“An appalling experience from start to finish, and one I'd urge every UK shopper to read before ordering.
I bought an Advent Calendar from what presents itself as the Happy Socks UK website: a UK web address, prices in pounds, "free standard shipping". Nothing about it suggests you are importing goods from abroad. In reality the order ships from the Netherlands, and the first I knew of what that meant was UPS demanding around £80 in import VAT, duty and fees before they would hand over the parcel. That took the total to about £250 for a product sold by UK retailers at £199.
When I asked to cancel, I was told I could refuse the delivery, but Happy Socks would keep £50 of my money for "shipping, handling, return and administrative fees". So the options were to pay £80 more than I agreed to, or forfeit £50 and receive nothing at all. That is not a choice. I felt completely cornered, and in the end I had to pay.
Happy Socks' defence is a line at checkout saying orders over £135 will incur import charges. It gives no figure, no estimate, and is easily missed on a site designed to look and feel like a domestic shop. Advertising "free shipping" beside a charge of this size is, in my view, misleading. A company that sells to UK customers in pounds every day knows perfectly well what these charges will be and could show them upfront. It chooses not to.
Customer service rep, Leo was scripted and entirely unwilling to help. Two emails quoting policy at me, no goodwill gesture, no flexibility, no interest in keeping a customer.
I feel cheated, and I will not buy from Happy Socks again. If you are in the UK, buy from a UK retailer instead: it will cost you less, and you will know the price before you pay.”
“Cheap ill fitting dress socks you always try to avoid. The stupid green H on them may convince you to buy these once. It is cute. But don’t buy them even once. These are the socks you never wear because they are too loose and saggy and cheap.”
“Terrible experience. They sent the wrong sizes, would never contact me to discuss, only emai. Then they questioned my integrity and told me "legally they could both refund me"....legally, realky???? Bad, bad bad.”
“Avoid avoid avoid. Their products are not displayed accurately on the website so they can be a very different colour to what you expected. Their returns policy is awful and done in such away to make very difficult to return. Complaints are done through an AI bot who has set replies. Finally escalated it to a real person via email who told me the website colour was wrong but that is just my bad luck. Refuse to accept responsibility and refuse to pay returns for their mistakes. There are better socks out there made by companies who actually care about their customers and not just their profit. Will never buy from them again”
