Why do we have to wait so long to get a refund?

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Sadly all part of rip of Britain, online businesses love getting order and taking your money up front BUT as soon as there is a problem and you return an item the business concerned then goes into a ‘long delay mode’, and you are made to wait and sweat for the money that you originally paid up front.

I am afraid that, in terms of satisfaction with the product, buying things on-line is not much better than when mail order was the predominant form of distance selling, and thousands of customers would put up with disappointing products rather than try to get their money back. But when they did request a refund it was usually processed quickly because that was one of the competitive marketing points of mail order – a quick and easy ‘no arguments’ refund [unlike with a shop purchase]. Most of the major mail order companies had a reputation at stake and would not be allowed to advertise in newspapers and magazines unless they abided by a strict code of customer service [which still applies today in print media marketing].

With on-line purchasing the picture has changed considerably. Many of the companies are little known or upstarts and do not have much of a reputation to protect, although others are household names but have decided to delay refund payments as a cashflow-based business policy. They are always behind with paying their suppliers so they are using customer receipts as working capital for as long as they can drag it out, and there is no doubt that, in the garment and footwear categories, the market place is exceedingly competitive – prices have been slashed to the bone, and the firms themselves are barely a wage-bill away from extinction.

One of the trading differences that has changed companies’ approach towards customers is the huge volume of returns they are experiencing. While ordering has never been easier, returning items has also become much more straightforward with appropriate labels and facilities included with every package – you just ring up the carrier and they call round and take it away for you [no more queuing up at the post office]. It is alleged that many consumers are abusing the system: buying several sizes and colours of the same item, buying things to wear once and return, or just getting it wrong. So the suppliers are reluctant to make returning goods any easier and might even be trying to put people off. Traders are attributing their refund delays to the volume of returns when the reality is that they are not investing sufficient resource into the returns-handling process and are continuously in a back-log, especially after the release of a new catalogue or seasonal range.

Where the goods do not match the product description, or are broken, or are not fit for purpose, or are unsaleable for any other reason, then they must refund the customer expeditiously and efficiently and really ought to be named and shamed if they don’t. Most purchases are made by credit card and the refund would normally take the form of a reversal of the payment; if that payment has been made just before the issue of the monthly statement then it will be impossible for the reversal to take place within the accounting period and it can easily slip further into the next period. There seems to be a poor connexion between the customer service staff who [once you have got hold of them] promise a refund and the actual execution of that promise.

There are good retailers, both large and small, who deal with refunds efficiently and provide exemplary customer service but we can only discover them by experience and recommendation. Publicising the bad ones would help, but many people who buy on-line or from a mail order catalogue never have any reason to return goods and so are unaware of the quality of the company’s performance in this respect.

Another related gripe over refunds is the practice of many companies not to issue immediate refunds when goods ordered are not available; they hold on to the payments in the hope and expectation that the customer will order again and be credited at that time. That is probably a legitimate consequence of having an account with a company and only paying when billed, but it is creeping into general cash-with-order trading for customers who just wish to buy things from time to time or as a one-off and do not wish to run an account.

I have noticed that buying on-line and mail order purchasing from catalogues are certainly no longer a more economical way of buying clothes or housewares even where the quality might appear to be equivalent to high-street shopping. It seems that many of the prices shown are false – targetting the gullible – since heavy discounting [against the falsely-inflated opening prices] usually occurs quite quickly by means of a plethora of e-mail messages. But even the resulting prices are not necessarily a bargain and often do not represent good value for money when the quality of the product becomes apparent.

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Further to my original topic. I must say that I am very impressed with Amazon’s refund policy. I purchased a couple of accessories which I thought I might need with a hard drive enclosure that I’d bought. When the enclosure arrived I saw that the enclosure was complete so I didn’t need the two extras. I contacted Amazon for a return and they repaid the cost to my bank before I’d put the objects in the post!

And today I complained to Amazon when an item for which I’d paid for express next day delivery arrived three days late. I was not only refunded the postage but also the cost of the product (but that was just a small amount). Still great service.

ya online sites charge the card immediately but have to wait for some time to get a refund. I actually deal with this all the time. even a company refund the money from their systems asap it takes time to refund. most of the online website use a merchant who proved the payment gateway. so this merchant connect the card holders bank and the online website company’s bank. the process is much smoother when you charge but it takes time to get a refund. even the company doesn’t get the money immediately to their account. it takes few days for the merchant to debit the money.

We have moved on a long way since financial transactions had to be moved physically and the banks clearing system (BACS) operated overnight. With todays technology money moves instantly. How else could you present your credit card and come away from a jewellers shop with a diamond necklace?

This bit of the Convo began because you have a specific issue with a Which? company. I suggest that you ask the Which? Wills Team to explain in detail how they believe their money transfer system works as it is their explanation that is being disputed. We are in danger of taking this instance to make a more extensive criticism.

It may take a banker or a supplier who has direct knowledge of a topic to explain it to us. I have wished for a long time that experts are asked to contribute to particular questions raised in Convos so we have a better understanding of the issues involved. That’s because I’d like to learn the facts rather than jump (or be jumped) to conclusions.

How about this, – you go online and place an order for an item that is clearly marked as being “in stock”, your payment is taken immediately and then … nothing! No acknowledgement email, no delivery details, and days later after chasing the retailer you learn they actually don’t have any stock of the item and in all truthfulness they probably never did. This is a favorite tactic of companies selling computer parts, it’s common practice for items that are in high demand. (Google – AMD GPU shortage). In the meantime your payment is sitting comfortably in the retailers account earning them interest. They give various excuses like “due to unprecedented demand” or “due to the Covid 19 crises”. The truth is they are making vast amounts of money by selling items that were never in their possession, and the longer they hold your funds the more they make. (In the case of unfulfilled AMD GPU orders it’s in the millions). As consumers we are getting shafted until we change the UK laws that allow this to happen.