Amazon - Give refund but say to keep the product

frugal_mike

I'm not at all sure whether to list this as a praise or a warning.

Recently my girlfriend ordered some things from Amazon. When the stuff arrived there was an extra item that she had no memory of ordering. It was in her wishlist so we just assumed she had accidentally added it to the basket without realising. That would certainly be out of character for her, but not impossible and it was the most plausible conclusion.

However when she went to request to return the item Amazon popped up a box saying:

---
Keep this item and receive a refund. It's on us!

You don't need to return this item to get a refund
---


Now that's just odd, and I don't think I've seen it before. Is this a standard thing for Amazon to do? The item was a book costing about £7, so not particularly expensive but not dirt cheap either.

I'm now left wondering whether Amazon put it in the basket on the off chance that people would just keep it anyway (like the Sports Direct mug scandal from a while back).

So has anyone else seen Amazon just throw away products like this before? And has anyone else received extra goods they didn't think they'd ordered from Amazon?

tonycottee

Amazon would have to pay for the return, and when you consider how much the book actually cost them, they're probably only losing around £2 by letting you keep it.
Not seen it happen to anyone else though.

bod1467

We've had that happen before. It was an art folder (cost around £10 from memory) that arrived with a damaged handle. Amazon said we could keep the damaged one and they'd send out a replacement.

(The damaged one was OK for storage in the house, so my daughter only needed to keep the "working copies" of artwork in the folder she took to school).

frugal_mike

Well if we ordered it by mistake then Amazon don't have to pay for the return. Haven't checked their terms and conditions so I'm not sure if they make the customer pay for returns under the DSR or their own terms.

Anyway, just used Amazon to purchase a book and again they added something to my cart that I definitely never put there. I possibly viewed the item last year, but never bought it.

Either they have something wrong with their software or they are doing something dodgy.

pmduk

They told me not to return a faulty kindle, but to arrange safe disposal locally.

bod1467

Just tried an Amazon order and went as far order confirmation (but not actually ordering). Nothing extra was added to my basket.

Scarpacci

I have been told to keep items of a low value with Amazon.co.uk, rather than sending them back. I really don't think there's anything untoward going on. It's less hassle for Amazon, they're not losing too much money (considering the cost of return postage, handling these, etc.) and it inconveniences the customer less.

I have never received something I didn't order but in cases of items which are damaged, or items which are presumed missing in the post, they have replaced those and told me to keep the original.

frugal_mike

bod1467 wrote: »

Just tried an Amazon order and went as far order confirmation (but not actually ordering). Nothing extra was added to my basket.

Yes, it didn't happen to me initially either. But then before confirming I decided to add something extra to the cart I'd forgotten, and when doing that it added the random item too (a men's scarf that I looked at last year as a gift).

Pound

I think what happens is you add an item to your basket either by accident or you decide you don't want it. But when you login weeks later and place an order you don't notice it's still in your basket.

frugal_mike

Pound wrote: »

I think what happens is you add an item to your basket either by accident or you decide you don't want it. But when you login weeks later and place an order you don't notice it's still in your basket.

That's a possibility, although I'm fairly certain I've bought from them sometime since last Christmas. Maybe that's just a false memory.

Wicked_witch

Can I just say AHAHAHHA!!!

Ahem. What I mean to say is, looks like Amazon's claim that there isn't a glitch in their website causing orders to be made without the customer clicking on the order button is wrong. I'm glad I'm not insane, especially after spending days chasing to get the money they took from my account off hold!

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4831420

This was my thread, just to make things a bit clearer!