Why do companies make you pay for shipping...

[tfinch2]

...to send their product in for warranty service? It's not my fault your crappy product broke. Why should I have to pay $5-10 to ship this POS, just to get another refurbished piece of junk that's probably going to break within a month too.

For the record, the item is a Toshiba unconverting DVD player (I bought it for HDMI, not upconversion).

 

[Demon-Xanth]

That's the cost of doing buisness. When I sent my Koss headphones in for repair I had to pay RETURN shipping too. Which sucked almost as much as them breaking.

<-- paid $12 to have $20 headphones repaired.

 

[Xavier434]

In short, it is because most companies do it in order to protect themselves. If a lot of companies started to offer free shipping for replacement returns then most would follow the same path. It's all about the norm and what they can get away with. Why does charging for shipping protect them? It is because many people would demand warranty replacements for the most trivial problems and the company would have to do it due to their policies. It is the same story with restocking fees. The fees are bullshit and only exist to sway people away from returning the products.

Think about it this way. Companies could offer free shipping for warranty replacements, but they could also bump up the price of their products in order to make up for all of the losses that they would incur due to so many people taking advantage of the policy.

 

[FoBoT]

it is easy to promise something, i.e. have a "great" warranty

but it is cheaper to not live up to the promise and/or add fees to cover the cost of the promise

it is called maximizing profits, it is what most businesses do

 

[DrPizza]

Too bad those "guaranteed for life" tools from the dollar stores didn't have free shipping for returns. $1 for a screwdrive that's guaranteed forever. 6 screws til it strips, $3.50 to return it to get your new screwdriver.

edit: I should point out that not all companies are like what the OP is describing though. My son's XBox360 suffered the ring of death failure. Microsoft sent an empty box to us via UPS, pre-paid for us to send the XBox back in. Tech support lady was extremely friendly, etc. :thumbsup: to the experience.

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
Too bad those "guaranteed for life" tools from the dollar stores didn't have free shipping for returns. $1 for a screwdrive that's guaranteed forever. 6 screws til it strips, $3.50 to return it to get your new screwdriver.

Sounds like you're screwing too hard.

 

[tfinch2]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
Too bad those "guaranteed for life" tools from the dollar stores didn't have free shipping for returns. $1 for a screwdrive that's guaranteed forever. 6 screws til it strips, $3.50 to return it to get your new screwdriver.

I wish I could do a Craftsman return on this DVD player. Just take it in and get a new one with no questions asked. :thumbsup:

 

[iRONic]

Originally posted by: Rubycon

Originally posted by: DrPizza
Too bad those "guaranteed for life" tools from the dollar stores didn't have free shipping for returns. $1 for a screwdrive that's guaranteed forever. 6 screws til it strips, $3.50 to return it to get your new screwdriver.

Sounds like you're screwing too hard.

Unpossible!!!!!!

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: Xavier434
It is the same story with restocking fees. The fees are bullshit and only exist to sway people away from returning the products.

Uh... no? Restocking fees exist to prevent people from using stores for free rentals. You can normally return an item unopened for a full refund, or return a defective item for a replacement. But if you're trying to return a non-defective opened product just because you changed your mind, why should the store take the hit on that?

 

[Exterous]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: Xavier434
It is the same story with restocking fees. The fees are bullshit and only exist to sway people away from returning the products.

Uh... no? Restocking fees exist to prevent people from using stores for free rentals. You can normally return an item unopened for a full refund, or return a defective item for a replacement. But if you're trying to return a non-defective opened product just because you changed your mind, why should the store take the hit on that?

People used to do that because they needed the GPS unit for their weekend excursion or needed a laptop for their business trip. If you hate restocking fees - blame those people, not the stores

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: Exterous

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: Xavier434
It is the same story with restocking fees. The fees are bullshit and only exist to sway people away from returning the products.

Uh... no? Restocking fees exist to prevent people from using stores for free rentals. You can normally return an item unopened for a full refund, or return a defective item for a replacement. But if you're trying to return a non-defective opened product just because you changed your mind, why should the store take the hit on that?

People used to do that because they needed the GPS unit for their weekend excursion or needed a laptop for their business trip. If you hate restocking fees - blame those people, not the stores

Exactly. And those people felt justified because they weren't breaking any rules - the policies allowed it. Nevermind that it went entirely against the intentions of the policies. So they abused it and the stores were forced to make their return policies more restrictive. It's kind of ironic how people bitch and moan about big corporations and their draconian policies when we have unethical consumers to thank for those policies.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Originally posted by: Rubycon

Originally posted by: DrPizza
Too bad those "guaranteed for life" tools from the dollar stores didn't have free shipping for returns. $1 for a screwdrive that's guaranteed forever. 6 screws til it strips, $3.50 to return it to get your new screwdriver.

Sounds like you're screwing too hard.

Nope, it sounds like his tool is defective.

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: mugs
Uh... no? Restocking fees exist to prevent people from using stores for free rentals. You can normally return an item unopened for a full refund, or return a defective item for a replacement. But if you're trying to return a non-defective opened product just because you changed your mind, why should the store take the hit on that?

That is also a reason in more detail than what I described. It is still swaying people from returning the products. Now, why the people want to purchase the product and then decide to return it is something else and to a company it does not matter much. As far as the free rental thing specifically, it depends on the product. Some products need that and others do not. Many companies offer customer service to fix hardware, but it can take a while and they know it. The restocking fee convinces people to wait the time it takes to fix the issue rather than return it for a refund. This is also swaying people from returning the products.

Also, when I said the fees were "bullshit" I was mostly referring to the naming convention. The term "restocking fee" is very misleading. A more accurate name might be "exploit prevention fee". They would never name it like that for obvious reasons though. The bottom line is that all of the reasons for the fee end up screwing the honest customer who wants to make an honest return. I realize most companies have things in their policies such as a limited time window where no restocking fee applies and if you call them beyond that window with a good excuse then they can make an exception to the fee etc etc. The point is that those fees have screwed over a lot of honest people.

 

[Funyuns101]

good question... most companies do make you pay.
Nintendo, however, paid for the shipping to have my DS Lite fixed though.

 

[Xavier434]

Originally posted by: mugs
Exactly. And those people felt justified because they weren't breaking any rules - the policies allowed it. Nevermind that it went entirely against the intentions of the policies. So they abused it and the stores were forced to make their return policies more restrictive. It's kind of ironic how people bitch and moan about big corporations and their draconian policies when we have unethical consumers to thank for those policies.

All too true. Unfortunately, the same argument can be used about the unethical companies who abuse and hide behind their own policies far too often just to make more money. I am referring to the cases where the honest customers get screwed. It happens all the time. I am not proud to say that I have been one of those CR guys in the past that have been forced to stand behind those policies when it really should not have been the case.