We purchased 2 hinges for an oven. Because of lockdown we haven’t been able to get an electrician in so the box is unopened and now the oven is ka-put. I tried to return the unopened box. Firstly they wouldn’t and now they want to charge a 20% re-stock fee. I am paying for the return postage but is this legal to charge a re-stock fee? What a joke!
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From their point of view there is nothing wrong with the product, so your returning it is because of a ‘change of mind’. They are not required to take goods back and refund on a ‘change of mind’.
So you need might consider whether you would prefer to accept their terms and get most of your money back (depending on the price of postage), or you might be able to resell them through an online marketplace such as Gumtree or FaceBook Marketplace. Reselling, you may get back 50-75% of the value if it is a common oven component and you are lucky.
If it was me, I’d return the hinges.
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Hmmm given we have just spent $1100 on a brand new Fisher & Paykel oven I’m not so sure. Thought they may have reduced the ‘re-stock’ fee in good faith.l
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You could try to negotiate with them for a better deal using your loyal customer status if you have not already played that card, but @meltam is right on - they are not required to do anything for you by law for a change of mind. The T&C on your order prevails.
An alternative to consider is asking for a full credit toward an accessory, not a refund. Although buying direct can often carry a premium price under the circumstances it might be something to try.
As with @meltam, I would return the hinges and be done with it – unless there was something specific I wanted on their direct shopping site and they would give me 100% credit toward it.
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I actually agree that they are not obliged to accept the hinges back. 20% fee for a small part seems not too unreasonable, but perhaps disappointing.
I was going to purchase a globe at an electrical store near me, Cetnaj Dural, and the lady walked from the desk, got the part off a shelf, and put it on the counter - an exercise that took approximately 3 seconds. Before I purchased it, I examined it and said, “I am almost certain this is the correct part I need, but can I bring it back if it doesn’t fit?” She replied that I could return it, but there would be a re-shelfing fee of a couple of dollars!
I did not react to this, I just politely said that I would check first.
I ended up buying the part elsewhere.
How different from the service I always get at Bunnings, where if you ask them if you can return a part if it turns out not to be suitable, providing you haven’t used it of course, there is never a problem.
Seems to me some companies do not understand customer service.
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I agree and how hard is it to put something back on a shelf!
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It is very easy to put something back on the shelf…but…the reshelving fee isn’t to put it back on the shelf in the warehouse. With spare parts, particularly those which wouldn’t be a major parts line like oven hinges, it is likely that Fisher & Paykel will have very limited stock. It could be one, maybe two items available on their inventory. If it was say one pair, it is likely that they would have reordered replacement stock as soon as you placed the order so that they could minimise wait times for future customer’s ordering the same item. Returning the hinges means that they now have an additional pair on their inventory. If the set sets of hinges doesn’t shift over the expected life of ovens that use this part, then they are left with 2 in the end to deal with rather than one…their costs (or losses) in effect almost double having two unsellable parts.
In addition to holding extra stock than they want to, often returned parts can’t be sold as new as they have left the warehouse and it is not know what had happened to them (even if they are returned in what looks like an unopened condition. They could have been opened and carefully resealed so not to look like it was opened, exposed to something (water, salt air, heat/cold etc) or damaged (inc. packaging) slightly (rub marks etc) by being handled a lot. F&P may not be able to sell the part as new and may have to discount is to shift the additional spare part they now have.
This is why they generally charge what may seem a significant percentage to return a part that is can be resold…it increases their cost base and risk of losses.
One can’t expect a business to absorb all the costs (or losses) if a customer changes their mind in relation to a product/spare part.
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agree but 20%!!!
If they sell it at a discounted price, which could be less than their cost price, should they be up for the difference (accept the loss). The 20% will cover this potential loss.
If they can’t sell it, the product becomes valueless (except scrap value)…and 20% won’t most likely cover this. F&P wear this risk.
They could have refused to accept it back for partial refund, which means it is no risk to them, and you have ineffect a 100% loss (zero refund).
20% seem more than reasonable.
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Perhaps, but spare parts from a wholesaler or manufacturer warehouse is a very different business, compared to a large turnover retailer, EG Bunnings, or Cetnaj or…
While some spare parts (common usage) may be available from a local warehouse, others may be held in a single bulk store on the 5th row of racks, 4.5m high in bin 32E. Aside from receipt for restocking, inspection, and inventory control, what next. The item likely needs to be repackaged for longterm storage, before the journey with the pallet handler or … to get to said bin. It’s all time and money.
Perhaps for a low value part 20% is less than the real cost. Perhaps for an expensive small part restocking covers costs plus some. It’s unlikely we can generalise and know for sure.
If it’s Bunnings, they no doubt factor in a percentage for returns spread across all products and sales. The customers who don’t make returns are effectively paying more to subsidise those who do.
Customer service comes at a cost! The only choice is who pays.
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Products do fail. Are you able to share some further details of the type of failure and model of the fridge? Others may have similar experiences to share.
Choice regularly surveys products and brands for reliability. F&P refrigerators rate well. Our extended family have several F&P fridge products.
Haier purchased F&P in 2012. F&P manufactures products in Thailand, China, Mexico and Italy. We’ve had several Westinghouse products including two refrigerators manufactured in SE Asia. Both were very noisy in operation. The bottom mount readily freezes the contents of the crisper.
Note Haier operates F&P as an independent brand with retailers selling both alongside each other. Major appliance manufacturers often outsource supply. It’s now common for white goods sold in Australia to be manufactured in China, India, and SE Asia. With modern manufacturing quality is a result of good design and production technology.
