I will start with Amazon, specifically Amazon.de , even though i would imagine that something similar could happen in other branches. I am not sure though....
How Amazon works in terms of returns, refunds, warranties etc. is not obvious, and i have seen discussions about it here in ASR. But for me, and i think for most folks, "Dispatched from and sold by Amazon." is considered the gold standard that offers the maximum grade of protection. This is what happened to me a few days ago. Not audio related but in the price range of many audio devices discussed here, so i thought it could be helpful.
I was eyeing a laptop and a smartphone because my old ones where starting to fail here and there. Last October 11th, amazon prime days started (I am long time prime member), and lucky me, both the laptop and the smartphone i had my eyes on had a significant reduction. I don't hesitate and place the order immediately. 900+ euros combined, significant money but really good price not available anywhere else.
In a matter of hours, the products are dispatched and my credit card charged. Next day i would have them at home. I was a happy man, had saved the equivalent of the smartphone, and bought under the "Dispatched from and sold by Amazon." seal, nothing could go wrong.
Unfortunately next day, after being "on delivery", the carrier, that was not the usual one, updated the status to "undeliverable". Immediately Amazon informed me via email that the carrier reported that there was a problem with the address and they could not deliver the parcel, that was on its way back to Amazon and i would receive a refund in 5-7 business days.
All this was very strange, because i haven't changed my address for two years and never had a problem, i live in a condo in a populated area and nobody there has such problems, but anyways, the prime days were fortunately two days so the good price was still there.... but i could not wait 5-7 days for the refund, so trusting Amazon's gold standard i went ahead and ordered the same laptop and smartphone again. Too good offer to let it go, and anyways, what could go wrong, right?
This time i receive the items a couple of days later from the usual carrier and I forget the incident.... until last night....
Friday night October 21st, 10 days later, i order a small item, by coincidence, from Amazon.de, and after a couple of minutes i receive a message. "your order has been blocked, there is a problem with your payment method". what? i check my bank website, and my card was blocked because i had exceeded the monthly limit, the main reason being that the refund from Amazon was not there yet.
My only credit card blocked on a friday night, two days away from monday, panic!!
i return immediately to amazon.de to check the status of the refund, and this time i read the small leter in detail "will be refunded in 5-7 business days after we receive the items back in our warehouse".... what? I guess this makes sense when you are returning an item, but here it is not the case, the parcel never reached to me, this is completely out of my control.
I immediately go to the customer service and open a chat, i explain the woman everything, she tells me that they have not yet received the items back from the carrier so they cannot refund me... what???? this has nothing to do with me, I never had the items in my hands, this is between the carrier and them! "sorry, you will need to be patient".
I explain her that i have no means to get any money or buy anything until this is solved, it is friday night and my bank wont open until monday, i have a small child and i can't even go to the supermarket. Same answer every time "Don't worry we will release a refund as soon as we receive the items back", "I am very sorry, but there is nothing we can do, you will have to be patient".
She has all the data, she can see how my last payment was rejected, i am not making it up, I keep on insisting, telling i would go to the police, nothing.
Very significantly, at some point i ask, "and what happens if the parcel is lost in a warehouse, or someone in the delivery company stole it?" - She does not answer.
Finally, after more than one hour, she says she will discuss the case with her supervisor, and leaves me waiting for good half hour. When she is back, she says they will give me a refund, and i would get the money back in 5-7 working days starting from now.
I am relieved, still have my card blocked but a few hours later the orders in amazon.de changed from "undeliverable" to "refunded". Still bear the message "return requested" but i cannot care less, even if now all the undeliverable reporting has disappeared from the order details.
So yes, even under the well regarded "Dispatched from and sold by Amazon." crap can happen and you are at the mercy of a big corporation. I start to doubt if the time lost, the bad time and one weekend without access to my money is worth the discount or not, but my doubt is now about the question amazon didn't answer. What if they never receive back the parcel? anyone knows??