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Overstock.com review: Return scam 16

K
Author of the review
9:45 am EST
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We ordered a comforter set for our California king sized bed. It was beautiful and we really liked it but it was not the proper size. It was the same size as a standard king sized bed so it would not properly fit. We returned it with the enclosed return label. When Overstock received it they notified us they would only be refunding half the purchase price because a HAIR was found on the product. Yes, we opened the set and laid the comforter over the top of the made-up bed. Obviously it is possible a hair could be picked up. The comforter was made of satin and came in a plastic bag. The resulting static electricity will attract everything. Nothing in their return policies says anything about this type of situation. I called Overstock and complained. The woman said the return department has pictures of the returned comforter with the hair on it. I submit it is not realistically possible to check over an item such as this and not likely pick up something as relatively innocuous as a hair. The lesson learned: Be prepared to use a "clean room" to remove all possible "contaminants" on any item you intend to return to Overstock or be prepared to pay a significant price. We will not be ordering from Overstock in the future.

Update by Kanrich
Jan 29, 2010 4:31 pm EST

Edit: It is now a few hours since I submitted this complaint. In the mean time my wife filled out a survey from Overstock that was sent as a link yesterday. She gave a scathing review. Shortly thereafter she got a phone call from someone at Overstock. They had seen the review. They have now given us an "in store" credit for the amount not refunded on the returned comforter, including the return shipping charge. So we got our money back after a fashion, but we have to buy something from them. By the way, as to the issue of opening the item, it came packed in a vinyl zippered bag presumably used for storage. So depending on how you look at it we didn't technically open the packaging, we simply took it out of its storage bag and laid in on the bed.

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16 comments
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J
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Jacob
US
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Jan 07, 2009 6:17 am EST

Great Prices for books, Fast shipping.

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jasbday35
Spokane, US
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Jul 12, 2009 1:37 am EDT

Overstock.com is one of the worst companies on the web to do business with. Period! I would feel safer buy merchandise out of some guys trunk in a dark alley. Their customer service is horrible, and that is if you ever receive the item you ordered. I don't see how this company has escaped a class action fraud suit. Do yourself a favor avoid this company like the plague!

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CLARE DEAKIN
GB
Send a message
Dec 18, 2009 5:00 am EST

I SENT FOR SOME JEWELLERY, BUT I HAVE NOT RECIEVED IT AND THERE NOT HELPING ME, I ASKED FOR A REFUND BUT THEY SEEM RELUCTANT, I REALLY DONT KNOW WHO TO COMPLAIN TO, I CANT UNDERSTAND HOW THIS IS ALLOWED TO GO ON, IS THERE NOT AN INTERNATIONAL FRAD TEAM THAT DEAL WITH THIS SORT OF THING?

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Disappointed shopper.
Westhills, US
Send a message
Feb 24, 2010 8:59 pm EST

I can't believe I found this review because I had just the same thing happen! I tried on a coat and didn't like the fit so I returned it. I only tried it on in my house. They only gave me half the price back because they said they found a hair on it I told the customer service I shed. Arf or meow. They showed me a picture of a hair on a sleeve. I was so upset. It wasn't a large amount of money. I said what do they do with these items. I'll take it back. Oh, we don't sell them again. Of course there was the jacket right back on the website. Can't you just take the hair off! It's a matter of pulling it off. At first I thought it must be terrible and maybe someone in the warehouse dropped it and it picked up unremovable hair all over it.

The next day I received an E-mail and was told they would make an exception this time. Excuse me! No apology. I really like shopping there so I was so disappointed in the whole incident.

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LambieLover
US
Send a message
Mar 09, 2010 1:53 pm EST

That is exactly what just happened to me as well! I just received this email from them;

Hello,

We received your return for the Jumbo 200 Thread Count Overfilled Feather Pillows (Pack of 4). A credit in the amount of $2.84 was issued on 03/09/2010. This credit will post to your account according to the time frame established by your financial institution.

A breakdown of your refund is shown below:

Item price: $24.99

Refund Deductions:
Original Discount: -$2.50
Return Label Cost: -$8.40
Not Restockable: Hair: -$11.25

Total Refund Issued: $2.84

Since you used a pre-paid return shipping label to return the item, the cost of the label has been withheld from your refund.
For questions regarding our return policy or for additional assistance, please click here to visit our online Help Center.

Thank you for shopping with Overstock.com.

Sincerely,
Customer Care Returns
Overstock.com

I was like, wow...I don't know what to say. This is totally a BS! All I did was just take the pillows out from the plastic bag then smell it, they were really smelly so I gave them one day hoping that the odor will be gone, then the next day they smelled really bad still so I just put them back in the plastic bag, packed in the box then returned them! OK, maybe the pillows collected a "hair" while they were outside the plastic bag, but so what!? I wouldn't have wasted my time to re-pack and return the pillows if I knew I would get only a $2.84 refund for it! I would've just thrown them away in the bin! This is just ridiculous.

Also, after I received the pillows, I actually asked about the manufacturer of the pillows as I couldn't find the information anywhere (even on the tags. The tags said "made in China" but that's it. I wanted to know who made them as they smelled like dirty, unwashed duck feathers), they replied to me saying basically "we don't know". Wow, how responsible are they for the products they are selling. They can find a stupid "hair" on the pillows but they can't find the manufacturer of them... BAD BUSINESS! I used to like shopping at Overstock.com but I wouldn't bother anymore. I just shop at Costco when I want a true bargain.

I will post this everywhere so consumers can know what Overstock.com is actually like.

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Nms67
Sunnyvale, US
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May 25, 2010 4:15 pm EDT

Same thing happened to me. I am going to call and complain, but wanted to check online first to see if this happened to anyone else. I tried to return a dress that was only tried on, never worn or used-- still had all the tags and was put back in the original packaging. Of course, if someone is going to try something on, you're bound to get a piece of hair or lint on it! Doesn't this happen all the time in a normal department store? It's ridiculous. I just wish I had known this information before purchasing from them. Nowhere on their site do they say that the presence of a "hair" would allow them to deduct from your refund. Shouldn't customers be informed of this before returning a product? In some cases, one might want to keep the product if they know they will only get a 50% refund. They should realize they need to change this "policy" to exclude things like strands of hair on an item! So what they do is take the hair off and then resell it for it's original price. It's criminal!

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pmccord
Midland, US
Send a message
Sep 14, 2010 11:29 am EDT
Verified customer This complaint was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

We ordered a chair from Overstock.com and decided to return it as it didn't fit the space we bought it for and the chair was quite uncomfortable. When we received the chair we took it out of the box and attached the legs. It didn't take a long time to figure out we would be returning it. We took the legs off of it and repacked it in the original box, placing the leg hardware and legs back in their original packaging and wrapping the chair in the original foam and bubble wrap. About a week after speaking with customer service UPS came and picked up the package and off it went--in perfect condition and with all four legs, four bolts, and eight washers intact.

Next thing we get an email from Overstock.com saying they are crediting us back half of the price of the chair due to the chair being unrestockable due to damage. I immediately contacted their customer service department via online chat and was told the legs were chipped and hardware was missing. Not possible.

I then decided to Google "overstock.com complaints" and discovered that this is a very common Overstock.com scam--finding some excuse to keep half of the price of the returned item. There is complaint after complaint of people being charged 50% of the item's cost due to it being unrestockable. If there is any possibility of returning what you're about to buy, don't buy from Overstock.com

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SHOPPINGFRIEND
Kensington, US
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Oct 07, 2010 12:21 pm EDT
Verified customer This complaint was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Had the same thing happen to me. ** Hair**. I had not orderd from them for some time since the last time I had fraud on my credit card because the site was not secure enough. I decided to give them another try and only got half credit for my return. I am waiting for an email response but will never use them again no matter how good the deal!

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AmyL2
US
Send a message
Dec 23, 2010 8:44 pm EST

Don't ever buy coats from Overstock. If there is even one tiny hair, they will reduce your refund by 50%. This happened to me before, so I should have known better, but I thought I would take a chance because their pricing is fantastic. This is their system; they don't want to give you a refund.

I could push it with their customer service, maybe. But I really am sick of dealing with them.

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Doraville, ga
US
Send a message
Jan 23, 2011 5:28 pm EST

We had the exact same problem with a down comforter that we bought. We took it out of the bag and didn't like the color (which was not as pictured) and there was hardly any down fill in it. We returned it the next day and were charged over $9.00 to return it and then a $25.00 fee because of "hair". The amount of the return with the shipping was less than 50% of what we paid. I had ordered from them before but never had to return anything. I have learned my lesson and will not order from them again. I will also make sure to tell any friends to not order from them.

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holli_80_79
US
Send a message
Feb 10, 2011 5:36 am EST

Same thing happened to me...charged me half of the item's price due to a HAIR being on the item--legal action should be taken against this company

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weshouldsue
Brea, US
Send a message
Feb 18, 2011 2:24 am EST

Another hair complaint here. What a scam! I complained and also got the 'one time' exception. I will never order from them again. Can you imagine if you had to return a rug or piece of furniture? They would reject it, stating DUST.

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jacob nguyen
US
Send a message
May 05, 2016 9:54 pm EDT

My ordered were cancel by overstock.com 1 week after a place the ordered without email or a phone call from overstock.com. Order #[protected].

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General777
US
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Jan 03, 2020 12:16 am EST

I ordered a hearing aid and it did not work for me so I wanted to send it back..They asked for the picture of the hearing aid, video, and picture of the label. I did as they asked and they responded with the comment that they can not. They are a bad company to deal with and they ripped me off and I would not have sent the hearing aid since I am deaf and elderly on a fixed income. Do not deal with them.

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MBGirl33
US
Send a message
Jul 09, 2020 9:14 pm EDT

I ordered 6 sets of lights, each set came with 2 lights. The order was taking an extremely long time and received multiple delay notices. The 4th week in, I called to cancel the order, this was the same day I received the 2nd OR third notice the items were going to be delayed. I was told when I called that the items were already shipped. I asked how this was possible as I had literally just received the notice of delay, just minutes before. The customer service agent was very rude and demeaning on the phone, repeatedly asking why I wanted to cancel the order that was supposed to ship within 3 days, and my card had been charged weeks ago.
I made it very clear to the person customer service agent this did not seem right and I was not happy that I was not able to cancel my order. They had taken too long, already charged my card weeks prior but never sent the items. I was told I had to wait to get the items and then I could return them but that I would be charged for doing so.

Upon receiving the items, they all came in separate boxes. 6, yes six, separate boxes. I already knew what was going to happen and I was correct, I would be charged for each box returned. I printed up the labels and took the 6 boxes to UPS. This was Jun 25, 2020 when I dropped them off. On July 2, 2020 I began receiving funds back into my account, totaling $123.99. I waited until July 9, 2020 to call as I wanted to give the company ample time to process the returns. It is important to note, the total that was charged to my card was $224.20 and the total returned to my account was $123.99! In other words they charged me $121.95 for lights I tried to cancel and for light I returned as soon as I got them.

THIS IS A TOTAL SCAM!

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Amanda2311
Port st lucie, US
Send a message
Sep 18, 2022 6:03 pm EDT
Verified customer This complaint was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I ordered a vanity for 88 dollars and I decided I changed my mind. Well I asked for a return label and they said I will give you 8.00 partial refund. Wth. It was 94.00 after tax. I used the chat and he was blaming the market seller not Overstock. I asked for a supervisor and he gave me a 1800 number.

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