AIBU to be furious at how long it takes to get a refund?

[Misterectomy]

I love the convenience of online shopping but am noticing that retailers are taking longer and longer to give refunds on stuff I return. (I usually order clothes in 2 sizes due to the vagaries of manufacture).

I’ve been waiting for refunds from 2 places since the end of June. One of them even made me pay to return the stuff!

If you usually order items you have no intention of keeping, then frankly you deserve to be charged through the nose. Delivery - both ways - is very expensive and, even when you have to pay, it's being subsidised (by the company, i.e. in turn by everyone else who shops more considerately). It's also a complete waste of fuel, packaging etc.

Surely it is more fuel efficient etc than trying one item on, having to return it etc, and then getting a second delivery for the item in a different size?

The OP has been waiting 3 weeks for a refund, surely that is a tad excessive?

Why shouldn't you pay? It's not like you are returning faulty goods, they just don't fit.

yabu

I just don’t buy from places without free returns unless I know for sure the item will fit. I’ve never waited three weeks for a refund. Maybe I’ve been lucky.

I’d leave bad reviews for customer service and change where you’re shopping.

Hmm. They have 30 days in which to refund you by law so these particular two haven't done anything wrong. It's legal to charge for return carriage too.

Tbh, it's a ball-ache for companies when people speculatively order like this over and over. You're essentially returning half of what you buy and that's a big overhead for them to ensure goods are in a saleable condition.

Sure, you're exercising your consumer rights but many companies have started barring persistent returners. Perfectly legally.

I’ve been stung and now always check the company does free returns. It’s very difficult to know if it will fit from a picture/ sizing.

No problem if places do charge but I’m choosing not to buy from them.

But if you order two sizes you know you'll have to return one. Why should they pay and you'll have to accept that there are lots of people isolating, so things will be slower to process
Ordering on line gives you more rights to return, swings & roundabouts?

Why shouldn't you have to pay to return stuff? It's not the companies' fault it doesn't fit.

Postage is expensive. Either you pay it, or the company raises their prices to cover it that way.

Unless I’m very certain it will fit of course.

@PurpleDaisies

I just don’t buy from places without free returns unless I know for sure the item will fit. I’ve never waited three weeks for a refund. Maybe I’ve been lucky. I’d leave bad reviews for customer service and change where you’re shopping.

But the companies have done nothing wrong. So far. Seems harsh to leave a poor review.

But the companies have done nothing wrong. So far. Seems harsh to leave a poor review.

I meant leave a poor review for being so slow to process the refund. Apologies if that wasn’t clear. Three weeks is unacceptable.

Those complaining about the OP returning stuff, what would the alternative be? Sizes vary so much and many ships have not been letting people try things on, plus more and more are online only.

They haven't made a mistake, they're acting within the law and you're 'furious'. YABU.

Literally one of the options on every “why I am returning this” form you have to fill in for most refunds is “I ordered multiple sizes”.

Companies expect people to do this with online orders of clothing.

Companies that offer free returns are just hiding the price in the cost of the goods. You're essentially getting a lower quality product for a higher price as they are just absorbing into their margin. Those who don't offer free returns, you get better visibility of the true price of the item.

@PurpleDaisies

But the companies have done nothing wrong. So far. Seems harsh to leave a poor review.

I meant leave a poor review for being so slow to process the refund. Apologies if that wasn’t clear. Three weeks is unacceptable.

But it isn't unacceptable. It's perfectly legal. They have 30 days.

But it isn't unacceptable. It's perfectly legal. They have 30 days.

It is unacceptable to me. Hence why I would leave a bad review for that aspect of the customer service.

I think everyone understands that ordering online is hit and miss re. sizing and that it's inevitable that a proportion will be returned. That's expected by both consumer and retailer and catered for by the law.

It just seems off to be furious with companies behaving perfectly legally.

What makes me furious is ordering from a company and ending up on a shedload of mailing lists as a result. Now that is against the law. And nothing to do with the thread

If you usually order items you have no intention of keeping, then frankly you deserve to be charged through the nose

That's point of online shopping isn't it? Trying on things in your own home as you would in a shop? I usually take more than one item into a changing room so why not order multiple things for choice/size?

I always order multiples and send stuff back. I want easy and free returns or I don't bother ordering.

Waiting 3 weeks is a long time OP,I've been fortunate and have been pretty impressed with how fast refunds are processed, I've been lucky. Maybe an email to customer services ?

Not online but I work for a cheap retailer we have customers who will buy hundreds of pounds of items for a photoshoot, then return them after keeping a few things to the value of a tenner or less, stuff like socks and t shirts, the rest are used as props and returned,it takes ages processing these transactions, the queue waits while we find hangers etc on return

Totally agree. I’ve read several articles all wondering what the secret of Next’s success is. They’ve been very profitable throughout the pandemic. Not ONE mentioned the main reason I shop with them for kids clothes: you can order a load on account and only pay for what you keep. It just makes it so easy.

Unfortunately people buying things in multiple sizes or styles when they don't have any intention of keeping it all is ruining online shopping for those of us who only occasionally return

Let's assume that most people are right 50% of the time when estimating their size. That's probably an underestimation - I expect people are correct more often.

But taking that as a ballpark, always ordering two sizes doubles the amount you return. I can see why companies feel like they're being gamed a little.

Not that I'm suggesting no one should exercise their consumer rights. I can just see both sides of the argument.

It's interesting - company profit vs consumer convenience. You can't blame each for protecting their own interest. I know that ASOS banned prolific returners. It was clearly damaging their bottom line.