NEXT plc accusing me of fraud

[Dontbeabitterlemon]

Bought 9 pairs of sandals online, sent all but 1 pair back. Now Next are saying 4 boxes were empty when received. Bizarrely they refunded me for these 4 but not the other 4 and have sent me an email demanding that I cover the cost of these shoes plus £35 for investigation fees.

Aibu to feel completely wronged?!

Obviously when I sent it all shoes were present and accounted for.

Next returns are awful. I always go
into store to return. I once bought a few items and a day or so later I got an e-mail saying they had received my return for one item and would credit my account…I never made a return. They did credit my account with the money so it was very weird.

Do you have the slip from the post office? That should have the weight of the parcel, there will be a significant weight difference between 4 pairs and 8 pairs. Or maybe you can contact the Guardian consumer advocate? Or Next via twitter.

I've worked in CS, this is probably someone in the warehouse stealing them, or along the way if you didn't tape it well.

I always photograph things I return just in case, tape the parcel so much it looks crazy and keep the slip from the post office until I have the money. I did an on-site return with Next once and was impressed, I had the bank alert refund in my account before I walked out the door!

The investigation fee is very odd- I would read their terms and conditions to see if this is mentioned. You can do control+F in the online document.

Honestly shopping in person is a pain, but online is seriously bad too. I keep on trying to not shop at all but it isn't easy

Hmm

Why on earth would you order 9 pairs of sandals on line! No wonder businesses are starting to charge for returns

Why did you buy nine pairs? I wonder if that aroused suspicion.

Is the email legit? Could it be fraudulent?
The 35 investigation cost seems unusual. I would contact next directly to discuss.

Nine pairs of sandals!? God I could not be arsed to send back eight shoe boxes, what a faff.
It sounds like they've either been nicked in transit or on return to the warehouse.
Did you take photos during repacking? Surely you have a postal receipt documenting their weights?

Quite. Not many people would do this. 🤷‍♀️

No wonder shops aren't making any money, 9 pairs!

Dd bought a dress from a Next store. It wasn't suitable so she had to return it. She had the receipt. They asked her whether she was Miss X, as they claimed that this dress had been bought online (?) They wanted to credit Miss X's Next account for a dress that Dd had bought instore using her debit card, all as shown on the receipt. They eventually and reluctantly gave her a refund.

OP, fight it all the way - I did. Don’t pay a penny.

Next charge people to return items, they also charge delivery. How are they losing money? The goods ordered online are on approval.

Re warehouse staff helping themselves - this is what I suggested to them when they tried to charge me for returned items not received. Told them to look closer at their staff.

Why on earth was the first reply deleted by MNHQ? There was nothing offensive about it.

Unfortunately I don’t think you get a proof of return with a weight specified on it for Evri returns, so could be tricky to prove.

I’ve had 2 problems with Next/Evri before.

One was a delivery where the parcel had been tampered with and some Nike products were missing. Fortunately I was able to use the delivery photo to prove that the parcel and had been opened and resealed with brown parcel tape before I even got it. They did an investigation, which involved a fair bit of correspondence, but I wasn’t left out of pocket.

Another time I needed to return a very high value parcel (about £900 because it was special wedding outfits for 3 people). It was quite a big parcel so I booked a courier collection. The Evri courier said she’d forgotten her Evri scanner and calling cards/receipts so she couldn’t scan it and give me a card, but she’d do it as soon as she was at the depot and drop the card through to me the next day. I refused to hand the parcel over and decided to go into the store to return instead so I could be 100% sure the items reached the company.

Since then, I only ever do in-store returns with Next.

When I had an issue, I’m sure they said that warehouse cctv showed all items being packed into my parcel. I was able to show the delivery photo taken by Evri showing the parcel all taped up with brown tape and that was proof that it happened in the delivery chain.

So it happened on its way to you? Mine went missing on its return.

@Howdoesitworkagain

Sensible thing to do.

I paid for postage and return.
It was for a wedding and I struggle to find comfortable heels, hence the large order.

It was a return. Evri courier collection. No weight unfortunately.

Exactly. Buying a dress in a 12 and 14 as you're not sure what will fit is pretty standard, nine pairs of shoes is not.

A fiver for sending 9 pairs to shoes isn't covering the cost of the delivery never mind all the associated costs of packing them up in the first place and unpacking and checking them back in and making sure they are fit to sell again

I know how morally reprehensible of me 🙄🙄🙄

Definitely will return through store in future

And yet Next came up with the idea. Shopping on approval has been going on for decades, it isn’t a new thing. It might cost just a fiver for the OP to return (maybe seven pairs) out of the nine she’s ordered but equally it would cost me the same to sent a belt back. There will be a balance along the line. Actually, there is anyway, a lot of Next clothing is overpriced tat, made in China.