MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Amazon charged $22.80 re-stocking fee for returning $114 Kindle with Special Offer

ovaldisk · 07-30-2011, 03:54 PM

I bought the $114 Kindle with Special Offers directly from Amazon.com.

It was taken out of the box and used for maybe 1 hour total. The device was never registered and never connected to any Wi-Fi network.

When I read the other thread here about Best Buy's sale on the Kindle 3G with Special Offer for $139, I decided to get that one instead. With the free $30 Best Buy gift card offer, it was essentially only $109 and comes with free 3G.

Well... I shipped the $114 Kindle back to Amazon and paid for return shipping by myself. The the after Amazon received it back, they sent me an email telling me a refund had been processed. However, it was not the full $114. They charged me $22.80 restocking fee. This is what it showed in the email: "Partial Refund Deduction: ($22.80)"

I returned the Kindle in prinstine condition and even wiped clean my fingerprints. The Kindle, USB cord, small manual, were all in the box. I always take a picture of the items inside the box before I ship it out, just in case.

So, I called Amazon and they told me there was nothing they could do. The Kindle box was opened, so they had to charge me the $22.80. (which is 20 percent of the $114) I've been a loyal Amazon Prime customer for 4 or 5 years and during all that time, I've only returned 6 items, which resulted in a total of $97.52 in refunds. (out of the 142 orders I've ever placed during those years) I keep details or every order in a spreadsheet.

I still cannot believe they charged me 20 percent re-stocking fee. I called again a couple of hours later and spoke to another customer service rep, who was very sympathetic, but couldn't do anything about the re-stocking fee. I decided to give it one last try and this time got a customer service rep who looked into my past orders... a minute later, she offered to add a $15 gift balance to my account, good for my next Amazon.com purchase. I accepted it because it was good enough.

Is this re-stocking fee unique to Kindle returns? Or is this how Amazon handle returns these days? Like I said, I almost never return anything to Amazon.

07-30-2011, 03:54 PM	#1
ovaldisk Connoisseur Posts: 64 Karma: 53658 Join Date: Jul 2011 Device: Kindle	Amazon charged $22.80 re-stocking fee for returning $114 Kindle with Special Offer I bought the $114 Kindle with Special Offers directly from Amazon.com. It was taken out of the box and used for maybe 1 hour total. The device was never registered and never connected to any Wi-Fi network. When I read the other thread here about Best Buy's sale on the Kindle 3G with Special Offer for $139, I decided to get that one instead. With the free $30 Best Buy gift card offer, it was essentially only $109 and comes with free 3G. Well... I shipped the $114 Kindle back to Amazon and paid for return shipping by myself. The the after Amazon received it back, they sent me an email telling me a refund had been processed. However, it was not the full $114. They charged me $22.80 restocking fee. This is what it showed in the email: "Partial Refund Deduction: ($22.80)" I returned the Kindle in prinstine condition and even wiped clean my fingerprints. The Kindle, USB cord, small manual, were all in the box. I always take a picture of the items inside the box before I ship it out, just in case. So, I called Amazon and they told me there was nothing they could do. The Kindle box was opened, so they had to charge me the $22.80. (which is 20 percent of the $114) I've been a loyal Amazon Prime customer for 4 or 5 years and during all that time, I've only returned 6 items, which resulted in a total of $97.52 in refunds. (out of the 142 orders I've ever placed during those years) I keep details or every order in a spreadsheet. I still cannot believe they charged me 20 percent re-stocking fee. I called again a couple of hours later and spoke to another customer service rep, who was very sympathetic, but couldn't do anything about the re-stocking fee. I decided to give it one last try and this time got a customer service rep who looked into my past orders... a minute later, she offered to add a $15 gift balance to my account, good for my next Amazon.com purchase. I accepted it because it was good enough. Is this re-stocking fee unique to Kindle returns? Or is this how Amazon handle returns these days? Like I said, I almost never return anything to Amazon.