Help please

noodles234

Hiya,

Apologies if I'm not posting in the right place, I'm having some issues and would appreciate some advice on the below situation:

We purchased a bookshelf from a third party seller on amazon. The bookshelf was warped and had chipped veneer. This was unacceptable so we requested a return/refund.
The request to return was accepted on the 3.11.18. Using the original packaging, return address and labels provided by the seller, we sent the item via parcel force 48 hour tracked delivery back to the seller as requested, securely bound with strong tape. We have a postal receipt and tracking information proving this. The date we posted this was 24.11.2018, within the time stipulated returns should be made. It took longer to post this as we both work full time and it was a large item so we both needed to be off in order to take it to the post office.
On 28.11.18 I emailed the seller asking if they had received the parcel, since they should have with the 48 hour delivery. They said they did not receive the parcel.
On Friday 30.11.2018 I asked my partner to check the tracking information since we still had not heard from the seller. This showed that the item had been refused and returned to us, the sender.
We emailed the seller and asked why this was, they claimed they had received the parcel but it was not packaged well enough and therefore a return could not be accepted.
We emailed Amazon asking for help since we had already followed all specified steps and the right outcome had not been achieved, and wasted money on postage.
Amazon replied saying they could not action a refund under the AtoZ promise until the seller received the item. But they refused it despite us following all steps and I am not willing to risk wasting another £75 on postage. What can I do in this situation ?

theonlywayisup

noodles234 wrote: »

Hiya,

Apologies if I'm not posting in the right place, I'm having some issues and would appreciate some advice on the below situation:

We purchased a bookshelf from a third party seller on amazon. The bookshelf was warped and had chipped veneer. This was unacceptable so we requested a return/refund.
The request to return was accepted on the 3.11.18. Using the original packaging, return address and labels provided by the seller, we sent the item via parcel force 48 hour tracked delivery back to the seller as requested, securely bound with strong tape. We have a postal receipt and tracking information proving this. The date we posted this was 24.11.2018, within the time stipulated returns should be made. It took longer to post this as we both work full time and it was a large item so we both needed to be off in order to take it to the post office.
On 28.11.18 I emailed the seller asking if they had received the parcel, since they should have with the 48 hour delivery. They said they did not receive the parcel.
On Friday 30.11.2018 I asked my partner to check the tracking information since we still had not heard from the seller. This showed that the item had been refused and returned to us, the sender.
We emailed the seller and asked why this was, they claimed they had received the parcel but it was not packaged well enough and therefore a return could not be accepted.
We emailed Amazon asking for help since we had already followed all specified steps and the right outcome had not been achieved, and wasted money on postage.
Amazon replied saying they could not action a refund under the AtoZ promise until the seller received the item. But they refused it despite us following all steps and I am not willing to risk wasting another £75 on postage. What can I do in this situation ?

From Amazons A-Z -

The item you received is damaged, defective, materially different or you changed your mind and you returned it in line with Amazon's return policy but you have not been refunded or the refund was the wrong amount. You must (1) contact the seller within 30 days of receipt of the item (or by the end of any extended returns period e.g. extended Christmas returns policy, if later) and (2) postmark the return within 14 days from arranging the return with the Seller.

I think you've fallen outside this timescale.

You could try to appeal the refusal on https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_left_v4_sib?ie=UTF8&nodeId=201889160

You would need to explain the delay in sending the item back.

I'm no expert on A-Z by any means.

noodles234

The issue was that the parcel supposedly was damaged and therefore they sent it back to us. (It certainly was not when we sent it) It was sent within the sellers timescale for returns, there was no way I could have known they would refuse it and raise an a to Z before this time. Amazon have not raised this timescale, I'm wondering more where I stand now they've refused to accept the return.

DoaM

Contact the seller and tell them to refund you immediately, come and collect the faulty goods, and refund you the wasted cost of the previous return attempt. Then contact your card provider for a chargeback/section 75 claim for a refund.

Assuming the seller is UK-based then the Consumer Rights Act and the Consumer Contracts Regs apply.

noodles234

Thank you, we already contacted the seller and they just keep repeating the same two answers 'we cannot refund you until we have the item back and the item was not packaged well enough so we rejected it' without providing proof it was damaged. Since we have to pay the horrendously expensive postage to return it I wonder if this is a strategy of theirs to put people off returning items and avoid issuing refunds. They are being very unhelpful so I doubt asking them to collect it will produce results. I would have thought proof of attempted delivery and postal receipts would have been enough but apparently not!

DoaM

Why do you have to pay to return a faulty product? You don't - at all. Their T&Cs cannot overrule your legal rights per the CRA 2015 and the CCRs 2013.