CONSUMER FRAUD! DO NOT TRUST THIS STORE…read more
This store and their manager Chiara Gerbotto has engaged in consumer fraud and unfair trade practices under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and breached a written agreement to refund GBP 5,200 for services never rendered.
We delivered ten boxes of clothing for shipping to the USA on Saturday June 28 near closing time with after purchasing all of these boxes during the week before at full price. The knew we would be leaving the country on July 1 and not coming back. Once all the boxes were there, and only then I was advised that the lowest cost method of shipping would be GBP ~3950. The boxes were not weighed. They said the rate was based on the number and size of boxes, which I had never heard before. Two of the boxes had valuable clothing in them worth at least $10,000 each. They suggested a GBP 90,000 insurance policy but when I said that seemed like too much they reduced it to GBP 50,000 insurance. They quoted the 50,000 insurance for $1500 but then discounted the rate to $1200. They charged my American express GBP 5,200 at closing time. I was shocked at the high cost of the lowest cost shipping option, but I felt like I had no other choice since we would be leaving the country on Tuesday and all the boxes were already at the store which would be closed Sunday. We were held for ransom.
As I left I realized we had been overcharged and spending that amount made no sense. When I discussed this with my wife upon getting home ten minutes later, she ran to the store, and found Chiara Gerbotto and told her we did not want to ship the boxes and we wanted our money back. At the same time, at 5:13pm on Saturday, less than 15 minutes after leaving the store, I sent whatsapp messages to Chiara Gerbotto reading in part:
At 5:14pm: "I want our money back and we will ship this some other way."
And I wrote: "Do not ship those boxes. We will come get them on Monday and do something else."
According to the Whatsapp Read Receipt they read these messages within 2 minutes of receiving them and they responded "Let's talk about it on Monday...I am not in the office anymore "
(Although she was in the office still.)
The store was closed the next day, Sunday. I came over at 9:30am, Monday June 30, and was told Chiara would arrive for work at 10:30am. At 10:30am I came back to the store with a driver to pick up the boxes. At the store Chiara agreed to refund my shipping purchase but said she did not know how to operate the credit card machine to give a refund and that she would arrange for her manager to give a full refund. We signed a return receipt that showed the full amount of GBP 5,200 as Refund to Shipper. I have a copy of the return receipt.
My courier and I removed all of the boxes from the store where they were in the same place and in the same condition we left them on Saturday evening. I will leave them with family and repack the clothes and take them with me on my flight back to the USA later in the summer.
I have contacted American Express and disputed this charge. Mailboxes did not provide any services to me except for the boxes and packing materials that I purchased at full rate. They took advantage of their knowledge that we are leaving the country tomorrow to hold us for ransom and charge a rapacious rate.
Now they are reneging on their agreement to provide a refund. We are entitled to a full refund under the U.K., Consumer Rights Act 2015 because under the Act "no custom work or irreversible action was taken by the business on [our] behalf." I informed them within 15 minutes of the charge on our credit card that we were withdrawing our shipment and would come back to get it when the store reopened. Their misrepresentation of their agreement to provide a refund is consumer fraud and their actions as a business are "Unfair Commercial Practice" under the Act. We will be pursuing legal action against this store for consumer fraud and unfair commercial practice.
