cancel the order but to no avail. What are my rights regarding this please? Sillysenior

The Debenhams chain of department stores founded 200 years ago was indeed dependable but it went bust in 2021. 
The name (and reputation) was bought by the Frasers Group who use the name for a mail order business which has received a lot of criticism.

"Frasers" also of course having no relation to the previous incarnation of the department stores...these are all essentially branches of Sports Direct.

jon81uk

Alderbank said:

Sillysenior said:

I am 76 years old, partially sighted and not comfortable with shopping online. I placed an order with Debenhams, who I thought were reputable. It was only when a confirmation e-mail came that I saw they had charged me an order protection fee of £8.49. Apparently there is a box already ticked by the site agreeing to this non-refundable payment. I did not agree to this and don’t know what it is. I tried to cancel the order but to no avail. What are my rights regarding this please? Sillysenior

Welcome to the forum.

The Debenhams chain of department stores founded 200 years ago was indeed dependable but it went bust in 2021. 
The name (and reputation) was bought by the Frasers Group who use the name for a mail order business which has received a lot of criticism.

Debenhams online is nothing to do with Frasers Group (Sports Direct). Boohoo Group own the Debenhams website.

MyRealNameToo

jon81uk said:

Alderbank said:

Sillysenior said:

I am 76 years old, partially sighted and not comfortable with shopping online. I placed an order with Debenhams, who I thought were reputable. It was only when a confirmation e-mail came that I saw they had charged me an order protection fee of £8.49. Apparently there is a box already ticked by the site agreeing to this non-refundable payment. I did not agree to this and don’t know what it is. I tried to cancel the order but to no avail. What are my rights regarding this please? Sillysenior

Welcome to the forum.

The Debenhams chain of department stores founded 200 years ago was indeed dependable but it went bust in 2021. 
The name (and reputation) was bought by the Frasers Group who use the name for a mail order business which has received a lot of criticism.

Debenhams online is nothing to do with Frasers Group (Sports Direct). Boohoo Group own the Debenhams website.

And then renamed themselves the Debenhams Group

Alderbank

jon81uk said:

Alderbank said:

Sillysenior said:

I am 76 years old, partially sighted and not comfortable with shopping online. I placed an order with Debenhams, who I thought were reputable. It was only when a confirmation e-mail came that I saw they had charged me an order protection fee of £8.49. Apparently there is a box already ticked by the site agreeing to this non-refundable payment. I did not agree to this and don’t know what it is. I tried to cancel the order but to no avail. What are my rights regarding this please? Sillysenior

Welcome to the forum.

The Debenhams chain of department stores founded 200 years ago was indeed dependable but it went bust in 2021. 
The name (and reputation) was bought by the Frasers Group who use the name for a mail order business which has received a lot of criticism.

Debenhams online is nothing to do with Frasers Group (Sports Direct). Boohoo Group own the Debenhams website.

Frasers Group (Sports Direct) hold 30% of Boohoo Group and are their largest shareholder.

'Nothing to do with them' sounds a little inaccurate.

eschaton

Frasers Group have zero influence over Boohoo despite their shareholding. They have tried and repeatedly failed. 

Sometimes people just appear to make things up on here like Alderbank saying Frasers bought Debenhams. 

Do Frasers own Curry’s and AO as well?

donnac2558

There was on a consumer TV program last week.  A woman who bought garden furniture from Debenhams, then told it was sold out, and the computer made an error selling to her.  So refund, they sent her the £4.99 shipping charge and not the £££ for the furniture. The consumer program then said actually quite a lot of what is sold through Debenhams online now is really third party and not Denbenhams. Just because the man says Debenhams doe not mean it is supplied by them.

Anyway, they got the refund for the woman.

Chutney1275

gov.uk/government/publications/getting-consent-for-additional-charges-when-selling-online/getting-consent-for-additional-charges-when-selling-online

"Example 5: A ticket website automatically adds ‘event cancellation insurance’ to a customer’s basket on the final payment screen. The insurance is optional, but the customer must select a box to indicate that they do not want it.

This is not allowed because adding something automatically to a basket is not express consent."

Sillysenior

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81854607#Comment_81854607