mercinary
January 12th, 2006, 06:02 PM
http://money.guardian.co.uk/consumernews/story/0,14188,1685200,00.html
Outlook bleak for Mydv customers
Miles Brignall
Thursday January 12, 2006
Hundreds of British internet shoppers today looked set to lose money after the attorney general of Massachusetts filed an emergency court order to shut down a website from which they had ordered discounted electrical goods.
Mydv.co.uk sold items including the latest PlayStation to UK consumers in the run up to Christmas, but many never received the items they had ordered.
Some of the goods that did turn up were built to US specifications and wouldn't work in the UK. Most buyers were charged more than the original quoted prices, and had sought refunds from the company.
The professional-looking billed itself as "The UK's best source for digital video equipment" and a telephone number on the site began with the central London code 0207.
In reality it was owned and run out of Waltham, Massachusetts by an American company called Nepco and calls were routed through to a call centre abroad, thought to be in Bangalore.
Following several complaints by angry UK consumers, the attorney general, Tom Reilly, began an investigation into the firm on the basis it was being run in his state.
Just before Christmas - on December 16 - he issued an order allowing it continue to trade provided it promised to honour all orders, refund any customer who had since cancelled their orders, and to repay any overcharges.
The same rules applied to three other websites also run by Nepco - gardenready.co.uk, nepine.co.uk and pspuniverse.co.uk.
The Guardian understands that Nepco was given until January 5 to comply with certain requests. On that day the sites disappeared and, as a result Mr Reilly's office is now seeking to wind up the firm.
If the move is successful, it is unlikely that UK consumers will get back much of the money they are owed from the US and they will have to rely on any protection they may have from their card provider.
However, Sandra Quinn, spokeswoman for APACs - the UK card providers' association - says providers are not required to return payments stolen in such circumstances.
"The fact that the company was not based in the UK is a big problem for the victims," she said.
"The Consumer Credit Act requires the credit card issuers to cover the cost of fraud - but only if the company is based in the UK.
"That said, lots of card issuers will return money stolen from their customers in this way - Barclaycard is one - and it is always worth asking your card provider if they will cover things like this.
"That goes for debit and credit card issuers alike."
One victim who has since got all his money back is Peter Hoare from North London.
He was overcharged by £187 on a £2,000 video camera, and set up an alternative website - mydv-ripff.co.uk which has since acted as a conduit for complaints to the US authorities.
All attempts by the Guardian to contact the company have failed. Nepco is not answering its phone at head office, and the numbers originally advertised on the website are longer being answered.
Case study: Julie and David Hykin
Julie and David Hykin from Walsall are one family left out of pocket by the firm after tying to buy their 13-year-old son Daniel a PlayStation Portable (PSP) for Christmas.
"Back in November they were unavailable in the shops here so we decided to go online," says Julie.
"A Google search came up with Mydv - it all looked good and I was comforted to see that it had a central London telephone number to call in the even of problems.
"We placed the order - paying £169.95 - and paid using a credit card. However, as soon as we had completed the order alarm bells started ringing because we didn't receive a confirmation email."
Mydv failed to respond to emails and countless phonecalls to its London number, but when Julie eventually got through she was promised the goods would be sent.
"When it became clear it wasn't going to make it by December 25 I was forced to take an alternative course of action. They had actually arrived in the UK shops by then and I found one in Argos, that was actually a better deal.
"Although the goods haven't turned up yet - we have still had to pay our credit card bill. We are going to try and get the money back from our credit card company," she says.
Outlook bleak for Mydv customers
Miles Brignall
Thursday January 12, 2006
Hundreds of British internet shoppers today looked set to lose money after the attorney general of Massachusetts filed an emergency court order to shut down a website from which they had ordered discounted electrical goods.
Mydv.co.uk sold items including the latest PlayStation to UK consumers in the run up to Christmas, but many never received the items they had ordered.
Some of the goods that did turn up were built to US specifications and wouldn't work in the UK. Most buyers were charged more than the original quoted prices, and had sought refunds from the company.
The professional-looking billed itself as "The UK's best source for digital video equipment" and a telephone number on the site began with the central London code 0207.
In reality it was owned and run out of Waltham, Massachusetts by an American company called Nepco and calls were routed through to a call centre abroad, thought to be in Bangalore.
Following several complaints by angry UK consumers, the attorney general, Tom Reilly, began an investigation into the firm on the basis it was being run in his state.
Just before Christmas - on December 16 - he issued an order allowing it continue to trade provided it promised to honour all orders, refund any customer who had since cancelled their orders, and to repay any overcharges.
The same rules applied to three other websites also run by Nepco - gardenready.co.uk, nepine.co.uk and pspuniverse.co.uk.
The Guardian understands that Nepco was given until January 5 to comply with certain requests. On that day the sites disappeared and, as a result Mr Reilly's office is now seeking to wind up the firm.
If the move is successful, it is unlikely that UK consumers will get back much of the money they are owed from the US and they will have to rely on any protection they may have from their card provider.
However, Sandra Quinn, spokeswoman for APACs - the UK card providers' association - says providers are not required to return payments stolen in such circumstances.
"The fact that the company was not based in the UK is a big problem for the victims," she said.
"The Consumer Credit Act requires the credit card issuers to cover the cost of fraud - but only if the company is based in the UK.
"That said, lots of card issuers will return money stolen from their customers in this way - Barclaycard is one - and it is always worth asking your card provider if they will cover things like this.
"That goes for debit and credit card issuers alike."
One victim who has since got all his money back is Peter Hoare from North London.
He was overcharged by £187 on a £2,000 video camera, and set up an alternative website - mydv-ripff.co.uk which has since acted as a conduit for complaints to the US authorities.
All attempts by the Guardian to contact the company have failed. Nepco is not answering its phone at head office, and the numbers originally advertised on the website are longer being answered.
Case study: Julie and David Hykin
Julie and David Hykin from Walsall are one family left out of pocket by the firm after tying to buy their 13-year-old son Daniel a PlayStation Portable (PSP) for Christmas.
"Back in November they were unavailable in the shops here so we decided to go online," says Julie.
"A Google search came up with Mydv - it all looked good and I was comforted to see that it had a central London telephone number to call in the even of problems.
"We placed the order - paying £169.95 - and paid using a credit card. However, as soon as we had completed the order alarm bells started ringing because we didn't receive a confirmation email."
Mydv failed to respond to emails and countless phonecalls to its London number, but when Julie eventually got through she was promised the goods would be sent.
"When it became clear it wasn't going to make it by December 25 I was forced to take an alternative course of action. They had actually arrived in the UK shops by then and I found one in Argos, that was actually a better deal.
"Although the goods haven't turned up yet - we have still had to pay our credit card bill. We are going to try and get the money back from our credit card company," she says.