Refund error snafu, thanks to bots
Made a stupid mistake. Offered customer a $5 partial refund to accept an earlier edition of a book. He agreed, but I got distracted so failed to take the quantity down to zero on the refund page and ended up refunding him in full -- plus $5!
I followed the prescribed procedure and asked him to contact customer service to have his card charged again. He complied and ended up in a chat with a bot who told him to keep the book and the refund! (He sent me a screen shot of the exchange.)
I did what I was supposed to and the customer was a nice guy. Any recourse?
Refund error snafu, thanks to bots
Made a stupid mistake. Offered customer a $5 partial refund to accept an earlier edition of a book. He agreed, but I got distracted so failed to take the quantity down to zero on the refund page and ended up refunding him in full -- plus $5!
I followed the prescribed procedure and asked him to contact customer service to have his card charged again. He complied and ended up in a chat with a bot who told him to keep the book and the refund! (He sent me a screen shot of the exchange.)
I did what I was supposed to and the customer was a nice guy. Any recourse?
19 replies
Xander_Amazon
That is a unique situation - curious if any other sellers have encountered that as well?
Xander_Amazon
Following up - did you already open a seller support case and if so, what was their feedback?
Xander_Amazon
Yes please do open a case first. Once it is "resolved", tag me here and let me know. I would also share that screenshot with them too.
Seller_YwouYPJz5yZ7I
@Xander_Amazon
As I began preparing my case I was reminded that I previously set out to create a case in order to recapture our erroneous refund; but the steps along the way led me to the procedure for requesting that the customer ask to have has credit card charged again, and I abandoned filing the case and gave myself a pat on the back for having pursued my grievance the correct way.
The response to my case was pretty much as I expected, even though I requested email response rather than chat:
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Hello from Amazon Selling Partner Support,
I understand your query regarding that you follow Amazon's procedure for attempting to recover a refund issued in error.
In this regard, please be informed that refunds are a permanent action that as a Selling Partner Support cannot reverse.
However, with the buyer's approval, a previously refunded order can be retro charged.
Hence, you can ask the buyer to call Amazon Customer Service to reauthorize Amazon to recharge the buyer’s credit card for the canceled order.
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I am not about to ask the buyer to jump thru hoops on our behalf again. Nor do I feel it necessary to remind SS that we had already taken these steps. (Was the respondent even human? I noticed there was no usual sign-off from a person with a south Indian surname.)
This is ridiculous.
Xander_Amazon
Thanks for the quick follow up Prescott.
Seller Support is following the Refund FAQ policy here:
What happens if I refunded an order by mistake?
If you refunded a buyer by mistake, you can contact the buyer to check if they will allow their credit card to be recharged by Amazon. We can recharge the buyer's credit card for the order only if we receive the request directly from the buyer. If the buyer agrees to a recharge, ask them to contact Customer Service.
Seller_YwouYPJz5yZ7I
Yes, I realize they are quoting policy, but I had already taken that step. Not only did I make that clear, I provided the screenshot with the buyer's request to recharge.
This strikes me as a no-win situation. Live and learn.
Xander_Amazon
I realize they are quoting policy, but I had already taken that step.
This is where it gets confusing. I need the screenshot where you had a conversation with the buyer already about a recharge. That will help me advocate on your behalf. Otherwise, the policy Seller Support is citing is valid.
Xander_Amazon
Great - I added these screenshots to the escalation team. You should hear back from them in the next few days!
Seller_YwouYPJz5yZ7I
Fingers crossed.
I greatly appreciate your having taken this on. There's not a huge amount of money at stake, but it would be reassuring to know that things work the way they're supposed to.
Xander_Amazon
Of course - it looks like the escalations team did respond (17478018301). I would encourage you to ask the buyer to call Customer Support (not the chat box) to get this reversal done.
Seller_YwouYPJz5yZ7I
The buyer graciously intervened once on our behalf in an attempt to remedy an error we made; I'm not comfortable asking him again. Since all procedures were followed, and since the fault appears to lie with the inability of the chat bots to respond in compliance with those procedures, it seems that things didn't work the way they were supposed to. In light of that, I don't think that asking the buyer to "try again" is a reasonable expectation. If there is any monetary satisfaction to be realized I believe it ought to come from Amazon rather than the buyer. If the escalations team does not consider that an option, then I guess the case is closed.
Xander_Amazon
Following up - I hear you. Just wanted to share that was the direction the escalations team shared with me if you would like to get the reversal done.
