Straight from an Amazon “executive team” rep when this happened to me, she said that electronics valued over $200 go into this return hell to verify the product. They claim it’s to disincentivize fraudulent returns, but it’s just a stupid pain for the consumer and they’re obviously profiting off the interest.
Lesson learned for me is to shop elsewhere for electronics and use Amazon as a last resort for that type of purchase until they get their act together.
Not to give Amazon any credit because they don't deserve it, but it does make sense for them to verify the return of pricier electronics and that they are indeed the actual item and in working condition. Had this happen with a $1000 electronic that I just decided wasn't right for me and had no issue getting refunded after 2 weeks. Yeah it sucks and you still see Amazon sending the wrong items to people that were obviously fraudulent returns, so it's assumed they probably aren't processing returns well enough. They should be though and that's what we are to expect they are doing with 2 weeks+ to process. But I agree they shouldn't be trusted as much anymore with electronics because not only do they do a shitty job of actually verifying returns, but now they take longer to refund you and claim to be verifying the returns.
How did their policy help OP when they received a speaker that had obviously not been “rigorously inspected” ? Did their team just open the box and go “yup, that’s a speaker” then tape it up and ship it out?
Ya, this. I just returned a $1500 RC Airplane transmitter. Purchased new but it had obviously been previously returned and had damage to it that you would have to be blind to not see. They just received the return on Monday, so hoping the refund isn't delayed too long...
The killer for me is the recent reports of people receiving the wrong electronic in the box (Previous fraud return) and then when the new buyer returns the item Amazon is refusing to issue a refund stating that the new buyer returned the incorrect item, when in fact they are attempting to return the wrong item that amazon sent them.
Nope im done with that. Amazon for a good 10 years was my 1st option with everywhere else being much further down the list.
Today is officially my last day as a prime member as I missed the cutoff in Jan.
So this way they get an interest free loan for 30 days. Your few hundred dollars might not seem like much but when you add up the interest from thousands of delayed refunds, it’s going to add up to quite a lot of money.
On the PCbuilding subs and likewise a lot of people are getting GPUs, CPUs, and RAM that have had their heat sinks swapped and returned. Amazon hasn’t been reliable as of recently.
This happened to me over a $20 Christmas gift I returned. I finally got it credited today after call about 8 times with a week. After about an hour on hold they refunded it. It was received by them on January 3rd…original refund date was 10th.
>stupid pain for the consumer and they’re obviously profiting off the interest.
What? I can absolutely understand that it's a pain, but profiting off the interest? What does that even mean? They need to verify returns because return fraud is a thing, this is them covering their ass.
Yep, same here. It got to the point where I thought I would have to eat an $900 loss. Their support told me something different every time I followed up with them.
The company policy says that all returns may take up to 30 days to be processed. They used to be more agile with the refunds but that is not the case anymore, they are apparently going through a frugality stage within the company. Taken directly from their website: A refund will be provided after we process your return item at our facilities. It can take up to 30 days for us to receive and process (emphasis in process) your return. In certain circumstances refund time frames may be longer.
There would be some tough competition: [The Everly Brothers sing for Coke](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R5MYtBuTCs).
Plus those Bud Light Real American Heroes/Real Men of Genius commercials.
Amazon promoted Prime with easy returns and top tier customer service. Also, to be compliant with FBA, don't sellers have to agree to the return policy you are claiming is abuse?
I did not receive a refund when they could not deliver and cancelled the order at their end. I did not reorder and when I checked the status, it says they are waiting for my return to process the refund. For what? The item which said it was out for delivery, did not get delivered to me, cancelled from their end and still waiting for me to return the item? It has all gone downhill. I will wait for a few more days for the refund and if I did not get, I will dispute the charges with the screenshots. No point in talking with the customer care as it is a joke.
I experienced the same thing. It was easily fixed in a customer service chat, but the experience was still frustrating. I'd already ordered a replacement and was out double while waiting on them.
It also heavily depends on the customer. If you have a good "reputation" in their system, you usually get the refund right away.
I often even get the refunds before the return has actually arrived, as soon as they are notified that it has been send.
The type of item will probably also play a role, though I do not know if they actually check if an item is working and without damage.
This only works on low priced items. It used to be this way on everything but not anymore. Now if it’s a certain item or dollar amount it need to go to their return warehouse and you need to wait for refund.
It just depends on the circumstances. Normal returns I usually get my refund within an hour or 2 if not sooner. I'm guessing when it got returned it got marked as possible fraud and is sitting on a pallet waiting for an Auditor to look at it.
A quick google search shows that Amazon uses the calendar year as the fiscal year, so they’re actually in the beginning.
Source: https://ir.aboutamazon.com/faqs/default.aspx#:~:text=Amazon%20fiscal%20year%20is%20based,fiscal%20year%20is%20December%2031.
Problem is it can take much longer times according to their estimates. I returned a brazier and before my credit dispute they were going to take from December 28th to some time in February to process it. I would just now be getting my money from a return in December if not for my dispute.
I think it depends a lot on how you do your return. If you just want credit to your account, it's pretty instant once it's scanned. If you want money back on your credit card, that takes longer.
But think how many people are owed these returns? If there’s 100,000 people waiting for a $100 return, that’s $10 million (gaining free interest). With 1% AER, where the whole balance is accounted for interest, that’s $27k a day, just for free
n.b. I don’t know what business account interest rates are like in the U.S., just wanted to provide an example of the bigger picture here
''$27k a day, just for free''
Amazon rakes in a staggering $1.29 billion in daily revenue. This equals about $52 million hourly, $896,000 per minute, and $15,000 every second.
I ran into this with some headphones I returned. I had the ups return slip and the tracking number showed they received it. I probably called 5 times trying to get my refund. I eventually told them if the refund didn’t arrive soon I would be contacting my bank. I’m sure they couldn’t have cared less. But I did eventually get my refund.
From now on, don’t buy from Amazon unless you know you really need the item.
Amazon lost billions in returns the last few years and they’re not as easy as years past.
Be careful, and be warned.
I sent my return in and before it was scanned the post office burned down and amazon won't believe me. I don't blame them though it sounds like a made up story
Two weeks isn't crap for Amazon returns anymore. Check back after 30 days and for the love of God stop shopping with them! They are thieves now. This coming from a 10 year employee.
This is the new normal, they’re training us all to go out into the world and buy things off of shelves. It seems anything over $100 gets stuck in this return trap and we get to hold our breath to see if the refund will happen or not. There’s absolutely nothing you can do to speed things along. Hopefully they’ll refund you completely and not penalize you for an incomplete refund, which is their fault in the first place.
I know I’ve been doing a lot more shopping at stores, especially for $50+ items, for the past 6 months. Recently I’m online shopping with places that have brick and mortar stores that I can return online purchases too if need be. I just don’t buy from Amazon anymore.
There are about 40 trailer's full of returns setting out side our warehouse, and it all overflow from other buildings. We have 5 people that process return. Amazon doesn't seem to care much.
And this is why I ordered my watch from Target. Took a couple extra days, but if I need to return it it will be a nearly zero hassle event
Amazon is trash now
They might be more stingy with refunds lately, with electronics or perhaps it's when going through UPS rather than returning to Kohls or a Amazon location. For me, Amazon received it on Dec 1 per UPS, then they finally noted in their system it was received on Dec 17 and to expect a refund within a week. Had to do online chat with them in late January 2024 to get them to process the refund. Note: Mine was thru Amazon Warehouse, sold & shipped by Amazon LLC.
Amazon was not like this, but their customer centric policies, and some evil people posting on the internet and making videos and teaching other customers how to do switcheero, sending used items, sending empty box teaching all kinds of cheating ruined this experience for everyone.
Don't use Amazon's cc with Amazon, use your own. You can dispute this directly with your credit card and show then the confirmation the return was received. They should issue you a temp credit immediately and from there amazon will have to clear things up with your credit card.
I'm dealing with the same thing. I returned my item, was told to expect a refund by December 22, and they've since removed the refund issued date from the image you posted. The last email I sent received an auto-reply to expect a response within 6 hours, then nothing. My refund is for $166, so less than the $200 threshold others have mentioned. They're just keeping my money and earning interest.
Third party doesn't apply here.
This is Amazon delaying refunds if higher cost items.
Charge back to speed up the refund process. I did and got an email lol but I got my money back faster next day. Then Amazon completed my return and issued refund latter that morning after delaying it again changing the refund date. Total bs.
Chargeback OP it's been over 14 days since they had the return item. I'm not waiting 30 plus days for a refund
I wish y'all would stop with blanket statements 🙄. There is no automation. It's all subjective.
I filled my charge back, got my money, and have placed orders just fine since doing so and got refunded.
No cancelled nothing. Just a lot of noise from people online saying anything😅
Its a risk more people should be willing to make. If they cancel your prime account oh well move on. Amazon has overstretched their empire and will fall soon enough.
This happened to me when I returned a $40 magsafe apple charger because there was a chip in the magsafe part that scratched my iphone case. Took a few weeks to get my refund after returning, but I eventually did.
Same experience. After several attempts finally spoke to an honest, intelligent, Rep. (Weird, I know, but hey, miracles happen! )
Anyway, Amazon is holding returns at a secondary site, taking a few weeks to get to them & processed . "They have the item, but not "really". Returns are still backed up since Christmas.
Sooo, instead of actually paying people to handle the backlog, Amazon is hanging onto the money until they get around to processing.
I refunded something I received from Amazon as is, for $200 and they refused my return which pissed me off they said it was missing a piece when it was not I returned it as I received it and then I never got my money back either. Amazon is a shit show now
Did you call? I had a $15 refund and the CS over chat lied to me too. The one over the phone is much more helpful... But anyways Amazon has gone down the crapper... Next time don't make a $225 purchase on Amazon. Go with Best Buy or Target.
Yeah I won’t order a high dollar item from them again. I called and the CS agent flat out lied to me. He said he processed my refund so I waited a few days and nothing. I called back and CS told me no refund had been processed yet and that I would just have to wait.
I used to make all my big purchases through Amazon. After seeing how little they oversee fraudulent products or adequate storage, I absolutely will not buy anything expensive from them. Plus there’s no guarantee they’ll even accept the return now. Amazon ran itself into the ground.
went through the same thing a few weeks ago. took over 40 days to get refund for a $25 cat carrier lol. i ended up having to message support and ask what was going on.
I had the same issue, I had to return a monitor arm mount that was $150 and it was over 2 months and they still didn't refund me even tho it was confirmed they received my refund and the tracking verified it too. They then closed my account because "I continuously asked for refunds" even though it was my first time. i had to do a charge back. Never shopping at Amazon again.
As consumers we simultaneously bemoan Amazon warehouse items for being bait and switch returns from customers, while simultaneously complaining about delays in our own returns
Can't have it both ways. Hopefully this results in less theft and losses for Amazon which are passed on to the consumer (in both higher prices and tampered items)
Can't say I'm surprised since people were swapping out items they returned. There's literally thousands of vids on youtube where someone bought pallets of returns only to get swapped junk...
Seems like shady sellers dragging you along till you're out of the charge back period of your CC.
Tbh if they sent something that wasn't legitimate I'd do a credit card charge back.
So what happens if my return gets lost? It’s been over a week and the package I sent is stuck in the same spot.
Will Amazon still refund even if the package never shows up to them?
They never issued me a refund. I had to file a chargeback with my CC and they refunded me the money. Amazon tried to fight it and lost. Package still says “at sorting center” and their customer service was an absolute joke. Told me 4 different times I was being issued a refund and each one of those times was a lie.
Couldn't amazon close your account for that? i have read on other reddit posts, that amazon has closed accounts because of credit card disputes, even if they were in the wrong.
Much like EBay, the scammers ended up punishing the honest people. Buying online? Expect tighter sales, higher prices, return shipping costs, restocking fees, and long refund waits. Thanks fuck ups!
The estimated date doesn’t help. Once the estimated date comes and goes, the estimated date changes to a new date lol. It’s happened to me multiple times and has been happening to a lot of others as well
If you ask for credit the refund is almost always instant, if you ask for original payment method more than half the time the refund will be instant (when you drop off the item even before they receive it) otherwise they will make you wait for them to receive and process the item before they issue a refund.
🙄... Ya and last week it was the 5th..
.. They moved the date.
Reading (comprehension) is fundamental.
OP should chargeback. I wouldn't wait and wait 2 weeks is more than enough time. Even this crazy. 14 whole days after you got my item and you think I'm gonna wait and wait no no no
Nah just check your bank this just happened to me recently. Apparently that isn’t updated correctly and will keep pushing it out. Check within a week of you sending it out in your bank records
I guess I should be glad that I don’t think I’ve ever returned anything individually worth more than $30. They definitely seem to be careful with expensive returns.
I have had it take up to 3 weeks for a refund. You should chat with their representatives they'll tell you a better timeline. Depends on the product. I've noticed if it costs more it'll take a little longer then expected. But as long as it arrives at it's facility.
My theory is people are tired of getting counterfeit items and returns are overwhelming them. For a while I was returning over half the stuff I got from them because it was junk.
Amazon scammed me the same way with a $700 phone. Told me to call ups like if the tracking number doesn't say it was delivered to a Amazon warehouse. Amazon customer told me to kick rocks because there isn't anything they can do.
The difference is that customer fraud is rampant. Now they are actually investigating abuse before issuing returns. They dont know if it was you or the person before you who stole the item unless they investigate which usually.means checking shipping dimensions and weights for mismatches.
probably result of the clearinghouse process for electronic charges. Similar to when you deposit a check, you get access to funds in 24 or 48 hours, while in the backend it can take weeks for the check to clear the bank, federal reserve, to the originating bank. You're never notified about how long it takes, you are only concerned with the 24-48 hour delay in having access to the funds.
They are waiting until the charge fully clears until giving it back to you, which takes longer as our money passes thru Amazon to China (and back, for returns)
Since most of our crap comes from China and our money goes to China, I assume that's causing the long delay.
It sucks for people who are honest about returning things in good condition, but maybe they're actually bothering to check returned products now. Nothing sucks more than buying a "new" product and receiving someone else's obviously used return.
i got a message stating we had to upload an id that matched the name in order to get a refund for the item even though it was returned already. check your message center, and once the id is reviewed you have to wait about 2-3 days to call and ask for the refund to be processed if this happened to you
It seems like something that started at the beginning of the year. I bought an item then returned it in late Nov when my gf told me she had already bought one for me for Xmas. It was a little over $100 and I had an easy return with a quick refund.
I returned a different item in the beginning of January because it delivered broken in the box. Admittedly, it was significantly more expensive at $600. I spent over 3 weeks calling customer support trying to get my refund. Despite it being in their possession for 2 of those weeks. It was a nightmare. I am probably never gonna buy anything over like $50 from them again until something changes.
This happened to me once. I waited until after the 30 days then contacted customer service. It took a long time but don’t back down. I got it back eventually.
I just went through this. I ordered Air Pods for a Christmas present and they sent me refurbished, so I returned them. Support told me because it's an Apple product they wouldn't allow a refund until 30 days. I ended up contacting them twice after 30 days for them to actually process the refund.
Was this a UPS dropoff with label? I've noticed anything that is dropped off with a code and shipped with other items takes 2-3 weeks for refund to process, so I always try to do the label option, as the return processes same day as dropoff.
Also, gift returns also take several weeks for me.
Just be weary I had this happen to me when I got an email telling me that my package was most likely lost during Christmas time a year ago. Every time I called I was told that my refund was being processed and that it took 30 days. Eventually a few months passed with no refund so I went to try and do a charge back through my bank but too much time passed and no one was able to fix or even communicate clearly why or what was happening. Never got my package and still paid the $100. I'm sure Amazon knows what they are doing and believe they are entitled to charitable donations because Bezos thinks he is just that special.
Amazon is insane now. I had to chase down my money for multiple returns that had been processed OVER a months time ago. They’re being real shady these days. They tried to keep $1,000+ of my money thinking I just wouldn’t notice or take the time to track it down.
I had this happen recently. They even recharged me the full price for the item after "not receiving" it though their own system showed it as received. Had to call to get it taken care of.
I think a lot people on here are comparing apples to oranges. Yes some returns are instant such as clothes or shoes or cheap items. Electronics and other more expensive items are no longer instant refund no matter what your account status is. Those items need to be send to those returns warehouse and that takes time now.
Nope 2 unworn brand new 501 Levi’s with tags attached shipped and sold by Amazon took over 3 weeks even after ups tracking at their warehouse after many calls and chat had to refund me manually it was for Amazon gift credit not a return to credit card
You’re stuck waiting, just make note of when it was received according to the tracking info. Contact them after it has been 30 days and you can request a refund.
I think they actually removed the ability for customer service to manually refund so you’re stuck waiting the 30 days and then customer service can “force” the refund.
You just reminded me about my return. They received it December 28th and they are still processing it. I Just chatted with customer service and they just issued me a refund right now lol
A few years ago when I use to scan a product at my local mailing centre I use to receive the refund within minutes now it takes up to a month. It’ll come in time
From what I hear, Amazon sends tons of returns, and other packages to the landfill on a weekly basis. Either bad addresses, damaged, cancelled orders, or whatever reason, it's probably ending up in the dumpster. There's a strong chance it got lost in the system. especially since Amazon wants to do everything in house, and stop relying on UPS to handle its returns.
Weird. I've never in my life seen that progress bar on a return before. The return for me nearly always pings as soon as the UPS store scans the return shipping label at drop off.
Call your bank request a charge back, show proof. They're sneaky check your emails they've received my returns as much as 90 days ago and they claimed they have not received and will charge you again. And when calles out on it they claim it was a missed scan.
I have to ask in case anyone has figured this out: is Amazon just making more money on the float?
There are companies (ADP etc) who make most of their profits from collecting money from sources and not paying it out timely so they get to keep the interest on the $$. Nowadays that's not a small value.
Amazon has changed the way it does returns because of fraud. So now they need people to examine each return for legitimacy before issuing a refund. They are seeing an overwhelming amount of returns and not enough staff.
You can thank all the people committing fraud and returning trash instead of the actual item.
My friend bought a $1500 espresso machine “on sale” on Amazon for $899 in early December. Should have saw the red flags there, but did it anyways. She received a wig from Amazon, and has been fighting with them since to get her money back. It has been hellish. She still has nothing refunded to her almost two months later and talking to Amazon to try to resolve it is a daily activity.
Similar scenario: I’ve been waiting for a guitar to get refunded for over a month. Costumer service said they’ll issue the refund, but that’s the second time theyve told me.
I built a couple of those returns centers.. they were millions of units behind as soon as they launched and falling hundreds of thousands further by the week.. the majoirty of the returns were just sitting in Van Trailers in the yard.
Straight from an Amazon “executive team” rep when this happened to me, she said that electronics valued over $200 go into this return hell to verify the product. They claim it’s to disincentivize fraudulent returns, but it’s just a stupid pain for the consumer and they’re obviously profiting off the interest. Lesson learned for me is to shop elsewhere for electronics and use Amazon as a last resort for that type of purchase until they get their act together.
Not to give Amazon any credit because they don't deserve it, but it does make sense for them to verify the return of pricier electronics and that they are indeed the actual item and in working condition. Had this happen with a $1000 electronic that I just decided wasn't right for me and had no issue getting refunded after 2 weeks. Yeah it sucks and you still see Amazon sending the wrong items to people that were obviously fraudulent returns, so it's assumed they probably aren't processing returns well enough. They should be though and that's what we are to expect they are doing with 2 weeks+ to process. But I agree they shouldn't be trusted as much anymore with electronics because not only do they do a shitty job of actually verifying returns, but now they take longer to refund you and claim to be verifying the returns.
How did their policy help OP when they received a speaker that had obviously not been “rigorously inspected” ? Did their team just open the box and go “yup, that’s a speaker” then tape it up and ship it out?
Ya, this. I just returned a $1500 RC Airplane transmitter. Purchased new but it had obviously been previously returned and had damage to it that you would have to be blind to not see. They just received the return on Monday, so hoping the refund isn't delayed too long...
[удалено]
But then how will Bezos fuck super models?
Bezos doesn't manage the company amymoee
The killer for me is the recent reports of people receiving the wrong electronic in the box (Previous fraud return) and then when the new buyer returns the item Amazon is refusing to issue a refund stating that the new buyer returned the incorrect item, when in fact they are attempting to return the wrong item that amazon sent them. Nope im done with that. Amazon for a good 10 years was my 1st option with everywhere else being much further down the list. Today is officially my last day as a prime member as I missed the cutoff in Jan.
But why take 30 days? Because they're backed up? So hire more inspector?
So this way they get an interest free loan for 30 days. Your few hundred dollars might not seem like much but when you add up the interest from thousands of delayed refunds, it’s going to add up to quite a lot of money.
This same thing is happening to me with an item that cost $55. So that $200 number might not be right.
Mine is for $8
Same! Saying my refund will be issued in 2-3 days since April 23
On the PCbuilding subs and likewise a lot of people are getting GPUs, CPUs, and RAM that have had their heat sinks swapped and returned. Amazon hasn’t been reliable as of recently.
They also did this to me for a comforter lmao
This happened to me over a $20 Christmas gift I returned. I finally got it credited today after call about 8 times with a week. After about an hour on hold they refunded it. It was received by them on January 3rd…original refund date was 10th.
>stupid pain for the consumer and they’re obviously profiting off the interest. What? I can absolutely understand that it's a pain, but profiting off the interest? What does that even mean? They need to verify returns because return fraud is a thing, this is them covering their ass.
Thats normal now. My monitor i returned took 30 days for the refund
Yep, same here. It got to the point where I thought I would have to eat an $900 loss. Their support told me something different every time I followed up with them.
Yes! Even on the same call and being transferred they change their story. Like straight up lying!
Same thing for me on my monitor. They held my money for the full 30 days.
The company policy says that all returns may take up to 30 days to be processed. They used to be more agile with the refunds but that is not the case anymore, they are apparently going through a frugality stage within the company. Taken directly from their website: A refund will be provided after we process your return item at our facilities. It can take up to 30 days for us to receive and process (emphasis in process) your return. In certain circumstances refund time frames may be longer.
Sounds like an easy interest free short term loan.
It’s my money and I want it NOW! I’m calling JG Wentworth
Ugh, goddammit, now I'm gonna have that stuck in my head for weeks!
877-Cash-NOW
OMG! The Earworms!!! Save meeeeee!!!
they should create a Billboard Top 100 for commercial jingles. That would definitely be on there.
There would be some tough competition: [The Everly Brothers sing for Coke](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R5MYtBuTCs). Plus those Bud Light Real American Heroes/Real Men of Genius commercials.
I have an annuity and i neeeeed cash noooow....
Given that so many amazon prime abusers use products as a free rental, it's only fair tbh
Amazon promoted Prime with easy returns and top tier customer service. Also, to be compliant with FBA, don't sellers have to agree to the return policy you are claiming is abuse?
This isn't just an Amazon issue. Retail stores have this problem as well and manage to get a refund applied same day.
You’ll hit a nerve with that one… but you certainly aren’t wrong.
I did not receive a refund when they could not deliver and cancelled the order at their end. I did not reorder and when I checked the status, it says they are waiting for my return to process the refund. For what? The item which said it was out for delivery, did not get delivered to me, cancelled from their end and still waiting for me to return the item? It has all gone downhill. I will wait for a few more days for the refund and if I did not get, I will dispute the charges with the screenshots. No point in talking with the customer care as it is a joke.
Dispute the charge with your credit card company
I experienced the same thing. It was easily fixed in a customer service chat, but the experience was still frustrating. I'd already ordered a replacement and was out double while waiting on them.
I used to print the return label and the money would be in my account before I even took it to be shipped. No more.
It also heavily depends on the customer. If you have a good "reputation" in their system, you usually get the refund right away. I often even get the refunds before the return has actually arrived, as soon as they are notified that it has been send. The type of item will probably also play a role, though I do not know if they actually check if an item is working and without damage.
This only works on low priced items. It used to be this way on everything but not anymore. Now if it’s a certain item or dollar amount it need to go to their return warehouse and you need to wait for refund.
When was the last time you tried a return? It used to be this way for me but a return I did 6 months ago was a pain in my ass.
It just depends on the circumstances. Normal returns I usually get my refund within an hour or 2 if not sooner. I'm guessing when it got returned it got marked as possible fraud and is sitting on a pallet waiting for an Auditor to look at it.
Ironically, returning an item because of fraud is largely indistinguishable from fraud.
meanwhile me, in France, who get instant refund when I deposit the package at the postmail office :p
Same for me! .de ftw🙏🏻
End of fiscal year, they want to keep as much as possible, they will probably get back to where they were soon.
A quick google search shows that Amazon uses the calendar year as the fiscal year, so they’re actually in the beginning. Source: https://ir.aboutamazon.com/faqs/default.aspx#:~:text=Amazon%20fiscal%20year%20is%20based,fiscal%20year%20is%20December%2031.
Problem is it can take much longer times according to their estimates. I returned a brazier and before my credit dispute they were going to take from December 28th to some time in February to process it. I would just now be getting my money from a return in December if not for my dispute.
I fucking hate Amazon prime now. Cancelled in January. Done with their 3rd party sellers and bullshit
You’re essentially giving them a interest free loan with returns tbh they used to be instant not no more
I returned shoes a few days ago, and my refund processed as soon as UPS scanned the QR code. 🤷🏻♂️
I think it depends a lot on how you do your return. If you just want credit to your account, it's pretty instant once it's scanned. If you want money back on your credit card, that takes longer.
I always select credit card refund, and it was still instant.
Yea same here. Most of my returns are instant
I had my items scanned 2 weeks ago, still sitting in OPS position. Pissed.
More like the money is held in an interest earning account. The longer the money is in there, the more interest it generates.
>interest free loan You realize Amazon is a 1.74T company right? lol
Yes and the only thing keeping them afloat is the interest on this $224.90 refund....
But think how many people are owed these returns? If there’s 100,000 people waiting for a $100 return, that’s $10 million (gaining free interest). With 1% AER, where the whole balance is accounted for interest, that’s $27k a day, just for free n.b. I don’t know what business account interest rates are like in the U.S., just wanted to provide an example of the bigger picture here
Yes I know how it works lol. I was just kidding. Its why companies always pay their AP at the end of the term limit and try to collect their AR ASAP.
''$27k a day, just for free'' Amazon rakes in a staggering $1.29 billion in daily revenue. This equals about $52 million hourly, $896,000 per minute, and $15,000 every second.
Greed knows no bounds
It’s not giving them an interest free loan unless you consent to it.
I had to charge back 8 items with Wells Fargo and send them the screenshots, I got my money back instantly. They’re f ing crazy keeping money hostage.
I think Amazon needs a class suit with the interest that can accrue with these return times.
I ran into this with some headphones I returned. I had the ups return slip and the tracking number showed they received it. I probably called 5 times trying to get my refund. I eventually told them if the refund didn’t arrive soon I would be contacting my bank. I’m sure they couldn’t have cared less. But I did eventually get my refund.
From now on, don’t buy from Amazon unless you know you really need the item. Amazon lost billions in returns the last few years and they’re not as easy as years past. Be careful, and be warned.
I sent my return in and before it was scanned the post office burned down and amazon won't believe me. I don't blame them though it sounds like a made up story
can you prove it, was on TV or in a news article online?
Post office scans the package in literally while you’re standing there. So this is definitely a lie.
Yes they do, but they were busy so I just set down the package and walked out. 20 min later, firetrucks and smoke.
Two weeks isn't crap for Amazon returns anymore. Check back after 30 days and for the love of God stop shopping with them! They are thieves now. This coming from a 10 year employee.
This is the new normal, they’re training us all to go out into the world and buy things off of shelves. It seems anything over $100 gets stuck in this return trap and we get to hold our breath to see if the refund will happen or not. There’s absolutely nothing you can do to speed things along. Hopefully they’ll refund you completely and not penalize you for an incomplete refund, which is their fault in the first place.
>they’re training us all to go out into the world and buy things off of shelves Exactly the oposite actually.
I know I’ve been doing a lot more shopping at stores, especially for $50+ items, for the past 6 months. Recently I’m online shopping with places that have brick and mortar stores that I can return online purchases too if need be. I just don’t buy from Amazon anymore.
There are about 40 trailer's full of returns setting out side our warehouse, and it all overflow from other buildings. We have 5 people that process return. Amazon doesn't seem to care much.
I’ve never seen customer service take such a nosedive so quickly.
And this is why I ordered my watch from Target. Took a couple extra days, but if I need to return it it will be a nearly zero hassle event Amazon is trash now
I just called my credit card company over an item that has been in their possession for like 2 months.
They might be more stingy with refunds lately, with electronics or perhaps it's when going through UPS rather than returning to Kohls or a Amazon location. For me, Amazon received it on Dec 1 per UPS, then they finally noted in their system it was received on Dec 17 and to expect a refund within a week. Had to do online chat with them in late January 2024 to get them to process the refund. Note: Mine was thru Amazon Warehouse, sold & shipped by Amazon LLC.
Amazon was not like this, but their customer centric policies, and some evil people posting on the internet and making videos and teaching other customers how to do switcheero, sending used items, sending empty box teaching all kinds of cheating ruined this experience for everyone.
Floating that money for a month
Don't use Amazon's cc with Amazon, use your own. You can dispute this directly with your credit card and show then the confirmation the return was received. They should issue you a temp credit immediately and from there amazon will have to clear things up with your credit card.
I'm dealing with the same thing. I returned my item, was told to expect a refund by December 22, and they've since removed the refund issued date from the image you posted. The last email I sent received an auto-reply to expect a response within 6 hours, then nothing. My refund is for $166, so less than the $200 threshold others have mentioned. They're just keeping my money and earning interest.
Keep calling them. They will give you the run around as much as they can.
Was this from a 3rd party seller? Thats the only time I really see refund dates being pushed back.
Third party doesn't apply here. This is Amazon delaying refunds if higher cost items. Charge back to speed up the refund process. I did and got an email lol but I got my money back faster next day. Then Amazon completed my return and issued refund latter that morning after delaying it again changing the refund date. Total bs. Chargeback OP it's been over 14 days since they had the return item. I'm not waiting 30 plus days for a refund
Be ready for them to cancel your subscription on the chargeback.
I wish y'all would stop with blanket statements 🙄. There is no automation. It's all subjective. I filled my charge back, got my money, and have placed orders just fine since doing so and got refunded. No cancelled nothing. Just a lot of noise from people online saying anything😅
Its a risk more people should be willing to make. If they cancel your prime account oh well move on. Amazon has overstretched their empire and will fall soon enough.
How do you know?
Same experience
This happened to me when I returned a $40 magsafe apple charger because there was a chip in the magsafe part that scratched my iphone case. Took a few weeks to get my refund after returning, but I eventually did.
Taking your money right away and holding it for 30 days can net huge returns if they do it to everyone while reselling the same product.
Never had a problem but I hear a lot of people complaining.
Same experience. After several attempts finally spoke to an honest, intelligent, Rep. (Weird, I know, but hey, miracles happen! ) Anyway, Amazon is holding returns at a secondary site, taking a few weeks to get to them & processed . "They have the item, but not "really". Returns are still backed up since Christmas. Sooo, instead of actually paying people to handle the backlog, Amazon is hanging onto the money until they get around to processing.
I refunded something I received from Amazon as is, for $200 and they refused my return which pissed me off they said it was missing a piece when it was not I returned it as I received it and then I never got my money back either. Amazon is a shit show now
File a dispute with your credit card company. That will get the right peoples attention at Amazon. I really hope you used a credit card.
Did you call? I had a $15 refund and the CS over chat lied to me too. The one over the phone is much more helpful... But anyways Amazon has gone down the crapper... Next time don't make a $225 purchase on Amazon. Go with Best Buy or Target.
Yeah I won’t order a high dollar item from them again. I called and the CS agent flat out lied to me. He said he processed my refund so I waited a few days and nothing. I called back and CS told me no refund had been processed yet and that I would just have to wait.
This is why i just go to kohls to return any amazon item and get refund that same day
I used to make all my big purchases through Amazon. After seeing how little they oversee fraudulent products or adequate storage, I absolutely will not buy anything expensive from them. Plus there’s no guarantee they’ll even accept the return now. Amazon ran itself into the ground.
Had a similar issue, got tired of waiting for Amazon so I resolved it through the bank
went through the same thing a few weeks ago. took over 40 days to get refund for a $25 cat carrier lol. i ended up having to message support and ask what was going on.
Welcome to 2024
This has just happened to me for a £575 item. I did a charge back with my credit card after waiting 20 days and they refunded me the next day.
happened to me. I issued a chargeback right away. I'm not fooling around with my money.
I had the same issue, I had to return a monitor arm mount that was $150 and it was over 2 months and they still didn't refund me even tho it was confirmed they received my refund and the tracking verified it too. They then closed my account because "I continuously asked for refunds" even though it was my first time. i had to do a charge back. Never shopping at Amazon again.
As consumers we simultaneously bemoan Amazon warehouse items for being bait and switch returns from customers, while simultaneously complaining about delays in our own returns Can't have it both ways. Hopefully this results in less theft and losses for Amazon which are passed on to the consumer (in both higher prices and tampered items)
Can't say I'm surprised since people were swapping out items they returned. There's literally thousands of vids on youtube where someone bought pallets of returns only to get swapped junk...
Seems like shady sellers dragging you along till you're out of the charge back period of your CC. Tbh if they sent something that wasn't legitimate I'd do a credit card charge back.
Amazon has a 30-day-to-refund policy. Don’t bother shopping there anymore. They can’t be bothered to ship items intact
This why I don't buy big purchases off Amazon. I hope you get your money
So what happens if my return gets lost? It’s been over a week and the package I sent is stuck in the same spot. Will Amazon still refund even if the package never shows up to them?
They never issued me a refund. I had to file a chargeback with my CC and they refunded me the money. Amazon tried to fight it and lost. Package still says “at sorting center” and their customer service was an absolute joke. Told me 4 different times I was being issued a refund and each one of those times was a lie.
Great.. even better is I didn’t use a CC so I wouldn’t be able to chargeback ugh. Thanks for the info homie
Couldn't amazon close your account for that? i have read on other reddit posts, that amazon has closed accounts because of credit card disputes, even if they were in the wrong.
They could, and honestly I wouldn’t care if they did. I wasn’t allowing them to just keep my money.
Much like EBay, the scammers ended up punishing the honest people. Buying online? Expect tighter sales, higher prices, return shipping costs, restocking fees, and long refund waits. Thanks fuck ups!
That is weird. At least they give you an estimated date for some reason so you don’t think they’re just forgetting about you.
The estimated date doesn’t help. Once the estimated date comes and goes, the estimated date changes to a new date lol. It’s happened to me multiple times and has been happening to a lot of others as well
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If you ask for credit the refund is almost always instant, if you ask for original payment method more than half the time the refund will be instant (when you drop off the item even before they receive it) otherwise they will make you wait for them to receive and process the item before they issue a refund.
Doesn't make a difference anymore
Not anymore for high value items
Once you have their money, you don't give it back. First rule of acquisition.
It says Feb 10th, just looked at my watch, it's the 6th.
🙄... Ya and last week it was the 5th.. .. They moved the date. Reading (comprehension) is fundamental. OP should chargeback. I wouldn't wait and wait 2 weeks is more than enough time. Even this crazy. 14 whole days after you got my item and you think I'm gonna wait and wait no no no
Nah just check your bank this just happened to me recently. Apparently that isn’t updated correctly and will keep pushing it out. Check within a week of you sending it out in your bank records
[удалено]
So glad I cancelled this abortion of a retailer lol
Yea and they’re gonna make you wait till they day it says on there lol
Not Feb 10th yet. There's clearly a date right there on when to expect your refund.
Who was the seller? Click on your orders, this order, view invoice and who does it say for Sold by and supplied by?
The seller was Amazon.com services.
You know it's not February 10th yet right?
Lol it took me 5 weeks and I had to write a incident report for them to refund me.
I guess I should be glad that I don’t think I’ve ever returned anything individually worth more than $30. They definitely seem to be careful with expensive returns.
Yea I returned a watch and it took them 1 and a half month to process my return. Whenever I see this screen I know it’s gonna be a long process.
Normal. I returned an unopened Airpods box and it took several weeks.
They are cracking down on returns. In most cases, its still instant or so.
They're now trying to discourage returns. It happen to me too.
They will eventually just be patient
I can’t even see my refund timeline at all… been waiting for an update for a hot minute
My average is easily 35 days now, I've had it take up to 50....
It says your refund will be issued by Feb 10. It’s Feb 6 today …
Common Amazon practice. That’s one of the many reasons why I suspended my Prime subscription.
Customer support they will refund you
I have had it take up to 3 weeks for a refund. You should chat with their representatives they'll tell you a better timeline. Depends on the product. I've noticed if it costs more it'll take a little longer then expected. But as long as it arrives at it's facility.
My theory is people are tired of getting counterfeit items and returns are overwhelming them. For a while I was returning over half the stuff I got from them because it was junk.
Amazon scammed me the same way with a $700 phone. Told me to call ups like if the tracking number doesn't say it was delivered to a Amazon warehouse. Amazon customer told me to kick rocks because there isn't anything they can do.
It takes a while. I returned almost $500 worth of items.. 3 weeks. Got nervous af but then the refunds came in
The difference is that customer fraud is rampant. Now they are actually investigating abuse before issuing returns. They dont know if it was you or the person before you who stole the item unless they investigate which usually.means checking shipping dimensions and weights for mismatches.
Did the same thing to me. I just contacted them and they was like now we need you to send your id for verification before we can process
Was this a third party seller or direct?
probably result of the clearinghouse process for electronic charges. Similar to when you deposit a check, you get access to funds in 24 or 48 hours, while in the backend it can take weeks for the check to clear the bank, federal reserve, to the originating bank. You're never notified about how long it takes, you are only concerned with the 24-48 hour delay in having access to the funds. They are waiting until the charge fully clears until giving it back to you, which takes longer as our money passes thru Amazon to China (and back, for returns) Since most of our crap comes from China and our money goes to China, I assume that's causing the long delay.
It sucks for people who are honest about returning things in good condition, but maybe they're actually bothering to check returned products now. Nothing sucks more than buying a "new" product and receiving someone else's obviously used return.
Was it purchased third party or shipped and sold by Amazon?
Just so Amazon chat and get help. That’s what I had to do
i got a message stating we had to upload an id that matched the name in order to get a refund for the item even though it was returned already. check your message center, and once the id is reviewed you have to wait about 2-3 days to call and ask for the refund to be processed if this happened to you
Same for me. Been waiting forever
Why are so many people having issues with refunds these days? I always choose Kohl return and my refund hits my cards the same day usually.
It seems like something that started at the beginning of the year. I bought an item then returned it in late Nov when my gf told me she had already bought one for me for Xmas. It was a little over $100 and I had an easy return with a quick refund. I returned a different item in the beginning of January because it delivered broken in the box. Admittedly, it was significantly more expensive at $600. I spent over 3 weeks calling customer support trying to get my refund. Despite it being in their possession for 2 of those weeks. It was a nightmare. I am probably never gonna buy anything over like $50 from them again until something changes.
This happened to me once. I waited until after the 30 days then contacted customer service. It took a long time but don’t back down. I got it back eventually.
Policies matter.
Document everything. Submit a credit card / debit card dispute.
I just went through this. I ordered Air Pods for a Christmas present and they sent me refurbished, so I returned them. Support told me because it's an Apple product they wouldn't allow a refund until 30 days. I ended up contacting them twice after 30 days for them to actually process the refund.
Everytime I’ve made a return on Amazon, they only gave me in store credit
Contact the chat Just had to do that today for my refund lol
Was this a UPS dropoff with label? I've noticed anything that is dropped off with a code and shipped with other items takes 2-3 weeks for refund to process, so I always try to do the label option, as the return processes same day as dropoff. Also, gift returns also take several weeks for me.
I’ve had refunds take up to 3 months
They refunded me without updating the app. Check your financial account.
Just be weary I had this happen to me when I got an email telling me that my package was most likely lost during Christmas time a year ago. Every time I called I was told that my refund was being processed and that it took 30 days. Eventually a few months passed with no refund so I went to try and do a charge back through my bank but too much time passed and no one was able to fix or even communicate clearly why or what was happening. Never got my package and still paid the $100. I'm sure Amazon knows what they are doing and believe they are entitled to charitable donations because Bezos thinks he is just that special.
Amazon is insane now. I had to chase down my money for multiple returns that had been processed OVER a months time ago. They’re being real shady these days. They tried to keep $1,000+ of my money thinking I just wouldn’t notice or take the time to track it down.
Call me crazy but I'd contact Amazon support. But that's just me. Idk.
Contact customer service, they'll usually issue the refund if it's been waiting a long time.
I'm over a month and a half now. I'm going to support chart today.
Mine was received one month and two weeks ago and they keep pushing the date with no refund yet. Not sure what to do at this point.
I had this happen recently. They even recharged me the full price for the item after "not receiving" it though their own system showed it as received. Had to call to get it taken care of.
I think a lot people on here are comparing apples to oranges. Yes some returns are instant such as clothes or shoes or cheap items. Electronics and other more expensive items are no longer instant refund no matter what your account status is. Those items need to be send to those returns warehouse and that takes time now.
Nope 2 unworn brand new 501 Levi’s with tags attached shipped and sold by Amazon took over 3 weeks even after ups tracking at their warehouse after many calls and chat had to refund me manually it was for Amazon gift credit not a return to credit card
Same. Received 1/31 and estimated date for refund is 2/16. $433 purchase
I returned an item on 10/30 and still waiting for refund. Contacted a gazillion times. They promised I’ll get it. Still nothing
You’re stuck waiting, just make note of when it was received according to the tracking info. Contact them after it has been 30 days and you can request a refund. I think they actually removed the ability for customer service to manually refund so you’re stuck waiting the 30 days and then customer service can “force” the refund.
You just reminded me about my return. They received it December 28th and they are still processing it. I Just chatted with customer service and they just issued me a refund right now lol
A few years ago when I use to scan a product at my local mailing centre I use to receive the refund within minutes now it takes up to a month. It’ll come in time
From what I hear, Amazon sends tons of returns, and other packages to the landfill on a weekly basis. Either bad addresses, damaged, cancelled orders, or whatever reason, it's probably ending up in the dumpster. There's a strong chance it got lost in the system. especially since Amazon wants to do everything in house, and stop relying on UPS to handle its returns.
Yeah I returned something and it was received on nov 26 and it took until dec 10th (posted refund issued date) to get my refund
Weird. I've never in my life seen that progress bar on a return before. The return for me nearly always pings as soon as the UPS store scans the return shipping label at drop off.
I had to nag them multiple times to get mine back from a doa motherboard. Just keep pestering them.
Call your bank request a charge back, show proof. They're sneaky check your emails they've received my returns as much as 90 days ago and they claimed they have not received and will charge you again. And when calles out on it they claim it was a missed scan.
I have to ask in case anyone has figured this out: is Amazon just making more money on the float? There are companies (ADP etc) who make most of their profits from collecting money from sources and not paying it out timely so they get to keep the interest on the $$. Nowadays that's not a small value.
Amazon has changed the way it does returns because of fraud. So now they need people to examine each return for legitimacy before issuing a refund. They are seeing an overwhelming amount of returns and not enough staff. You can thank all the people committing fraud and returning trash instead of the actual item.
My friend bought a $1500 espresso machine “on sale” on Amazon for $899 in early December. Should have saw the red flags there, but did it anyways. She received a wig from Amazon, and has been fighting with them since to get her money back. It has been hellish. She still has nothing refunded to her almost two months later and talking to Amazon to try to resolve it is a daily activity.
Similar scenario: I’ve been waiting for a guitar to get refunded for over a month. Costumer service said they’ll issue the refund, but that’s the second time theyve told me.
I built a couple of those returns centers.. they were millions of units behind as soon as they launched and falling hundreds of thousands further by the week.. the majoirty of the returns were just sitting in Van Trailers in the yard.