Product returns | SHOPFLOOR ANALYSIS
This experience is echoed by Geddes: “We have found – mainly with appliance brands – that upon opening the packaging, an item can be damaged, and the supplier is wanting a restocking fee or won’t collect as we have had item(s) outside the 28 days. However, we have had to take delivery
in early (as has been
advised by them) to ensure we receive the appliance on time for the job starting”. With suppliers regularly asking
retailers to open and inspect products shortly after delivery, this is easier said than done. As Jenman says: “We can’t adequately repack after inspection, so don’t [inspect]”. On the same point but with a wider scope, Kevin Stevens, director at Stevens Design Refurbishment Build, says: “The whole process is too slow. Damages or issues are generally identified as the product is about to be installed, as opening them earlier causes lots of issues. So then, by the time you’ve emailed the returns department, they’ve acknowledged, agreed a replacement, issued a new delivery note, and then got around to delivering it, it’s too late. Weeks can have passed, and the halt in the install is very expensive. You are almost forced to re-buy a new product, then argue out the return of the first one with the supplier later.” Concerning the involvement of the rep, ASM or BDM in loosening up the cogs when a return is refused, Geddes states that “since Covid it is harder to communicate with BDMs to get a return
Most suppliers state that the products must be inspected on delivery, but the multi-drop couriers won’t wait
Alex Jenman, director, Gainsborough Kitchens
and we have found that some suppliers now have offices/call centres in other countries, which can mean we are waiting a long time to speak to someone or to get a response”. Gainsborough’s Jenman makes the same point saying that if there is no movement going through the normal channels, “after a few weeks I might have to speak to the rep. Reps have big areas of responsibility and often don’t have the time to get involved. [But] post-pandemic there’s been a real drop-off in reps coming through the door”. Often returns are generated by
a retailer’s customer changing their mind or deciding that what’s been delivered isn’t what they were expecting. According to Lawson at Lima
Kitchens, there is an “expectation set by major retailers like Amazon and John Lewis that everything can be returned without charge”. He goes on to point out that “there is some logic to offering free returns, as it gives confidence to buy in the first place, and to become a loyal customer, and brings massive goodwill to the brand”.
So who pays?
But with some sort of cost involved in taking back products it’s difficult to handle who pays this. The Bathroom Company’s Kerr flags up that “some customers take exception to being charged for a return, but we specify on our delivery notes a 48-hour period to report damages and a 25% restocking charge for unwanted items”. Taylor at
Gibbs and Dandy says she is “...quite fair on this: with made-to-order, bespoke or over-bought tiles not accepted back. But if the customer has genuinely mucked up, then I can accept items back if they are willing to pay the suppliers’ restocking charge”. Taking overall spend into account, Gainsborough’s Jenman “charges restocking for small jobs or one-offs; but for bigger jobs we just ‘suck it up’”.
As for the speediness of processing returns, Whiers at Interiors of Harrogate says: “It should take two weeks from uplift request to collection, and from collection to credit being issued. My suppliers do it within this timescale.” Taylor on the other hand points out the irony of some suppliers being late in collecting returns: “This makes me laugh as they set a time limit to report damaged goods, yet when it comes to returns, they can take all the time in the world.” So, with all of the headaches, time and costs
that returns bring, wouldn’t it just be easier not to have returns at all?
But how could we do this? Avoid all mistakes?
Avoid all damages? Avoid ever producing a faulty product? All easy to say, but very hard to do. So returns are here to stay for now and the sooner everyone in the supply chain accepts this, and acknowledges that there are associated costs that must be borne by someone, the better. As is often the case, though, it’s rare that anyone wants to pay for it themselves.
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