If I ordered from an international retail site in Italy, what are my rights regarding a package that I never received?
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If I ordered from an international retail site in Italy, what are my rights regarding a package that I never received?
Supposedly my $233 order was shipped out. The package was meant as a Christmas gift. I never received the package despite the delivery service showing their tracking that it was delivered. So I contacted both the retail site and the delivery service about 6 weeks ago. The retail site failed to respond to me multiple times via e-mail as well as by phone. I called the delivery service and it had opened an investigation but has not been able to do anything further because it needed the retail site to contact it and it hasn’t been able to get in touch. Now, it’s been almost 2 months. I do not have the package still and I’m out $233, What can I legally do at this point?
Asked on January 29, 2015 under Business Law, California
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 9 years ago | Contributor
Effectively, there may be nothing you can do. If the site is at fault--didn't ship the package, not cooperating in the investigation--you'd have to sue them; and while you can legally sue an overseas company, you can't do in small claims court and effectively would need an attorney (it's more complicated than suing a local company), so you'd spend more money (far more) than you'd get back. Plus, even if you won, it could be almost impossible to get an international defendant to pay.
You could try contacting your credit card issuer (if you paid by credit card) and reporting that you never received the shipment; maybe they could credit you back.
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