Wednesday, April 25, 2012

A Bunch of Baloney

If you've ever returned items that you purchased online, you already know that you have to request a Return Merchandise Number (RMN) from the seller before you mail the package back. That's to speed up the process of receiving a refund. Some times though there's a little more to it. Specifically spending an extra 75¢ at the post office for a delivery confirmation. Recently, I had two items, different sellers, that I returned to the sellers where the monies weren't refunded to my bank account after two weeks elapsed. Perhaps the returns department, it slipped their mind. Or perhaps if I hadn't made the effort to inquire about the non-refund, well, I would have never been refunded at all. People customers get busy and they forget about these things when they encounter busy intervals in their lives. It happens. And I bet that it happens often enough.

Anyways, I inquired about the first non-refund and the person in charge of the customer service notified their returns department to reimburse my PayPal account immediately. Mahalo. The second incident went like this (below) with a lot of back and forth. See, if you don't purchase a 75¢ postal delivery confirmation the onus may or may not fall upon the sender to prove that the returned item actually arrived back to the seller's return department or something in that order. Even if the returns department scans the RMN barcode upon arrival, or punches in the RMN pin scribbled to the package if you didn't print out a return label, the returned item's existence may mysteriously vanish from the system. Btw, Priority Mail does not include a tracking number that's worth any more than the item was sent Priority Mail. It states that right on the USPS website.


This is my initial Email to the delinquent seller ....
Hi,

I haven't yet been refunded for Order #002-6825516.
The RMA (return merchandise number) is Lr88RRMA.

thanks,

RONW

The seller's reply below sets off a red flag at the mention of 'tracking number' (bold text is mines). What I surmise is that this is a feeler to determine if I bothered to purchase a postal delivery confirmation.
I would be happy to look further into this for you, were you given any Tracking information when you shipped the product back to us?

Thank you,

Mr B.
Customer Service
Parts Superstore, Inc.

Alrighty, perhaps, I was just being too cynical, but just for sport, I claim that I'm officially unaware of a so called tracking number, but for the meanwhile, inquire whether the RMN barcode (inset label) is not enough to trace what the heck happened to the returned item.
I sent the package back via Priority Mail on April 9 but am not sure on the Tracking number (?)

.... are you able to track the returned package by the RMN barcode when it was scanned in at your end?


thanks,

RONW

Lol, just as I suspected .... there isn't a record of my item ever reaching the seller at this stage of the game. The spokesperson even has a 'Returns Team' to dispatch on my behalf. More likely the Returns Team duty is to devise a strategy to collaborate the bogus excuse.
I do not show that we have received it just yet. Just in case though I have put in a request with my Returns team to check on this further for me to see if they can get me any more details.

Thank you,

Mr. B.
Customer Service
Parts Superstore, Inc.

Okay, enuff with games already. I submit the vital Tracking Number which indicates that I did take the step to purchase a postal delivery confirmation and naturally my package is trackable.
the Priority tracking number is 031125500002877788

The USPS Track & Confirm page shows that the item was delivered to you on ....

April 12, 2012, 9:49 am

CEDAR PARK, TX 78613

I printed out the RMN return label with the barcode and taped it on the outside of the cardboard box with 2 more copies inside of the same box.

RONW

Respectfully, the seller acknowledges the situation.
Ron,

Thanks for this information I have given this to my Returns team to see if we can get this resolved for you. Thank you again for your patience.

Thank you,

Mr. B.
Customer Service
Parts Superstore, Inc.

Later in the day, Amazon notifies me that my refund has been processed.
Hello,

We're writing to let you know we processed your refund of $175.89 from Parts Superstore.

This amount has been credited to your payment method and will appear when your bank has processed it.

Sincerely,

Amazon.com
"For Your Information: To arbitrate disputes and preserve trust and safety, we retain all messages buyers and sellers send through Amazon.com for two years."

3 comments:

Kay said...

Oh yikes, Ron! What a headache. Thank you for the warning.

Cloudia said...

Amazon and Ebay seem eager to keep things on the up and up, but the web can be SO annoying! Ask me why I don't wear REEF slippahs anymore sometime.

BTW, my Niece gave birth to Reef Kamalei, a little boy, on the Big Isle yesterday!!!!

RONW said...

Kay- this never happened before with Ebay or Amazon, so it was odd to have two-in-a-row delayed refunds. 75¢ delivery confirmation, or signature confirmation (better), turned out to be cheap insurance, otherwise I'd never see the money again.

Cloudia- 'REEF® slippahs?! .... I remember those. Unfortunate your experience with the vendor, the pastel rubber look almost edible. And yea, Ebay, Amazon would prefer honest vendors. It's in their interest.