Lingerie seller may have been underaware of law

It seems like a girl can’t even get respect from out-of-state lingerie shops anymore. A Bangor consumer, let’s call her “Ms. S,” wrote Forum complaining that “unmentionables” she had ordered from a California company had not yet arrived even though several months had passed since she placed the order. She had paid in advance with her $56.78 personal check. Bank records showed that the West Coast company had cashed her check a week later. Ms. S had wisely kept a photocopy of the order form and sent it to COMBAT along with a copy of the canceled check, front and back.

The consumer explained that when she hadn’t received the lingerie, which she needed for a trip, she had no choice but to buy similar items locally. Of course buying locally would have solved the problem in the first place.

She wrote the company several times explaining that she really needed the items for her vacation. Upon returning from her vacation, she wrote the company saying the trip was over and she no longer needed the merchandise so she wanted a refund.

Ms. S was getting nowhere fast so she joined COMBAT and one of our mediators wrote the company on her behalf. We chastised the company for not sending the merchandise or a refund after so long a time. We enclosed a copy of Ms. S’ canceled check as proof of payment.

We reminded the company that Federal Trade Commission regulations mandate that mail-order merchandise must be mailed to consumers within 30 days. If there will be a delay, the consumer must be notified and given the choice of waiting a specified time longer or given a full refund. We notified the Los Angeles outfit that they were in direct violation of the federal law.

Since the company’s failure to deliver on time forced Ms. S to purchase the lingerie elsewhere, we advised the company that we expected a full refund to her within 14 days, and that COMBAT be notified of the refund.

Two weeks later we received a letter from the lingerie store apologizing for the delay and claiming that the lingerie was shipped 10 days after the order was received. Apparently they believed that somewhere en route there had been a “panty raid” and the order had disappeared. They asked Ms. S to place the order again mentioning order No. 00135692-02 at which time they promised to send the merchandise promptly.

“Read our lips,” we wrote back. “We are again requesting that you send Ms. S a full refund in the amount of $56.78 within the next 14 days and notify COMBAT of your action.” We warned the company officials that if they chose not to honor their obligation, we would have little choice but to notify the California and Maine attorneys general, Federal Trade Commission, Postal Inspector, Better Business Bureau and Chamber of Commerce in Los Angeles

Two weeks later Ms. S called us to say she had received a full refund. We salute her for keeping good records, including the address of the mail order company. Many consumers send order blanks away, along with their check and the only record of a company’s name and address. Persistent as Ms. S was, this case proves there is strength in numbers and that some companies from “away” will ignore individual consumers as much as possible. But when a consumer organization is involved, they find religion.

For help or to request individual or business membership information write: Consumer Forum, Bangor Daily News, PO Box 1329, Bangor 04402-1329.