Why does it take so long for a company I bought something from to refund me? They say it can take up to 10 working days. Why can’t it be paid back immediately as quick as I paid them for the original order?

Question

It was an item that was never in stock to begin. They weren’t sure how I managed to place the order. I paid with a straight bank transfer, no debt or credit.

In: 136

Answer 1

If this is an online sale and return, one reason the money is taken faster than it is returned is due to Returns fraud check. I worked at a big e-commerce site and the system “settled” (took payment) when the systemic “shipped” signal was sent (i.e. an email to the customer with the tracking number) but the refund doesn’t happen when a return tracking number is generated. They wait for it to arrive at the return center and check to see if it matches what was sent. For high value serialized product (like a laptop) they’ll check its the serial number you were shipped and not just a broken version of the same sku id. So a refund will always be slower than payment for other reasons besides bank signals.