Refunds - Are we being stitched up?

[WillThisEverBeResolved]

Why do some retailers take so long to process a refund? Debenhams DBS can take up to 21 days, New Look 14 days. However, Yours are excellent, you receive a confirmation e-mail on the day that you return an item to the shop and your refund is in your bank account 2 days later!

i understand different retailers have different systems and there’s always staff shortages to take into consideration, but where is the money whilst this is going on? I have asked my bank and some retailers but they all blame each other!

AIBU to expect a faster refund process for tbe retailers who take such a long time?

Amazon are next day , why can't everyone do it?

M&S are 10 days usually; its inevitable as I have to order 4 pairs of trousers to get the right size and length.

Agreed. I ordered boy’s tracksuit bottoms and received a very large bra. They wanted me to pay to return it.
I never did. Hope the well endowed lady got some use out of the trackie bottoms.

What the PP is saying is that many people can’t access credit cards. They don’t pass credit checks etc. so it is not an option.

I had to email the CEO of Debenhams to get a refund on a faulty item I had returned. It was over 3 weeks of emails to customer service that were all ignored. I will never order anything from them again

Next refund really quickly.

This is quite a strange reply to a genuine issue. Why should the shops keep your money for no reason?
You seem quite angry tbh

If your cash flow is so bad that you can't get any sort of credit card, you shouldn't be buying new clothes for an event....and of course I mean pay them off every month so it isnt debt

Yes I used CC for most things. Then pay it off when I get paid. I have savings and plenty in debit account but it makes sense. You get more protection.

I'm struggling to even get my NEXT parcel collected to even get a refund. Absolute joke

Interesting, as I find boohoo excellent for returns

I had a Debenhams gift card that I used for part payment. I ordered several things and paid the rest of the amount by debit card. As the gift card was used up, I chucked it away.

One of the items didn't fit, so I sent it back for a refund.

Nothing appeared in my account so I chased it. I was told they'd refunded it back to the gift card. I explained that I no longer had the actual gift card. They wouldn't give me the gift card details for data protection reasons and they wouldn't issue another refund to my card or cancel the original gift card and put it on a different gift card. I ended up with no refund at all.

What on earth has happened to the Debenhams site. I had an issue a while back where their returns portal had been down for days and I was on the verge of missing my return deadline but wasn’t get a response so took to Twitter to call them out and instantly got advice I’d been chasing for days immediately. I’ll never use them again.

In all my years of (lots of) on line shopping Debenhams are the only company that "didn't receive" one of my items too.

Ive waited 3 weeks for a M and S refund. Item was received back in 2 days. They messaged several times to apologise.....
Next refund to my account immediately

I’m 4’10 with children’s size 13 feet.

I struggle to find clothes that fit and children’s clothes that fit length wise aren’t made for a woman’s figure.
Adults shoes start in a 3 and children's sizes that small are sometimes too narrow or unsuitable as they aren’t made for adult wear and tear, they often have velcro instead of laces and boots with a zip are made to fit a very young child’s ankles so don’t always do up.

I live rurally where most shops have closed down in the nearest town and there are now mostly vape shops, charity shops and bookies so I have to order mostly online.

If you order online you can’t try things on first to see if they are suitable and things often look different from photos online and sizing varies where you shop.

I recently needed a coat quickly as the zip broke on mine and it’s cold outside.
If I had ordered one at a time and sent them back if they didn’t fit I could be waiting weeks to find one suitable and be refunded.

The sleeves are often too long on coats or they are huge on the shoulders or too long in length which affects the fit.

I ordered 5 coats which was over £500 so I could find one that fitted quickly but it’s a lot of money to not be refunded straight away. I did order from Next and returned in store so got refunded quickly but would have panicked if I’d had problems returning or waiting for a refund as it’s a lot of money, it would be very worrying for me.

I think most people end up losing money rather than getting free things with returns and I don’t know why you would get something for free if you return it used? That’s usually if something is faulty.

You sound very angry and judgemental about something that’s very common now like ordering things online.
A lot of people are struggling financially and worry about being kept waiting for returns and it’s close to Christmas where people will be needing to put other things on credit cards.

I don’t think that’s strange or unreasonable or any reason to need to thrift things.
I’m sorry if you don’t approve but I would think it’s common sense that everyone is different and might have reasons different from you for doing things!

The Groypers, or the Groyper Army, are a far-right group loosely defined as followers, fans, or associates of the American white nationalist political party.

Did you mean to use a username that is associated with racists? Just another troll.

To the majority of you lovely ops who posted some very sensible ideas and their experiences, thank you,, to the few that wasn’t as pleasant, there wasn’t any need for the negative comments, I was interested in other people’s experiences! It had nothing to do with my personal financial situation or indeed my life.

I've never found that - I've only applied twice (omce through LNER and once via Trans-Pennine Express) but each time I've had a refund within 48 hours.

Its clearly scamming once they have the stuff back to then takes weeks to refund. Presumably getting the interest on money that isn't there's.

Jigsaw are a disgrace they take weeks. And Sport Direct I will never shop from again, they won't even acknowledge they've had it back despite EVRI confirmation.

Vinted are theiving bastards.
Twice now I've not received an item, reported it within 24 hours backed up with evidence.
They have claimed that I did not report within 48 hours (I did), then stated that the carrier confirmed delivery (they didn't), and now they are ignoring my messages. There doesn't seem to be any other way to contact them except through messaging.
Buyer's protection is a load of bollocks.

I was responding to the assertion that people don’t use a credit card because they don’t want to get into debt

I always return to store at Next and find them very good. Seasalt refund just after the item has been scanned at the post office, money back to account within a day or two so very good.

AnotherNameChange2025, why do you think that I am angry, all I was doing was sharing my experience and keen to hear the experience of others! And you accuse me of being judgey!!

I think it should be law that refunds from shops should not take any longer to be received by the customer than it took for the customer’s funds to hit the account of the retailer at the time of sale. That’d shake some of these shysters up.

It isn’t. Only of it’s faulty.