Oh isn’t this fun! One excuse after another. The fact of the matter is that your friend has not actually bought the dress from Principles, but will in fact be buying it from the credit card company, who have in turn purchased it from Principles on your friend’s behalf.
You need to be very careful here though, your view of thinking it looks faulty must be proven. If the dress is unarguably faulty as a result of poor manufacture, then this falls into the category of the sale of goods of non-merchantable quality and a refund or replacement is required under the sale of goods and services act, unless the fault was declared by the retailer at the time of purchase. However, as the company has gone into administration you may not be able to do this back at the shop. To all intents and purposes, the company has handed control to a third party who has no contract with any of the customers who purchased goods.
So beware! A company that has gone into administration may well still be trading, but all the usual niceties of shopping with a refund or return guarantee are out of the window, purchase at your own risk!
Now for the good bit!!!!!
If the dress is genuinely faulty, you may have the right under the consumer credit act to recover your money from the credit card company. In essence you haven’t paid them yet, but if you make a claim to them, it is their responsibility to claw back the money from the retailer.
The credit card company may initially refuse to do this, but as before, the consumer credit act makes them responsible. The sooner your friend contacts the card company the better, there will be a procedure to follow, but most card companies will freeze that particular transaction whilst investigations take place. This means that, even though the purchase will probably appear on the card statement, it will not or should not be payable until the investigation has taken place. The credit card company has far more chance of clawing the money back, even from the administrators than you have.
If the card company is still not playing, threaten to exercise your right to take legal action against them. Always remember, your contract is with the card company not the retailer, if the credit card is used for the purchase. But please, please, please, do not pursue this avenue unless the goods are genuinely faulty. If the dress simply does not fit, clashes with your eye colour or you have simply changed your mind, UNLUCKY!!!!!!!!!