I bought a £40 coat from Asos using PayPal. The money was taken out of my PayPal account, but within minutes Asos emailed saying the order was unsuccessful.
I contacted Asos, which said it would take 10 working days for the money to reappear in my PayPal account. It has now been a month and dealing with Asos has been frustrating. It has no helpline number on its website and I have to keep emailing through a “help form” on the site or posting on its social media outlets, which it rarely responds to. The order still says “pending” on my PayPal account, but Asos insists it has cancelled it and there is nothing more it can do. I have repeatedly contacted them showing them proof the order still says pending but again, that is ignored. NW, London
Asos does indeed wish to keep customers at bay for there is no telephone number on its website, only web forms which might – or might not – elicit a response. My email to its press office meets the same fate; only after three weeks and a chaser does Asos bestir itself to blame Paypal.
With far more promptness, Paypal accepts responsibility. “Unfortunately an error on PayPal’s behalf meant that the customer’s order wasn’t cancelled as it should have been, and this then delayed the refund. We have since corrected this mistake, and are also putting a new process in place to prevent this happening again,” says a spokesperson. You have received an apology and an extra £40 in goodwill.
If you need help email Anna Tims at your.problems@observer.co.uk or write to Your Problems, The Observer, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Include an address and phone number.
