refunds and exchanges

[cliveant]

I sold some goods online on 30 April and despatched them on 1 May - on 13th may the customer emailed to say that they no longer wanted the goods.
I have told them that they are out of the 7 days and cannot have a refund...but am I right on this.
Now they are asking if they can send the goods back and exchange for something else.....do I legally have to do this?


I have another customer who purchased in mid april and emailed me on 22 april to say they did not want the goods. They sent them back to me recorded deilvery but I only got them on 18 May.....delayed somewhere by Royal Mail. Where do I stand on this....can I refuse to refund or do I have to.

 

[deadgoodundies]

Question is do you want to make the customer happy? and are they likely to be a repeat customer if you bend the rules for them as a gesture of goodwill on this occasion?

 

[cliveant]

I realise that the customer service is important and that we should try to ensure they leave the transaction happy
But...I also need to know where I stand legally....before making a final decision

 

[Billmccallum]

I sold some goods online on 30 April and despatched them on 1 May - on 13th may the customer emailed to say that they no longer wanted the goods.
I have told them that they are out of the 7 days and cannot have a refund...but am I right on this. YES see http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/general/oft913.pdf

Now they are asking if they can send the goods back and exchange for something else.....do I legally have to do this?

You don't have to, it's for you to decide how imprtant this customer is to your business. If it's a repeat customer, I would offer to replace if they cover all postage costs.


I have another customer who purchased in mid april and emailed me on 22 april to say they did not want the goods. They sent them back to me recorded deilvery but I only got them on 18 May.....delayed somewhere by Royal Mail. Where do I stand on this....can I refuse to refund or do I have to.

Did you despatch before the cancellation? The seven day return period should start the date they receive the goods. If they emailed a cancellation before the seven days were up they may well be entitled to a refund.

 

[AndyP]

That said all the above is your legal minimum requirement. To be honest if you are in it for the long haul you would do well to double or even quadruple that minimum requirement. For example, we offer a 30 day returns policy which leaves a nice taste but the reality of that the vast majority of returns happen upon initial receipt of the goods with very few people actually taking it to the wire.

I know I keep harping on about it but for me its ALL about the trust factor.

 

[logicfusion]

Did you provide 'written confirmation' on the sellers rights as per the Distance Selling Regulations?

If not, I believe they get 3 months to return the goods and not just 7 days.

See http://www.out-law.com/page-430#goods

 

[deniser]

It's 7 working days from when they received the goods (provided you have supplied the written confirmation as has been mentioned above) so if you are going to insist on not giving a refund count carefully because if you take 2 weekends into account on either side of the week it could be 11 days and even longer if there are any bank holidays.

Personally I think you will not give yourself a good reputation if you refuse the refund.

Our returns period is 14 or 28 days depending on the item but in reality we give refunds up to 2 months and exchanges up to 6 months, all in the interests of customer satisfaction. People are extremely grateful when you do this and spread about what a good company you are.