Which? finds online retailers routinely failing to refund delivery fees on returns
A Which? investigation sending mystery shoppers to order and return more than 200 items has uncovered retailers that refuse refunds altogether and others breaking the law over delivery costs.
What happened
Consumer group Which? sent mystery shoppers across Great Britain to order and return more than 200 items from big-name online retailers, in a bid to find out whether shoppers are getting the refunds they are owed. The findings, covered in the latest episode of the Which? podcast, point to wide inconsistencies in how retailers handle returns, with some practices described by Which? as “shocking”.
What the investigation found
Which? says some retailers did not refund its mystery shoppers at all for returned items. Others were found to be routinely failing to reimburse delivery fees, which Which? says amounts to a breach of the law. The investigation also uncovered large differences in how long it took shoppers to actually receive their money back once an item had been returned, with some refunds arriving far more quickly than others.
Which? has not published a retailer-by-retailer breakdown of results, specific refund amounts, or an exact timeframe for how long the slowest refunds took, within the material released so far. The broad picture, though, is of a returns process that varies significantly depending on which shop a customer has ordered from, with no standard approach across the online retail sector.
Who is affected
Anyone who regularly shops online and returns unwanted items could be affected by the inconsistencies Which? identified. Because there is no single, standardised process for handling returns in the UK, shoppers returning goods to different retailers may face very different outcomes, whether that is getting a full refund, getting only part of their money back, or facing a long wait before the refund lands in their account. Delivery charges paid at the point of purchase are a particular sticking point, with Which? highlighting that failing to refund these fees can breach consumers’ legal rights.
The bigger picture
Online shopping has become a routine part of how people in Great Britain buy almost everything, from clothing to electronics, and returns are a correspondingly common part of that experience. Which?‘s decision to test retailers directly, rather than relying on retailers’ own policies as published, means the findings reflect what actually happens when a real return is made, rather than what customers are told should happen.
Which? has described some of what its shoppers encountered as “shocking”, pointing specifically to retailers that did not refund mystery shoppers at all and to others that broke the law by failing to reimburse delivery costs.
What happens next
Which? has not stated in the material released so far whether it intends to name the retailers involved, publish a full ranking, or pursue further action such as referring any findings to regulators. The full results of the investigation, including further detail on individual retailers, have been trailed as part of the Which? podcast series, with listeners pointed towards the Which? website and future episodes for more detail. Shoppers wanting to know more about how particular retailers performed will need to await further publication from Which?, which has indicated the investigation forms part of its ongoing scrutiny of online returns practices.