OCUK has agreed to give me a full refund if item is in a resellable condition, Which it is.
This is wrong!!! It doesn't matter if the item is resellable or not, as long as you have taken reasonable care of it they must take it back.
My understandment of the DSR rules are quite simple:
*Buyer occurs shipping costs, only RMA's the customer shouldnt be out of pocket.
Taken from the DSR guidelines for businesses
http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/general/oft698.pdf.
Section 3.55 onwards states that if a business wants the buyer to pay they have to put it in the contract as part of the required written information on DSR. You'll see most online sites will have a bit in their returns section with regards to DSR and it'll state there that the buyer should pay for the return shipping.
If a website does not have this information published then they cannot charge you for returning the items.
OCUK has this information in their returns information stating the buyer must pay for return postage, so that's the case.
*Item must be able to be resold (so scratches all over it warrants it as used)
This is the biggest misconception with DSR. The item does not have to be in a resellable condition, they just have to have had reasonable care taken with them whilst in possession of the buyer.
Section 3.59 states "The DSRs do not link cancellation rights with a supplier’s ability to resell items as new.".
*Restocking fee's can be used *Dark area, this is sometimes silently put in T&C's*
Again section 3.55 states "You are not allowed to make any further charges, such as a restocking charge or an administration charge."
*Refunds given when stock arrives in and inspected.
Section 3.46 states "You must refund the consumer’s money even if you have not yet collected the goods or had them returned to you by the consumer. You cannot insist on the goods being received by you before you make a refund."
So sadly wrong on all 4 counts there (well, 3.5ish as the return postage is payable is stated by the seller)!
It's a handy document to refer to as it's what businesses should be bound by. Which makes it a good reference when you want to act on them as these are the rules to which they should be following.
Whilst I think the regs are slightly unfair to businesses, especially smaller ones, they are there and it really winds me up when they try and wrangle their way out of it.
I had hassle with someone who sent me the wrong item, which I returned within the DSR period but they (wrongly) said it had been used and refused a refund.
