Yeah what he said, and your already getting screwed on shipping as you were charged for shipping a part to you, and now your paying for shipping the same part back. It's the Corvette tax, your gonna get it in the end no matter what. When i buy some parts and find they wrong or I already have one, I don't even bother to ship anything back. I got some crates I put stuff I can't use, but it costs more effort to return or ship back. They all do it.

 

Some that dont like the policy should be on the other side for a while...you dont even know what the parts comprised of....300.00 at 20% makes for a 1500.00 purchase of some unknown products...Just suppose its an interior sold all over the forum by most of the Vette parts stores,then the purchaser finds another Vette store selling a similar product for $3-400. less and now wants a full refund...thats bull ****....he had better done his homework before ordering. You dont have all the facts

 

It’s a mean old world and times are tuff and everyone will be tugging at your wallet. The parts business seems to be fairly competitive and I am not so sure what kind of margins are to be made but I would be surprised if there was much more than a 20%. I may be way off I do not know. It’s interesting to see how companies work as a team. Nothing against all you accounting folks but when accounting gets to far involved sales usually suffer, but it looks good on paper.

 

I work in parts for a major construction equipment retailer. If I send a part back to the manufacturer... ordered in error, cancelled order, nonpicked up order or whatever, the manufacturer stings my company 15 percent PLUS return freight as a restock fee. If the company decides my returned part is somehow unfit for resale by them, they return it to me freight collect. I assume this is more or less an indusrty standard practice since all manufacturers I have sold parts for in the last 25 years have almost identical policies.

Don't blame your retailer for needing to recoup REAL losses on uncompleted orders for any reason... their hands are tied by contracts with the manufacturer, and I can say that I process enough uncompleted orders in the course of a year that I'm certain the extra 5 percent "handling fee" (if you will) fails to cover the unreimbursed expenses incurred in sorting, handling and keeping track of these returns.

 

I would like the OP to name the company

2 reasons

1st. I would like to see what they post as a return policy



2nd. I have just looked at the following suppliers



ZIP 1 year return with no restocking charge

Corvette Central 30 days if unopened , no restocking charge

Ecklers , same as CC

Corvette America , 3 months if un opened , no restocking charge


David

 

Rules are made to be broken, There are restock rules for a reason, but in most every company I have dealt with they will negotiate based upon the circumstances. Call the owner / key person and work out an acceptable return percentage that works for both of you. If you did pay by Credit Card you can use that as a bargaining chip.

 

Exactly!

 

I'm in the middle on this. At face value 20% does sound a bit high. But you're not telling a few key details.

You say you never actually got the merchandise because they called UPS and recalled the shipment BECAUSE YOU CANCELED THE ORDER. Why? Wrong part? Change your mind? Better price elsewhere?

The vendor had to pay someone to pull the item off the shelf, package it up, pay UPS, pay UPS again to bring it back, pay someone to put it back on the shelf, probably throw out the box they used, and pay the cutie in the office to adjust all the books and paperwork. Unless they screwed up and sent you the wrong part, I'd say they're entitled to a fair chunk of change just for the hassle.

Agreed - $300 is a bit high even for that. But a flat percentage like 20% may seem easier than figuring a separate rate for each transaction.

So - why DID you cancel the order before you even got it? The reason may have some bearing on how right or wrong this deal was.

 

So everyone says they don't do it and someone did. We stand behind our return policy and believe it is the best in the business.

 

I recently ordered the wrong part from Summit. Called them up after I'd opened the package and explained my error to them. They sent the right part at no charge and arranged to return the wrong on also at no charge. Great customer service! I will buy from them whenever I can.

 

That's Great. I think in the long run good customer service will make a company a success.

 

Does anybody else find it strange that the OP started this and has not checked back in in over 24 hours.

He's attacked a vendor (granted, without naming them) for charging him a restocking fee and when others question the transaction, he disappears.

I'm not going to rehash the thinking for or against re-stocking fees, as others have stated them here previously. It seems to me that the OP may have left some details out of his post though. I'm sort of curious as to how long he's had the product, what it was and why he returned it. Any or all of these details could shed some light on the reason for the fee.

Most reputable vendors will give you 30 to 90 days to make a return without a restocking fee. Personally I think 60-90 days is fair, 30s pushing it some. Most will pay the return shipping if it's something they did wrong, but not if the buyer changed their mind, and why should they in that situation.

The exception is special orders, something not usually stocked that the vendor got in just for that customer. If it's something that they sell very rarely and got in for that customer and they get it back, they may sit on it for years before they can resell it. If the vendor returns it to the maker, they may have to deal with a re-stock fee themselves, but at minimum they'd have to pay the freight to return it. In this situation, most vendors will tell you up front that it is a special order and what the terms are.

A previous post questioned if the returned item was a rear the OP was thinking about buying. A rebuilt rear would definitely be a special order item. The vendor would have to pay for the rear (and most rebuilt parts have very little mark up), pay a core charge and pay for shipping. To get something like that returned would be very expensive for the vendor and wouldn't be that easy to resell.

As I said, it just seems that some details were left out that could clear up whether or not the re-stocking fee was fair.

Either way, 3 or 4 weeks for a refund is not acceptable.

 

I Like Zip!......Good policy!

 

It would be nice .....as lease knowing what kind of parts. Most Co. will not charge a fee or at lease adjust a RS fee on most parts that are a in stock item.

If it's a special order part.........a Restocking fee should be charge on a parts that a Co had to order from his supplier and now sits on his shelf (possible for a long time)

 

ZIP , I hope you understood that I was listing you and the other vendors to show that many vendors do not charge a restocking fee.

At this time , we do not know who the OP is referring to, he seems to have vanished.

I suspect the company he is dealing with post a restocking policy and he did not do his homework or gambeled and lost.


How else would they be charging one??

PS , I ordered from ZIP today.

David

 

The OP said "And also charge you the same 20% on items you never really received because they called ups and called the order back (because we cancelled it)."

So it sounds like the OP ordered something, canceled the order, the shipper had to get UPS to bring it back, and OP was torqued at being charged. That's why I said in my post above, in effect, there's more to the story somewhere. And so far the guy who started the thread has not provided "the rest of the story".

 

Yes, totally! Thanks for your recent order!

 

I can understand a restocking fee on special order items, they could be sitting on a shelf for years if returned.

Zip sent me the wrong part, took the return and paid the shipping too.

 

I agree, but the OP also said that he had items that he "shipped back, unopened". So it sounds like he at least recieved a portion of his order and the balance of the order or an additional order, was in transit, when he cancelled.

As someone who ships packages, I can tell you that when an in transit package is cancelled, UPS will charge the shipper the out going freight, the return freight and a fee for stopping the package in transit. It can get expensive for the shipper.

I also agree that we need "the rest of the story", that's why I said in my post "it just seems that some details were left out....." I really wonder why he cancelled the order. It couldn't have been that he had a problem with what he recieved, because he admitted that he didn't even open the package. Did he decide he didn't need the parts? Did he find it cheaper, if so maybe he should have done a better job of shopping before placing his order, or approached the original vendor about matching the price. Maybe his wife found out what he was spending on the car and made him cancel the order?

He's only giving us part of the story and I'm guessing that's why he won't name the vendor, maybe he doesn't want them telling us the rest of the story.

 

Not really. I'll often only get back to my computer at random times and often miss a couple of days even when I'm torked about something.

Re-stocking fees are often a reason I won't buy from a supplier whether it's local or online. When it's a special order/build item I don't think that a supplier has any need to accept a return if the item is correct as ordered and it's a quality part. Special orders that are damaged or inferior quality should be replaced by the vendor at no charge. Period.

Without a doubt the way a vendor handles problems will contribute to either their success or demise. With the advent of forums like this we do get the opportunity to see/investigate the actions and reactions of both the customer and the vendor. With a little thought about what's happening it helps all of us to avoid vendors that are only concerned about profit. Profit is the reason that they are in business but resolving conflicts in a positive manner when it's at all reasonble is a sign of a good vendor. Sometimes taking a loss on a return is the best investment for a vendor in the long run.