I have in the past placed three orders with the retail clothing website, boohoo.com, without incident. I was until recently quite happy with the quality of the items and the price paid. Delivery is speedy. I purchased a few dresses which were decent quality for a quick fix of trend dabbling (best avoided at my age anyway!), a furry jumper that I was quite pleased with, and a beaded blouse which is really lovely. I found the sizing to be accurate although I purposefully bought items that were not in the trashy and tight section which does comprise much of this site's product.

The website has such a vast amount of product that navigation can be slow, although specific searches and category tabs can help narrow this. There are also customer reviews which are invaluable when it comes to shopping online. I really do not shop for clothing online often as so often there are discrepancies in fit/quality. Unfortunately with my most recent order there was one item that just looked very tacky in person and didn't suit at all, so I posted it back expecting a full refund.

It took a good two weeks before they confirmed they had received my returned item (this after me prompting them with an email). They informed me they were very busy etc etc (it was shortly after the holidays). And then a couple more weeks passed before they confirmed my card had been refunded - minus a £2 "re-stocking fee", which apparently they charge for each returned item. I honestly thought this was a joke, but having been ripped off far worse by another online retailer in the past my hackles went right up. I did some Googling, with some conflicting results. I did find several sources highlighting that the Distance Selling Regulations act forbids re-stocking fees by websites, and having read the section several times myself it seemed fairly clear cut.

I fired off an email to the company stating that it seemed to me they were operating in defiance of the act, which they have repeatedly denied, citing that I took more than 7 days to return the item (given that it was received a couple of days before Christmas and I returned it before New Year I would have thought there would be some leeway what with numerous non-working days in between), but they did not log it in as being returned until Jan 5th and further stated because I had not notified them in writing that it was within their rights to charge me the fee.

I just cannot be bothered calling the Office of Fair Trading or whoever about this. It just boggles my mind that a company would continually alienate customers (needless to say I will not be shopping there again) with this attitude. Returns are a way of life with internet shopping, I have never been charged a fee like this before, so I am taking to the mean streets of dooyoo to moan about it, sorry! With the volume of goods this company must get in returns there is some major cash being made on the £2 per item re-stock fee. Yes it's only £2, maybe in this corner of consumer cheapism that is the price to be paid for my own folly.

So forgive the unabashedly biased rating here if you wish. While I have been pleased with many items I have purchased here, in my opinion charging re-stocking fees is shady to see the least if not illegal, I am sure companies like this consider the massive profits they are making worth alienating customers, (though I for one cannot fathom why anyone would continue to put up with this when there are numerous other sites that do not charge a fee). Despite my repeated whinging this company refused to give me back money that was questionably at best charged. They do not give a toss about customer satisfaction. Shop at your own peril.