OV9

Mrs mik bought some clothes from https://milford-manchester.com/ a couple of weeks ago. Not a great deal of monies - £70 total.

In hindsight - there's quite a lot of easily accessible info out there that warns you about this site, but without seeking that out.... their website presents as a UK seller (on their homepage for example they have a drop-pin symbol with "Manchester" beside it), and the ordering process doesn't present any unusual information.

The items mrs mik received all look rather different from the website images (in terms of materials etc) and their sizes are all over the place > so they all need to go back.

Like many other punters, mrs mik has received standard responses that refunds are no problemo, but items need to be returned to China, using tracked postage, at the customers cost (circa £30). Or they can offer a 30% goodwill refund and you keep the items.

A quick check on gov.uk suggests that distance selling rules allow vendors to charge the customer for returns, but the website doesn't go into this level of detail of course.

So - is it worth raising a payment dispute with the bank (based on this seller presenting as a UK site, and providing no mention of returns needing to be sent back to China during the order process), or just chalk it down to experience since it's not a huge sum?

I should possibly have done a poll.....

Classic drop shipping....there's a blokes place called "Handsome Dan's" that sells stuff direct from China as well, used to see them all over Facebook selling generic stuff, but makes it look like a UK store.

Can't help on the legalities of the returns, unfortunately, but the internet is littered with these stores now.

For £70 I'd be tempted to open a dispute with your Bank, I'm sure they're getting this all the time now.

Its a real PITA, we've been caught out a couple of times with this but for values where we've just written it off and made a note to "do better" next time.

Their T&C's state that the returns are at your cost to China estimated to be £25.

My missus has done the same a few times. Just suck it up and tell her to read the T&C's next time

Yeah DSR is always returns at the customers expense. If they're a Chinese company DSR won't even apply anyway. It's a hiding to nothing trying to do anything about it but suck it up.

I had the same issue with a jacket I bought online, approx ten years ago…

The item that arrived was clearly an attempt at a cheap knock off that had no resemblance to what I ordered other than maybe the colour. The materials and size were completely different and they hadn’t even bothered to put a fake label in it. Raised a dispute with HSBC and they refunded me. It was a proper ballache with paperwork and communications though, they didn’t just instantly refund me as they would with other scams.

DSR are for where you don’t like it when it arrives, not when it’s different to what you ordered. If the website shows something materially different then it’s not as described and the seller has to bear any costs.

tim wrote: Thu Jul 10, 2025 1:55 pm If they're a Chinese company DSR won't even apply anyway. It's a hiding to nothing trying to do anything about it but suck it up.

This ^^

Jobbo wrote: Thu Jul 10, 2025 3:57 pm DSR are for where you don’t like it when it arrives, not when it’s different to what you ordered. If the website shows something materially different then it’s not as described and the seller has to bear any costs.

That’s what I was going to say. If this is a case of faulty/not as described then it’s a different kettle of fish. Not sure if it’s still current but it’s like the old trade descriptions act. If the products received are not as advertised then go back with that or dispute via bank.

My wife had this with a dress she ordered for a friends wedding (she was a bridesmaid, so the few girls who were bridesmaid all ordered the same style from the same listing). It was from an Amazon marketplace seller, although 'sold and shipped' from the third party. What arrived was clearly a completely different size to what was ordered. It didn't even have a size label in it - I think they just had a load of different sizes on a rack and shipped what they thought was the closest to what was requested. Long story short, it didn't fit. We raised a return via Amazon, clearly stating the reason and preparing for a fight, what with return costs to China etc etc, but in the end they just refunded all monies paid without even requesting it be returned. It's sitting in our wardrobe right now, and we've no use for it.