Posted on 05/23/2018 4:48:16 AM PDT by rightwingintelligentsia
Amazon's flexible return policy may not be as risk free as you think.
The company bans shoppers for violations, which include returning items too often, according to The Wall Street Journal. Some users aren't told what they did wrong.
Amazon boasts free and easy returns for several of its items, which has pushed many brick-and-mortar stores to offer the same policies as they struggle to compete with the e-commerce giant. But it turns out Amazon's return policies may come at a price.
Dozens of people have taken to Twitter and Facebook to complain about Amazon closing their accounts without warning or an explanation, according to the Journal.
Paul Fidalgo wrote about being "exiled" from Amazon for "excessive returns." Other people noted they had also been banned from the site for similar reasons.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnet.com ...
That could cause (and you know it’s probably happened somewhere... sometime) problems if certain ... appliances ... and similar ah, bedroom accouterments are mistakenly shipped to the wrong home.
“Bill... honey... is there something you want to tell me? I thought we didn’t keep secrets from each other...” Shouldn’t joke about it I guess.
The descriptions come out to a roughly 10% return rate. That wipes out their profit margins.
You’re exactly right. Sometimes the size of an item is in question, there is no scale reference. A can of pop or something in a photo for comparison would help. Also true of shopping for groceries online. Lots of twee packaging these days all poofed up to make the product look big on the shelf. I’ll think “Hey that’s a pretty good deal on peanut butter” and it turns out it’s a smaller jar, because I forgot to check the weight.
Online shopping - bottom line it’s the way to go, provided one knows exactly what it is they want.
There's this....
We havent been allowed to change our bathroom codes since April. So almost all the junkies and homeless people know the code now. About once a week we find needles, drug baggies, blood all over the toilet or walls.- alleged anonymous #Starbucks employee https://t.co/Ka4QAGbFFi— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) May 22, 2018
🤢😷
Never heard of any store banning customers for to many returns...not saying itdoesn’t happen just never heard of it. Have heard of stores refusing to take back a return.
We had a Service Merchandise here, too.
Great store. Sorry to see them go out of business.
Thanks for the reminder. Last fall I bought a pair of true high-top b'ball shoes which give the best ankle support I've had in years. Fifteen years or so ago I had a similar pair, and when I went to replace them they had been discontinued. I'm going to buy a couple of more pair before they discontinue these as well!
I got a slightly damaged windshield frame from Amazon.
They said to keep it and I got refunded. I was able to straighten the frame to use it and bolt on right.
We ordered: Nest Learning Thermostat, Easy Temperature Control for Every Room in Your House
We received The Nest Box. Inside we found a wad of dried clay instead of the Unit! Somewhere in delivery, someone stole this $219.95 device and replaced it with an equal weight of clay. The box appeared perfectly sealed.
We returned the clay for a refund.
That all reminds me of the old Jay Leno stand-up routine about his father returning the broken, rotted toilet seat with a Lifetime Warranty.
“Once I ordered vitamins and a book but they sent me a triple roll pack of masking tape and a set of competition badminton birdies. ???”
My favorite story (didn’t happen to me), was the guy who ordered a flat screen tv. When the package came, it was obviously too small to be a tv and when he opened it, inside was a SiG “assault rifle.” Guy called the cops. Apparently shipping labels had gotten mixed up; the rifle was supposed to be going to a FFL holder.
My only mis-shipment from Amazon was when I ordered a SOG tomahawk and got a shoe stretcher.
The customer isn’t always right, and sometimes they’re just annoying.
I think Wal-Mart gives three no receipt returns a year limit
I worked Sporting Goods at Lechmere Dedham, Ma from 1985 -1988 starting at my senior year of HS..
Greatest non-professional job i ever had.....and greatest store ever.
I miss that place.....still have friends to this day that i met there...and the after work parties were GREAT!
Back when I was doing retail a customer profile where the refunds-to-purchase ratio was running outside of industry norms generally indicated that a scam was underway. It was one of the first things loss prevention looked at.
We had a Service Merchandise here in Dedham, MA back in the early 80’s.
Cool place, basically a catalog store with an example of each item they sold shown on a shelf.
I bought a Technics receiver and tape deck from them.
Still got them both out in the garage somewhere...
I understand that distinction you make.
I’ll bet that they have statistics on returns, broken down in a granular form.
For example (just making numbers up here) if you buy a DVD player, the return rate is probably 0.20% for all reasons.
If you buy shoes (as I did) the return rate may be...8.00%.
If you are buying women’s clothes, the return rate may be 25.70% (again, just making these numbers up)
They probably have automated processes that look at your overall rate of return for all products and then break it down by by product classification, and if you fall into the 6th standard deviation from average for that product, I’ll bet you get flagged for a closer look. If it is a pattern, there probably needs to be some kind of communication.
If I ran a business, I would do something like that. Those costs can add up. The question is, where does one draw the line? If you return every product three times before getting the one you want, perhaps as a vendor you flag and direct them to an online service person who can help them make the right choice? I don’t know...but I am certain there are people who are so anal-retentive that they might routinely return clothing purchases several times before either getting a refund or the right fit.
I’m sure it happens.
Those were partying times for sure. I’ve been to that Lechemere...so you know just what I mean.
Sorry,but I had a terrible experience at that very store——but it was back in the early 70s.
.
It’s a BJ’s wholesale now.
By walking in the side door i can imagine exactly where the sporting goods/seasonal/package pick-up used to be.
except the building looks entirely different inside now.
i wish i had a time machine....listening to songs from the 80’s at the moment is not helping..
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