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Item ordered and not received, no refund given
[Deleted User]
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Any advice is appreciated and I thank you in advance for reading this long post.
17 November - I ordered a digital radio through a reliable deals website. They send a voucher, which came the same day, and I paid for it then and there, plus the shipping cost. The deal was running from 17 November to 17 December.
Time passes, no radio. I went back to the voucher twice, the first time thinking maybe I had a missed a step and the second time for a final try - it asked me to enter my shipping info, etc but never asked me for money like it did the first time. I received no notice from the company that my product was on the way, which is what has always happened when I have used this and other websites.
I eventually think maybe they don't ship until the deal has ended and by this point it was nearing the end of that period. I contacted the deals people and they gave me the company email address as after searching more than once on the voucher, etc, I could not find the name anywhere.
19 December - The deal expired two days before. I emailed the provider company and said I was still waiting for the radio. It took them over a week to respond. I had sent all my details in the original email, they asked for it all again. Another ten or so days later I am still waiting. I was about to move house and said I was concerned they would ship to the right place. More time passes, I am emailing every few days at this point and it takes a long time for them to answer. It is always from the same person and the emails are one sentence each. Finally it's the end of January and they sent a copy of the Royal Mail shipping invoice. As it so happens, there was an attempt to deliver the radio but there was no answer. It shows the timeline and I then see that the radio was returned to the provider company on 13 December, 6 days before my first contact with them.
I am obviously incensed at this point, so I write a strongly worded email asking why, with me sending every detail they needed, and clearly being persistent, could they just not tell me right from the start that they had the radio back in their possession. I cannot explain why I never saw a card that came through the door (I was living with other people, probably got mixed up in something) and I acknowledged I had responsibility in the product being returned. In spite of this, I paid for it and I don't believe they can now just keep my money and the radio.
The last email I received was from them saying I needed to pay for shipping again. I said no, I just want a refund as I don't care for the way I have been treated, how they are slow and unresponsive, and I find it insane it took them six weeks to tell me they had the radio again. They have not responded to a single email since.
Just for some other information, I have searched for their company details and found an address of their office in Manchester. No phone number. I have emailed more than once asking for the name of an owner or manager I can speak to, no response. I have asked for the phone number, no response. I found they have their own website, and sent an email through that saying I had a complaint. The same person I have dealt with already got in touch asking for details of the complaint (don't think they recognized the email address).
What do I do? At this point I know I will never get the radio, but I really don't want this awful company to get away with this. On their eBay site (not where I purchased), one of their prominent statements is how dedicated they are to customer service.
I will contact the deals website, but where else can I take this complaint to really let them have it? What is the UK equivalent of the Better Business Bureau?
17 November - I ordered a digital radio through a reliable deals website. They send a voucher, which came the same day, and I paid for it then and there, plus the shipping cost. The deal was running from 17 November to 17 December.
Time passes, no radio. I went back to the voucher twice, the first time thinking maybe I had a missed a step and the second time for a final try - it asked me to enter my shipping info, etc but never asked me for money like it did the first time. I received no notice from the company that my product was on the way, which is what has always happened when I have used this and other websites.
I eventually think maybe they don't ship until the deal has ended and by this point it was nearing the end of that period. I contacted the deals people and they gave me the company email address as after searching more than once on the voucher, etc, I could not find the name anywhere.
19 December - The deal expired two days before. I emailed the provider company and said I was still waiting for the radio. It took them over a week to respond. I had sent all my details in the original email, they asked for it all again. Another ten or so days later I am still waiting. I was about to move house and said I was concerned they would ship to the right place. More time passes, I am emailing every few days at this point and it takes a long time for them to answer. It is always from the same person and the emails are one sentence each. Finally it's the end of January and they sent a copy of the Royal Mail shipping invoice. As it so happens, there was an attempt to deliver the radio but there was no answer. It shows the timeline and I then see that the radio was returned to the provider company on 13 December, 6 days before my first contact with them.
I am obviously incensed at this point, so I write a strongly worded email asking why, with me sending every detail they needed, and clearly being persistent, could they just not tell me right from the start that they had the radio back in their possession. I cannot explain why I never saw a card that came through the door (I was living with other people, probably got mixed up in something) and I acknowledged I had responsibility in the product being returned. In spite of this, I paid for it and I don't believe they can now just keep my money and the radio.
The last email I received was from them saying I needed to pay for shipping again. I said no, I just want a refund as I don't care for the way I have been treated, how they are slow and unresponsive, and I find it insane it took them six weeks to tell me they had the radio again. They have not responded to a single email since.
Just for some other information, I have searched for their company details and found an address of their office in Manchester. No phone number. I have emailed more than once asking for the name of an owner or manager I can speak to, no response. I have asked for the phone number, no response. I found they have their own website, and sent an email through that saying I had a complaint. The same person I have dealt with already got in touch asking for details of the complaint (don't think they recognized the email address).
What do I do? At this point I know I will never get the radio, but I really don't want this awful company to get away with this. On their eBay site (not where I purchased), one of their prominent statements is how dedicated they are to customer service.
I will contact the deals website, but where else can I take this complaint to really let them have it? What is the UK equivalent of the Better Business Bureau?
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Comments
As things have gone so far in this instance, l'd suggest getting advice from either the local county trading standards department or the Citizens Advice Bureau which now has responsibility for consumer advice issues (plug in the postcode here http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index/getadvice.htm).
This is a good idea, will pursue it
Thank you. The deals thing I agree with, I only use two and this one is endorsed by money supermarket, which I felt was reliable. I'm in London and the company is in Manchester, assuming I still use my local CAB?
I used my debit card. Does that still count? It's a Visa debit.
However there is an option called Chargeback that might be available.
See
http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/problem/can-i-claim-on-my-credit-card-when-something-goes-wrong
I live in London too and when l had issues with a catelogue company who are based elsewhere in the country, l contacted my local trading standards office with my council, and they sorted it out for me.