Which are the best online retailers for returns/refunds etc.? House of Fraser, it's not you!

[flapinko]

I ordered a couple of coats from House of Fraser a few weeks back. Neither looked good on, so I returned the next day. I paid by Paypal with the 'pay after delivery' facility, which was due to come out of my account on the 16th. Goods were returned way before then, and the receipt of the returned goods was acknowledged on the 13th...yet HoF still took the money out of my account on the 16th.

Fair enough I guess, but I am STILL awaiting the refund to show up on my account today, the 24th. That is too long for something that was returned over 10 days ago -isn't it??? I am now overdrawn as a result, and I will not shop there again.

Which retailers do it better/quicker? Do I need to order everything from ASOS for ever more? I really hope not. They're not so good for ageing, slightly plump forty-somethings. Any other recommendations?

I may be wrong, but thought all refunds can take up to seven days or something to be refunded. Same for John Lewis, or so I have experienced.

My returns always take that long. I though it was more to do with the banks than the shops but I'm open to correction on that.

Amazon are the best. Sometimes they refund you before they've picked up the item. Otherwise you normally get refund the day it's picked up by couriers.

Messystressy up to 7 days is fine, but over 12, not so much.
Interesting that it is possibly more to do with the banks Burnished. That would explain the disconnect between the store acknowledging the return and refunding the actual money.

I use Amazon a lot, Aim, and agree they are brilliant [ignoring their dodgy corporate tax practises], but I guess it's more the brilliant fashion retailers I want to know about.

I had a horrendous time a couple of years ago with HOF returns and one of their gift cards. Even their store staff were unaware of this particular loophole in their returns system. Eventually a store manager sorted it out but only after a member of staff in their call centre had argued with me, and actually laughed at me, for thirty minutes.
Never again.

I second Amazon for speed of refunds, but I've recently returned things to Tommy Hilfiger, Dune and Jaeger and they've all been pretty quick too.

Gap managed to take 3 full weeks to refund two items recently...has completely put me off buying online from them again.
Have had good experiences with Toast, Boden and Brora and think they're all pretty good and reliably swift. So is The Outnet, Asos and Next. Surfdome and Finisterre also good.
Me & Em were awful and slow, but hopefully they might have improved.
Grenson shoes just appalling customer service - took weeks and lots of emails to finally receive a refund for a pair of boots that they never sent as they were out of stock. I've since discovered that last seasons stock is half price on The Outnet!
I like companies who offer the Collect+ service.
Lordy! this thread has made me think about quite how much online shopping I actually do...no wonder the couriers all wave when I pass them.

Boden and Dorothy Perkins, I find are good

Yes to HOF being terrible for refunds. Took nearly 4 weeks for a £200 dress to be refunded. I will never buy online from them again

ASOS are the best for returns!

Yes, I like the Collect+ service too and House of Fraser does offer that, which is partly why I risked it. More fool me!

House of Fraser, if this thread is coming up on your Google alerts, or whatever they're called - SORT IT OUT! (I won't know if you have unfortunately, as I won't be shopping with you again!).

Anyway, thanks for all the recommendations, much appreciated.

Anyone had any experience with Zalando btw?

I have had a terrible experience with ASOS in the last few weeks.

I made about 5 separate orders and returned most of what was in the them, holding on to one or two things. For every single one of those 5 deliveries i received an email acknowledging receipt of the parcel and a refund for only ONE of the items. One return had two items in it, the others 3 or 4.

I returned via Collect+ and had oh so much fun getting in touch with ASOS customer service - who you can't speak to, remember - to get them to understand what I was complaining about and then getting them to remedy it. I had to deal with at least 4 different people for EACH parcel as no one would take ownership and deal with the problem from start to finish. I was nearly in tears of exasperation for 3 days, dealing with idiots. It was only when I told them to stuff it, that I would complain to my credit card company, Trading Standards and Watchdog that I finally got anywhere.

Thankfully, having had issues with ASOS before, I had take a copy of each of the return notes in each parcel. I am really really put off using them again. When they are good, ASOS are good. When they are bad, they are terrible.

I only buy online with a credit card, so as not to get overdrawn and impatient with a return. And also you've got better protection of something goes wrong.

I've got a House of Fraser card and they're generally good with refunds. I guess because it's not actually coming out of a bank account.

Zalando's very efficient.

Amazon are great as everyone has already said. Also Next and John Lewis are fairly quick. Superdry not so good, took ages for refund to come through!

I've always found Boden very good - it's one reason why I still order from them.

Just to update on the boring story of my non-refund for anyone interested: House of Fraser are still INSISTING that they have refunded me, despite no evidence of it at all, and saying it's all Paypal's fault (it's not, have been with Paypal for years, never ever had this problem before with them).

The customer service people at HoF have been appalling: no basic manners or courtesy, just want to get you off the phone as soon as possible, and one even let slip that they have been 'a bit busy' recently (ha!), hence why things are a bit of a mess...

Apparently, according to Paypal, that 'pay after delivery' thing is so you can return the item and not have to pay for it at all if you're not happy with the items. Which I did. But HoF still took the money out of my account.

Anyway, long story short, Paypal are now dealing with it, and escalating my 'dispute' to a 'claim', so one way or another I should have the money back in 10 days' time.

Grr, not what you need just before Xmas. I'm sure House of Fraser are fine if you're shopping on one of their credit cards, but they're definitely NOT fine otherwise. I'm sticking to John Lewis, M&S, Amazon and co in the future.

Rant over!