CreditCards Blog

Apologies for a slightly long story... :o

I recently had a problem with a company from whom I ordered something to be sent to my mother's house abroad. They assured me they could deliver to her address, so I placed an order and paid for international shipping.

The item did not arrive with my mother, and the shipping company made no attempt to contact either her or me - they just returned the item to the merchant in the U.K.

I then contacted the merchant and offered to pay for the item to be shipped abroad again. they refused to do so, and said that "as a gesture of goodwill" they would deliver it in the U.K. I emailed and politely told them that this was useless to me, and asked them to refund my card.

The email did not receive a reply, so I asked my credit card company for a form to claim under Section 75 for goods/service not received. Today I arrived home from work to find that the item had been delivered to my home address (and left with a neighbour), even though I had asked them not to do this. The courier company doesn't want to know, as they've delivered it to the address they were told to.

This evening, we emailed the merchant again explaining the situation, and again asking politely for a refund. We quickly received a reply this time, saying that we had been negligent in not providing a phone number for my mother's house (we did provide a telephone number in the U.K - the form made it seem like a contact number was required for the U.K merchant, it wasn't clear that the number had to be for the address abroad) and saying they will not refund us. They also claim that in asking my credit card company for a refund I am committing fraud, and if the refund is given they will contact the police claiming theft, as I am in receipt of the goods and service agreed to.

My argument is that I am NOT in receipt of the goods or service agreed to. As far as I am concerned, the goods are unsolicited and useless to me, and the service agreed to was delivery abroad, which has not happened.

Can anyone advise as to where to go from here, please?

Can anyone advise as to where to go from here, please?

What did you order?

What did you order?

It was a dehumidifier. Total cost including international postage was about 125.

Its maybe possible to go down the distance selling route and return the goods as long as its within the laid down time limits.That way you would lose the shipping costs but at least get a full purchase price refund.

Why not just send it on to your mother?

Its maybe possible to go down the distance selling route and return the goods as long as its within the laid down time limits.That way you would lose the shipping costs but at least get a full purchase price refund.

Possibly, although my own bloody mindedness means that I want the shipping costs refunded also. ;) It's almost the principle of the thing now - if he couldn't deliver to the country I asked for, he shouldn't have told me he could and taken the cash for it.

Why not just send it on to your mother?

I would, except the quotes I've had from the courier companies range from 80 to 120 just for shipping - it must be a lot more expensive for Joe Public to ship something as opposed to a business.

pity it's not damaged, or defective!!
Then you could return it for a full refund plus carriage costs.
I say this with my tongue in my cheek

Meth

Id recommend contacting consumer direct for their advice on the subject. Personally i dont think you have got what you paid for so why shouldnt you get a refund! The business you dealt with sounds awful in terms of customer service!

I would be careful about using electrical appliances designed for the UK market in the USA in any case. The item will be designed to run at 220v for the UK, not 110v for the USA. There is also the earthing issue to consider unless it's double insulated.

Id recommend contacting consumer direct for their advice on the subject. Personally i dont think you have got what you paid for so why shouldnt you get a refund! The business you dealt with sounds awful in terms of customer service!

:) I actually did this today, and they said that the business is in breach of contract and was negligent in not ensuring that all appropriate details were on the package before sending it out). Their suggestions were that I send it on to my parents myself and reclaim the postage cost frm the merchant (I'm not willing to do this, as we're talking another 100+, and the lady said it's not a quick or easy process), or send the item back to him with a letter explaining the situation (again!), and giving him a specified time to issue a full refund. This is what I'm going to do next.

I would be careful about using electrical appliances designed for the UK market in the USA in any case. The item will be designed to run at 220v for the UK, not 110v for the USA. There is also the earthing issue to consider unless it's double insulated.

:) My parents are not in the USA, they're in eastern Europe, which I presume would be ok?

Sorry, I don't know where I got the USA from! Which country? AFAIK, europe tend to be 220v @ 50hz (in the UK we are acually more 230v but officially we are 220v). Earthing concerns stand but you can forget about these if the item is double insulated (which means it does not need an earth).

Thanks for the advice, Lee. :) They're in Greece.

I'll look in to it before I buy another one to send out there.