Amazon Refund Issue

mikeluff

Hi - sorry there are probably loads of amazon issues on here, just adding another - any help would be much appreciated.

I returned a pair of headphones to amazon via royal mail, literally on the same day I received them.  Amazon issued the refund however i kept getting notifications to return the item even though they could see from tracking info that it had been sent.

I contacted Amazon and they said that at the returns centre the headphones had been marked down as being an older model than the ones they sent me and that I needed to return the correct item.  I told them I already had returned the correct item but they kept on telling me over and over to 'return the correct item'.

I asked to speak to a supervisor who told me the same thing.  I asked if they could get someone to check the item again in the returns centre as this would clear everything up, they said they didnt have that option.

I asked if they could tell me the model number of the item they think they received, they said they didnt have that information.

I asked if i could get a picture of the item they reccieved - answer was no.

I asked then how do they know for sure if its an older model as I am a customer telling them that there is a mistake and no one will check - i was told the infomation they have is valid.  I asked how is it valid and was told that they dont have that information.  I also asked if the returns centre ever made mistakes and was again told that they dont have that information.

I then asked if they could return the item to me so I could send it straight back and they said they could try but they usually dispose of incorrect items after 10 working days.  I also commented that it was funny that they could return the item to me, but they couldnt send someone to look at it and realise the mistake.  The supervisor ignored the last part of my comment and just said there was no guarantee that they could send the item back.

So at this point I said i needed to make a formal complaint as they have no proof that i sent the wrong item back, no one is willing to check the item and it may have already been disposed of.  At this point I was told that I was already talking to the complaints team and that there was no one higher to talk to.

They did say that they would look into retuning the item to me again but internal comms at Amazon take 3-4 working days.  So they didnt seem to be in much of a rush even though there was a high likelihood that the headphones were going to be disposed of.

So it looks like I am going to be asked to pay for these headphones even though I do not have them and have returned them to Amazon - anyone had a similar experience or can give any advice?

JJ_Egan

Yes but i take photos before sending /

They will probably put the item on Amazon Warehouse .

mikeluff

Yes but i take photos before sending /

They will probably put the item on Amazon Warehouse .

I will definitly be taking photos before sending back from now on but i dont think it will make a difference - they will still just say 'return the correct item'.

[Deleted User]

Not saying you did, but lots of scammers return different items back to Amazon in the hope of getting away with it. Ultimately, they can reverse the refund and/or ban you from their site forever. 

mikeluff

camelot1971 said:

Not saying you did, but lots of scammers return different items back to Amazon in the hope of getting away with it. Ultimately, they can reverse the refund and/or ban you from their site forever. 

Yeah I understand that, but I asked them to check the item again which they would not do, show me proof that i returned the incorrect item which they would not do or even tell me the model number of the wrong item I returned and again they would not do it.  Should I not at the very least be allowed to see some proof if they are accusing me of returning the wrong item?  Why should they be allowed to reverse the refund without showing me any proof?

bris

The chances of them hunting down and finding the item you are complaining about after a few days would be impossible in an Amazon warehouse that deals with thousands and thousands of items every day. They simply take the word of the employee dealing with the return instead of second guessing them.

Bottom line is they believe they got the wrong item back and they will stick with that. Push to hard and you will lose your account . They may well give in and refund you just to keep you quiet though so you might have to choose between the refund and the account. Any way it goes you are on their radar now.

mikeluff

bris said:

The chances of them hunting down and finding the item you are complaining about after a few days would be impossible in an Amazon warehouse that deals with thousands and thousands of items every day. They simply take the word of the employee dealing with the return instead of second guessing them.

Bottom line is they believe they got the wrong item back and they will stick with that. Push to hard and you will lose your account . They may well give in and refund you just to keep you quiet though so you might have to choose between the refund and the account. Any way it goes you are on their radar now.

But that is Amazon's fault and not mine - and how do you know they cannot relocate items once they have been sent in? - they already told me it was a possibility to send the item back to me if it had not been disposed of. 

mikeluff

Just as a final update in case anyone else finds themselves in this situation...

As I was getting nowhere with the customer service team I decided to contact Amazon via twitter who sent me a form to complete saying that I would get a phone call back later.  I filled the form out with my details and explained my problem then the next day I received a phone call from Ireland, but was in a meeting at the time so unfortunately could not take the call.  The person on the other end left a message saying he would email me as he couldnt get through but that there was no problem.  I didnt know if that meant there was no porblem from Amazon's point of view and they were still charging me, or if that they investigated my complaint and found there was no problem with what I returned.

Any how, I got an email from Amazon today simply saying they were cancellng the refund request.  I dont know what happened exactly, but I think using the twitter customer service team worked out better in the end. 

arthurfowler

Thank you for this. I'm going to try the twitter route as well. I am replying as think this will help some people.