To think House of Fraser’s refund policy is another nail in their coffin

[Bearbehind]

I bought several expensive and heavy items online with the intention of choosing 1 and taking the others back to my local store for a refund

Turns out you can only exchange or get a credit note in store

If you want your money back you have to post it back at your own cost

Given the weight and value, I’m nearly £30 down for the pleasure.

Surely they can’t afford to piss customers off by refusing to refund in store - what difference does it make to them?

Very expensive lesson learned!

I will never buy from them again

Dont know about HOF but sports direct you can definitely return in store not sure if it's a credit note/exchange only.
I was at the till paying when someone did just this and I questioned the man serving me as I didnt think you could return in store.
That makes me more likely to shop shop there.

Isn’t their a tick box during checkout to say you’ve read n understand/agree to the terms n conditions..

If it’s multiple sizes n colours I tend to order either one size in each colour, go into a store to see the colour and they might have my size in one colour even if it’s not one I want I can try it on and as a last option for completely online stuff I check the size chart, measure myself or go by a chart of a brand I’m 100% on.. or I just pick a colour, there’s rarely anything in that close of a colour choice to find the right shade.

Honestly, customers like you who buy too many and return are the reason high street stores are struggling.

And unfortunately, staff like you are the reason customers are going online instead. It’s all about what is convenient for YOU; how the person paying out for goods and a service is making life tough for YOU. You seem to think customers owe you their custom and should plan their shopping around what makes your job easier - then wonder why they choose a different way of shopping.

The company you work for chose to offer a free returns policy. They’re now pushing the cost of that onto you by taking the returns figures off your sales figures, and are blaming the customers for taking advantage of a policy THEY implemented. And you are naive enough to fall for it and blame the customers instead of realising you’re being screwed over by your bosses!

I agree with you. It may be correct legally, but it isn't a good customer experience and could well cost them in the long run

You have no legal right to refund just cause you changed your mind.

This is complete rubbish, of course she is entitled to a refund.

@sorrythisusernameisinuse

This is why ASOS is brilliant. Next day delivery and free returns!

ASOS are on their knees, barely turning any profit at all - £4m from over £1billion turnover last year - in no small part due to the huge cost of handling returns.

*You have no legal right to refund just cause you changed your mind.

This is complete rubbish, of course she is entitled to a refund.*

She is entitled to a refund for purchases made online
She is not entitled to free returns.

I’ve tried in vain to buy a dress for an occasion in the shops. I went to two big shopping centres and nothing even to try on let alone buy.
Online there is lots of choice and I’m
Not going to just buy one and hope it fits, so I buy a few and send back what I don’t need. This is from a high st store not online store.
I think they take returns in store as have done this before!

@SonjaMorgan
It's not about customers not being bothered to measure. Each shop send to have different sizing. In some brands I am a 12, some 14 and some in between and nothing fits, in some I am M and some L, despite checking measurements I often get the wrong size anyways when shopping online. Some brands are not even consistent within their own range!

She is not entitled to free returns.

How many times?

I don’t expect free returns!

If you buy something from a retailer with no high st presence then you know you will have to send stuff back to them

Generally you can’t buy that stuff anywhere else though so you make a decision based on that

HOF sell branded stuff you can buy in lots of places and have a high st presence

It’s therefore not unreasonable to expect them to have a returns policy in line with the other big players

The fact they don’t is why I said it’s another nail in their coffin

I don’t think I have ever paid to return anything and I buy from loads of different places, I can recall I used to keep the free Boden return labels for future use when a free return wasn’t offered

A lot of shops are doing that Klarna thing where you try before you buy though I haven’t tried it myself and Amazon do Amazon wardrobe which is also try before you buy.

^ ASOS are on their knees, barely turning any profit at all - £4m from over £1billion turnover last year - in no small part due to the huge cost of handling returns.

ASOS have always done returns being an exclusively online store. They are are struggling following massive expansion into Europe and the US.

@LadyRenoir I already apologized to the OP, I wrongly assumed due to the cost and her stating bulky items she was talking about homeware.

I fully understand the issue with clothing, if stores want to save costs by not having a full range in store and closing stores they will have to factor in the costs and wastage that goes with returns. Or we could just standardized sizes.

@DiabloDi

Yes I meant Didn't - irritating typo

If shops didn't allow people to return items then people wouldn't make speculative purchases. It's not as if they were intending on keeping multiple items. They just wanted to figure out what suited them best/right size.

I don’t expect free returns!

Posters are quoting Distance Regulations and insisting that you are entitled to free returns. They are incorrect - unless the items are faulty.
HOF will be gone soon. Mothercare is on the way to going. As is Links of London and many branches of Topshop.

Posters are quoting Distance Regulations and insisting that you are entitled to free returns

As I understand it, if you cancel your online order, ie return everything you originally ordered then you are also entitled to a refund on the cost of the postage

But that’s not what we’re talking about here anyway

I think it just puts you off buying clothes as the sizing is so inconsistent plus the item may not suit you or the fabric is horrible

If shops didn't allow people to return items then people wouldn't make speculative purchases.

No, a large proportion of people just wouldn’t make those purchases at all.

Did you have to return with Royal Mail OP?

I'm just thinking back to a problem I had with a third party seller and I had to pay return costs for a faulty item (furniture) It was going to cost something like £40 with Royal Mail but cost £15 with a courier.

Royal Mail are another example of a firm pricing themselves out of business, with policies that suit them, but don’t suit the customer, seemingly oblivious that their competitors are offering a better, cheaper service.

The massive sections of cheap active wear put me off, I don't want Sports Direct neon crap in a nice department store!

I stopped shopping at house of Fraser because of their returns policy. I often cut through the store to get to my car park and it is deserted!

I bought some make up at a concession at HoF. Threw away the receipt as I knew I liked the product. When I came to open it a month later, the lid was stuck on - it was broken and unusable. I took it back and explained that it was faulty and I wanted an exchange (if they had managed to get the lid off, it would have been obvious from inside it that I'd never used it). She refused as I hadn't got my receipt. I said that as the product was faulty, legally I didnt need it, and anyway as I'd used my HoF points card surely they could check when I'd purchased it. I pointed out my rights under consumer protection legislation. She said HoF had 'opted out of this'. Which is 1. Illegal and 2. Even if it were legal they would have had to make me aware at the time of purchase. I didnt even want my money back just a product that I could open! They eventually swapped it after I (perfectly pleasantly) said I wasnt going anywhere until they did, but had to get a manager involved and kept me waiting half an hour.

Not sure if it was the concession or HoF at fault but put me off.

Saying that, if I know I intend to send at least one thing back, I would always check the returns policy as every place is different