How does Amazon handle a refund request for a card that is no longer valid?
Is it different for a card that was expired and reissued vs a card that no longer exists?
A buyer returned an item for a warranty refund but didn’t tell me that the card used to place the order is defunct. At this point, I have already authorized a refund on this order, and I don’t want to explore alternative refund methods until I am sure that Amazon is not going to take my money and hang on to it themselves because they can’t figure out how to refund it to the buyer.
I’m pretty sure that if Amazon can’t refund to the customer’s card, they will issue a gift card. I definitely would not try to refund a different way - let Amazon sort it out with the customer.
That’s a problem between Amazon and the customer. You refunded the original payment method (which for you, is Amazon.com Payment services), which is standard practice. You did your job, the rest is the customer’s problem to deal with.
They have already called Customer Support a few times, I have the messages in my inbox where they tell me the buyer wants a refund and I need to deal with it. Customer Support seems to be fulfilling their main function of being useless.
The issue is that I am bound by contract to deal with the warranty returns on behalf of the manufacturer, and if the buyer gets ignored or screwed by Amazon and complains to the manufacturer, the defense “Well, I clicked the refund button, the rest is Amazon’s problem” isn’t going to get me very far.
Gotcha, it’s an issue between you and the manufacturer.
I would do something like, if the customer can’t resolve it with Amazon by themselves, they need to wait 90 days to make sure there’s no chargebacks on Amazon, and then you’ll mail them a check.
Gotcha, that’s frustrating! I would send a message (again) to the customer explaining that you have submitted a refund of $xx.xx through Amazon. And that you do not have access to any customer’s financial data - all that data is store by Amazon, and they are the only ones that can help with getting the refund to the correct place. Maybe having enough written documentation will help with the manufacturer?
I have a very good relationship with the manufacturer, so they won’t hassle me too much over 1 order.
On the other hand, one of the reasons I have such a good relationship with them is because I don’t make them deal with things like this in the first place.
Plus, I want the buyer to get their refund. They already went through the cost of returning the item, and they were very polite about the whole thing.
I assume that Amazon will refund to a gift card if there’s no longer a valid payment card on file, but then I also found this on reddit (no idea if accurate but maybe makes sense?):
Your credit card company is required to keep records of who owns a specific card number. Money that comes back to that credit card will be mailed to you by the credit card company as a check in like 4-8 weeks.
If you plan to buy something on Amazon with the money that you’re getting back I would suggest putting it on your Amazon balance instead. Amazon gift card balance never expires, and if you talk to support they should be able to adjust it.
Well, if Amazon didn’t deduct the amount from your account, you can just mail them a check without a waiting period if you don’t think there’s going to be a problem.
The buyer’s in direct contact with him regarding a warranty return. It’s been past 30 days I’m assuming which is why it’s not going thru the amazon return process.