So I ordered a cygolite for commuting from one of the more popular bicycle mail order retailers. I paid for next day shipping because I was in a hurry to start commuting (which is turning out great!). I received the product on time and used it a week until I noticed what seemed like a short in the cord from the battery to the light. I tried to make do for another week but eventually was convinced by a coworker to return the item for replacement. I called the company and was told the procedure. I sent the product back on a Saturday, next day, tracked it, and it was received by the company on Tuesday morning. I received an email from the company on Thursday @ 5:46 stating that the product had been shipped (APX via USPS) and it included a tracking number. I clicked on the link to the tracking number and received the infamous “page not found” error. Nothing in the mail on Friday or Saturday or Monday so I called the company and was told that it shipped via US mail and would take 7 to 10 days to arrive. This is where I am pissed. I paid extra in the original order for 2nd day. I expected the return to be the same. I told the lady on the phone my expectation and she said all returns ship standard. I told her that if I would have bought this at a brick and mortar store I would have had this resolved a week ago. She told me that I paid less for the product. Bottom line is that I am unhappy and I would think that a company that was concerned about customer service would get the problem fixed quickly. I won’t be shopping with them in the future.
“I told her that if I would have bought this at a brick and mortar store I would have had this resolved a week ago.”
But you didn’t, you bought it online, probably because it was significantly more expensive, or not in-stock, at your LBS. Chances are, if you looked around their website you’d find their return policy clearly states what you found to be true regarding their return shipping policy. There is always a trade off in shopping online versus shopping your LBS.
I own an ecommerce business and while we’ll almost always bend to keep customers happy, we do have policies posted in detail on our site, but have found that 9 out of 10 customers never bother to read the fine print and get pissed when they discover after the fact. It doesn’t matter how big or bold you post some things, I swear people don’t see it.
Example: I get at LEAST 2 emails a day from customers asking about shipping rates and times even though at the very top of my website I have a link that says “shipping rates/times”. It’s a bit frustrating!
In the case of your situation, the merchant is going to eat it on shipping for your defective item and have to also return-ship the defect back to the manufacturer, so they’re paying for 3 shipments to correct the situation (your return shipment of your defect to them, their shipment of a replacement to you, and their shipment of the defect back to the manufacturer), so they’re just trying to minimize their losses.
I don’t quite sypathize with you on this. I am a “Team” member of one so called online retailer and recently ordered a light system. Since I paid to be a team member, got second day delivery. Great and always on time. Well, this one product had a defective on/off switch. Emailed customer service and asked if I should send back the whole light system. They replied back less than two hours later and said that they would ship out a replacement switch and did so the next day. Not Second Day as the original order, but I’m definitely not going to complain. I did not even have to send back anything. Great Customer Service from what I have experienced.
I guess if I had bought locally, they may have been able to replace the whole thing right there and then, but I did choose online, so expect some sort of waiting, but minimal IMO.
Chris
Thanks for taking time to explain the other side of the coin. I did not read the return policy before ordering. Guilty! However, I find it hard to believe that an online retailer doesn’t have to compete with brick and mortar on returns. I will be more careful where I spend my hard earned coin in the future and hopefully it will go to the company that provides superior customer service so that they will be rewarded for their efforts.
Having been on the other side, you also have to be aware with the amount of customers and returns most places are just following their return guidelines. Now, if someone called me and explained their situation then I’d be happy to ship it whatever way they requested. Honestly I think most places want to make the customer happy, god knows dealing with unhappy customers makes no one’s job fun!! 
Also when we got returns people sent in a return form and I never saw there original order, it was a separate process, therefore I never even saw how their original order was sent.
a) you ordered on-line to save a few bucks. Did you really think there wasn’t going to be a catch to this? The OBVIOUS catch is that returns are a hassle when you order on-line.
b) you didn’t read the company’s return policy
c) you’re unhappy b/c the company is following their stated return policy.
Sorry. no sympathy here.
that’s a bummer but pretty normal. as stated it’s lot of extra work to process a return on the store’s part and gets expensive. What makes it worse is that a lot of times you’re paying more because of dumb unnecessary returns other people make. I work at a retail store and we get strange returns all the time. We’re a running store so we’re fairly lenient on running shoe returns but when people come back after a weeks worth of runs and want a full refund because they don’t like the shoe sometimes I just wonder what they are thinking. Water bottle waist packs are another big one. People use them, sweat on them, drink from the bottle then promptly bring them back because it was uncomfortable/bottle fell out/liked friend’s better. Of course they want a full refund, arrrrrrgh it’s not like we can resell a stinky water pack with bite marks on the bottle valve even if you only ran in it once…
Totally understand that. Customer service wins every time, and we “eat” alot of profits making sure our customers are happy. Not easy in the mom-and-pop operation we have here, but it does yield repeat customers.