When did woot become this shifty?
3I accidentally impulsed bought something and an hour later I caught myself. An hour too late for the great o' mighty woot.
A refund will be issued within 7-10 business days from receipt of the order. As the item being returned to Woot is not damaged, defective, nor incorrect you will be assessed a 15% restocking fee and the original shipping charge will not be refunded.
Keeping the $5 is one thing, but when did this 15% restocking fee come about? Was it always there and I just have selective memory? I get better CS from Amazon directly which just makes me even more confused.
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That's been in their TOS for at least 2 years now. Woot might be owned by Amazon, but they are not the same company. If you want Amazon's CS and terms, you have to shop directly at the mothership. Woot has their own rules and this one is how they get around dealing with Buyer's Remorse without directly telling people to jump off.
However, I do believe you can still refuse delivery of an unopened package and get your $$ back, minus the restocking fee. (Unless you already contacted them for a return label?)
@Thumperchick The restocking fee is slapped on regardless. Two years sounds about right though considering outside that BoC from a few months back the last thing I bought was in 2013.
I just feel really shitty because the reason I want to cancel it is because I shouldnt've spent the money in the first place and having to paying extra to not have it feels like a slap in the face. I might as well just keep it (which is probably the intent, which is extra bogus.)
@DrunkCat I can understand their restocking fee. What I personally don't approve of (and think it's flat evil) is that cancelling is not possible after fifteen minutes. Yes, I understand their technical "reasons" for this. I don't care. I've seen so many posts about not being able to cancel within that window (for all sorts of reasons), and look back on the times (very few) that I needed to cancel something.
Cancelling withing 24 hours seemed reasonable to me, or at least within the confines of the sale ending. Fifteen minutes is stupid.
It makes me sad, to see where things have gone. That reminds me. The privacy policy just had an update, and will take effect on January (something or other) 2016. I need to make sure there's no PI left on my account.
@Shrdlu I have to agree with you on emphasis. The restocking fee might be an annoyance, but it's the fact that not even an hour ticked by (and the item was still up for sale) and yet I was locked in. :(
@DrunkCat really - give refusing delivery a shot. Worst case scenario, you're right back where you are now. Best case? You don't eat a 15% restocking fee over their crap cancellation policy.
@DrunkCat you can try @Thumperchick's suggestion of refusal of delivery, or, depending on your shady level, you can write them and tell them you received the wrong item. I ordered a case for my phone from them, and they sent me the wrong model. I told them they screwed up and their response was akin to, "oops. Go ahead and keep it, and here's your money back." Granted I was telling the truth that time, but it may work out for you too.
@Thumperchick I'm hesitant to try it since that is quite literally one of the methods mentioned to return the package. I really don't want to pay 15% for the luxury of not having something. Whatever, silver lining is that its something I've said I'd get for the last five years.
In years past, there wasn't even a 15 minute period to cancel. You clicked it, you bought it.
@narfcake I was thinking the same thing while I was reading this. Nothing got canceled.
@narfcake If you sent an email to support, and explained that they needed to cancel, they would. Every time. Just saying...
@Shrdlu I guess I was one of the flock who read the Woot rules and followed them. Gee, there must be something wrong with me.
@Shrdlu The old Woot staff CS, sure; they were easy to deal with. The current outsourced CS ... well, I nickname them customer DISservice for a reason.
@narfcake I have a word for them too, well three words "Drool Bucket Brigade" refers to the front line people that you deal with usually on the phone. They are why people ask for supervisors so quickly
@narfcake true, but refusing delivery also worked, every time. I'm betting it still might.
@narfcake I have had with CS ever since I found the place in 2009. I get a good rep 1 out of every 8 times I would say.
@Shrdlu I did that once (contacted customer support to cancel) because the description was wrong. My order was canceled without a problem.
I also had an order canceled for an unknown reason; I assume it was because they sold more than they had.
Long, Long ago... In a galaxy far away.
WARNING NSFW BELOW
When I read your question my brain saw "shitty" and I was thinking that it's been that way for a couple of years now.....
@jsimsace as did I... ha.
Yea I got something in the last woot off and instantly thought nah I really don't want that canceled in 3 min got a note saying I could not cancel a woot off item and to contact customer service. I shoot a note to them still within 10 min of purchase and I get a note the next day saying its too far into processing and they can't cancel it. But I can return the item when I receive it but I get dinged for shipping and 15% restock fee.
So back in the day when we canceled things, we sold one item. We held EVERY order until about noon the next day to do the cancelations.
Now our system is more automated. After 15 minutes, the orders are spit out for processing. For those that go to Amazon warehouses (our inventory), they're gobbled up in the system immediately. For those that are dropship or out of our warehouse, they're sent to the warehouse and mixed in with zillions of other orders.
To cancel an order, we would have to stop everything and hunt up the order. In some cases, that would mean sending someone out to the floor to go through all the shipping labels one by one. We would have to do this for every cancel request. You can guess how many we get. It's just not feasible.
To wait 24 hours, we would have to hold every order including those that would prefer to have their order sooner.
It sucks that you changed your mind but every other wooter shouldn't have to wait on their order for you.
@Del So it is decreed and so shall it be done.
@Del Wait, so you change your logistics to sacrifice flexibility and it's my fault?
@DrunkCat They've been doing it this way for years. It greatly reduced delivery time, but negatively impacted cancellation policy.
In other words:
@Del Hi TT!
@DaveInSoCal Howdy.
@Del We are talking about Woot and not Amazon, right? Since when did Woot send things out right away? I've had issues with ordering things and it not being shipped for a week. Why can't you cancel if they don't even ship for a week?
@cengland0 I've had a couple Woot/Fulfilled by Amazon items ship the same day and arrive in 2 days, so what @Del is saying has merit.
Likewise, your comment below on the pricing applies also. Recently, I picked up a router from Amazon for $11+ less than at Woot after shipping/taxes is factored in.
Woot off or no. I claim if i make the request w/in that 15 min window it should still be canceled. Being referred back to customer service to wait a day just to be told no is shitty
@sthiede1 We'd probably have a lot of people gaming the system during woot-offs. Buy the item to move the sale along and then cancel. Not that anyone we know would do that of course.
@Del there's an obvious solution to that problem...
@phatmass yerppppp!
@phatmass yep. This has been my biggest challenge shopping at woot these days. I never used to have to worry about finding a lower price (at the time of sale, anyway). Now it's a definite possibility.
@phatmass Even if Woot did have the lowest price, once you tack on $5 shipping, it's close or even more than Amazon. Even if it's a little lower price, there's no incentive to buy just to save a couple dollars and not have the same guarantees that Amazon provides.
@cengland0 I've run into this quite a bit. There are, however, still some things that are a decent deal (30% off or more) - but it does require the extra step of researching and price checking before purchasing - every time. This means I don't really follow woot-offs anymore, though that may also be because I spend more time here than there.
@phatmass @cengland0 solution, never shop Amazon. problem solved. I gave it up back around 2k when they violated every privacy policy that they had. In today's world, that would have cost them, back then people didn't know better, well most of them. I sure did.
Friends don't let friends shop on Amazon. Why pay more, because the service is worth it.
The day it was sold to Amazon is when it became that Shitty......I mean Shifty