Unauthorized Product Returns

[beesweet]

How would you handle this?

A new salon customer places an order for several bulk containers of a product. A month later, you receive the box back in the mail with a note that they are returning for credit because the product wasn't what they expected. They had a photo, as well as a complete detailed description of the product before ordering, and did not request a sample first. Our policy clearly states that bath and body products may not be returned unless we ship in error (and we do not even require return for those--our mistake, they keep the error) since we have no idea if someone sneezed in the product or touched inside the container with nasty hands.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[David Fields]

I'll try to tackle this. We have "hard and fast" rules or returns too. But we use them as a general guideline. Sometimes we let someone do something that violates our "rules" and sometimes we don't. For us, it depends on the customer and how they present their case to us. We cater to good established customers and almost always give them what they are asking for. First time customers are another matter. We recently had a wholesale customer try to return candles she had purchased over one year ago. We said no. Another customer bought a candle and came back four hours later with the candle broken in the bag. She said it must have been broken when it was placed in the bag. We said not possible, but we let her buy another one at half price. She was happy. Thirty days after receipt of your products you get the mdse back? My gut reaction would be to ask her if she wants you to dispose of the products since you are not giving her the money back. Pay with a credit card? She might dispute the charge. We always have to weigh a refusal on our part with loss of the customer forever.

[beesweet]

Thanks, David! I, too, cater to our established customers. Just recently, we've issued credit to a long-time customer even though a damage claim was denied by the carrier and we just pulled a 3-nighter for a few-month-old customer who needed product by Wednesday.

I think I'm not too concerned with loss of a customer who wouldn't even bother to contact me first before returning the order without a valid reason. I believe I'll draw her attention to the policies, product information she used to make her purchase, and offer to send it back at our expense. She did, however, pay with a credit card so we'll see.

Thanks much!

[CC on Maui]

I'm in complete agreement with what David said. That's the way I would have handled this case.

[KristinesShower]

What does your return policy say?