Bought shoes from Amazon France and returning them

Suckit · 06-08-2017 01:05PM #1

Sorry if this is a bit of a long one.

I bought two pairs of shoes from Amazon France in the sale.
I had them delivered to Parcel Wizard in Northern Ireland.
When they arrived they were too big, so I had to send them back.
I emailed Amazon France that i wanted to send them back and they sent me a return items label to print off (3 pages). The return address is in Germany.

I brought the shoes to the post office to get weighed and I was told it would be €12.50 per pair or €45 to send them both as one package (In the amazon box they arrived in).

I got back on to customer support and told them the prices.
They replied with this:

Following your email I have well noticed that you are trying to return the shoes, but you have been told it is 45 euros to return them, or 12.50 euros to return one pair. and it is going to cost you an extra 25 euros to return them to Germany address from Ireland.

In order to help you I assure you that we will refund you full amount of your return shipping cost .

As of this email, the refund of return shipping cost should take effect within 2-3 business days and appear on your next bank statement.

So we can refund you for return shipping costs upon receipt of the package, be sure to include the receipt showing the costs.

So i packed up the shoes and went back down to the Post Office.
When the lady in the Post Office weighed them, this time she also asked for the value of the items, I could not remember the exact price that i had paid (around €74) and she looked at the label. The label (printed from the Amazon link) said that the value of the shoes was €141, so she put that on the receipt.

I paid the €45 and sent the shoes off. I then scanned the receipt and sent it to them.
I received this reply last night.

Hello,

My name is Mirjana and I'm contacting you from Amazon Customer Service.

Thank you for sending us the receipt for the shipping of the return of your item.

Unfortunately we were not able to accept this as a proof for two reasons:
-the declared item value on the receipt is 141.00 euros which does not correspond to the value of the order (EUR 73,93)
-the address on the receipt is in Dublin, which also doesn't correspond to your delivery adress in UK.

In case you have perhaps sent us a wrong invoice I invite you to send us the correct one by answering directly to my email.

If that's not the case, please provide us with more information on the two above mentioned differences between the receipt and the information visible in the order no XXX-XXXXXXX-XXXXXX.

I hope this information will be usefull for you.

Where do i stand if Amazon refuse to pay me the return costs?
I would not have returned them, and probably would have opted to sell them online if i had not been assured that the postage costs would be refunded to me.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 06-08-2017 01:11PM

To be perfectly clear, did you tell the first support person that they had not been despatched to Ireland by Amazon or did you just mention returning them from Ireland? I would have been surprised to be told they would refund postage from Ireland when you did not pay for delivery to Ireland at the time of purchase.

Suckit · 06-08-2017 01:14PM

Avi Narrow Virtue wrote: »

To be perfectly clear, did you tell the first support person that they had not been despatched to Ireland by Amazon or did you just mention returning them from Ireland? I would have been surprised to be told they would refund postage from Ireland when you did not pay for delivery to Ireland at the time of purchase.

Yes, they had pulled up the details of the order, and i had told them that i was no longer in the UK and would be returning them from Ireland.
It was easier than trying to explain that I used Parcel Wizard.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 06-08-2017 01:41PM

Suckit wrote: »

Yes, they had pulled up the details of the order, and i had told them that i was no longer in the UK and would be returning them from Ireland.
It was easier than trying to explain that I used Parcel Wizard.

You misrepresented the situation really.

Suckit · 06-08-2017 02:45PM

Avi Narrow Virtue wrote: »

You misrepresented the situation really.

Not at all. The lady asked me about the order, and that they were shipped to the UK.
To which I replied that I would be returning them from Dublin.
I asked how would i go about doing that, as I could not get to a UK post office, or return point (I do not think return points could have been used in this instance anyway), and she told me.
I then emailed her after i had them weighed and the above is her reply.

Then she assured me that there would be no problem and that i will get refunded.

It was not until i had to email the receipt to the new address that i was given the reply about not accepting it as proof.

njs030 · 06-08-2017 02:58PM

Well legally they only have to pay return postage if the items are damaged and only from the address they were sent to.

Do you have proof of the conversation saying they'd refund you the delivery costs?

Suckit · 06-08-2017 04:02PM

notjustsweet wrote: »

Well legally they only have to pay return postage if the items are damaged and only from the address they were sent to.

Do you have proof of the conversation saying they'd refund you the delivery costs?

Yes, the above quote is copied directly from it.

fepper · 06-08-2017 04:21PM

Suckit wrote: »

Sorry if this is a bit of a long one.

I bought two pairs of shoes from Amazon France in the sale.
I had them delivered to Parcel Wizard in Northern Ireland.
When they arrived they were too big, so I had to send them back.
I emailed Amazon France that i wanted to send them back and they sent me a return items label to print off (3 pages). The return address is in Germany.

I brought the shoes to the post office to get weighed and I was told it would be €12.50 per pair or €45 to send them both as one package (In the amazon box they arrived in).

I got back on to customer support and told them the prices.
They replied with this:

So i packed up the shoes and went back down to the Post Office.
When the lady in the Post Office weighed them, this time she also asked for the value of the items, I could not remember the exact price that i had paid (around €74) and she looked at the label. The label (printed from the Amazon link) said that the value of the shoes was €141, so she put that on the receipt.

I paid the €45 and sent the shoes off. I then scanned the receipt and sent it to them.
I received this reply last night.

Where do i stand if Amazon refuse to pay me the return costs?
I would not have returned them, and probably would have opted to sell them online if i had not been assured that the postage costs would be refunded to me.

the real value of the shoes were 141 euros but you got them for 74,explain to amazon that their label had wrong value printed on it,not 141 but 74,that should sort that part as they would have your order details

Suckit · 06-08-2017 10:06PM

Yep i have sent them that with a copy of the email, but they have not replied since.

I was just wondering if there was anything I could do, but realistically, probably not.

fepper · 06-08-2017 10:32PM

Suckit wrote: »

Yep i have sent them that with a copy of the email, but they have not replied since.

I was just wondering if there was anything I could do, but realistically, probably not.

Going by the first email from amazon,It would be bad form of them not to honour their commitment to reimburse you,they are usually excellent to deal with returns

RoYoBo · 07-08-2017 02:17AM

Get on to their webchat and give them all the details, including the quotes from previous correspondence. I would be highly surprised if they don't sort this out, maybe even while you're online. I've always found Anmazon CS to be second to none.

Having said that, I have just about given up buying clothes or shoes online, even from Amazon - sizes just never seem to be accurate or consistent. This is especially so from Amazon Marketplace, where Chinese sizes are completely off the wall.

I bought a 2 piece swimsuit recently and the top was huge while the bottom part wouldn't go up one leg! Amazon were exceptionally helpful but it's a complete PITA having to do returns.

TheDriver · 07-08-2017 11:37AM

True, I only buy shoes or clothes that I know the brands already. I thought amazon don't refund postage costs on change of mind items??

nsa0bupkd3948x · 07-08-2017 11:44AM

I'd suggest going on Live Chat. I'd be very surprised if they don't refund you the return postage. Yes they don't have to but they are very good with customer service.

RoYoBo · 07-08-2017 03:16PM

TheDriver wrote: »

True, I only buy shoes or clothes that I know the brands already. I thought amazon don't refund postage costs on change of mind items??

I think it's a fine line between 'change of mind' and 'not as described' - the latter qualifies for free return postage. It is not difficult to make a case for this. For example, that swimsuit with the huge top and tiny bottom I claimed was not as described - both parts should have been the same size and weren't! Not that many V shaped women around! :pac:

When I return things (very seldom) it's because they do not fit their own description on the site. I was very careful to read all the size details and measurements given when I ordered clothes or shoes in the past. It has become way too frustrating when supplied goods deviate substantially from these measurements, so I'd need to be really tempted to buy them now.

Oh,, and yes, knowing the brand does help alright.

Suckit · 07-08-2017 03:19PM

Brendan Huge Nerd wrote: »

I'd suggest going on Live Chat. I'd be very surprised if they don't refund you the return postage. Yes they don't have to but they are very good with customer service.

Live chat is not an option for Amazon France, only email. And they do not seem to understand that the €141 value came from them, not me.

I think their biggest hanging point is the valuation of €141, even though it made no difference to the postage price, it was just for insurance.

Does anybody know if an Amazon International support exists? These just keep sending me back the exact same email, without even reading my replies.

Suckit · 08-08-2017 12:40PM

After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing it seems to have been sorted.
Although i had to contact Amazon UK and explain it to them, who in turn emailed the details to Amazon France.

Suckit · 10-08-2017 01:27AM

I received an email today saying that they are refunding me €44 for the shoes.
They redirect me to this page if i have any inquiries - https://www.amazon.fr/gp/help/customer/display.html?ie=UTF8&nodeId=11718001

I photographed the shoes and the package before i returned them, everything was immaculate.

This seems very like they are covering the return fees by reducing the refund for the shoes.

L1011 · 10-08-2017 09:36PM

Potentially extra return fees by returning the items from a different location to delivery is legitimate enough in my eyes - that is, of course, if they actually were any dearer. I'd check the Royal Mail prices to see if there was that significant a difference.

They have their own logistics ops in some bits of the UK and there's no way of figuring out the internal costs for that, but they use RM in other areas.

Suckit · 11-08-2017 02:04PM

it now looks like there was a lot lost in translation, they have confirmed that €44 was in fact for shipping costs (but it said €22 per pair) and that they are giving me the corect amount for the lower priced shoes. No mention of the other pair, but a girl has apologised that nobody was in contact with me, and has told me that i will be getting all of my money refunded, shoes and shipping.
I may have to wait up to 10 days.

At least it has given me a little peace of mind.

rubadub · 12-08-2017 07:04PM

TheDriver wrote: »

True, I only buy shoes or clothes that I know the brands already. I thought amazon don't refund postage costs on change of mind items??

They refund on some shoes (not sure if it is all shoes).

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200182230

There were reports of them blacklisting some customers who were repeatedly sending stuff back -possibly wearing them to an event and then returning. This return policy obviously means they have to charge a lot more in the first place -i.e. they must know say 10% are returned and so build it into the price -and as the OP showed the price of postage from Ireland is very expensive.

I wish there was an opt out option to get the item cheaper, as I do not like the idea of paying this form of insurance for shoes I am 99% certain will fit. I never was a fan of these inbuilt things like "free delivery" and in this case "free return insurance".

Suckit · 12-08-2017 08:53PM

rubadub wrote: »

I wish there was an opt out option to get the item cheaper, as I do not like the idea of paying this form of insurance for shoes I am 99% certain will fit. I never was a fan of these inbuilt things like "free delivery" and in this case "free return insurance".

It was not in built. They initially told me that they would only refund up to €7-€10 for shipping, and i was fine with that. The shoes are worth much more than I paid, so i would have had no problems selling them on adverts or the like.
It was when i went back and told them the price of shipping, that they had come back to me and said that they would pay it.
As a result anyway, i am still waiting on the refund and they are no longer that price. I would have preferred the option to exchange, not refund.
I got size 45 which did fit me in Caterpillar. But these shoes were Bugatti and Geox. Neither were the correct size on me.
I do agree with you though, I would prefer not to have to pay extra for that, if people are buying just to wear once or maybe twice and return for a refund.

miso1983 · 13-08-2017 11:26AM

I've great experience with Amazon.

I always select ''the information on the website was incorrect'' as the reason for return and always get prepaid label for anpost to just drop it off.

Once I even returned shoes that I went for run in and they were cutting back of my feet to the point there was lots of blood on the actual shoe and they did refund me full amount. My favorite is when they say they will refund me the money/no need to return the item.

Thats why I am bit hesitant to shop on amazon it/es/de/fr/ because of returns. Only if it's super value.

Bought shoes from Amazon France and returning them

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