Obnoxious Return Policies
Well before Christmas, I bought a gift from Alison's Montessori.
The product looked great on-line, but I was extremely disappointed when the recipient opened the gift and I saw how very poor the quality was (paint overlapping what were meant to be sharp edges with a colour on one side and not the adjacent side by up to 2mm).
I went to look up their return policy. This is perhaps something I should have been more aware of when I placed my order, but I spent more than a couple of hours researching which companies were reputable and which were not and, honestly, Alison's Montessori was one of the most liked / least hated! I was astounded by how absolutely draconian their return policy is.
My thoughts on the worst parts of their return policy:(1) You have to request an RMA within 2 days of receipt?! So if it's a gift, you are screwed.
(4) So if someone didn't read carefully and sent something back via USPS they would screw them out of their money and the item even though they received it? Isn't that theft?
(5) If you don't insure a return and it *goes missing* or gets damaged/destroyed, it's your problem, but if it *does* arrive safely ... see my comment on #4.
It is also worth nothing that this is not some cheapo $5 item I'm talking about. This is an item which cost well over $50.
Beware!
The product looked great on-line, but I was extremely disappointed when the recipient opened the gift and I saw how very poor the quality was (paint overlapping what were meant to be sharp edges with a colour on one side and not the adjacent side by up to 2mm).
I went to look up their return policy. This is perhaps something I should have been more aware of when I placed my order, but I spent more than a couple of hours researching which companies were reputable and which were not and, honestly, Alison's Montessori was one of the most liked / least hated! I was astounded by how absolutely draconian their return policy is.
My thoughts on the worst parts of their return policy:(1) You have to request an RMA within 2 days of receipt?! So if it's a gift, you are screwed.
(4) So if someone didn't read carefully and sent something back via USPS they would screw them out of their money and the item even though they received it? Isn't that theft?
(5) If you don't insure a return and it *goes missing* or gets damaged/destroyed, it's your problem, but if it *does* arrive safely ... see my comment on #4.
It is also worth nothing that this is not some cheapo $5 item I'm talking about. This is an item which cost well over $50.
Beware!