Umart Refund Policy

LJim Beam on 28/07/2018 - 16:07
Last edited 28/07/2018 - 17:30 by 1 other user

I had the most frustrating experience shopping with Umart Online. I bought an ultrawide monitor for $500 (picked up from their Milton store in Brisbane), and because I was not able to test this monitor in store (you can't test most things in store really) I took it home.

Turns out the resolution was too big for me, So I packed it and I wasn't able to take it back till about a week later. I wasn't in a hurry because they have a 30 Day change of mind policy that's on their website. And by the way, that's the confidence I had in buying the monitor without testing it.

So I took it back in its original packaging and the girl at the store barely looked at it and said I have to be charged a 20% restocking fee because it was opened. And I said but your website doesn't say it must be UNOPENED. It says it must be in a 'new and resale-able' condition. She said it means the same thing.

I think those two terms don't mean the same thing. The item was still very new because I opened it to test it, and it wasn't what i wanted and repacked it.

And then why would they give someone a 30 day change of mind if it's meant for them to take it to their house, just look at it and not open it?

The whole premise of change of mind doesn’t make sense - or rather is not well explained. Their website DOES NOT say the item should be unopened in order to qualify for a full refund. Besides 20% restocking fee is too high for a $500 purchase, this percentage should be capped, because If I was to buy a $3000 gaming setup, I wouldn’t expected to be charged $600 for returning it a week later in its original packaging.

Did anyone else have a similar experience like this? I Would love to hear you thoughts!

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Comments

  • foxmulder on 28/07/2018 - 16:13
    +1

    Umart return policy: To qualify for our Change of Mind returns, the returned item must be in a new resellable condition; otherwise we may charge up to a 20% restocking fee or refuse the return outright.

    And yes if item is just opened not necessarily meany it's unsellable. Bunnings accept this kind of return everyday. What umart should have unopened item for no restocking fee.

    • robbyjones on 28/07/2018 - 16:55

      Bunnings have a very liberal returns policy and often write off or drastically reduce returned items, especially if the packaging is not in original saleable condition.

    • HighAndDry on 30/07/2018 - 13:38
      +1

      "Change of mind" I always assume to be "unopened and unused" unless otherwise specified. It's literally change of mind only.

      OP hasn't just opened it, he's technically plugged it in and turned it on. UMart would have to at the very least spend time to ensure that it's in sellable condition, including resetting it to factory settings, etc. A 20% restocking fee is perfectly fine.

  • myusername on 28/07/2018 - 16:14
    +1

    i've always thought restocking fee is a load of bs

  • Randxyz123 on 28/07/2018 - 16:15
    +5

    Sounds normal to me. They'd have to sell it for 30-40% off

    Usually to return something you can't have used it or opened it.

    • [Deactivated] on 29/07/2018 - 09:56

      Not true for a lot of places actually.

  • Chewiebacca on 28/07/2018 - 16:26
    +8

    This is the standard across pretty much all I.T stores afaik, and it makes sense. What you think constitutes 'new' doesn't matter. You opened it, tested it out, changed your mind and brought it back a week later. It's not a new product anymore and hence they won't just give you a full refund as there was nothing wrong with the product, just your expectations.

    MSY, PCCG, Scorptec, Centre Com, none of them will give you a no hassle return simply because it's difficult selling second-hand I.T goods, and they will likely have to throw them in a clearance/refurbished sale to cut losses. The profit margins in I.T etc are all very low precisely because there are so many businesses competing and selling the same products, they can't afford to be giving change of mind returns on used items like Bunnings, clothing stores, Officeworks with its other income streams etc.

    I can tell you that having worked at one of these I.T stores for the past two years, even on a high-grossing day (50k lets say) we'd never see profit margins much above 10%, and very frequently they are much less.

    Change of mind is a luxury that's barely afforded in any I.T store, and even with this policy, they aren't obliged to refund you at all. Whilst I feel for you, it's your responsibility to ensure the product is what you expected before you purchase.

  • Strahany on 28/07/2018 - 16:29
    +15

    In these situations, with things like 'restocking fees', I ask a few questions:

    Would you be happy to purchase a monitor (or other non-consumable product) as a 'new' item, at full price, only to find out it was purchased and returned?
    If yes, then that's great - you're in the minority.
    If no, then I would ask why you would expect someone else to pay full price for a used product?
    If you don't actually expect someone else to do that, then you'd be expecting the store to offer a discount to said 'someone else' at their own expense.
    So why should a store have to slash profit margins (or risk actually losing money on an item) purely because a customer returned an item under a policy which was designed to be helpful for them? Not to mention opening themselves up to the risk of 'return scams'.

    No store is under any obligation to accept a return for an unwanted item. Stores that offer returns after using them are doing so at the expense of their bottom line in order to provide a better experience for their customers. Every store without a return policy such as this would have told you it's not their problem and to just deal with it.

    Which then raises the final question:
    What would you have done if such a policy did not exist?
    I can answer that for you, as there are two main options: you would have to be stuck with an item you don't want and have to organise re-selling it, or you would have had to spend a lot of time driving to other shopping locations to test the monitor. When you look at it like this, losing 20% is presumably less than what you would lose re-selling it, and leaves you with less out of pocket from an opportunity cost perspective.

    Sure, I'd love to be able to try everything and return it for no penalty. But only some of the biggest stores can afford to do this (e.g Apple). Losing 20% on a mid-priced item in order to save hours of your time and also prevent being stuck with it is a good trade off, IMO.

    • blitz on 28/07/2018 - 23:25

      A very good post.

    • knobbs on 29/07/2018 - 08:49
      +1

      Although I agree with all your points I have personally have never seen Umart reduce an item as being 'restocked'. With the history of Umart (have several friends who have worked there), I would suspect they just resell at full price. I certainly am going to monitor my future purchases there to be careful of receiving one of these restocked items.

      • HighAndDry on 30/07/2018 - 13:44

        They might sell it on clearance, on an 'as-is' basis, as a demo model, or they might have arrangements with their suppliers for demo/used/returned units.

  • JimmyF on 28/07/2018 - 16:59
    +2

    why would they give someone a 30 day change of mind if it's meant for them to take it to their house, just look at it and not open it?

    OP its pretty clear here what the return policy is

    https://help.umart.com.au/hc/en-us/articles/217587728-What-i…

    To qualify for our Change of Mind returns, the returned item must be in a new resellable condition; otherwise we may charge up to a 20% restocking fee or refuse the return outright.

    This means unopened basically.

    If I was to buy a $3000 gaming setup, I wouldn’t expected to be charged $600 for returning it a week later in its original packaging.

    and if you went in to umart to buy a $3000 gaming setup and they gave you a OPENED BOX unit returned by someone else instead of a 'new' unit, would you not complain? The same goes for your monitor!

    So they'll have to sell it at a reduced price compared to 'new', hence the 20% restocking fee.

    The law says they don't have to give you a refund for change of mind.

  • dazweeja on 28/07/2018 - 17:00

    I think you should have read the policy more carefully. The item must be "new resellable", ie. it must be able to be sold as new. You opened the box and set it up - it clearly can't be sold as new anymore. They have to sell it as a secondhand item at a significant discount. It's only fair that you cover this.

  • dcep on 28/07/2018 - 17:16
    +2

    common sense really

    else everyone will return opened box/used goods , and you're happy to buy them used at the price of new?

  • payton on 28/07/2018 - 17:16
    -1

    username 'CaptainRisky', new user, wanting to return monitor because 'resolution too high'
    ok
    nekminnit, oh i want to return this turkey baster because its too big

    • Jim Beam on 28/07/2018 - 17:44
      -4

      Not sure how is this relevant. It would have been better if you didn't say anything, that's why some people are hesitant to participate in this community!

      • payton on 28/07/2018 - 17:50

        oh come on that was in jest
        in all honestly PC shops have been operating like that
        If MSY tried to sell me unsealed items sold as new I would have refused
        bad experiencve, coz they did sell me a used item marked as new (which I promptly returned cause it was dusty and didn't work)

      • Deridas on 29/07/2018 - 10:05
        +1

        If I don't get to pop the cherry (original manufacturer sticky tape) on my monitor, it's not new. In fact, I'll be worried they're trying to flog off a monitor with dead pixels if there is no manufacturer's sticky tape.

        You can (and should) always test a monitor in-store. You pay for the monitor, pop it's cherry, plug it into any one of their comps with their permission, and check or bright/dead pixels in the spot (so they can't refuse your exchange if there are any).

        By the way OP, the size and resolution of the monitor has always been on the packaging, payton was completely relevant, you are just not admitting you made a mistake for not reading product specs and want Umart to pay for your mistake.

        Thanks fresh 18hr registered account guy for informing the Ozbargain community about why some people are hesitant to participate in this community. We appreciate your input and will have a good look at how we conducted ourselves. There are always alternatives in Whirlpool and Reddit for you if you wish to pursue that path.

        Perhaps the person who would've been better if they didn't say anything was you.

  • Savas on 28/07/2018 - 19:13

    they can't resell it because you used it. they sound generous they are only charging 20%, most stores wouldn't accept it.

  • renster72 on 28/07/2018 - 19:47
    +1

    On reading the policy, I see where OP is coming from its 30 days, and has this under Exceptions.. if it had to be unopened then why would keyboards and mice, headphones etc.. be excluded?

    I would understand totally why you would not want returns and the difficulty in resale of returned items at new prices.. but then why offer a Change of mind return policy?

    Exceptions:

    For hygiene reasons we are unable to accept returns of Wearable Devices, Gaming Chairs, Headphones, Keyboards and Mice. These items are still covered by warranty for faults.

    • Savas on 28/07/2018 - 20:19

      I don't understand what you mean, it is clear that the item has to be in new condition?

    • HighAndDry on 30/07/2018 - 13:40

      Because they might not sell enough/might not sell them with high enough margins to have a generous change-of-mind returns policy?

  • whooah1979 on 28/07/2018 - 20:42

    The item was still very new because I opened it

    the item is no longer new. the retailer cannot legally list or sell the item as new.

    return the item and pay the restocking fee or sell on ebay as new: never used or used.
    https://pages.ebay.com.au/help/sell/contextual/condition_1.h…

  • Quantumcat on 28/07/2018 - 21:42

    Whether or not the policy is fair is a different problem to what the OP has (it probably is fair). He bought the monitor based on the return policy which was ambiguous. Umart should have to accept the return for a full refund just because of their unclear policy. If the policy had been clear OP would not have bought the monitor.

    • Savas on 28/07/2018 - 22:12

      Where is it ambiguous though?

      • Quantumcat on 28/07/2018 - 22:33
        -1

        Saleable condition - doesn't specify unopened. OP understandably thought that meant "no signs of use". If they mean unopened they should say that.

        • Chewiebacca on 28/07/2018 - 22:54
          +2

          There is no ambiguity here, OP just isn’t getting his way. The actual wording is “new resellable condition”. Anything can be considered saleable, under their change of mind policy it specifically needs to be saleable as new. Being opened (breaking seals, wrapping), used (even briefly) and returned a week later is in no way a new item. It’s sellable that’s for sure (hence why they will accept a return) but not as new, therefore a 20% fee is applied.

  • ShannonN on 28/07/2018 - 22:32

    Ebay should be shot then for allowing sellers to state "item is new (not as new) only opened item to test BS" in description
    when challenged these sellers cry scream and moan the item is new .. I've had lots of discussions on this and 20 year old ho train sets unopened but called new, how can a 20 yr old product be new?

    "As new", unopened - for sure

  • AdosHouse on 28/07/2018 - 22:35
    +4

    Anyone else wondering why the OP doesn't just lower the resolution in the Operating System?

  • imolared on 28/07/2018 - 23:50

    This applies to pretty much any shop that sells tech items out there with the exception of Apple with their 14 day change of mind policy.

  • Rifraf on 29/07/2018 - 17:29
    +1

    Its a valuable life lesson to know exactly what you are buying and its specs, before you lay down any coin me thinks.

    In the big scheme of things this lesson will save you a lot more than the lost 20% over your lifetime.

    Best of luck with your next monitor.

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