Amazon.com Refund Refusal

mcwarner

Hi, I purchased an item from the usa arm of amazon. The item was faulty and I was advised that if I returned it, they would cover the cost of the shipping once it was received. The cheapest option came to £150,which I told amazon about before returning the item and was told although it was a bit expensive, I would have no problem receiving a refund. I have received a partial refund of about £88 and amazon are now saying that there have been "too many refunds" on this item and due to system restrictions I am unable to have the remainder refunded to my credit card! My only options are a gift cards or promotional credits, which of course means I have to spend the money with amazon.com, which I do not want to do. I have just spent 2 hours talking to amazon and I may as well have banged my head against the wall for all the help it was.
Does anybody know of any legal standing I may have that I can throw back at them to get my money back?

unholyangel

Not sure if section 75 might help you in this instance?

Are amazon.com contracts governed under US law? If so, you may not receive much in the way of advice on here as we're more familiar with UK law.

Just to check, the value of the item was over £100? Also, what was the item and why were you returning it?

mcwarner

Hi unholyangel, I think they prob are as its the american arm of the business. The item was a soundbar that was over £100 and was returned as it was faulty

mije1983

unholyangel wrote: »

Are amazon.com contracts governed under US law?

It seems so. From the .com website:

By using any Amazon Service, you agree that the Federal Arbitration Act, applicable federal law, and the laws of the state of Washington, without regard to principles of conflict of laws, will govern these Conditions of Use and any dispute of any sort that might arise between you and Amazon.

unholyangel

mije1983 wrote: »

It seems so. From the .com website:

Thanks, I was too lazy to go look!

unholyangel

mcwarner wrote: »

Hi unholyangel, I think they prob are as its the american arm of the business. The item was a soundbar that was over £100 and was returned as it was faulty

Try a section 75 claim then. Or check and see if what they've given is in line with their T&C's and also in line with Washington law.

visidigi

Is the £88 the postage fee refund or the item refund? If its the postage refund it won't be S75 covered.

£150 to ship a soundbar to the US is absolute extortion...

mcwarner

Tell me about it! That was the cheapest. Amazon will not budge and I am sick of constantly having arguments with them. I have had to accept the refund via a gift card :-(

visidigi

I mean that there are plenty of cheaper places to have posted it back via. I suspect this might be why Amazon won't budge - it must be over their maximum refund amount. Did they ask you for and did you provide proof of shipping invoice?

mcwarner

believe me I tried everyone I could think of, this was the cheapest quote I could get. they did have a cap on refunds but failed to tell me this, twice!

wesleyad

I find it hard to believe that cost, a quick google gives lots of quotes around the £20-30 mark for 100kg, 1.5m restrictions.