I ordered some jeans from an independent on-line retailer that is based in the UK on the 14/04/2017 and the jeans came via DPD on the 16th or 17th of the same month. Just as a side note, I went on holiday on the 15/04/2017 and came back on the 29/04/2017 (I don’t think it’s relevant to this situation but the retailer does, that’s why I’m mentioning it.)

When I got back from holiday, I opened the jeans and they had a rip in one of the back pockets. I left it around 4 or 5 days before I got in contact with the retailer via email. I emailed them my order details and advising them that the product is faulty and I wish to return it, can they advise me on the address to return it to (there was no return address on the invoice surprisingly). I got an email back with the following:

hello, Our policy indicates that the return policy is within 14 days,provided that the items are unused and in original condition. We will not be able to give you a refund as you exceeded the return policy.

I emailed them back advising that the Consumer Rights Act 2015 gives me the right to reject for 30 days within purchase of the product and again requested them to advise me of the returns procedure. They eventually responded after 3 days requesting photos of the damaged area, I sent them photos of the damage to the pocket and photos of the other pocket on the other side to show how the jeans should look like.

They didn't respond for almost 2 days and I managed to find another email and sent it to that one instead. I then got this email back:

It has came to my attention that the item we have sent out was not faulty but in fact that it has clearly been damaged by you. We always make sure that our products are double checked for any faults before being shipped out. Plus if it was faulty you would have sent it back straight away but it has took you over 2 weeks to raise the problem. But if you would like to return the item to us for a further look then we can do so and follow the return policy. Because it has been 14 days you will have to pay for shipping to return the product to us.

As you can see the reason why I mentioned I went on holiday at the start of the thread is because they said this in their response. After this, I sent them the following email:

Hi Sinead, Thank you for your email, can you please provide proof of how you reached the assumption of me damaging the product, as according to the Consumer Rights Act 2015 it is down to yourselves to prove that the damage was carried out by myself and not the other way around. As I can assure you that the product arrived to me in a damaged state and I did not damage the item myself, as you assume I have. Regarding your comment about me not raising the issue with yourselves within 2 week, I have no idea what that has got to do with me advising you the item is faulty? It doesn’t matter the reason why I didn’t raise it within the 2 week as the 14 days returns policy doesn’t apply if the product is faulty, to which in this case, it is. As I advised in a previous email, I will happily pay the return postage but only to return the product for a refund. If you are willing to pay the return postage to inspect the product then I will happily ship it back to yourselves for you to inspect. If you are not willing to do this, can you please provide some form of proof of your assumption of me damaging the product. If this isn’t possible, can you please confirm if I return the product that I will be provided with a full refund. I look forward to your response

It has been 2 days since that and I have emailed them again but they are just simply ignoring me now. I am just at a loss of what the next step would be, I was thinking of taking it to the Retail Ombudsman but I have checked and this retailer is not a member so they would have to be willing to talk to the ombudsman and from their attitude I don’t think this would be likely. The last option I think I would have is to take it to a small claims court.

I have a couple of questions before I proceed to the next step but I am more than willing to take this all the way.

• Is there anything above in my emails that I am incorrect about as in the 30 days to reject not applying to this situation etc?

• Am I right in saying to them that under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, it is down to them to prove the damage has been caused by myself? (even though it hasn’t)

• If I do go to a small claims court, based off the above would I have a valid case or am I just shooting in the dark?

• Is there anything else I can do that I have not already mentioned above?

I know this is a very long thread and I appreciate it if you have taken the time to read all of this. I just need a bit of advice if I am going wrong or if I am in the right and if I have said anything wrong.

TL;DR: Oredered clothing off the internet, goods arrived and they were damaged. Retailer initially refused refund, I then mentioned consumer rights act 2015 and they are now saying the damage has been caused by me. What can I do?