Racing for a Refund
Buying whether over the telephone or the internet can be tricky, especially if you require the product to be shipped to you. The most important difference between shopping virtually to buying from a physical store on spot is that you get to check the product first-hand with the latter. There is a lot of trust involved when buying through a phone or online. Most likely, the only time you can inspect the product is when you already have it on hand. There is the trust involved that the product you will be getting is exactly the same as described or presented to you, another point for having your product well taken care of during transit, and lastly, if in case anything goes wrong, the store will be eager to give you a return-refund for the product. This may feel like a lot to ask for, but virtual companies have the bigger responsibility to make sure that their client is satisfied, as it is harder to reel in a client without having them see a physical store, all the more harder to build a client retainer base.
Shopping for computer parts online is not at all different. It may even be harder to buy gadgets over phone or the internet because of the sensitivity of the products subject to shipping and function testing when a buyer finally receives the shipment.
An online shopper was recently faced with a problem when he bought a motherboard from Accubyte. The buyer bought a motherboard from the online computer parts store and upon receiving the product; he found that it wouldn’t work. The biggest error of the buyer would be that he didn’t check the store’s return policy before placing the order.
When he found that the motherboard he bought was defective, he quickly scanned the store’s return policies. Accubyte offers a full refund-return policy within seven working days. The buyer, happy with the offer, eagerly looked forward to shipping back the package. To his dismay, he found out that the seven day limit already included the shipping period, his testing time, and again the time it took for the store to receive the product (shipping back).
That seven day period is too short for a customer to test his product, especially if the customer’s location would take days to reach. Imagine this customer’s disappointment when he found out that he wouldn’t get a full refund from Accubyte. The online store ended up paying for 85% for the refund and required the 15% percent for its restocking fee. The customer had to communicate with his credit card company to get back the 15% restocking fee deducted from his refund and the credit card company willingly gave him back that part of the refund.
Accubyte’s general manager, Ali Supariwala, issued a statement saying that the customer had the policies confused. The customer may have been thinking about the return-exchange policy which entitled him seven days to send the defective product back. This exchange policy permits the client to receive a working product even if he still has the defective one on hand; he is then given a seven-day period to send the defective product back to the company. If he fails to submit it back within the period, he will be charged with the 15% restocking fee.
The company’s policies are a puzzle to figure out. If you’re a client unaware of the return policies before ordering, you can get just as confused as the client who received the defective motherboard. The return periods they require are hard to decipher.
For a secured online/ telephone shopping, the buyer must inspect every detail the company gives out, and when something is unclear, it is his responsibility to ask for a straight answer. Online stores offer pages for return policies as well as customer service telephone numbers that you can contact. It can be easier to speak to someone from the company over the telephone so you can communicate any problem/ misunderstanding you have of their policies. Before placing your order you have to make sure that everything is spelled out perfectly and that you know what you’re entitled to if ever you get something you are not satisfied with.