SportsDirect.com refuse to cancel order

Ludikrus

Hi,

I'm curious to know where I stand on this. Maybe someone can advise.

I placed an order with SportsDirect.com for 8 items. The order consisted of 6 cans of tennis balls and 2 other small items. The order was accepted, everything supposedly in stock, and payment was made. Shortly after I received an "order amendment" email saying the tennis balls were out of stock so they were taken off my order. I contacted SportsDirect via twitter and said I wanted the entire order cancelled, as I do not want to incur the 10 euro shipping charge (to Ireland) for 2 small items, which were frankly an after thought. The 6 cans of tennis balls is what made the shipping fee worth my while. They replied that the order "is already being picked" and can't be cancelled. Can they do this or am I entitled to have the order cancelled and refunded?

stronglikebull

I don't think you have the right to cancel the order once it has been accepted.

You can return the order for a refund, however you would possibly be liable for the return shipping cost.
https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/consumer_affairs/consumer_protection/consumer_rights/distance_selling.html
"During the cooling-off period, you can cancel a distance contract without giving a reason and without incurring charges or penalties, other than possible charges incurred in returning the goods."

The cost of return might be covered by the retailer, it would depend on what their terms state.

Darc19

Simply refuse delivery.

An online store like that is probably taking in thousands of orders a day.

Their Twitter feed is most likely managed by a marketing company who would have no contact with the order system.


Zero chance of the order being canceled as the logistics of it are near to impossible.



So delivery refusal or return is only option

I'm in a similar boat with them now today. Ordered runners and added on a box of golf balls which only makes sense financially when you factor in that I was paying for delivery already. Wouldn't have got them otherwise. Email this afternoon to say that the runners are out of stock, and the order amended to just the golf balls. When it arrives, to ship it back for a refund will end up costing even more money.

I'll post here when I get an update.

"Thank you for your email.

I am afraid I am unable to cancel your order as it has already been dispatched to the courier and is now within the delivery network.

I apologise for any inconvenience that this may cause.
Kind regards,
Sports direct"



My reply:
Dear xxxxx,

Many thanks for your email and the quick response. However I find the contents completely unacceptable. I will now, in effect, be charged two delivery fees for one order, which is absolutely disgraceful.

You say that the order has been despatched already. How much time elapsed between notification of the amended order (15:48) and the despatch of the (now unwanted) items (16:04)? Sixteen minutes? You'll also note that my original email requesting cancellation was within those sixteen minutes. How is anybody supposed to be able to cancel their order within such an unreasonable timeframe?

Can my account be credited with the delivery fee so that when I reorder the cancelled items I will not be punished for your own error?

Regards,

tricky D

Word of warning on refusing delivery. Fastway couriers own their own vans so don't like having to do anything extra and might just dump the package but sign it as delivered. Currently in a dispute with Fastway/Sportsdirect similar to this where no item received but the signature is nothing like mine, not even the correct letters.

tricky D

Another thing about SD which I have just experienced is they only allow 500 characters on their complaint form meaning you can't give proper description and/or paste much from any emailing that has been done. It is an old poor customer service trick.

jamesbondings

Pretty sure you can return goods to sportsworld here. Pretty sure I have done this before.

nava

The problem for the OP is that they are paying the €10 shipping charge but most of the items they ordered were canceled as they didn't have them in Stock, if item is returned or delivery not accepted they OP wouldn't get the shipping charge refunded.

Stoner

jamesbondings wrote: »

Pretty sure you can return goods to sportsworld here. Pretty sure I have done this before.

I tried that but couldn't
Their stores here are not return locations

whiterebel

I won't use SD again. I find their whole set up really seedy. Like a shady backstreet outfit. From examples such as the above, and their way of the buyer having to nominate the shipping, allowing them to wash their hands of it when it goes wrong....."well you chose the shipping method......" despite there being only one way. Or you can collect it from their UK warehouse.:rolleyes: horrible, horrible company, like it’s owner.

How do Paypal cover the return ?

stronglikebull

Deleted User wrote: »

How do Paypal cover the return ?

I hadn't heard of this before either, but seemingly a service Paypal does offer


https://www.paypal.com/ie/webapps/mpp/refunded-returns


There's a €30 cap on on the refund and you can avail of up to 12 in a year. If the seller offers any kind of return shipping refund then the Paypal service does not apply. Seems pretty good though and might well work for the OP in this case.

Treviso

This was the reason I stopped using SportsDirect, that they wouldn't guarantee your order against their stock. They would entice you to order with them with offers that were too good to be true, then you would add items to the order to justify the delivery fee. They would then amend the order and remove the offers and you would be stuck with the add on items.

They are a shady company that will do anything to make money. You can bet this is a strategy that they implemented without any thought for their customers.

Treviso

OmegaGene wrote: »

Isn’t it terrible, a company trying to make money by offering deals and reduced price stock
The offers are good and if you don’t like what arrived then send it back using PayPal free returns

That wasn't the point I was making. Those offers are great but they never have stock of them available. They should state no stock available on the website when they run out - instead they leave the offers online in the hope they entice more people to buy other items along with them.

Suckit

Paypal returns only works a couple of time a year, and tbh it is a massive waste using it on the likes of SD.
SD have been doing this a while, since they introduced (higher) shipping charges. There used to be an SD thread in BA every other week, until they started stinging people with returns.
I had to return two items of clothing that were too small and I was of the understanding that I would be refunded the returns fee, as they weren't the size that they stated.
I was not. I had to pay delivery to Ireland and return shipping. I think it was the guts of €25 it cost me to have nothing.
I would never use SD ever again.
There are tons of alternatives online when you look around. SD have to be the least attractive option, even when you take shipping out. Most of the stuff on the site isn't great.

Suckit

OmegaGene wrote: »

You can use it 12 times a year according to the terms and conditions but I’ve submitted more than 20 this year and never been declined so it’s well worth using the free returns on PayPal

Fair enough. I was having a bit of an issue with a returned parcel I sent to Germany in May/June, and I probably got an agent with a bit of attitude.
She had given me a bit of stick for not using the return service on the site that I purchased from (which wasn't applicable from Ireland) and was laying down the law on the limited returns I could make, even though that was my only one this year.
It eventually got sorted, but even though there was a bit of annoyance with the Paypal returns, there is no way it would have been sorted without.

I think if I had issues with SD going forward (I would never use them again tbh) and they didn't adhere to the 14 days refunds, I would just say that the goods were not up to standard or were not as described, and they have to refund shipping costs then.

But not sure how that will change going forward with Brexit.

hokeypokey

Having a similar issue too where I forgot to update my delivery address...

"Unfortunately once an order has been placed we are unable to make any amendments or cancel the order.

We would like to apologize for any disappointment."

Seve OB

Bought some stuff on SD recently and need to return it.

Anyone with experience? What’s the best way about doing this.

whiterebel

You should check the Consumer Issues forum as well, I think there are threads there about returning to SD. Also Bargain Alerts.