QVC returns and burden of proof

[watersiren]

first of all, i would like to apologise, if this topic has been discussed in an other thread. i received a letter from QVC today regarding an item i had returned and they claim they did not receive. in the meantime, they got all 3 EPs from my bank account. luckily, i had obtained certificate of posting, but this does not seem to be enough. this time they say they will refund the money out of courtesy. please see below the first and second paragraph of the letter.
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Dear X,
Thank you for your recent enquiry regarging the return of the above order. Following on from our investigations, we are unable to confirm that we have received the order back at our warehouse. At QVC our customers are always our main priority, so on this occasion we have proocessed your returned item as requested.
We are constantly working hard to provide you with an excellent standard of service and would like to prevent any further occurrence in the future. If you wish to return an item to us we recommend that you send the item by RM proof of delivery service. This will ensure that there is receipt to show that the goods were received back here at QVC. It will also make sure that you are adequetly insured against any loss or damage for the goods you are returning. We hope that this information will prevent any further problems. In the future, if we cannot confirm items have been received by us then we may be unable to process your return for you.
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[Dazzler!]

They say they will refund you out of Courtesy, but you have got a receipt for proof of return. as long as you can provide your reciept then they have to accept that it has got lost in the post which is not your problem all you can do is take the parcel to the p.o.
Give them a call and just explain you have got your receipt and once it has keft you its out of your hands!!!

 

[Dazzler!]

Did you use their pre paid label WS, or did you pay at P.O
I tend to use first class recorded when I send anything back as its just a few pence more and I can track it on Royal Mail Website. Also when the post people see a recorded item they tend to reach their destination much quicker then ordinary post.

 

[watersiren]

i sent the 'certificate of posting' D!. that is why in effect they refunded me (otherwise i would not have got a pennie back), but appartently it will not be enough in the future. lol :1:
they actually ask that customers return items back by a RM service that requests the signature of the recipient. there is such service but is expensive. they also expect the customer to take the risk by getting an insurance out for lost items. this 'return' process may be all too expensive and if the item is lost in the post we may have to fork out for the full value of the item as well.
:1:xxxxxxxx

 

[argeybargey]

Hi WS,

It's normal practice for any of the channels to require that you return goods by Special Delivery, or Recorded Delivery for low value items. If the item is faulty they will refund your return postage. A Certificate of Posting is really intended for documents.

Argey xx

 

[kitten_with_claws]

Sounds like QVC are taking the same stance as PayPal here then, insisting on proof of receipt, though provided the item is valued at less than £36, you'll be covered by RM if it goes astray so would get your money back one way or another anyway if you have a CoP!

Recorded delivery has now gone up to 75p I see & for cheaper items I wouldn't be inclined to keep forking out for that on the off chance that at some point in the future, one might go astray!
For very expensive items needing the extra cost of Special Delivery, I'd be thinking long & hard about returning such an item at that sort of expense anyway!

Especially galling Watersiren when you have the added expense of having to return items in their original oversize, overweight QVC packaging!

 

[watersiren]

thank you girls for your advice! :1:
this sure puts any future purchases into perspective!
ws xxxxx

 

[qvcAddict]

QVC are correct in that they have no obligation to refund unless you have proof of delivery ie Recorded Service. Certificate of Posting however allows you to claim from Royal Mail.

I'm actually quite impressed with QVC for a change!

 

[merlin]

I am getting really jaded with QVC.

I once returned more than one item (going to exactly the same address) in the same parcel and only had one item registered as returned. I never got the refund on the second item - although after a couple of emails I gave up, so possibly I would have but on my part lethargy set in. That was a while ago, and it wriles me to this day that I gave up on that particular battle!

As a result everything I get sent to me now has to be signed for, which to be honest I don't mind as I haven't had any delivery problems although it does mean that the already slow delivery is now a complete snail pace.....!!

It is a pain and I feel aggrieved to have to do it, but everything I send back to QVC has some sort of 'to be signed for' instruction. I feel that QVC's return policy has shifted from 'customer is always right' to the customer has to 'provide the proof', even to the degree where I now take pictures of damaged items as delivery/return postage is never refunded without some sort of follow up.

 

[PearlyQueen]

What always p's me off is that it says quite categorically on the paperwork enclosed with your package "return by Royal Mail 2nd Class".
Yet if you do so, they then question why you haven't used a signed for or Special Delivery service!!!
Maybe they should update the paperwork they send out - at least then, they would be consistent.
As far as I'm concerned, they are obliged to pay out as I've done what THEY TOLD ME to do!!! I bet I'd win that argument in court...
I've never had to put it to the test fortunately, in all my QVC shopping years, I've had nothing go astray - though there was once a close call when it took 4 weeks to get to them, that was when I learned my lesson about getting a certificate of postage...

 

[watersiren]

thanks to all of you for the great advice. i am glad you put me right before i had an unnecessary pop at them. lol :1:
i appreciate they are a business and need to restrict their costs; i was naive enough though to believe that returning an item to QVC was a relatively carefree and less costly affair as compared to other retailers. hence, i chose QVC over others. the letter proved me wrong, but that's a necessary wake-up call that will streamline future purchasing.

 

[watersiren]

What always p's me off is that it says quite categorically on the paperwork enclosed with your package "return by Royal Mail 2nd Class".

exactly, PQ!!! i took this as an instruction (from them) as to how they want items to be returned to them.

 

[aragorn0130]

A few weeks ago, I refused delivery on a NN bedding set that I'd cancelled but QVC had cancelled the wrong set (I ordered 1 then saw something better!) - QVC told me that I was to do that. It duly arrived by courier, and went back unsigned for. What didn't arrive at all were 2 feather beds that had been a OTO but were still fairly expensive. I worked out that what went back and what should have arrived were actually all within a day of each other - fairly obvious I would have thought as to what's happened here - surely a missing delivery vanload somewhere!!!

I spent 4 weeks getting my money refunded - how unamused was I??? It wasn't until I made a fuss about the connection between things coming and going being missing all at the same time that they did anything. I so wish I'd just signed for the bedding and sent it back recorded delivery - never again am I doing this 'refusal' thing because you have no proof whatsoever.

And do you know, some QVC wifey had the cheek to phone me last week to say had I not been in to sign for my feather beds which had made their way back there, had I received a card to say they were waiting. ER, HELLLOOOOOO????

 

[kitten_with_claws]

One thing I should have mentioned though Watersiren, is to bear in mind that jewellery is not covered by Recorded & irrespective of price, is only covered if sent by Special Delivery, which is perhaps the only time I would actually bother using a signed for service!

 

[watersiren]

thank you KWC. my purchases are mostly jewellery, so it's good to know. potentlially, p&p costs could be up to £10 (including what already paid to QVC). that's a lot of money! the 30 day MBG is pointless as i would not fork out this kind of money every time i wish to 'test-drive' an item for 30 days.

 

[argeybargey]

I never buy anything from any of the channels simply "to get it home and look at it". I only buy items that I'm reasonably confident that will fit, serve the purpose or be just plain gawjuss. The expense (p & p both ways) and kerfuffle (particularly for the disabled) of sending things back is a bloomin' nightmare. There are plenty of good and reasonably priced clothes available on the net and mail order, which have a free collection for returns if necessary.
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Argey xx

 

[kitten_with_claws]

Watersiren - a lot of the time it comes down to choosing whether to take a chance or not! I have to say I have posted stuff all over the world (inc. Italy etc. which is notorious for its appalling postal service!) & never lost anything & the cost of posting everything via a signed for service would be rather prohibitive I think!

Expensive jewellery, yes, that's obvious as just not worth the risk but anything under the 36 quid covered by a CoP, I probably wouldn't bother personally but everybody's different & if you're not happy doing that & would only fret about it......!
Things do get genuinely lost in the post but I think a lot of them are also either stolen on route or by a dishonest recipient, the latter obviously not applying to returned QVC items!

I agree with you though, I'm quite cautious about what I buy, due to the cost of returning things!
(I genuinely didn't get on with the LG stuff I bought & it was pretty galling to have paid £3.45 to get it yet less than 2 quid to send it back & I'm darn sure for a company the size of QVC, the ruddy box it came in wasn't the cost of the difference!)

 

[watersiren]

of course, KWC. a product may look great on presentation and actually be of good quality, but ultimately it is the skin that takes the decision. especially with cosmetics, a purchase is a gamble! lol :1:

 

[watersiren]

I never buy anything from any of the channels simply "to get it home and look at it". I only buy items that I'm reasonably confident that will fit, serve the purpose or be just plain gawjuss. The expense (p & p both ways) and kerfuffle (particularly for the disabled) of sending things back is a bloomin' nightmare. There are plenty of good and reasonably priced clothes available on the net and mail order, which have a free collection for returns if necessary.

Argey xx

i feel you argey!! same here lol :1: i was just alluding to the illusion of a care-free 30 MBG experience they deliberately create: "don't worry just order it, use it for a month and if you do not like it, just sending back". in the case of jewellery, it could turn out to be a costly one and in general a not so care-free experience, if you have to battle it out with RM!!

 

[SuziQ]

If QVC hadn't refunded you,then you would just have had to claim from RM. Providing you check that your level of postage covers the value of your goods (with the exception of jewellery as pointed out by Kitten above)then with the invoice detailing what it was and value you should have no problems-I did this with a return to another company and got my comp from RM although it did take 5 weeks!