Safe-T Claim denied on a Refund initiated by Amazon without a Return Merchandise Authorization created so I can't receive the return
Here is the situation:
I have an FBM Order for a pair of $150 shoes that was refunded by Amazon Customer support to the customer with the reason "Delivered late by carrier". (For what it's worth, the shoes did arrive on the promised day specified on the order in the afternoon). No RMA (Return Merchandise Authorization) was created when Amazon Customer support made this refund so I am unable to get the shoes returned from the customer. I reached out to Amazon Seller Support via several cases and was told they were unable to create an RMA for the customer to send the shoes back as Amazon Customer Support had already issued the refund and I would need to file a Safe-T Claim.
I created the claim and was denied with the reason being that I purchased the shipping outside of CSBA per this policy:
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/G7KCD8BYQER79WWJ
I reviewed this policy, and the only excerpt denying a Safe-T Claim for purchasing external shipping is when a customer denied receiving the package or if the package itself was lost in transit. Neither of these issues occurred as the refund lists the reason as "Delivered late by carrier", the tracking I included on the order shows it was delivered, the customer is not claiming the product was not received, and lastly the tracking has a proof of delivery via UPS. I also uploaded this proof of delivery to the Safe-T Claim but was still denied for purchasing external shipping with the last response stating the decision was final.
This is insane that Amazon reimbursed a customer for an item they received and because Amazon Customer Support did not create an RMA I am now supposed to give them the shoes they received for free? Several support I spoke to said this was the first refund by Amazon Customer Support they've seen where an RMA was not created and I concur as I have other refund requests for orders I purchased shipping outside Amazon and the RMA was created correctly to receiving the item back.
Are they expecting me to reach out directly to the customer to request the shoes back? The contact customer option on the order doesn't have an option related for returns on the order and I don't see any options for starting the return myself on the order. This also doesn't sound like the intended procedure as the return wouldn't be tracked under Amazon so I highly doubt this is what the Safe-T Claim team or Seller Support wants me to do to receive my return. This looks more like a case of Amazon not having procedures in place to fix a missing RMA that should have been created by Amazon Customer Support and defaulting to the seller eating the cost rather than fixing the issue or simply reimbursing me on the refund if they do not want to fix the missing RMA on this order.
Reference cases:
14440585471 and 14440158051
Safe-T Claim denied on a Refund initiated by Amazon without a Return Merchandise Authorization created so I can't receive the return
Here is the situation:
I have an FBM Order for a pair of $150 shoes that was refunded by Amazon Customer support to the customer with the reason "Delivered late by carrier". (For what it's worth, the shoes did arrive on the promised day specified on the order in the afternoon). No RMA (Return Merchandise Authorization) was created when Amazon Customer support made this refund so I am unable to get the shoes returned from the customer. I reached out to Amazon Seller Support via several cases and was told they were unable to create an RMA for the customer to send the shoes back as Amazon Customer Support had already issued the refund and I would need to file a Safe-T Claim.
I created the claim and was denied with the reason being that I purchased the shipping outside of CSBA per this policy:
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/G7KCD8BYQER79WWJ
I reviewed this policy, and the only excerpt denying a Safe-T Claim for purchasing external shipping is when a customer denied receiving the package or if the package itself was lost in transit. Neither of these issues occurred as the refund lists the reason as "Delivered late by carrier", the tracking I included on the order shows it was delivered, the customer is not claiming the product was not received, and lastly the tracking has a proof of delivery via UPS. I also uploaded this proof of delivery to the Safe-T Claim but was still denied for purchasing external shipping with the last response stating the decision was final.
This is insane that Amazon reimbursed a customer for an item they received and because Amazon Customer Support did not create an RMA I am now supposed to give them the shoes they received for free? Several support I spoke to said this was the first refund by Amazon Customer Support they've seen where an RMA was not created and I concur as I have other refund requests for orders I purchased shipping outside Amazon and the RMA was created correctly to receiving the item back.
Are they expecting me to reach out directly to the customer to request the shoes back? The contact customer option on the order doesn't have an option related for returns on the order and I don't see any options for starting the return myself on the order. This also doesn't sound like the intended procedure as the return wouldn't be tracked under Amazon so I highly doubt this is what the Safe-T Claim team or Seller Support wants me to do to receive my return. This looks more like a case of Amazon not having procedures in place to fix a missing RMA that should have been created by Amazon Customer Support and defaulting to the seller eating the cost rather than fixing the issue or simply reimbursing me on the refund if they do not want to fix the missing RMA on this order.
Reference cases:
14440585471 and 14440158051
0 replies
Seller_G6LQzhrKqAkp9
@Tatiana_AmazonHi Tatiana, I saw you have assisted with previous Safe-T Claims on the forums and would appreciate your assistance troubleshooting this issue.
To Summarize I have a pair of shoes that were reimbursed by Amazon Customer Support with no RMA created prior to reimbursement. Because of this I can't get the shoes returned through Amazon and have worked with Seller Support on cases 14440585471 and 14440158051 to get it created to no avail. The Safe-T team seems to deny a reimbursement due to having purchased shipping outside of Amazon despite this not being an issue with a lost item or customer denying receipt of item. However, I only want a return for the item that the customer acknowledged they received. I rather not go outside of Amazon to get this return started by contacting the customer directly and I'm sure Amazon Support feels the same way, so any assistance getting the RMA created that should have been created from the start by Amazon Customer Support prior to them reimbursing the customer would be greatly appreciated. This really feels like a system bug as I've never had an issue with previous returns for orders I created shipping outside of Amazon; which always had a corresponding RMA automatically created by Amazon Support prior to them issuing any form of reimbursement.
Seller_G6LQzhrKqAkp9
@TaylorR_Amazon Hi Taylor, are you able to assist with this Claim? I haven't received any replies on it and have been struggling to find any assistance.
No support has been able to generate the return and I'm unable to get ahold of the buyer.
Tatiana_Amazon
Hi @Seller_G6LQzhrKqAkp9,
Thanks for the tag! I've taken a look at both the cases, the order ID in question, and the associated Safe-T claim. I understand your frustration and the confusion around this order so I wanted to try and provide some clarification.
Although, the tracking may show it has been delivered, the customer has claimed to CSBA that they have not received the order which is why they could not physically return the item. The lack of delivery is what kicked off the return and refund. This could be a mistake made by the carrier, but since Amazon Buy Shipping services were not used nor a signature confirmation requested, the seller is financially responsible for refunds in cases of item not received as the shipper of record.
Additionally, for CSBA reimbursements, only orders that are shipped using Amazon Buy Shipping services or orders that were shipped with signature confirmation will qualify for Safe-T claims in cases of item not received.
As you stated in your original post, you have already been provided with this help page, but wanted to point out that exact policy can be found at the first bullet point under section 1.
I realize this is likely not the outcome you were hoping for, but I hope the explanation above helps at least clarify why the case was resolved this way.
Tatiana
