Amazon has been accused of preventing some customers from making refund requests for items not delivered, the Evening Standard can reveal.
The retail giant, which is set to launch its Prime Big Deal Days this month, has been accused by shoppers of not allowing them to ask for their money back and intead insisting that they wait up to a month for late or lost deliveries.
Millions of buyers flock to the site daily to make retail purchases,thanks in part to the company’s popular swift Returns and Refunds policy. However, in recent months some have warned that waiting times for simply requesting a refund are stretching to weeks.
Many have also complained that the original dates given on the site for when they can request refunds are often changed to points further in the future.
While Amazon says it doesn’t have a policy of refusing refunds, one customer told the Evening Standard: "I bought some bedding, which cost me around 65 quid, for my step-daughter as a surprise gift.
@AmazonUK absolutely shocking customer service today. Lost my order, refusing to cancel and issue a refund and every agent (7 and counting) has cut me off when I've asked to make a complaint
— Jaime Halvorsen (@Jaime_Alvo) October 3, 2023
“She was going to do her first year in university and it meant a lot to me to be able to gift wrap it nicely and hand it to her before sending her off. They were meant to arrive a few days after [I ordered them] so she could travel from London to Scotland with them.
“When it didn’t arrive on time, I was told by customer service to give it a few days grace as sometimes items get delayed in delivery. I agreed to wait even though it wasn’t ideal, but she was still here so it was okay.
“When it still didn’t arrive in those extra days, I called back to get a refund so I could buy the bedding quickly elsewhere, but then, to my shock, I was told a refund request wouldn’t be possible at that point and I would now have to wait a further 21 days to give the couriers more time.
“Naturally, I was livid. That would be way too long for my step-daughter and I felt forced to have to wait for almost a month to not just get my money back, but to ask for it. I was so upset as I didn’t even trust that in 21 days they wouldn’t shift the goal post again.”
She continued: "The experience, even though it wasn’t a life-changing amount of money, did leave me feeling helpless and taken advantage of. I had to spend that money they held [in another shop] so I was out of pocket.
“It’s not something you expect from Amazon, especially when they failed to deliver an item. It seemed to me thatthey were banning me from asking for my own money just because they could. What were they doing with my money?”
Another customer said: "My items never arrived and Amazon kept on changing the date when I could ask for a refund. I’ve shopped with them for years and it has always been smooth. I’ve always felt reassured that my money was safe as the system requires our [customer] trust as we pay in advance of receiving what we’ve ordered.”
The former customer explained that even though customer service representatives agreed that it was “strange” that he could not ask for a refund and agreed that “they would be upset too” but that their hands were tied.
“I couldn’t request my refund for the better half of a month,” he added. “It didn’t seem fair to me, but they [customer service] kept saying there was nothing they could do like bots. It was maddening.”
A third said that when their purchases did not arrive in time, they received a message on the site that informed them that the items were lost and they could request a refund. But when they tried, they found that they could not request one.
“I was simply told you can’t request a refund,” they explained. “I was told to come back in close to three weeks if it hadn’t arrived by then. That would’ve made it over a month from when I bought the items.
“It was outrageous. Had I been warned before buying that if my item doesn’t turn up it would be potentially weeks before I could ask for my cash back, I would never have bought it.
“This would never happen with an actual in-store purchase. I felt my money was held hostage. The only good thing is that it happened before Christmas as I have been known to use Amazon for the bulk of my gift buying. I’ve luckily avoided The Grinch this year."
Horrible experience with Amazon! Completely outrageous!!! Could someone help?
— Andrea Campanini 🌹 (@Campanini_uk) August 24, 2023
We want our money back because we didn’t get our parcel and Amazon is refusing to refund us!!!
For sure we will not use Amazon never again after this horrible experience!!!
Several buyers have taken to social media sites such as X (formerly Twitter) to voice their frustrations.
Reddit also has several pages with posts from hundreds of customers sharing their dismay over not only having to wait for extended periods for refunds but also being denied them altogether.
Amazon’s Returns Policy, as presented on their website, states that they "will issue a refund, for a product shipped by Amazon, within a maximum of 14 days.”
"In certain circumstances refund time frames may be longer," it continues. "You can see the refund in your bank account or credit card statement, within a maximum of 7 business days after the refund is issued. In certain circumstances refund timeframes may be longer."
However, the policy makes no mention of not being able to request a refund as soon as it’s clear the item has not arrived in time. It also does not make clear that customers may have to wait several weeks to request a refund.
"I think most customers would understand if they were refunded a bit later than expected,” another buyer said. “But it’s totally unacceptable to be banned from even making the request as soon as they haven’t lived up to their delivery agreement.”
The Evening Standard has contacted Amazon for comment. A representative for the ecommerce giant siad they were surprised this was happening as the incidents are something they have not "seen before”.
They added: “There won’t be a policy of refusing refunds because of delayed delivery. We are normally very good with returns."
After saying they would look into things, they followed up with a second statement, which read: “We’re sorry that some customer experiences have fallen short of the high standards that we expect."
