i had the annoying experience of being ripped off online recently.
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Reminding me that "buyer beware" is the mantra we should always live by.
Make that "live, buy" in this age of online retail frenzy.
For the less wary make that live bye, in terms of cash and transactional satisfaction.
Particularly if you shop in a hurry.
My situation is still technically a work in progress.
The item ordered arrived on time. Tick.
It was the exchange/refund area where customer experience soured.
The item was something you wear and had been purchased in haste to meet a "special occasion" deadline.
A classic fashion faux pas, particularly if you struggle to buy clothes for yourself in store, let alone online for someone else.
But as the late great Tina Turner once asked, what's love got to do with it?
Sure enough, the item had not fit the target ... enough ... when tried on.
Despite encouragement.
Constriction was visible in terms of the wearer struggling to breathe or move.
I started struggling to breathe or move when I realised the next size up was out of stock online and a refund would be required.
The return policy sounded beguilingly straightforward though.
The company was committed to the best possible customer experience.
But not if the best possible customer experience involved talking to someone.
No contact phone number only hastened the storm clouds gathering over my modem.
As did the website return instructions which got progressively unclearer the closer you got to the post office.
The definition of "bulky items" in particular was vague, because there was no definition
Just assurances that there would be no refunds for any items that fitted this description, which potentially described any item purchased anywhere ever.
Seeking clarification from the company via email, I got nothing, and that proved to be the message.
Do nothing and accept the worst.
Or post my bulky item back and hope for the best.
As Tina Turner also once pointed out, we don't need another hero.
Hope was how this transaction had started.
No hope was how it was going to end.
Particularly when they asked me to pay return postage.
A product review on the company reminded me it's probably better to do that before I buy next time.
Reference to corporate takeovers, expensive cars and avoid the returns process did not augur well, unless you were a lawyer, or Australia Post.
I still had the item which I could potentially flog off if my target loved one didn't drop a few sizes fast.
Meanwhile the 30 day limit on returns and refunds ticked by, or buy, or bye as alluded to above.
Previous online shopping experiences had been all positive, but this time round, like the item purchased, it proved a bad fit.
