"No full refund, complicated and slow"

In my experience, Vatfree.com is slow and it requires a lot of work to get only partially(!) reimbursed. My negative experience:
1. lot of work: the refund process is elaborative and a lot of (unnecessary) information is required such as copies of passport and visa.
2. slow: I submitted my request at beginning of April and I was informed that I receive my reimbursement by mid of June
3. complicated: although I already submitted all necessary details, I still need to login by mid of June to actively confirm my reimbursement
4. costly: Vatfree is charging a fee of 28% which is deducted from my tax refund so I receive only part of the reimbursement. This fee can be up to 80 EUR!

Fortunately, most companies handle requests for VAT reimbursement themselves: no extra documents required and reimbursement of the full amount within 3-5 business days. Please avoid using Vatfree!

"Not worth the effort for the level of administration & emails"

One of many Dutch companies taking advantage of an "opportunity" for tourists to claim our tax back.

I'm not sure it's worth the money, the time, and the effort involved. Quite a laborious system in uploading the receipts and filling out your details. There follows lots of emails and weeks before you get your sums back.

BEWARE: You will not get all your tax back. Bear in mind that using this service VATFREE.COM will:
1. Charge an administration fee for each amount you claim for.
2. Come back to you if you haven't uploaded the receipt to their requirements.
3. Take several weeks to get the money back from the shop where you bought the item
4. Will charge you a fee charges of £2 per amount when transferring back to your bank account.

A complicated and time consuming level of admin for the small sums involved.

"Great customer service "

Katja was so helpful and went above and beyond the usual. I’m new to the VAT refund process so the quick responses and advise from customer service was great.

"My prefered partner for tax refunds "

I've been using vatfree for several years now, and I have to say, I'm really impressed. Their online tool makes it super easy to submit tax refund requests right from home, and their quick response to any questions is a huge plus. But my latest experience really surpassed my expectations. They went above and beyond where a particular store was refusing tax refunds to a group of clients, including myself. Their relentless efforts ultimately led to the store honoring the refund, showcasing their dedication to client satisfaction and effective resolution of issues.

"Not as good as they promise"

It is now some five months from filing my refund claim with Vatfree. I've had three rounds of emails indicating progress and even one round of credit card refund that was cancelled (apparently Vatfree wanted to renegotiate between the stores head office and the country branch) but actual payment has still not been made. There were no issues with the store approving the refund.
To add insult to injury, the amount offered for refund amounts to just 55% of the actual tax paid (or a 45% service fee), this despite the Vatfree promise of a 28% service fee.
Communication has been patchy at best.
My experience strongly suggests going with another refund provider- another claim lodged at the same time with GlobalBlue was paid out within 4 weeks.
Update- now after just over six months I have received a full refund along with an apology from the company. But this is obviously far too long for a transaction with a recognised store in the company's network and all paperwork filed without errors. While nice to get the attention- finally- of more senior staff it required a lot of persistence on my part.

"Best experience vs alternatives"

Believe I've used all the VAT refund companies active in NL by now (i.e. Global Blue, Planet, vatfree, and Travelex). Vatfree is just the best, I don't understand why no more shops are working with them; get your stamp from customs and everything will go through their app from there. Super clear and easily trackable process.

With most of the other ones, you have to physically mail the receipts making the process notoriously error-prone. Especially with Planet, one is unable to track the receips given they don't have a mobile app or web log-in. They've lost multiple of my receipts and it takes them a long time to answer any requests over email...

"Avoid using vatfree.com!!"

Avoid using vatfree.com!!

Vatfree is far from free, they charge you an insane high percentage of your VAT rather than getting you all your VAT back. Besides that they are extremely slow, return took over 6 weeks.

In the future, when I buy things, I will not choose a shop that only uses vatfree.com. Be careful when you choose your shops!