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A few months back I ordered some Ugg Boots from what looked like a genuine site selling genuine Ugg products.
The boots did actually arrive from China ( where incidentally Ugg Boots are now actually made ) and they were clearly 100% counterfeit.
I raised a dispute with my credit card provider, HSBC, providing documentary confirmation of every step of the order, all email feedback, my efforts direct with the retailer ( where incidentally they offered a 60% refund if I agreed to retain the boots ) - all in all I made every effort to resolve the matter direct with the retailer in China. That was not easy as every email was responded to by a different party every time, and when I declined the 60% refund, everything 'went quiet'.
I then raised the dispute officially with HSBC. After several weeks, they responded with the following :
'I have credited your account ( with the original purchase price ) while we investigate. The credit will appear on a future statement. The retailer now has up to 60 days to respond to your dispute and provide us with further information. We'll let you know if your dispute is unsuccessful and if the credit needs to be removed.'
Frankly I cannot imagine a remote Chinese company selling counterfeit goods responding positively. Should I therefore be cautious and simply anticipate a future reversal of this credit on my credit card account? I must admit that I wasn't aware that chargebacks were 'conditional' in this way. I also continue to retain the counterfeit goods and HSBC have offered no advice at this point how I should proceed with that although I will contact them again and ask that very question.
The boots did actually arrive from China ( where incidentally Ugg Boots are now actually made ) and they were clearly 100% counterfeit.
I raised a dispute with my credit card provider, HSBC, providing documentary confirmation of every step of the order, all email feedback, my efforts direct with the retailer ( where incidentally they offered a 60% refund if I agreed to retain the boots ) - all in all I made every effort to resolve the matter direct with the retailer in China. That was not easy as every email was responded to by a different party every time, and when I declined the 60% refund, everything 'went quiet'.
I then raised the dispute officially with HSBC. After several weeks, they responded with the following :
'I have credited your account ( with the original purchase price ) while we investigate. The credit will appear on a future statement. The retailer now has up to 60 days to respond to your dispute and provide us with further information. We'll let you know if your dispute is unsuccessful and if the credit needs to be removed.'
Frankly I cannot imagine a remote Chinese company selling counterfeit goods responding positively. Should I therefore be cautious and simply anticipate a future reversal of this credit on my credit card account? I must admit that I wasn't aware that chargebacks were 'conditional' in this way. I also continue to retain the counterfeit goods and HSBC have offered no advice at this point how I should proceed with that although I will contact them again and ask that very question.
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