back to article Amazon refuses Touchpad refunds after price slash frenzy

Seemingly alone among UK retailers, Amazon is refusing to refund people who bought an HP Touchpad just before the price dropped, instead referring them directly to HP. Not that Amazon did that very quickly, making buyers wait as much as two weeks while it considered the matter and competitors including Play.com, Tesco, Argos …

COMMENTS

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  1. Tom_

    two weeks

    They were obviously just making sure people's 7 days had run out, so they couldn't return them for a no questions asked refund, as is their right under the distance selling regulations in the UK.

    1. Danny 14

      wouldnt matter

      as long as you lodge the "i want to send this back" you can do so for any reason. In fact you could sue amazon for obstucting your distance selling rights too.

    2. Stratman

      title

      How does that stop people returning the goods for a full refund within seven days?

      Even if they had replied by return of post, the DSR and "Gimme the difference" are two completely separate things. One is the law of the land, the other is tough luck.

  2. Steve Evans

    Distance selling regs...

    In Europe at least, if you bought something remotely (mail order/internet) and it's a generic (non customised) item, you have 7 days after receipt of the item to say "Nope, don't want it".

    So assuming you haven't wasted 10 days arguing with the seller about getting a backdated discount, you could get your big wedge of cash back. Although you then wouldn't own an HP fondle slab.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Interesting stuff..

      Thing is, Amazon are being fairly reasonable in saying that they will still accept returns, even after two weeks have elapsed. What they are not prepared to do is discount the item, for those that want to keep it, and that is probably reasonable too. Sometimes, I make a bad deal by purchasing something and then realising it is cheaper somewhere else. In that case, if possible, I try to return the item and then try to buy elsewhere. I suppose I could try to negotiate with the original seller, but I don't expect him/her to match the offer.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Close but...

      It is actually 7 working days so Saturday, Sunday and any Bank Holiday do not count.

      If Amazon failed to inform the customer of all the required information (which includes notification of the right to cancel) then the customer has 3 months and 7 days in which they can get a refund.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Tough

    If these people had ordered a product and then the manufacturer had significantly upped the price the day after, would they have got in touch clamouring to pay the extra?

    No?

    Well, they can sod off then.

  4. cymbalhead
    FAIL

    Amazon vs DSG Group

    Wow - this has got to be the first time that DSG Group have been made to look good compared to a competitor. They happily refunded my Touchpad price (although admittedly I had confirmed with them the day before that they would do so).

    Not impressed with Amazon - makes them look like quite bad in comparison to all the other stores.

    Oh, and yes, the Touchpad is great!

  5. Neil Brown

    "on dodgy legal ground"

    Seems a polite way of saying "not a leg to stand on, other than goodwill".

  6. Dan 55 Silver badge
    Joke

    "We've asked, but are still awaiting a reply."

    Don't worry, you'll get one in two weeks...

  7. Justin Clements
    FAIL

    It's not that much of a big deal

    I mean, only 5 people are affected after all.

  8. bitmap animal
    WTF?

    WTF

    Why would anyone even think about trying to get a refund on the price. They agreed the price when they bought it, if the weren't happy paying that price then they shouldn't have done so. The possibly took a gamble an so need to be prepared to lose that 'bet' and not moan about it.

    I also don't understand how HP could be involved in the refunds. Amazon presumably paid HP for their stocks so they would need to sell it at a certain price to cover their costs. If HP for some reason got involved in refunds then they would, in all probability, end up paying the customer more than they got from Amazon for it, and that is without looking at the VAT issues. The only way a manufacturer refund like that could possibly work is if the retailer only paid for the goods when the sold and their cost price was based on the selling price – that is actually a possibility for Ama

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Perception & resale value

      A lot of people will take into consideration when buying something new that it has a reasonable resale value should they wish to sell it within a year of owning it, usually either as they outgrew it and want to use the sale money to get a better one or they just don't use it.

      However if you buy something and then suddenly overnight the price halves (or drops to 1/4, which has happened to me) because it's an end-of-line clearance item, you feel cheated and your item doesn't seem so great because the company selling it has 'devalued' it, and killed any chance of getting any sort of acceptable return should you decide to sell it whilst there's still a market for it.

      In short I don't blame people for being pissed off that a company decides to slash the price a very short time after buying something from them because it has happened to me. Buying things from new should not be a monetary gamble, if you find yourself constantly being 'bitten' by buying products from a certain company/manufacturer then your opinion of them and their reputation starts looking quite negative.

  9. Anonymous John

    Hmm

    If they can be returned to Amazon for a refund of the full price. will they be sold again for the reduced price?

    1. King Jack

      sold again for the reduced price?

      Maybe, but they could not be sold as brand new.

  10. Stuart Elliott
    Mushroom

    Caveat Emptor

    You agreed the price when you clicked buy and handed over your credit card details, and are moaning when suddenly others are getting it cheaper?

    Call the Waaaaambulance.

    <-- Bitter because the two I managed to order from different suppliers, both got cancelled. :)

    1. Sky

      re Caveat Emptor

      To the guy who had his HP Touchpads cancelled from two different suppliers; if you gave them your visa card details, then that is sufficient 'consideration' that they have to honour the contract. If they cannot, you are entitled to purchase from elsewhere (e.g. from Amazon at full price), and then claim the difference from the vendor who attempted to cancel on you.

      I've done this in the past with one supplier (I forget the company but they were a networking product reseller) who took my card details, but then had my order on hold for two months. I purchased elsewhere at a higher cost, and claimed the difference by threatening to file a small claim.

  11. Big_Ted
    WTF?

    Censorship

    Well they have now deleted a thread on their forum pages where people were sharing information.

    I hope they are proud of themselves.....

    "Earth's Most Customer-Centric Company" my ass............

  12. Kobel
    WTF?

    Discussion deleted

    It looks like Amazon's trying to cover it's tracks and has deleted the discussion linked in the article! Not the kind of response I'd expect from them really.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    worried?

    "which worries some buyers who want to maintain the option of a full return to Amazon if the HP refund doesn't work out"

    or who were hoping to flog it on for £200 as "new"?

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Pint

    Pricing

    Hi Bill,

    You've put a couple of articles out giving the UK price for the UK Touchpad as £99, but they actually sold for £89 for the 16gig version and £115 for the 32gig version. No biggie, just FYI

    Cheers

  15. iconfessimageek

    Thread deleted

    The amazon.co.uk thread has been deleted!

  16. just bored
    Mushroom

    The REAL reason?????

    So Amazon at least appear to not want people to get the HP Touchpad at the fully discounted price with any ease, they are still being sold by Amazon market place sellers for over £200, normally Amazon likes its market place sellers to be the cheapest on the internet, what possible reason could Amazon have to seemingly stop people from getting a Touchpad at the fully discounted price I wonder..........

    It is widely believed that Amazon are releasing their own pad / tablet in October or November this year (1-2 months time) and the same sources are predicting it to be priced very aggressively against the iPad with some suggesting that it could be under the £200 mark to pose a real challenge to Apple.

    The fire sale of the Touchpad has put HP number 2 in the 'Pad war' behind Apple, something Amazon no doubt were hoping to achieve, so are perhaps a little miffed with HP's out of the blue strategy.

    With this in mind its not hard to imagine why it took Amazon 2 weeks to state their intentions, and play hard-ball with anyone that bought a Touchpad.

    Have Amazon in effect 'taken their bat home, and stopped playing', to keep the market open for them at the price point they are planning?

    maybe trading standards should give them a call over their distance selling policies.

    1. Dave Gomm
      WTF?

      and so it goes on...

      HP are stating that their refund programme is only for people who purchased touchpads prior to the UK wide price drop on the 22nd.

      For those who purchase on or after the 22nd, they are referring us back to our retailers.

      The person I spoke to at HP was reading from a management email so I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of their response.

      I've written to Amazon about this and true to form, they have asked for a few more days to think about it.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Not just Amazon

    Expansys too, are refusing to discount despite claiming the contrary prior to purchase.

  18. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

    @wtf

    >They agreed the price when they bought it,

    They agreed a price for a product that would have a warranty, apps, content and ongoing support.

    Suppose you bought a sky dish and next day sky announced they weren't doing satelite TV anymore do you think you might have a reasonable case for getting a refund?

    1. David Neil

      not quite accurate

      They bought a piece of hardware with software installed on it, but the issue of apps, content and ongoing support is always liable to change. Your example of is off, you buy the service from Sky, to receive that service you need the dish. You would reasonably expect a refund for the service, but in thjs case the equipment will still surf the web, play mp4 video, look at photographs. The service, app store or whatever, is incedental to the product being sold.

      The bare minimum they have to do is fulfill the sale of goods act requirements in terms of warranty support, but the rest, well you take your chances. Same as any other item, what if I bought an N64 the day before Nintendo said they weren't building any more, do you honestly think I would have a claim against them for not releasing any more games?

  19. john devoy

    They got what they paid for

    I have no pity for those that decided to jump the gun and buy before the official discount while the rest waited patiently for it to be official ( and avoid this situation).

  20. mark l 2 Silver badge

    DSR

    From my knowledge of the distance selling regulations IF the customer had said they wanted to return it within 7 days for a full refund IF they couldn't get the difference between what they had paid and the discounted price the customer could send it back now even though 7 days is up (although the request has to be in writing from the customer but emails are acceptable) outside the 7 days if customers had just chosen to wait and now are pissed because they wont be getting the refund of the difference in cost its tough titties.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Devil

    I opened it and what a surprise

    Here's an idea for those wanting to send it back, having already opened the box:

    "The power cable was missing, which means it's faulty, so the 7 days 'change of mind' thing does not apply."

    Not that I would encourage such devious behaviour... but that's certainly one reason for posting this comment anonymously.

  22. Graham Marsden
    Pirate

    $99 (or £99 in the UK)

    So what the Yanks get for around £60, we pay over 50% more for...

    Welcome again to rip-off Britain.

    1. Solomon Grundy

      Cosumer Protection

      It's for your own good. You really don't think all the crazy laws you guys have (like the DSR everyone is quoting) are free do you?

    2. CmdrX3

      Almost.

      The UK price of £89 (not £99) includes VAT, while the US price of $99 does not include sales tax (America's version of VAT) which has to be added on to the $99 cost.

      1. Spiritfire

        Still not as much

        In the US, Our sales taxes are low compared to VAT. A few states have no sales tax at all, some are as low as 5%. and the highest being around 9% base. Some cities and counties add their own sales tax, but that's up to them. Overall though, the average sales tax is around 7.5%.

        Also, when shopping online, many people here in the states don't have to pay sales tax on online goods, although several states are passing laws requiring sales tax to be collected by online retailers no matter where the retailer is.

  23. James Pickett

    Swings and roundabouts

    "So what the Yanks get for around £60, we pay over 50% more for..."

    'Twas ever thus, but at least you enjoy a lower probability of being shot by mistake - or on purpose, come to that.. :-)

  24. tmTM

    Ha ha

    They took a chance, they got burnt.

    Stop whining, they all knew the risks before buying at the full price.

  25. JeffyPooh
    Pint

    Afraid of opening the box?

    There are very few boxes that can't be opened and then resealed like new. Even if the openings are covered with anti-tamper stickers, one can very-often still get in and out without a trace. It just takes patience and skill (and luck).

    1. TheFirstChoice
      Facepalm

      Doesn't matter what the retailer's terms and conditions are...

      ...if you've bought something online then you are entitled to inspect the goods before you decide whether you want them, and it is held that you can't inspect them unless you open the box.

      If the retailers states "goods must be returned sealed in a saleable condition" they are infringing your consumer rights - though you must take "reasonable care" of the goods while they're in your possession.

  26. OrsonX

    refunding the difference

    WHY?!!

    You bought it at the agreed price, why do you thing you deserve a refund when the price drops?

    Only in America.

  27. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Ha ha

    Couldn't agree more ... loads of people were posting on places like HKUD that they were going to buy at full price "'cos I'll get the difference to the reduced price back afterwards" ... and several of these were saying they'd ordered multiple units (upto 30 in one case I think) ... so that's where the £200 ebay and Amazon marketplace units are probably coming from!

  28. ZenCoder

    Some stores advertise price matching

    A friend of mine bought 4 at full price from a store that has a good price matching policy. It doesn't seem very bright to do the same from a store that has no such policy.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Pint

      Really?

      Which store was that then?

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