Fighting for your money

Amazon staff embarrassed me by refunding the giver’s card when I returned an unwanted gift

QIam a schoolteacher and was given an Amazon Echo Show device before Christmas as a thank you present from a parent. It included the gift receipt and since I was not going to use it I visited the Amazon 4-star shop in Westfield, London (where the gift had been purchased) to get a credit to buy something else from the store.

I handed over my gift receipt and explained that I would like to swap the item for something different.

I was surprised that the store assistant then credited the amount back to the original purchaser’s credit card. When I asked why, since I was clear I wanted to buy something else, he said sorry but the money had been returned to the purchaser’s credit card now and the transaction was not reversible. He gave me a £5 gift card instead.

He appeared to be quite amused that I was so upset about this. I am mortified that the parent who went to the trouble and expense of buying me this lovely gift knows that it was returned. I am more upset about the parent’s disappointment in knowing that it was an unwanted present than I am about the rude service and receiving a £5 gift token instead of the cost of the original device.

When I got home I contacted Amazon via online chat. I gave them all the information and was told again that the money had been returned to the original purchaser so there was nothing that could be done. No one was interested in the poor service I had received. There appears to be no facility online for leaving feedback about Amazon’s 4-star shop either. – PM, Essex AWe

have all been there: full of expectation while unwrapping a Christmas present, only to find it is something that does not fit, is a ghastly colour, we have one of already or, as in your case, we would never use.

You were touched to receive such a generous gift of an Alexa virtual assistant with a screen attached from the family of a pupil, but you knew realistically it would just sit in a cupboard gathering dust. The giver knew the risk, which is why a gift receipt was included. This was so you would not know the cost immediately but could find out later at the shop and tactfully switch the item for something more to your taste – with the giver none the wiser.

The staff at Amazon 4- Star clumsily blew your cover by automatically refunding the purchaser’s card. It was less the loss of cash and more the embarrassment you had suffered that was the biggest problem. You were rightly miffed but could not get anywhere with sorting out the mistake in the store or via its online customer service system later. The £5 token felt like a measly brush off.

I contacted Amazon on your behalf to see if it could untangle the error and put things right. Although it was already too late regarding your mortification over returning the unwanted gift, I thought you should not go empty handed over the blunder.

On my request, Amazon looked into what happened and soon established a mistake had indeed been made and that you should have received the credit. The firm got in touch with you directly to apologise. It refunded the cost of the original purchase (£35.99) in the form of a credit on your own Amazon account plus an extra £35.99 for your trouble.

As a teacher you must have been pleased to be given its assurance that it had “re- educated” staff at the store, so that if anyone returns an item with a gift receipt they follow the Amazon policy, which is not to automatically refund the money to the purchaser’s card.

Staff on the online chat service were also instructed that they should have followed up your complaint rather than dismissing it. You said you were happy with this outcome and hoped it would prevent the same mortifying situation for others.

‘Gift receipts have been around for decades but there’s little legislation on how they operate’

Martyn James of complaints website Resolver said: “The whole point of a gift receipt is to spare a person the embarrassment of having to confess to not wanting a gift. No one’s feelings get hurt and everyone wins.

“Although gift receipts have been around for decades, there’s surprisingly little legislation around how they operate. That’s because they’re basically an additional extra that shops offer to keep you loyal.”

Mr James added: “Ultimately, the shop should follow its own rules on how the scheme operates. So if the refund is supposed to go to the recipient of the gift, that’s what should happen. And if the business gets it wrong, then it must correct the mistake.”

He also reckons businesses should take into account the additional embarrassment involved and, when the cat is out of the bag, not only hand out some compensation (which Amazon did in your case) but maybe send a bunch of flowers to the gift giver as well.

I liked this idea, but decided not to press Amazon on the flowers gesture on this occasion, just in case by a stroke of luck your giver had not noticed the refund had been made.

If the giver had not produced any kind of receipt with your gift, you might well have been stuck with it, as it can be a struggle to return an item at all without showing any proof of purchase. *

It can be awkward to go back to a giver and ask for a receipt, and it certainly would not have been an ideal option for you. Your only way out would have been eBay or handing the item on to a tech-loving friend or relative.

Trustee’s missing signature is holding up policy payout

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have been trying to cash in a Zurich Adaptable Life Plan held in the names of both me and my husband so that we can split the £15,000 proceeds between our two children.

The saga has been going on since September 2021. Trustees were asked to sign documents, then the beneficiaries had to provide National Insurance numbers and certified copies of their passports for money laundering purposes.

Then I was told we would need a certified copy of my brother-in-law’s address and therein lies the problem: although he was named on the original document as one of the trustees, he never signed it, so he was not technically a trustee. Nevertheless, I was told that he still had to sign in order for us to surrender the policy.

He duly signed the surrender form and we also sent off the certified copies of passports as requested. Then we were asked for additional information about my brother-in-law and told that Zurich did not hold a signature on file for him.

I had obviously told them about this issue. But it seems that because he has now signed the surrender form, he has by implication now accepted the position of trustee.

So we asked him to provide copies of his driving licence and a bank statement. But Zurich did not accept the wording on the certified copies.

We are at our wits’ end. We have been jumping through hoops and still cannot get the policy surrendered. – MF, West Yorkshire AI

asked Zurich to help put you out of your bureaucratic misery. After investigating, the company confirmed that there had been some confusion over the requirements needed from your brother- in- law, which, combined with a delay in the documentation being returned to the company, compounded the problem.

However, Zurich apologised “for not providing further clarity” and said more could have been given. It has now paid the £15,288 owed to you and added £200 to the total for your inconvenience.

Your experience suggests that it is important to take care when appointing trustees and to ensure that the paperwork is in order from the word go to avoid hassles years later.