Last month (June) I placed an order for a couple of optics. It took them about a week to arrive. Once I got them I realized that I didn't like them for various reasons. The binoculars had horrible eye relief and I didn't mount the scope. I had some things on my wishlist and decided to exchange the initial items for some others. I went through their site to fill out a return form that generated a return shipping label and an exchange form with the new items. The new items would cost more therefore requiring me to pay the difference. I hadn't noticed a place to pay the difference during this process. I found that odd. At the bottom of the shipping label that I was emailed it read "EXCHANGE" in large letters. Before I could make it to a UPS store to ship my return later in the week I found both items on sale for a lower price on DVOR and ordered them. I then went back to the Optics Planet site to fill out a return form for for a refund. When I entered my initial order number into the form, the same exchange information came up. I thought I remembered reading something about waiting ten days before the return label/form expired so I waited an additional 10 days. When I went to submit a return form, again the same information appeared when I entered my order number. In early July I called customer service. I explained what I would like to do, what I attempted to do, and what I'd done. The customer service rep spoke with some folks in another department, explained to me that she would enter notes into the system instructing other staff that I was to be refunded, and generated a new return shipping label that I used to send the items back. When they received the items I was emailed of their receipt. After which I chose to wait 10 business days for my refund to post to my account. Instead about 5 days later I received an email stating that my order was preparing to ship. They were about to ship the replacement items I had already purchased from DVOR. I called the next morning as soon as their customer service lines opened and canceled the new order.I received an email verifying the cancellation within minutes. I asked if I'd done something to complicate the return process and if so how should I handle a future return? I was informed that the first customer service rep put notes into my account instructing the people in the processing or receiving department that I was to be refunded, but entered them incorrectly. The result was some the aforementioned events.
Six weeks from the date of my order I received a refund. It doesn't seem like too bad of a timeframe, only a bit unnecessary confusion and inconvenience. It is understandable considering that they have reps working from home so they aren't in an office or call center setting to ask questions or receive in person instructions form co-workers or supervisors. Just thought I'd provide some honest feedback based upon recent experience. Hopefully some of this may help some of you if you find yourselves in a similar situation.
Six weeks from the date of my order I received a refund. It doesn't seem like too bad of a timeframe, only a bit unnecessary confusion and inconvenience. It is understandable considering that they have reps working from home so they aren't in an office or call center setting to ask questions or receive in person instructions form co-workers or supervisors. Just thought I'd provide some honest feedback based upon recent experience. Hopefully some of this may help some of you if you find yourselves in a similar situation.
