How can I get a refund from a fraudulent sustainable fashion site?

[BruceLily]

Dear all,

A Shopify based online "sustainable" fashion website has scammed me and refuses to complete the refund of a defective item after I sent it back to them with an insured shipping worth 50 euros. I tried to report them on other platforms but to no avail . They have over 60k followers but they scammed several people. 

Is there something that the Shopify community and legal team can do ? This is contributing to undermining the reputation of Shopify and of all China based online shopping businesses. It is important to have a standard procedure / warning in place for when things like this happen. Do you have any other recommendations?

[Lana]

Hello, @BruceLily!

Sorry to hear that you have had this experience. 

Is it that the store is no longer replying to you when you request a refund?

To give you some context, Shopify is a platform where merchants can come to create and host their online stores, but we do not control individual stores or their orders. Hence, this is why we recommend contacting the store directly first.

If they have not been replying, however, I understand that this is concerning.

Here, we would recommend that you wait until 30 days have passed since you made the purchase - and if you don't get a response by then, you can file a complaint about this store with us here.

I understand that this is not ideal, but another step that I would advise at that stage is to also contact your bank to see if you can get the money back for this order. 

[BruceLily]

Hi Lana, I have been waiting to sort out this issue for over 2 months and after they sent me a partial refund they stopped replying. This is why I contacted you. I am not sure the bank can provide a refund after such long time has passed. I made an official report following instruction on the link but I did not get any confirmation and I wonder whether sending them a notification of the report might accelerate the process. 

[Lana]

Sounds like you have taken all the right steps!

In terms of an update, we are unable to share any details of the investigation due to privacy reasons, but rest assured that our team will be looking into it.

As far as the refund goes, I would strongly encourage you to contact your bank, as cases where there was non-delivery of products or services after x amount of time are actually a common issue brought up with banks, so there may be a possibility there to get it back. 

[BruceLily]

The item was delivered. It was defective and it was returned with a very expensive shipping with DHL international. They refunded the shipping but not the cost of the item .

[Lana]

Apologies, a slight correction there - in any case, if goods are defective and it can be proven, I would still say it's worth bringing up with the bank, especially if you can show them examples of communication with the store where they were not willing to help. 

[BruceLily]

I contacted the bank and they say they cannot do anything because it appears as if the item was refunded completely, because they do not know that they promised to refund the shipping cost with DHL. This is their trick. They assure you the shipping costs will be covered, and the item will be fully refunded when it arrives at destination. Formally for the bank the item was returned and refunded successfully. The Paypal management also contacted them, but legally they cannot enforce a refund because of this trick. I could have asked for a refund from Paypal and the bank after reporting that the item was defective, but since the website seemed legit, I followed their instruction and I got scammed. I can provide all the emails where they assure me both the shipping costs and the item cost will be refunded fully, once the item got returned to destination, and I have receipts of the cost of DHL international shipping. I am telling you and Paypal about this because this is a trick they do and they scammed several customers, contributing to hindering the reputation of Shopify and Paypal.

[BruceLily]

I contacted the bank and they say they cannot do anything because it appears as if the item was refunded completely, because they do not know that they promised to refund the shipping cost with DHL. This is their trick. They assure you the shipping costs will be covered, and the item will be fully refunded when it arrives at destination. Formally for the bank the item was returned and refunded successfully. The Paypal management also contacted them, but legally they cannot enforce a refund because of this trick. I could have asked for a refund from Paypal and the bank after reporting that the item was defective, but since the website seemed legit, I followed their instruction and I got scammed. I can provide all the emails where they assure me both the shipping costs and the item cost will be refunded fully, once the item got returned to destination, and I have receipts of the cost of DHL international shipping. I am telling you and Paypal about this because this is a trick they do and they scammed several customers, contributing to hindering the reputation of Shopify and Paypal.

[Lana]

Thank you for the update on this.

Sorry to hear that you have had this experience.

At this point, it is important to reiterate that you should go ahead and file the complaint about this store here as I mentioned before, so our team can properly investigate the store. 

[BruceLily]

Thank you for your reply.
I already submitted the report and there is no follow up yet. They still refuse to respond.

[BruceLily]

Dear Lana,

They just never replied. I opened a report about misconduct but it looks like no follow up. I also contacted Paypal but they cannot do much. I have all the email exchanges to prove their misconduct and I am trying to get them suspended on Instagram as well but it's hard to get in touch with those responsible .. they did not offer to compensate even with a complementary item or voucher or anything. They just deceived me and kept 50 euros of my money. It really shouldn't be accepted by these platforms (Shopify, Paypal, Instagram) that affiliates act this way. What do you suggest?

[Lana]

I understand how frustrating this is.

You have taken all of the right steps here.

Regarding next steps, we are unable to follow up after a business has been reported due to privacy concerns, but the team will be investigating them.

Situations like this are tough on you as a customer, and so I also wanted to share our guide on safety when shopping online here so that you know what to look out for, and hopefully avoid issues like this.