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Sports Direct are allegedly threatening customers with court if they pursue credit card chargebacks when porch pirates swipe their deliveries.
Customers who were granted refunds by their banks when their packages vanished or were delivered to the wrong address were apparently accused of fraud and served notice of court action by the firm, which is owned by British retail tycoon Mike Ashley.
Consumer law entitles customers whose parcel has gone missing to a full refund or replacement from the retailer.
However, shoppers who reported their lost parcels to Frasers Group – the mother company of Sports Direct – were reportedly refused refunds or replacements and pursued by debt collectors.
It is claimed their personal details were passed on to crime intelligence agency National Business Crime Solution (NBCS) which demanded hundreds of pounds more than what the items were originally worth to avoid a County Court trial.
NBCS describes itself as ‘an independent, not-for-profit organisation, created to tackle business crime collaboratively’.
More than 100 of Britain’s biggest firms use their services, including Frasers Group, which also owns House of Fraser and GAME.
One customer told The Telegraph he paid more than £2,000 rather than face a court ordeal.
Adele Peacock placed an order for £112.99 worth of clothing from Sports Direct in November last year, but the parcel was allegedly thrown over her garden fence and later vanished.
Ms Peacock – who works in children’s mental health services for the NHS – had requested her package be left with her retired neighbours should she not be home.
Despite this, the courier did not attempt to leave it with them and later is said to have admitted it had been left in ‘an unsafe location’.
‘My neighbours are retired – they would always take a parcel in – but the courier didn’t even try. They just threw it over the fence where anyone could take it, and someone clearly did,’ Ms Peacock told The Telegraph.
She approached her bank – Santander – for help after ‘unhelpful’ Sports Direct ignored her refund requests and said they arranged a full chargeback which she received in March last year.
Ms Peacock claims she was then sent a number of letters from NBCS ordering her to immediately pay £437 by bank transfer or face defending herself from a fraud allegation in the County Court.
The email, shared with The Telegraph, reportedly read: ‘We are instructed that on March 6 2025, you acted contrary to the Policies & Processes of Frasers Group, totalling £112.99 by claiming that you had not received goods which were in fact delivered successfully.
‘As a result of your actions, our member has suffered loss, damages and costs totalling £436.99 and is considering both a formal complaint to the authorities and preparing to pursue this claim in the County Court to recoup their losses.’
Ms Peacock claims she was sent ‘four or five’ letters from NBCS, as well as emails.
The first letter prompted her to look online where she found other people were being subjected to similar ordeals.
She described the letters, which accused her of fraud and demanded four times the cost of her order, as ‘really inflammatory’.
‘They threatened court action. I told them again to take me to court,’ she said.
Kate Dearden, the Minister for Consumer Protection, said: ‘Intimidating customers seeking refunds is exactly the kind of rogue practice we want to see the back of.
‘We’ve already toughened penalties for companies breaching consumer law, and anyone who’s been unfairly treated can contact Citizens Advice for help.’
A £1,900 bike ordered by Fiz Aslam in September 2022 apparently went missing after it was left exposed on his porch by the courier.
‘They’re supposed to attempt delivery three times if no one is home. Instead, the driver took a photo of it on the doorstep, marked it as delivered, then left,’ he said.
It is even claimed that Sports Direct’s digital team admitted in an email that the bike ‘should not have been left outside as you weren’t home’.
After months of back and forth communications with the retailer, Mr Aslam, from Birmingham, approached his bank – Lloyds – for a refund.
Lloyds approved the refund in February 2023, but Mr Aslam was repeatedly sent letters and emails from NBCS later that month requesting £2,076.99.
It read: ‘We do not seek to profit from the cost of this recovery. Therefore, we will reduce the amount payable to £2,026.99 if payment is made in full within 14 days of the date of this email.’
Mr Aslam agreed to pay, but allegedly told NBCS: ‘Me paying the amount isn’t admitting any guilt – I just wanted debt collectors not chasing me.’
He feels he was treated ‘unfairly’, adding that the claim was £150 more than the price of the bike he allegedly never received.
‘I’m just one person – it felt as though no one would listen,’ he said.
Elsewhere, Nichola Green, 43, from Hampshire, ordered trainers totalling £273 ahead of her holiday in February.
She claims she received a letter at around 4pm on the day of delivery to say her package had been delivered.
But when she ran outside to retrieve it, she said nothing was there.
Photos submitted by her courier as ‘proof of delivery’ show her parcel left outside the wrong doorstep.
She walked around her entire estate trying to find the door in the delivery photo, and knocked on all of her neighbour’s door, but none of them had received it.
Ms Green immediately got in touch with Sports Direct to ask for her money back and was told the company would not issue a refund until an investigation was complete.
In April, she claims she brought the issue directly to ports Direct’s chief executive Michael Murray after he responded to a comment she left on an Instagram post.
Mr Murray apparently told her to email Sports Direct’s investigations department – but when she did, she was ignored.
After 60 days, Ms Green contacted her bank – Monzo – to dispute the transaction and sent the courier’s ‘proof of delivery’ photo as evidence.
As with other cases, her bank refunded the money, but she said she was soon sent a ‘notice of intended criminal and civil proceedings’ from NBCS demanding she pay £597.94 or face court action.
The letter read: ‘Failure to pay the specified amount will result in further proceedings being initiated against you in the County Court, together with costs and interest. A CCJ (County Court judgment) may also be added onto your credit file.’
Ms Green said: ‘If they took me to court, I have all the evidence, but receiving these letters is very frightening.
‘I’m hoping to get a mortgage next year, and the idea that I could get a CCJ terrifies me.
‘I am desperately hoping it doesn’t come to that, as the stress and worry would really affect me.’
Consumer expert Martyn James said retailers are increasingly using debt collection agencies to pursue refunds for items lost through no fault of the consumer.
He said: ‘A number of retailers seem to be taking a more aggressive approach to parcels that have not been correctly delivered.
‘I’d strongly recommend that people passed to debt collectors contact Trading Standards and the Competition and Markets Authority if they think they have been unfairly treated.’
A CMA spokesman said: ‘Businesses that deny customers their statutory rights could face significant penalties of up to 10pc of their global turnover. Under consumer law, sellers must deliver goods within 30 days unless otherwise agreed.
‘The retailer is responsible if goods have not been delivered, and consumers have the right to seek a refund. It’s not acceptable for customers to be intimidated for enforcing this right.’
The Daily Mail approached Frasers Group for comment.
