Does SILCA not offer refunds?

[marciero]

Originally Posted by nmrt

based on Josh's reply what boggles the mind is that it is not the minority but the majority of returns that are fradulent.

living in this non-ideal world, i can easily expect some of the people to engage in fradulent returns. but when the vast majority of people, cyclists like us no less, engage in fraud, i despair upon the state of this world.

how long can mankind make it like this?

This has been eye opening for sure, but a little perspective- we are not talking about the vast majority of people, or even the vast majority of Silca sales or customers. It's only the Amazon returns for which more than half are fraudulent. But the population of Amazon customers is biased toward fraudsters for all the reasons Josh cited. An additional thing biasing that population might be that Silca's items that sell mostly on Amazon are luxe/expensive as well as small. Small, expensive, and easy to return fraudulently all bias that population. The population of Amazon returns is even more so. Even if you look at non Amazon returns there is a selection bias, and the 25-30%fraud may speak to the fact that non fraudster customers dont tend to return Silca products.

On the other hand, it does sound like the culture of no questions returns has pushed some over the line who might not have done such things before, or revealed dishonesty in people that was masked before. Someone returning motor oil or milk in the original container, or taking parts out of a pump or wrench kit? So petty.

[9tubes]

Originally Posted by nmrt

based on Josh's reply what boggles the mind is that it is not the minority but the majority of returns that are fradulent.

living in this non-ideal world, i can easily expect some of the people to engage in fradulent returns. but when the vast majority of people, cyclists like us no less, engage in fraud, i despair upon the state of this world.

how long can mankind make it like this?

Agreed. On the plus side, when I read the thread title I thought "who on earth returns a Silca product? I have a Silca pump that works like new but it's so old it could have adult children."

[hoj]

Well that was quick!

CyclingTips interview with Josh just released on this subject:

Link to article:

https://cyclingtips.com/2022/07/inte...G_oCqMscorHZiE

[rice rocket]

Originally Posted by hoj

Well that was quick!

CyclingTips interview with Josh just released on this subject:

Link to article:

https://cyclingtips.com/2022/07/inte...G_oCqMscorHZiE

Should've known Dave Rome was lurking here.

[geordanh]

Wow great thread and great article. Thanks Josh


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[mcteague]

Reading the CyclingTips article now. Some people are the worst! The fraudulent return stories just boil my blood.

Tim

[geordanh]

Would probably get sued into oblivion for privacy issues amongst others, but a company with really strong SEO should publish a customer wall of shameful returns with names and photos of the “returned” goods


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[benb]

Originally Posted by JSL

My dad went to buy a generator at Lowe's the other day. He thought the box seemed odd and had it opened while he was there. Full of gravel...

Yep, I think this may have happened to me before too with HD where I bought something that seemed like it was suspicious and might have been used for one job and returned.

I thought it might be a possibility with the air compressor I bought in June.. one of the quick connects was broken. I didn't do much about it because I had been promiscuous with accessory kits. My opportunity cost for driving back to HD was high so I erred on the side of grabbing a bunch of accessories. So I just put a new quick connect on the compressor since I had bought them and it took way less time than returning the compressor.

Regarding international my wife got caught up in a Facebook scam for camp chairs from a Chinese seller. I think FB is about 100x worse than Amazon. The seller was advertising a chair completely different than what they were actually selling. We were shocked when it arrived, almost zero resemblance. FB would not do a thing. We chased down the seller and they were willing to return for a refund after a lot of finagling. But we gave up when the shipping to send it back to China was like $300. You see it seems it's free for a seller to ship from China -> US, they subsidize it. But to send things back to China they charge a premium. So we got stuck eating it. The main issue was the chairs were basically like children's chairs, very small. Even my son outgrew them.

[RobJ]

Wow love this stuff! This is a great article and excellent insight into the industry and understanding what's behind the business.

I just purchased a bag from RoadRunner and was going to return it, until I realized they essentially don't take returns but if they do, there's a 15% fee.

[Clean39T]

The last three pairs of shoes my spouse has ordered from Zappos have showed up obviously used, with doghair in them, and some not even in their manufacture's box - and yet were sold as "new" at full retail. So we returned them - and they'll probably get passed on to someone else again and again until a customer just sucks it up and keeps them..

Same has happened with bedding, clothes, furniture, appliances, etc. It's super annoying - so much time wasted searching for the thing, ordering the thing, waiting for the thing, returning the thing, taking the thing to UPS, waiting for the refund, finding it from somewhere else, ordering it again, waiting again, and hoping the next one that arrives isn't in the same condition.

It's almost enough to push me to go shop in person with the unmasked, sick toddler toting masses roaming retail outlets these days - knowing there's a large chance the item I need won't be in stock and I'll just have to go home and order it online anyway.

[pdonk]

Originally Posted by Clean39T

It's almost enough to push me to go shop in person with the unmasked, sick toddler toting masses roaming retail outlets these days - knowing there's a large chance the item I need won't be in stock and I'll just have to go home and order it online anyway.

Online order for in store pickup. That way you know they have the item in stock and when you get there, if you don't like it can either return or exchange immediately.

OR pick up the phone and call the store and ask them to put things aside as you are coming in. Works better with stores that know you, but still works most of the time with smaller retailers.

[nmrt]

the other thing that is crazy about this "returns" fiasco is that if this is hapenning at SILCA (a small company), I really cannot imagine what is hapenning with Amazon returns.

i mean... i think cyclists are good decent people, especially those that buy from SILCA. i know i am painting with a broad brush here. but if they are engaging in such morally bankrupt "returns" behavior, man...what must be hapenning with amazon with returns from the unwashed masses.

i shudder.

[AngryScientist]

Yea, and think about the vast amount of waste that generates. All the junk that probably winds up in a landfill somewhere, but moreover the transportation costs to move all of this stuff wastefully. What a mess.

[tctyres]

Originally Posted by Clean39T

The last three pairs of shoes my spouse has ordered from Zappos have showed up obviously used, ...

Wow!

This whole thread has been enlightening.

I have returned 2 things to Amazon that I remember. One of those was an error on my part (rims with no brake track), and the other was a piece of trash sold by an off brand seller. I'm pretty selective about reading reviews and buying the right thing.

[Alistair]

Originally Posted by Clean39T

The last three pairs of shoes my spouse has ordered from Zappos have showed up obviously used, with doghair in them, and some not even in their manufacture's box - and yet were sold as "new" at full retail.

We've had this happen a few times now. Some boots my wife bought me for Christmas were not just used, but straight nasty. These were from Nordstrom. Some shoes my wife ordered for herself were obviously used (lightly), this was direct from manufacturer's website. And some roof-rack parts I ordered from Amazon were not only random plastic parts, but in a box that in no way could have contained the parts (square vs long rectangle).

People suck.