Amazon Refusing Refund

anotherangryshopper

Hi all. 

So I returned a faulty/defective item to Amazon on 6/10/23 via Royal Mail 48hr (prepaid label by Amazon). It took from then until 15/09/23 to reach Amazon’s return centre and had been scanned multiple times in its journey. Upon checking with Royal Mail, the tracking audit shows multiple instances of “potential duplicate item- seen twice at two separate operational units”, Royal Mail have said this might be caused by the retailer generating the same tracking label for more than one customer. 

Fast forward to 19/09/23 and I get an email from the “account specialist” team at Amazon saying “ We are discarding the incorrect item that you sent. We will be happy to accept the return of the correct item at your earliest convenience.

We cannot issue a refund for this order until we receive the correct item. Return it to us if you want to receive the refund” 

I obviously immediately challenged this and provided them evidence of the Royal Mail tracking. 

I’ve recently found out via their live chat and via another response from the “account specialist” team that the returns centre received an empty parcel. 

Going on the phone and live chat has proven useless as according to customer service they can’t do anything as it’s been handling by the account’s specialist team! 

I have emailed them several times and I have had a response stating this is our final decision and we will likely not respond to further queries regarding this. 

So at present I’ve returned my item to Amazon and they are refusing to refund as they believe I’ve returned an empty box! 

The item was paid for using Klarna, they have also not been very helpful. 

This is also being investigated by my bank, which I’m hoping will be able to charge it back. 

Just wondering where I stand legally with this and what my rights are? 

Aylesbury_Duck

anotherangryshopper said:

Hi all. 

So I returned a faulty/defective item to Amazon on 6/10/23 via Royal Mail 48hr (prepaid label by Amazon). It took from then until 15/09/23 to reach Amazon’s return centre and had been scanned multiple times in its journey. Upon checking with Royal Mail, the tracking audit shows multiple instances of “potential duplicate item- seen twice at two separate operational units”, Royal Mail have said this might be caused by the retailer generating the same tracking label for more than one customer. 

Fast forward to 19/09/23 and I get an email from the “account specialist” team at Amazon saying “ We are discarding the incorrect item that you sent. We will be happy to accept the return of the correct item at your earliest convenience.

We cannot issue a refund for this order until we receive the correct item. Return it to us if you want to receive the refund” 

I obviously immediately challenged this and provided them evidence of the Royal Mail tracking. 

I’ve recently found out via their live chat and via another response from the “account specialist” team that the returns centre received an empty parcel. 

Going on the phone and live chat has proven useless as according to customer service they can’t do anything as it’s been handling by the account’s specialist team! 

I have emailed them several times and I have had a response stating this is our final decision and we will likely not respond to further queries regarding this. 

So at present I’ve returned my item to Amazon and they are refusing to refund as they believe I’ve returned an empty box! 

The item was paid for using Klarna, they have also not been very helpful. 

This is also being investigated by my bank, which I’m hoping will be able to charge it back. 

Just wondering where I stand legally with this and what my rights are? 

Quite clearly, your rights are to receive a refund if you sent the item back using Amazon's nominated and paid-for returns label.  What happened after you sent it is their responsibility, the only doubt they may have is whether you genuinely sent the item.  What seems clear is that something's gone wrong in transit.  Perhaps the package broke open, and the seemingly duplicate item was in fact the original parcel and its separate contents with a returns docket?

What was the date you sent it?  6/10/23 must be a typo.

I'm not sure how Klarna works and how the bank is involved.  If it's like Paypal, I've seen it mentioned that using Paypal breaks the direct chain to the card/bank account, so you don't have the same chargeback option.  I've no idea if that's how it is with Klarna.

What's the value of the item?  Something attractive to theft?  Ultimately, a chargeback (if you can), a section 75 claim (if Klarna is a credit provider) or small claims court action should get your money back, but it does carry the risk that Amazon will close your account so you should weigh that up against the value of the refund you're missing.

Alderbank

Aylesbury_Duck said:

anotherangryshopper said:

Hi all. 

So I returned a faulty/defective item to Amazon on 6/10/23 via Royal Mail 48hr (prepaid label by Amazon). It took from then until 15/09/23 to reach Amazon’s return centre and had been scanned multiple times in its journey. Upon checking with Royal Mail, the tracking audit shows multiple instances of “potential duplicate item- seen twice at two separate operational units”, Royal Mail have said this might be caused by the retailer generating the same tracking label for more than one customer. 

Fast forward to 19/09/23 and I get an email from the “account specialist” team at Amazon saying “ We are discarding the incorrect item that you sent. We will be happy to accept the return of the correct item at your earliest convenience.

We cannot issue a refund for this order until we receive the correct item. Return it to us if you want to receive the refund” 

I obviously immediately challenged this and provided them evidence of the Royal Mail tracking. 

I’ve recently found out via their live chat and via another response from the “account specialist” team that the returns centre received an empty parcel. 

Going on the phone and live chat has proven useless as according to customer service they can’t do anything as it’s been handling by the account’s specialist team! 

I have emailed them several times and I have had a response stating this is our final decision and we will likely not respond to further queries regarding this. 

So at present I’ve returned my item to Amazon and they are refusing to refund as they believe I’ve returned an empty box! 

The item was paid for using Klarna, they have also not been very helpful. 

This is also being investigated by my bank, which I’m hoping will be able to charge it back. 

Just wondering where I stand legally with this and what my rights are? 

I'm not sure how Klarna works and how the bank is involved.  If it's like Paypal, I've seen it mentioned that using Paypal breaks the direct chain to the card/bank account, so you don't have the same chargeback option.  I've no idea if that's how it is with Klarna.

Martin Lewis's MSE website has a useful article about Klarna.

It says:

• There's no Section 75 protection for linked credit cards. Klarna says this means you won't be covered by Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.
• You will be covered by chargeback for linked debit and credit cards though.
• Klarna also says all pay now purchases are covered by its buyer's protection scheme.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2021/10/beware-using-klarnas-new-pay-now-service-you-will-lose-vital-section-75-protection/

born_again

As  to chargeback, this is going to depend on how Klarna react to them. They can just say "We do nothing other than move money as requested" & reject chargeback. Or they accept it & claim money from Amazon. But Amazon will then say NO as wrong item sent back (as far as they are concerned)

When 3rd parties are involved it can get very messy & all depends on how pliant they are.

Even if paid via card, Amazon can still argue that case.

greyteam1959

Did you get a proof of posting wherever you dropped it off ?
That will have had a parcel weight on it would it not ?

anotherangryshopper

Thanks for all your replies. 

The item was collected from my work address so not dropped off at a post office. The item was collected on 06/09/23 so over a month now. 

The value wasn’t much but still £70 worth. 

Amazon are pretty much taking no ownership/responsibility! They keep hitting me with the same crap that they’ve received an empty box! 

No matter how many times I tell them about the Royal Mail issue (evidence of which they have already been given) they just dismiss it and tbh haven’t taken any notice of it. 

It just seems that they’re saying: “we’ve received nothing so F you you’re not getting your refund” rather than doing due diligence and investigating it. 

All the details have been passed onto my bank and they have an ongoing dispute. The only issue being is that it’s obviously with klarna as that is what shows on my bank statement. They have assured me that this doesn’t matter as klarna are only a payment intermediary and I imagine once klarna receive a chargeback from my bank they will file it back to Amazon. 

I’m honestly just going around in circles with Amazons absolutely useless service agents and “specialists” 

Aylesbury_Duck

You just need to sit and await the chargeback, then.

anotherangryshopper

Hi folks. 

Just a wee update. Gave up trying with Amazon due to them repeatedly hitting me with the same rubbish copy/paste emails. 

Raised a complaint with Klarna (under their instruction) to hopefully dispute the payment/refund with Amazon on my behalf. 

Still awaiting  response from the bank (they have all the tracking proof and comms from Amazon)

Contacted Royal Mail who advised to make a claim for package arriving open/damaged


Hopefully between all four of them I’ll get my refund somehow 😂