Hi all
Out of curiosity, can anyone enlighten me as to what my rights are when cancelling an online order paid through paypal before it has been sent? Am I always entitled to cancel and get a refund?
Also, with regards to discount codes on websites, if I have not applied a code and realise after I have placed the order, what is the best way of dealing with that?
Thanks!
My experience is much the same to Meme. If you talk to the customer service team they will generally allow you to cancel the order if the items haven't been shipped. The only company that refused to cancel my order was eglobal. I will never use them again.
Am I always entitled to cancel and get a refund?
no. some better retailers will but they aren't required to.
Also, with regards to discount codes on websites, if I have not applied a code and realise after I have placed the order, what is the best way of dealing with that?
contact the retailer and explain the situation. they might refund the difference
Depends on the terms and conditions of the retailer. Whether a contract has been formed comes down to if there is an offer and acceptance of the offer. When you 'buy' something you are making an offer to buy. If they take your money immediately this could be deemed as acceptance and it is up to them if they want to let you cancel the order.
However, many websites have a clause which states that acceptance only occurs when they dispatch the item. This protects the seller as if they run out of stock etc they can't be forced to supply it. A side benefit is, that you can revoke your offer at any time before acceptance by communicating it. If they still send out the item, legally you have revoked the offer in the first place which would mean you can refuse to accept it.
In short - it's up to the website and how they operate but as mentioned above if you made a mistake they are usually more than happy to cancel and let you reorder.
I ordered an "in-stock" item from Living Social which took 3-4 weeks to be shipped. During this time I sent numerous emails asking for a refund but they either ignored my (what I tried to make very carefully worded) questions and answered questions that I hadn't asked, or played hardball, blindly following black and white procedures (citing policies that obviously everyone reads).
Not every retailer is like Amazon, i.e. recognises that trying to help their customer will encourage repeat purchase and spread positive word of mouth. Choose carefully.
As long as you have a reason, like you accidentally ordered the wrong size, or color or you reread their terms and disagree with x. They usually dont allow it if you just say you changed your mind, but if you explain your situation they usually agree. They dont want an irate customer on their hands. Cause in the end you can just contact paypal and grief the retailer, or contact your credit card supplier and just cancel the transaction.
as far as the discount code goes, just say you had it in the box, but it didnt apply at checkout, and you didnt notice till after it was processed. That has happened to me a time or too, when i didnt press enter and apply the code but i just copied and pasted it in their code area.
Thanks. I did tell them I tried to apply the code, but they only offered a gift voucher for the value instead. Which is better than nothing but still, I think they should honour the voucher and refund the difference via paypal. It doesn't make me want to shop there again, and really what is it to them to honour the sale?
You have no rights here. If they do offer a refund, its for goodwill, not because you are entitled to it.
really what is it to them to honour the sale?
They probably would've if you actually applied the code at checkout.
I've come into multiple situations where I've had to cancel orders immediately after placing them because i missed something in the details or accidentally placed the order when i thought there was another page to review the order and once because i applied a coupon code but it not appear after going through with transaction.
Every time i contacted the company they were happy to cancel my order with refund and let me re-order correctly if need be.
So yeh best to contact them, I don't think you have a right to cancel but I'm sure they will oblige if it hasn't been sent out yet