Rather than make customers wait until returned merchandise is actually received by them, Amazon has a policy of sometimes issuing instant refunds as soon as a shopper returns the product at a dropoff location like at Kohl’s, Staples, UPS, or Whole Foods.
*MOUSE PRINT:
Of course, they reserve the right to reverse an instant refund that they issued if they never actually receive the returned items.
*MOUSE PRINT:
Back in 2023, Amazon was sued by a group of consumers from various states alleging that they properly brought goods to an authorized Amazon return location, got an instant refund, but then weeks and weeks later got emails claiming the goods had not actually been received by Amazon. As a result, their accounts were charged for the goods again.
In all these cases, when these consumers contacted customer service at Amazon, they acknowledged that their purchases had in fact been received, and were promised a credit and given an apology. None of them received a straight answer of how such mistakes can happen.
So Amazon is being sued in a class action for breach of contract, unfair or deceptive practices and unjust enrichment.
Just last week, a federal ruled against Amazon’s motion to dismiss, and said the case can proceed.
“Plaintiffs have adequately alleged that Amazon stole money directly from their bank accounts and continues to possess it unlawfully,” said Judge Jamal N. Whitehead of the US District Court for the Western District of Washington.
This has happened to me several times. After Christmas a third-party seller said the wrong item was returned (and there’s absolutely no way that happened) and another party said they never received a small kitchen appliance. We were charged back for both of these items, but being less than $100 I didn’t feel it was worth fighting to get the money back. I do keep my UPS receipts for a few months now.
DirecTV did this to me when I quit their service. They wanted me to mail back some of their equipment, which I did, then claimed they never rec’d it, although the tracking (on the receipt I rec’d,) showed that they did.
I didn’t argue with them (for my own sanity.) I’ll just never use them again.