Quick heads-up - don't expect a quick and easy refund from a GuitarGuitar online purchase!

Bridgehouse

HandwrittenHero said:

Bridgehouse said:

As a consumer, the whole returns thing annoys me a bit actually.

Sure, it’s great to be able to try before you buy. But the reality is that the sales process and subsequent return and refund costs the business in question money. And it’s money on a reversed transaction that has no margin at all, and thus they actually lose money each time an item is sent back as a not wanted return. If we expect regular comms as well then that’s even more lost money for them. 

Net result? Prices go up for us as consumers. 

Faulty goods are of course a completely different matter

I'd argue from the other side that it's essentially an extension of a sales. Someone coming into a store to try out incurs the cost of the premises, staff member dealing etc. I'd say that the potential cost of dealing with return is a speculation to accumulate in the same way.

I do think there's teething problems, but when I think about it I don't see a huge difference between someone habitually buying/returning and the 'customer' who's always demoing a wide variety of kit in store but never seems to be getting round to actually purchasing. Both are tricky to solve without losing something that should be a net benefit for the reasonable consumer (I'd say average consumer, but the missus works retail and I've worked IT operations long enough to have an opinion there!)

But in a real life transaction, a refund is discretionary. If you buy in a shop and take away, a return within 14 days is at the discretion of the retailer. Online - they have to by law.

Let's say the process takes 2 hours start to finish. Initial sale, packing, sending out, processing return document, processing the return back in, checking it, restocking, processing refund, completing refund. 2 hours at about £10 an hour - so £20 per return. 

Let's say they ship 1000 units a week (big box shifter) of varying prices. Let's say 10% are returned as "no thanks, not for me" - that's 100*£20 = £2000 a week, or £8000 a month in cost for which there is no sale. It's money lost. 

They need to make that £8k back somehow, so it goes on ticket price, or service suffers. 

Bridgehouse

Twinfan said:

Bridgehouse said:

As a consumer, the whole returns thing annoys me a bit actually.

Sure, it’s great to be able to try before you buy. But the reality is that the sales process and subsequent return and refund costs the business in question money. And it’s money on a reversed transaction that has no margin at all, and thus they actually lose money each time an item is sent back as a not wanted return. If we expect regular comms as well then that’s even more lost money for them. 

Net result? Prices go up for us as consumers. 

Don't offer online sales then.  Simple solution.

And if every retailer did that then you'd have to get in your car and buy it. They are effectively paying for our convenience with the distance selling regulations. 

Twinfan

The law's the law, play by the rules or not at all.

Bridgehouse

Twinfan said:

The law's the law, play by the rules or not at all.

And so far GG have played by the rules with you, so why the complaint?

Twinfan

I was referring to your moan about online sales not my situation.  Retailers don't have to offer it if they're not happy doing so.

Lestratcaster

I bought something from then a couple of months ago which turned out to be faulty. The whole turnaround process took about 3 weeks from collecting the goods to issuing a refund. They said 5-7 days but 2 days after the email I was credited with the money back. Needless to say I bought the same item from another retailer.

beed84

Dude, don’t take this the wrong way but not only did you get try a Soldano SLO in the comfort of your own home, but you got to return it at no extra cost to yourself. That’s pretty cool, especially with everything going on in the world right now. I know it sucks money wise but there’s a difference  between “Being out of pocket” and “Waiting for a refund”. GuitarGuitar are great and will refund you once it has been processed. 

Fishboy7

Bridgehouse said:

As a consumer, the whole returns thing annoys me a bit actually.

Sure, it’s great to be able to try before you buy. But the reality is that the sales process and subsequent return and refund costs the business in question money. And it’s money on a reversed transaction that has no margin at all, and thus they actually lose money each time an item is sent back as a not wanted return. If we expect regular comms as well then that’s even more lost money for them. 

Net result? Prices go up for us as consumers. 

Faulty goods are of course a completely different matter

Blurs the line between what is new and what is used also.

I mostly buy new and I wouldn't be happy if it had been to someone's house for two weeks on trial first.

UnclePsychosis

Twinfan said:

Yep, seems that way.  I was in two minds about posting it but thought I'd offer some advice to the community.  Clearly everyone else knows best already  

Knows best? No. 

But complaining vociferously about not having a refund eight days into a common and publicly stated fourteen day window seems a bit much, that's all.

If the refund still hasn't appeared once you get outside the terms of their policy then by all means bash on, you'll find people are supportive. But you've jumped the gun on this one. 

not_the_dj

If you have a credit card it really makes sense to use it for high value purchases and then pay it off in full. You get the consumer protection which you won't with a "cash" purchase. Especially important at the moment with companies going bust all over the place.

Barnezy

Surely guitar shops need to get this 14 day free return rule changed. Is there any other sector where they need to send out an item that costs potentially £1000's, to someone who potentially has no intention of keeping it and is just ordering it, to try it out? All it does is puts the prices up for everyone else and puts stress on the retailers. 

I've heard about people ordering £5k+ amps, profiling them, sending them back and then selling the profiles online. 

Twinfan

beed84 said:

Dude, don’t take this the wrong way but not only did you get try a Soldano SLO in the comfort of your own home, but you got to return it at no extra cost to yourself. That’s pretty cool, especially with everything going on in the world right now. I know it sucks money wise but there’s a difference  between “Being out of pocket” and “Waiting for a refund”. GuitarGuitar are great and will refund you once it has been processed. 

Your assumption is wrong - the return postage cost I had to pay for myself.  Which is fine, I accpeted that when I made the order in the first place.

Anyhoo, I'll just here for another fortnight and see if get my cash back.  Cheers all.

poopot

Twinfan said:

beed84 said:

Dude, don’t take this the wrong way but not only did you get try a Soldano SLO in the comfort of your own home, but you got to return it at no extra cost to yourself. That’s pretty cool, especially with everything going on in the world right now. I know it sucks money wise but there’s a difference  between “Being out of pocket” and “Waiting for a refund”. GuitarGuitar are great and will refund you once it has been processed. 

Your assumption is wrong - the return postage cost I had to pay for myself.  Which is fine, I accpeted that when I made the order in the first place.

Anyhoo, I'll just here for another fortnight and see if get my cash back.  Cheers all.

You’re not going to not get your cash back are you?

It’s just you want it now dammit!!!!! Why should you have to wait for their processes to run their course?

you could always go to the shop and get the refund no?

Twinfan

poopot said:

you could always go to the shop and get the refund no?

Nope.  If you buy online you have to return your item via courier and use the Support email box like I have.  Did you not read my first post properly?   

As I keep saying, some return communication would be nice when your waiting for your £2k back after you've asked nicely how much longer it will take.

poopot

Twinfan said:

poopot said:

you could always go to the shop and get the refund no?

Nope.  If you buy online you have to return your item via courier and use the Support email box like I have.  Did you not read my first post properly?   

As I keep saying, some return communication would be nice when your waiting for your £2k back after you've asked nicely how much longer it will take.

I did read your first post properly yes...


there’s nothing stopping you going to the store now tho’ is there?

kick off, get your refund fast tracked?

rather than posting on here about how bad their customer service is during a global pandemic and rubbishing their business just to make yourself feel a little better.

fwiw, I don’t agree with how quickly money is earmarked as gone from your account compared to the slow speed it takes to go back into your account... but... as others have pointed out, you got to try the amp in the comfort of your own home before you decided you didn’t fancy it and returned it... had you bought the amp actually in the shop, taken it home and then decided you didn’t like it you’d be lucky to get store credit...

It’s a bit distasteful trying to rubbish guitar guitar for “allowing” you the opportunity to try the amp in this way to be fair...

just my tuppence worth, maybe we should be supporting businesses in these times rather than trying to fuck em over!

sunshinewelly

Barnezy said:

Surely guitar shops need to get this 14 day free return rule changed. Is there any other sector where they need to send out an item that costs potentially £1000's, to someone who potentially has no intention of keeping it and is just ordering it, to try it out? All it does is puts the prices up for everyone else and puts stress on the retailers. 

I've heard about people ordering £5k+ amps, profiling them, sending them back and then selling the profiles online. 

guitar shops cant get it changed - its the law that applies to distance selling ie online sales.

i am even more confused now though with the original post as i am not sure how you pay for something online in cash. If you order something online and pick it up from the store then its not an online purchase. 

if they allow a 14 consideration period for items bought in store then thats very good of them

Twinfan

RIght, for the record:

• I paid a deposit online for a pre-order of the SLO-30 with a debit card.  I couldn't buy one in store because they hadn't arrived in the UK yet, or in fact anywhere yet, as they'd only just been announced as launched.
• They arrived in the Newcastle store ready to fulfil orders and I'm in Manchester, 150 miles away.
• I paid the balance, using a debit card, and had the amp delivered to me.  Much cheaper in both time and money than driving for several hours each way.  I don't think many people would jump in the car rather than have it delivered to them for free?
• It took me 10 minutes to work out the amp wasn't for me.  See my contributions to the SLO-30 thread in the Amps section.

And to be clear:

• I'm not trying to fuck anyone over, or try to make a fast buck with a profiler etc etc.
• I just didn't like the amp so I returned it, as per distance selling regs.
• I expect some comms back after a polite email enquiry, not radio silence for a week

poopot

Ok... with all of the above said... one question.


what was the purpose of your original post?

Twinfan

The purpose was to inform other people that the GuitarGuitar returns process is currently email only and to expect limited communications.  The thread on here about possibly buying CS Gibson LPs made me think some people might be interested given that GG have alot of high end guitars and amps in stock and mail order is currently very popular.

I guess I was wrong, sorry folks.  Move along, nothing to see here.

Alnico

One Love.