Boots refusing to refund missing item

bec501uk

Please help.

I ordered a Dyson hair dryer in April which never arrived. I paid with advantage card points. 

The DHL tracking says it was delivered and signed for by me but it wasn’t. Boots have refused my refund request and have also refused to either provide or confirm that they have seen any evidence that the item was delivered. No copy of my signature, no photos or gps data.

I’ve even gone as far as contacting DHL who have confirmed there is no evidence of delivery. I even sent Boots a copy of my home CCTV showing that there was no delivery on the day and time in question but they have continued to refuse to replace or refund. They have now closed my case and said there is nothing else they can do.

I also raised a formal complaint but that has been completely ignored.

What do I do now? I have lost over £200 worth of points and I have had to buy a replacement from another retailer so am also out of pocket for that.

Please, any advice would be much appreciated.

Aylesbury_Duck

If you'd paid by card you would have had options such as chargeback or a section 75 claim. With those ruled out, a letter threatening small claims court is the only route I can think of. I'm not sure how that works in terms of points, because you're entitled to have your advantage card points restored rather than a cash refund.

MyRealNameToo

DHL are a pain with how fragmented they are and even worse since selling off DHL Ecommerce UK to Evri

Do you not have the tracking link? What does it show? From past experience if you dont go via the exactly right route for the bit of DHL (or Evri) carrying the parcel then you can get a nil response or partial response whereas a full response can be acheived via the right bit and so the disconeect between boots saying they have evidence and you getting there is no evidence from DHL may just be that you asked the wrong bit rather than boots are lying.

Ultimately your last option is a letter before action and then court

highlander58

I think your best bet is a concise & polite email to Boots CEO. Use ‘ceoemail-dot-com’ to find out the id. That’s always been my ‘go to’ with big organisations, when I feel I’m ‘banging my head against a brick wall’ It’s never let me down so far!
Most CEOs have an ‘Executive Office’ of people round them. One of their jobs is to make this sort of problem ‘go away’ for the CEO. They’re usually very able people & they tend to act fast!

Other than that: a polite, factual but scathing review on Trustpilot can succeed. But can take time to get a response/result & is most effective on retailers who rely on their good reviews. Suspect Boots are not in that category!
if you’re into social media - same thing works there. Particularly effective with non-retail organisations, who care about their reputation.

But CEO is my pick: gets straight to the decision-makers who can just sweep away all the ‘jobsworths’ & bureaucracy.
Ceoemail is a fantastic & unique resource, maintained by dedicated ordinary people - we should all support it more!

highlander58

I might add: ceoemail is also a great resource for getting unfair parking charges cancelled! If an appeal to the usual customer services doesn’t work - I go straight to the helpful executive team round the CEO. Certainly works with Lidl & Aldi!
Victims can go through all the fake appeals process, fake bailiff threats, fake legal threats if they must - but I find that a direct CEO appeal (with evidence) works very well & nips the whole problem in the bud!

luci

I agree with @highlander58 re the CEO email. I did that when I wasn't getting anywhere with BT. The executive I was passed to stayed in contact until the issue was fully resolved, even sending me a mesh system free of charge.