Amazon return follow up

[Ed Pawlowski]

There was a recent thread asking about returns to Amazon. Had my first experience with an item I bought a week ago. It broke, so I decided to return it. Talk about easy.

8:30 PM went on line and set up the return 8:45 PM printed out the label 11:00 AM Packed up the product in the same box 11:45 AM Dropped package at a local UPS store. in and out in seconds 2:45 PM Received a text and email telling me the refund has been issued

This is my first return in 15 years but it was an easy experience. Oh, I'm also watching some of the TV shows I get with Prime. Amazon works for me.

[CRNG]

On Tue, 21 Mar 2017 16:55:00 -0700, Oren wrote in

What brand was that?

[CRNG]

On Tue, 21 Mar 2017 16:02:11 -0400, Ed Pawlowski wrote in

Thanks for updating us. Good for Amazon. No wonder the bricks and mortar folks are getting clobbered. They can't keep up with the selection and convenience that Amazon offers.

[Micky]

Wow. Was there an amazon agent sitting at the UPS store?

That's no guarantee. I had a mobo that wouldn't commicate with the floppy drive. Added an i/o board but didn't like it that I had to do that.

[Cindy Hamilton]

Amazon issues the refund regardless of when you ship the return. He would have gotten the refund at the exact same time if he'd waited until the next day to ship it. Cindy Hamilton

[John G]

I bought an electrical tool on Amazon. It had a one year factory warranty. It broke after 10 months with very little use on it. I called the factor y and they said to return it to the place that I bought it from. I called up Amazon and told them. They took it back, no hassle.

[DerbyDad03]

I'm not saying you're wrong, just passing along my experience. Amazon issued the refunds once the item was dropped off and the tracking number has been scanned by the shipper.

One example: I had a large package that I wanted picked up. UPS tried 3 times during business hours when no one was home. 2 days later I took the package to a UPS store. The refund email arrived within an hour of my dropping the package off.

Another: I dropped a small package in a UPS box that gets picked up at the end of the business day. Sometime that evening I got the refund email.

Why would they issue the refund before there was any indication that the buyer had actually returned (shipped) the item?

[rbowman]

In effect. The parcel gets checked in, Amazon gets notified. The USPS can offer a similar service. A few years back the USPS expedited Netflix mailers. When that got shut down after another video service complained, Netflix went to Plan B. When the return DVD mailer is scanned in, Netflix is notified. In other words, as soon as the DVD hits the PO, Netflix knows it is coming back and sends another DVD without waiting 3 days for it to physically arrive.

[Cindy Hamilton]

To be accommodating. I'm pretty sure I at least once had the refund hit before I shipped the item back. After all, they've got my credit card number on file; they can always reverse the refund.

Cindy Hamilton

[rbowman]

I bought several Photon microlights. One was an obvious Chinese knockoff. I emailed and they refunded the price, no need to send the item back. Even better, the reseller got kicked out. Amazon is aggressive in getting rid of third party suppliers that try to sneak knockoffs in.

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

That happened to me. I returned a defective power bank, and got the refund (as Amazon gift card) the same day. They couldn't have gotten the package yet.

BTW, most of the stuff I get from Amazon is sent USPS (or other carrier transferred to USPS). The power banks could only be UPS. I can get to a UPS drop box easier than to the Post Office.

[DerbyDad03]

But they could have gotten the scan info from the shipper.

Do you recall if they had time to pick up and scan the package before you got the refund?

[DerbyDad03]

FWIW, they can't *always* reverse the refund. Credit Cards expire, get cancelled, hit their limit. They have no way of knowing that they will be able to charge the card if they don't get the item back after X days.

Again, I'm not saying it didn't/doesn't happen as you describe, just that it's not what I've experienced.

[clare]

The defective and return rate is so high they don't question. I've had defective stuff off ebay and they just tell me to scrap it and give me my refund or ship me a new one. Not worth the shipping to return it.

[Ed Pawlowski]

I did get with the notice of refund that it would be reversed if item not received by a certain date. It was at least 2+ weeks. For reasons you cite, they may not get it but they will certainly try.

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

I left it in a dropbox. Pickup was scheduled later that day. The refund came the next day.

[snip]

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

That happened with the photo printer I ordered in December.