Newport News Complaint - Fraudulent Return Policies

Complaint

Review by austin resident on 2010-04-29

I placed an order for a swimming suit back in November. I received the suit and it didn't fit so I placed it back in the bag and sent it back the very next day asking for a refund. I called and they said it would take up to six weeks to be refunded. In February I received a "merchandise certificate" because they claim it took more than 30 days for the swimsuit to be returned and they could not credit my card. Instead of calling and complaining, I go with it and order three items with the certificate. First two items, I received. The third item I call a couple of times and each time am told it's on back order. This morning I discover that $15.00 has been debited from my account for this order. I call Newport News and they said I should have received a check in the mail in March for the portion of the merchandise credit that was on backorder and that because they had my credit card number from the original order they could go ahead and debit my account for $15.00. I did not receive a check in March for the difference of the backordered item. I was not told I was receiving a check for that amount which I did not receive and certainly was not told that they would be debiting my bank account for the item when it finally came in. They told me this morning that they could debit my bank account for the backordered item now that it came in because the original swimsuit was ordered on the debit card. I asked why they could not then just credit my account instead of sending a check in March for the amt. of the backordered item or credit my acct. for the returned swimsuit which I returned promptly and they said they could not because it from a merchandise certificate. Although, I am only talking $15.00 here, they did not have authorization to take the $15.00 from my account.

I never received the check back in March for the backlogged item that was supposedly credited off their merchandise account amount which was a credit off my original order which was by my debit card. Their story is contradictory to their own policies, very shysty and smacks of fraud.