To not pay out, and let them take me to court?

[peeved123]

Not sure if I am just being stubborn, or if I should just let it go and move on.

Long story short; I used Lookiero (an online personal shopper service) who send out several items at an agreed interval and you can pay for what you want to keep and send the rest back.

I chose to keep 3 out of 8 items and paid for them. the return label provided was an Evri drop off one, and unfortunately I don't have a drop off point within 3 hours of me (yes, really). I emailed them 3 times asking what I should do and if they could provide and alternative return option. They initially ignored my emails and then I got one saying I had to return by the following day or I would be charge for the full amount (nearly £300!!). I decided I would have to just fork out on a Royal Mail tracked service and posted it the next day.

I have Royal Mail proof it was delivered, and even got an email from Lookiero to say they had received it.

Not long after, however, they said my return was invalid as I didn't use Evri, and that they hadn't receive the parcel. They have been trying to charge my account £278 every week for the last few months despite my attempts at trying to speak to someone to discuss the problem (I've only had generic AI responses). I have blocked the payments through my bank account.

Lookiero have since escalated it to a debt collector. I have gathered all my evidence, which took a long time, and sent it to them. They are continuing to say I owe Lookiero £278 and have added on a £25 fee taking it to over £300. My latest email from the debt collector has said Lookiero will now be starting formal court proceedings because I have not paid. This has been going on since the end of June.

I'm at the point now I just want it to go away, it's really stressing me out and I don't want to go through the court or have it affect my credit score. On the other hand, £300 is a huge amount to me and at this time of year will have a big impact.

What would you do?

YABU - just pay the £300 and consider it a lesson learned
YANBU - keep fighting them and don't let them get away with it

I have already contacted Citizen's advice, Resolver UK and Watchdog.

Sorry that ended up long after me saying I would keep it short.

If you post in Legal, make sure you say (a) where you are (which country) and (b) if the T&Cs say what law applies to or governs the agreement (as it may be different to where you are).

Also recommend looking for litigant in person guidance to whichever courts apply.

Good luck!

@peeved123 If I recall correctly @prh47bridge is legally qualified and kindly gives no nonsense advice. They have just committed.

I genuinely didn't know I could arrange an Evri collection, a local courier is sub contracted to deliver for Evri here but I didn't know I could use them for uplift too. Total oversight on my part. However, it was never suggested to me as an option when I tried to contact them about my predicament.

I’ve just been engaged with Transport for London with a little battle over an ULEZ charge and have won that with the help of ChatGPT. A different set of circumstances of course but at the heart I have tried to act in good faith. In fact every bloody parking fine I’ve had overturned is based on the fact I’ve tried to do the right thing.

If you have evidence that you have made multiple attempts to contact their customer services then you can show that you were acting in good faith. You have tried to follow the terms of any terms and conditions. If they were any kind of professional outfit they would have responded at that point and given you a method or a process to follow. They have not done that and they won’t be able to provide that evidence. You have then made what you think is a sensible decision under the circumstances. Would the average person agree that this was a good decision? Yep… you’ve done your best to return the items. You can provide proof of purchase and they have confirmed receipt of the parcel. The whole case could rest of that email. If that email is triggered automatically in any circumstances and means nothing then they are too thick to be in charge of a business. The email shows they have received the parcel. End of. I’d continue with the battle if I had the evidence that you have said you have. I know it’s a pressure but I think you’ve tried your best and this charge is grossly unfair. I used ChatGPT to dig around the TFL terms and conditions and pull out everything that was pertinent to my situation. I didn’t actually 100% agree with some aspects of the legal argument that it proposed but I was a police officer so pretty comfortable with the evidential chain. If you could get an actual solicitor on here to give you an overview it might give you a boost and I’m sure a perspective much better than mine.

By their own admission they did receive it. Or at least someone signed for it there so they cannot deny its arrival.

I hope you're using all available review platforms to trash this company as they're clearly scamming fucks.

Yes of course. I’m curious to know which island - that’s why I asked if she needed to get a ferry.

I dream of living somewhere so remote.
Sorry….not your point, I’m just getting wistful.

@peeved123 this is a really important point.
The Ts and Cs are to use Evri for returns, so there is an argument that you should have taken that into account when ordering. I think that will negate point d) by @Derbee
BUT otherwise, given that they also reference the possibility of use of another courier, and assuming that you do have the proof that they have received your return from the email, it wouldn't seem that they have a leg to stand on.
I definitely wouldn't pay, you don't have the goods so why should you in the light of all your evidence?
Tedious and stressful, but resist the bullying if you can.

You will lose, you agreed to their TS&C's when you signed up and made the order.

I just don't see how they could possibly win if you can prove they received the item. So what if their contract says Evri must do it? They aren't out of pocket because you used royal mail instead.

Why would you pay them when you don't even have the clothes anymore? With all your evidence there's no way they will win in court anyway (I doubt they'll even go that far anyway)

I don't think it works like that in the UK. You can't hide things in the small print and then sue people because they didn't comply if it didn't even make any difference to you that they didn't comply.

I had a bad experience with them too, although a very different reason.

They ask for measurements but then sent trousers that were far, far too long, plus a couple of dresses that looked absolutely awful on my body shape. I don't believe that they actually look at customer details, beyond dress size and bank details!

If anyone is thinking of using them, don't bother.

No she won't as another poster says this what they say about using another courier :

If the return is made with another courier, we cannot be held responsible in the event of an incident

OP has stated that they acknowledged receipt of the items so there is no incident that they can claim happened. Of course she won't lose

If what you have said is true and you have the evidence to back it up then it will get laughed out of court. Look into making a counter claim for your wasted time.

Absolutely do not pay them a penny.

Had similar with a company that claimed sold goods handmade in Yorkshire. Return addres was China at my expense .
Sent my bank screenshot of the original ad and got a refund. And haven't sent the item back.
Fucking scammers.

This is fraud. What CFs! Fight it, please.

do not let it go - contact every consumer help in the media you can including DM’s this money and You and Yours on Radio 4 - tell the company you are doing this and posting on social media about it

Another point I thought worth asking about was how long did you have the clothes for before you contacted them to say you wanted to return them?

I’d argue your rights under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 could apply. It clearly sounds like a distance selling scenario and under those Regulations, which were passed to bring an EU Directive into law, you have rights to reject goods. I mention this because from what I could see Lookiero is a Spanish outfit?

With distance selling situations, the consumer has a 14 day window (cooling off period) to reject the goods because they’ve changed their mind. There’s a longer window if the goods are faulty or don’t match description.
The 14 day cooling off/changed your mind period starts the day after the consumer takes physical possession of the goods.
I’ve had experience of reminding a company about this before. If you’ve rejected the goods within the 14 days i.e. contacted the seller and said you don’t want the goods, the seller is obliged to refund them.

It sounds like you have a good trail of contacting them to try and arrange an alternative way to return. I don’t think it would be reasonable for them to hold you to “you can only return via Evri” if there were no drop-offs near you.
They haven’t acted reasonably.

I don’t think you should pay, you should keep resisting. But I do also think it’s a lesson learnt given how rural you are, you need to check this stuff before ordering anything if the entire purpose is to return some of the stuff sent to you.

Another one saying keep fighting. Why should you loose out twice? First no clothes and secondly paying for said clothes?
Madness. Just make sure you have all the evidence in a neat time line.

I feel as though The Complaining Cow would love to get her teeth into this one!

Feel your pain i had a very similar experience with them. Annoyingly like you I quite like some of the clothes (the best jeans I have ever had) and would have used them again if their system and admin was so shockingly awful. Mine didn't get as far as debt collectors but it was painful.

You have proof that you returned the goods and they have admitted to receiving them?

somehow I can’t see them having a leg to stand on

it may be worth reiterating that you have evidence that they accepted the return and that any further communication will be considered harrasment and that you will be charging £25 per letter and £25 per hour of your time wasted should they take this further

then if they do take you to court you could as for a few hundred in compensation since they clearly agreed to your terms

This is not your problem. You are expected to believe in good faith, an email that says they have received the goods. If they use an automated system that fucks up, that's on them.