Amazon Gives Refunds for Years-Old Returns

Amazon customers are suddenly getting refunds for products they purchased and returned as far back as 2018, along with apologies from the online retailer after it discovered "unresolved" issues. From a report: The precise scope of the refunds issued isn't clear but executives hinted it may be hundreds of millions of dollars. Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky, speaking on a conference call after the company released earnings May 1, said Amazon took a one-time charge of approximately $1.1 billion in the first quarter related in part to "some historical customer returns" that were unresolved. The charge was also attributable to the cost of stockpiling inventory in anticipation of tariffs.

Because of the tax fraud they did?

[Anonymous Coward]

So imagine for years they told people they were giving them refunds, but never actually did, and then because of that they misreported tax.

It seems reasonable that this is them trying to unwind that and not be in trouble for tax fraud.

Article Byline More Informative than Summary

[eepok]

Amazon faces a consumer lawsuit alleging it reversed refunds from customers who followed its returns policy

The articles' relevance isn't the financial impact of the action as it pertains to the additional impacts of tariffs. The important thing is that there was a lawsuit alleging that Amazon wasn't following their returns policy and thus denying refunds where they were warranted.

Amazon faces a consumer lawsuit alleging it reversed refunds from customers who followed its returns policy by leaving merchandise at designated kiosks. The company gave customers immediate refunds when items were dropped off, but recharged them full price for the merchandise if it never made it back to an Amazon facility.

Re:

[dgatwood]

Amazon faces a consumer lawsuit alleging it reversed refunds from customers who followed its returns policy by leaving merchandise at designated kiosks. The company gave customers immediate refunds when items were dropped off, but recharged them full price for the merchandise if it never made it back to an Amazon facility.

In some cases, that could mean that the person dropped off something that didn't match what it was supposed to be, and they didn't catch it until it got back to the warehouse, but in some cases, it could mean that someone at the drop point swapped it out for something else (or an empty box), or it could mean that they lost it, or it could mean that the person at the warehouse screwed up.

The check should occur at the drop point. Checks later in the process should exist, but the presumption should be that if

That's in a country with cunsumer protection law?

[Teun]

I assume these payments are in a country without consumer protection laws that should have kicked in years ago?

Re:

[algaeman]

Yup. A real third world $h!thole.

Like Landsend?

[nospam007]

or just another gimmick?

Returns have been a mess for several years

[ChemE2IT]

It used to be easy to return items and if something went wrong I called them and it was corrected immediately. That changed in the past several years and in different ways. Recently I returned something at Whole Foods, got the email confirmation and an immediate refund. Weeks later I got emails telling me the deadline to return the item was coming up. When the deadline passed they charged me for the item again. Calling them is pointless, almost impossible to talk to a person and when I have gotten through

Re:

[Tony Isaac]

I don't get your concern. When you drop of a return at Whole Foods, you do get a receipt, that ties your return to the order.