WARNING: No MEC refunds if you use PayPal

[JohnAbercrombie]

In the past I've sometimes ordered online from MEC and if the item didn't fit, taken it back for a refund to the local store.
At the store the refund was applied to the credit card I'd used to pay with, when I ordered online.
MEC, unlike most other retailers, doesn't offer pre-paid returns by mail or UPS/FedEx, so returning to the store makes a difference of $20.

A few days ago I ordered a couple of pairs of pants from MEC. At 'checkout' I noticed that PayPal was now a payment option. I used that.
Pants didn't fit. Took them back to the store today.
No refund to PayPal accounts. My choices were a) receive a gift card which will sit in my wallet for the next x years or b) go home, package the pants, go to the Post Office and mail them back to MEC.

So just a heads up for other 'shoppers' at MEC- don't use PayPal.
I don't understand how the PayPal Merchant Agreement allows this behaviour.

That's 'it' for me, with MEC. Lots of other options out there.

 

[JohnAbercrombie]

The saga continues....


When getting the parcel ready to ship, I noticed on the MEC website that I could get a CanadPost pre-paid label printed. (MEC will deduct $11 from my refund for this.) So I printed out the shipping label.

"An enterprise in disarray" sprang to my mind......

 

[JohnAbercrombie]

So I phoned MEC - after 5 minutes on hold I gave up on that, and tried the 'chat' instead.

For your entertainment, I'm posting the transcript:

3:18 PM
Thanks for contacting us
3:18 PM
Thanks for your patience, an agent will be with you shortly
3:18 PM
Dave has joined the conversation.
3:19 PM
Hello how can I help?
3:19 PM
John Abercrombie
I'm having a problem mailing an item for return/refund
3:20 PM
Sure how can I help?
3:20 PM
John Abercrombie
Packing slip says to mail to Surrey, Mailing label says Richmond ...
3:20 PM

https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/information/app/prse/label?execution=e2s1

3:20 PM
You can simply click on this link and fill out the information to have the label printed for you
3:21 PM
For reference number you want to fill in your membership number
3:21 PM
John Abercrombie
Did you read what I typed?
The CanadaPost label has a Richmond address, on the MEC website and on the Packing slip it says to return items to Surrey. Which is correct?
3:22 PM
It should be shipping to Richmond
3:23 PM
John Abercrombie
OK, I will do that but it is very confusing, and over $200 is on the line here. I tried to return to the store in Victoria but they refused to issue a PayPal refund (or any refund- only a gift card)
3:24 PM
Yes but they should have let you know that you can call us at the customer care center and refund the gift card to your visa over the phone
3:25 PM
John Abercrombie
YES they should have told me that.. And, it was the STORE MANAGER that I was talking to. !!!!!!!!!
3:25 PM
If you mail in your refund you may not see the refund for up to a month
3:26 PM
If your going to be by the store within the next month that will be quicker
3:26 PM
John Abercrombie
Thanks for your help and info.

 

[kayakwriter]

So pretty much any retailer is quicker to take your money than give it back, but this almost feels like "We hope the customer will just give entirely in frustration." territory.

 

[JohnAbercrombie]

So pretty much any retailer is quicker to take your money than give it back,

True but that does seem to be changing. 'The evil empire' (Amazon) with quick free returns (within Canada for amazon.ca orders) may be pushing other retailers to compete. Helly Hansen is good on returns. They pay the shipping and the refund is processed the day the tracking says they got the parcel.
BTW, it wouldn't be quite so irritating if MEC prices were a lot better than the competition like "in the old days". For one of the pants I ordered from MEC (Prana brand) I noticed the same pants yesterday in Robinsons (local independent store in Victoria) for the same price. So MEC is just another corporation, now with poorer service than many.

 

[JohnAbercrombie]

"We hope the customer will just give up entirely in frustration."

That's always been the attraction of gift cards for corporations, IMO. "The customer will forget, and we keep the money."

 

[kayakwriter]

That's always been the attraction of gift cards for corporations, IMO. "The customer will forget, and we keep the money."

That, plus the fact that even if you do use it for its full value, the cost of providing you with say, $100 worth of goods, is roughly $50, depending on the margin on the various items. Plus, while you're in the store, there's an excellent chance you'll buy more than the value of the Gift Card. Whereas giving you $100 cash/credit card refund costs them an actual $100 and doesn't make you a captive shopper in the future.

 

[Gary Jacek]

Just curious, was the source of your PayPal funds your credit card?
MECompany could be on thin ice.

 

[JohnAbercrombie]

Just curious, was the source of your PayPal funds your credit card?
MECompany could be on thin ice.

No, my PayPal account is set up to use a PayPal balance or my bank account for payments. Credit card is a backup if there's a problem linking to my bank. This has worked fine in the past for refunds from other merchants; also from eBay. As I said, I don't understand how PayPal allows MEC to get away with this - accept payments via PayPal but refuse PayPal credit when item is returned to store. I guess MEC 'wiggles out' by saying that they give PayPal credits (eventually - 1 MONTH or more delay!) when the item is mailed back to them.

I posted this so others can learn from my mistake/experience. It certainly helped to propel me toward my decision to have nothing to do with MEC in the future.

 

[Gary Jacek]

The standard play in customer service is to apologize for a problem and empathize with the customer.
The third and most critical part is to ask the customer what they would like to see as the outcome and follow through.
DavidLee23, if you represent MECompany, you missed that most important step.

Hey there, thanks for sharing your experience with MEC and PayPal. I know it's frustrating to not be able to get a refund in the way that you prefer, especially when you've used PayPal for other refunds without any issues.

 

[alexsidles]

Guys, it’s a bot, or else the human equivalent of one. We’ve been having a lot of them on the forum lately.

The giveaways include: anodyne name oddly formatted (“DavidLee23”); generic but oddly phrased location (“from USA”); oddly formatted message (notice, among other things, the wide right margin and the illogical line breaks); non-specific, uninformative message (your experience is frustrating but he has nothing further to say about it); new poster who doesn’t introduce himself to the forum; responding to a very old, inactive thread.

For definitive proof, paste his profile image into a reverse-image lookup service, such as TinEye. You’ll see this same photo has been re-used dozens of times around the internet, mostly on websites that appear to promote financial scams.

Eventually the chatbots and generative image software will get good enough that these tricks won’t detect scammers anymore. But for now, just look for the telltales.

Alex

 

[Kayak Jim]

Guys, it’s a bot, or else the human equivalent of one. We’ve been having a lot of them on the forum lately.

Interesting. And what is the purpose of such a thing?

 

[alexsidles]

Interesting. And what is the purpose of such a thing?

Different scammers have different angles, so it’s hard to know. At a guess, this scammer wants John to reach out in hopes of a refund. The scammer, posing as PayPal, might then seek to gain access to John’s PayPal account or credit card number through trickery. Or he might seek to learn personal information about John for purposes of identity theft. Or he might try to persuade John to install malware on his computer (“It’s refund processing software from PayPal tech support”) which would then be used to access any accounts John connects to through his computer.

There’s a vast genre of YouTube videos devoted to people turning the tables on scammers of various sorts. Some of the scams are shockingly intricate. Many of the scams involve bogus refunds or false attempts to fix software problems, both of which our “DavidLee23 from USA” seems to be interested in.

Alex

 

[JohnAbercrombie]

As long as I keep wearing my tinfoil hat, I should be OK?
It's all part of the Rise of the Machines - keeping us entertained while our antiquated notions about "reality" and "truth" are set to rest.

 

[kayakwriter]

As long as I keep wearing my tinfoil hat, I should be OK?
It's all part of the Rise of the Machines - keeping us entertained while our antiquated notions about "reality" and "truth" are set to rest.

And as the closest thing WCP has to John Connor, I've nuked DavidLee23.

 

[CPS]

Dear kayakwriter,

I just wanted to take a moment to express my utmost gratitude for your tireless dedication to removing spam from this forum. It can be overwhelming at times trying to sift through all the irrelevant and unwanted comments, but you always manage to keep this forum clean and organized.

Your hard work does not go unnoticed and I would like to thank you for making this forum a better place for everyone. Your efforts have not only prevented spam from clogging up the discussion, but they have also ensured that users can focus on productive dialogue and sharing valuable content.

Once again, thank you so much for all the time and effort you have dedicated to keeping this forum spam-free. You are an asset to the community, and your work is truly appreciated.

In the spirit of spam bots, the preceding message was generated by A.I.
It's a bit wordy, but the sentiment is correct.

 

[Jurfie]

Dear kayakwriter,

I just wanted to take a moment to express my utmost gratitude for your tireless dedication to removing spam from this forum. It can be overwhelming at times trying to sift through all the irrelevant and unwanted comments, but you always manage to keep this forum clean and organized.

Your hard work does not go unnoticed and I would like to thank you for making this forum a better place for everyone. Your efforts have not only prevented spam from clogging up the discussion, but they have also ensured that users can focus on productive dialogue and sharing valuable content.

Once again, thank you so much for all the time and effort you have dedicated to keeping this forum spam-free. You are an asset to the community, and your work is truly appreciated.

That bot is a kiss-arse brown-noser.