Zooscape.com won't refund for returned merchandise and implies lying on my part ripoff Brampton Ontario

After thoroughly reviewing this case, I have concluded that we at ZooScape have taken every possible measure to satisfy this customer, even going above and beyond our stated policies and procedures. Outlined below is a detailed response to this incident.

This order was placed on Friday, December 12th, 2003. All orders placed at our site are safe and secure and we are never privy to any credit card information, except for the type of credit card that has been used. All orders placed are automatically charged to the purchasers' credit card. Apparently, this particular customer had some sort of trouble while placing her order in which, according to the customer, she was charged twice to two different credit cards, one a Visa and the other a MasterCard. We never did receive an order placed by this customer that was charged to a Visa. The only order we received had been billed to a MasterCard. If we had received two identical orders by this customer on the same date we would have contacted her immediately. It is our customary practice to internally check all orders that come in and contact our customers in the event of any discrepancy.

Therefore, the first point is that we only received on order from this customer on Friday December 12th, 2003. As it was the holiday season, we were working around the clock, sending out orders for our customers to receive them in time for Christmas. This customers order was shipped on Monday December 15th, 2003 with a tracking number.

On that same date we received an email from the customer requesting that we do not ship out the order. However, at that time we already had. Our policies state that in order for a customer to be refunded for their purchase, they must send the parcel back to us and on it mark "return to sender." Our policies also clearly state that the shipping charges are non-refundable. On Thursday December 18th, 2003 the customer was sent an email which explained this to her and informed her that we would not accept the parcel if it was sent back to us "cash on delivery (COD)." In the policies section on our website, it reads the following:

If you are unhappy with your purchase for any reason, you may return the unopened and unused product to us for a refund, replacement or credit!

Please note the following:

Shipping fees are not refundable.

We cannot accept the return of damaged goods.

Returns must be made within thirty days from the day you received your order.

Returned parcels requiring an exchange or refund will only be accepted providing that you have received your Return Parcel Code in advance of sending the parcel back to us.

On January 14th, 2004 the customer called our customer service center and spoke with one of our customer service representatives. The customer was quite upset that we had not yet received the parcel she had returned to us. Unfortunately, we cannot control the speed of the postal delivery system, especially at times immediately before and after the busy holiday rush. Additionally, with heightened customs measures now in place due to current global conditions, on occasion it does take longer for parcels to pass over the border crossings.

On March 11th, 2004 we still had yet to receive this package at our facility. After looking into the situation by using the tracking number used on our end, we found that when the parcel was delivered to the customer she elected, of her own accord, not to refuse the parcel. In fact, she accepted the delivery. She did this even though she had stated that she did not wish to receive it. This occurred on December 20th, 2003. After contacting the customer on March 11th, 2004 she explained that, yes, she did accept delivery. She then stated that she drove it to a local post office and sent it back to us. Unfortunately, however, as we still had not received the package and do need to receive the physical goods prior to processing a refund, we explained to the customer that we did need to wait for it to be returned. We would never say that customers have "ripped us off" or that we cannot "trust" any of our customers. That is certainly not a comment that would be said by any employee of ZooScape.com and we do apologize if this customer misinterpreted any comment that was said in our representative explaining our policies and procedures.

On March 25th, 2004 the customer's return did arrive at our warehouse. With this in mind, the order was placed into the refund queue. On March 29th, 2004 a refund was processed for the full amount of this customer's order. We even refunded her for the cost of shipping, which as stated above, is a non-refundable charge.

As you can see, we did cooperate with this customer in accordance with our advertised policies and procedures, and even over and above those policies once we had received her returned parcel. We are a company that has been in business for several years and we do have many very satisfied, repeat customers. We do, however, have to act within our corporate guidelines, as does any other corporation. We cannot simply go ahead and refund for goods that we have not received, especially in a case such as this when the customer clearly accepted the delivery.

We are very sorry to this customer for the fact that we could not satisfy her and therefore, she is unpleased with our service. We do our very best to treat each and every customer and potential customer with a great deal of respect and appreciation as we are a company who recognizes dedication to service and realizes that without our very satisfied and loyal customers, we would not exist.

If there were something more that we could do to make this particular customer happy with us, we would certainly do that, even though her order has already been refunded and most companies would just call this a case closed. We do not operate in that way. So if she is willing to give us another chance, we would be more than happy to hear from her in the future.