Why has my refund not arrived?

On 22 April I paid £26.90 for aftershave from an online shop, The Perfume Superstore. Nothing arrived after two weeks although I was sending the company emails.

I did get a reply eventually saying that a technical error meant my order had not been sent.

Then on 25 May I got another email saying the company was out of stock and I was offered a refund. I wanted the refund but my card has not been refunded yet.
Howard Angel

At the time of writing to us Mr Angel has no need to panic. Some companies will process refunds to cards very quickly, while others are much slower.

Under the Distance Selling Regulations (DSRs) retailers have up to 30 days in which to process a refund. He could try contacting the retailer again asking what its accounting and refunds procedure is.

We checked on the company’s website but it did not indicate the time it would take to process a refund bar saying, “If we are unable to complete within the contracted period of time, we comply with the DSR and all monies paid including postage and packaging.”

This means if it abides by the DSRs, he will have his money back by 24 June. We have contacted the company to ask how long it takes to process a refund but at the time of going to press had not heard back.

If there is no refund showing by then he should contact the company again, giving it 48 hours in which to respond to his email. If nothing then happens he should contact his issuing bank and see if it will initiate a chargeback, forcibly reversing the transaction.

The minimum transaction for protection under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act is £100.01 but many banks issuing credit cards will make an exception. If the bank won’t take this action, Mr Angel asked us if he should take action in the small claims court.

He can do this but would need to weigh up the pros and cons. All legal proceedings impose a cost, even if you use the small claims court’s online service.

All costs must be submitted in your initial claim. Even if he won, he faces the battle of making the company pay up. There are ways that consumers can try to extract money from a reluctant trader once they have won a case, but they are not foolproof and can be time consuming and stressful.