r/Thriftbooks

I ordered this book in "good condition" from thriftbooks but it came with water damage and crayon scribbles all over the cover. I definitely feel like I overpaid for the condition it's in (I paid close to what a new, full price book would have been), but I'm wondering if it's worth it to try and work with customer service to return it, or if it would be a waste of my time (basically, do they typically mislabel the condition of their books and then refuse to work with people, or is this a fluke)? I'm not willing to waste my time and effort if they're not going to work with me... I can just take the loss and never order from them if this is just what they're like. But I don't want to write them off right away if it's a fluke.

I recently ordered a book on Amazon from ThriftBooks. I was very disappointed with what I received, and even more disappointed with the customer service provided when I tried to resolve the issue by contacting the seller via Amazon messages. Here is what I wrote originally, in reference to the order:

>This arrived just now, and for reasons I do not care to investigate, Amazon will not allow me to immediately request a refund. However, I would very much appreciate one.

>This book is by no means in "very good" condition as advertised. For starters, pages are literally detached and falling out of the book. I am not interested in paying for this, and I am not interested in the process of mailing you back a ripped-up piece of garbage. Please refund me immediately.

Two hours later, I receive this response:

>Greetings from ThriftBooks.

>This is Tyren, from the Customer Service team.

>All of our refunds and returns are handled through the Amazon returns process resolution center. We cannot process refunds or returns for Amazon purchases outside of the Amazon returns process/resolution center. Please note that Amazon has a 30 day policy to accept return requests. If more than 30 days from delivery date Amazon will not allow a return.

>If you still have questions after submitting a return request or if you need assistance with the Amazon website or with Amazon returns, please contact Amazon directly.

>All the best,
Tyren
ThriftBooks

How strange. I already made it clear that I am not interested in a return, and I do not care whether they cannot process refunds outside of whatever "center" Kyren is referring to, I would be quite happy to receive one using the "center." So, what is the center, and can it be used to issue me a refund? Let's find out. A couple hours later, when I have returned home, I respond:

>I do not know what "the Amazon returns process resolution center" is, and I cannot find any evidence that such a thing exists.

>Perhaps this video will be helpful in providing me with a refund: [the link was automatically removed by Amazon, but for curious forum readers, you may search YouTube for "Returns and refunds for Amazon seller-fulfilled orders", a video provided by Amazon]

>I ordered and paid for a book in "very good" condition. I did not receive what I paid for. I am not happy.

>Please refund my money, or if you are choosing not to, please explain clearly why using official Amazon terminology where relevant.

Twelve minutes later (hey, the response time is improving!) I receive this message:

>Greetings from ThriftBooks.

>This is Tyren, from the Customer Service team.

>If you still have questions after submitting a return request or if you need assistance with the Amazon website or with Amazon returns, please contact Amazon directly.

>All the best,
Tyren
ThriftBooks

My response comes two minutes later:

>It appears you have copied and pasted your original response. If this was in error, please let me know.

And I follow quickly with:

>Ah, I see the link I provided was removed [for forum readers, this information is redundant, but I want to include the whole text of the conversation]. If you choose to search YouTube for "Returns and refunds for Amazon seller-fulfilled orders" posted by "Amazon Seller University", you should find the information necessary to provide the refund.

Now it is Tyren's turn to respond, and they do, 16 minutes later (still pretty good response time, Tyren, I'll give you that!):

>Greetings from ThriftBooks.

>This is Tyren, from the Customer Service team.

>If you still have questions after submitting a return request or if you need assistance with the Amazon website or with Amazon returns, please contact Amazon directly.

>All the best,
Tyren
ThriftBooks

Now this is interesting! Tyren has sent some of the exact same message, but left out the first four sentences. What does it mean?

At this point, I contact customer support, which uses the 'conversation' I am already in to send Tyren this message 19 minutes after I have received the above response:

>Dear Amazon Seller,

>This is Amazon’s Customer Service team. A customer reached out to us with some questions about a purchase they made from you. Here’s a description of the issue:

>Product: [redacted by OP]
Order number: [redacted by OP]
Return requested: No
Reason for contact: the cx don't want to return the item/ wants to be refunded.
Please respond to this request within 48 hours.

>Thanks,
Amazon Customer Service

Tyren responds to the Amazon agent a mere 2 minutes later (they're really getting into the groove!):

>Greetings from ThriftBooks.

>This is Tyren, from the Customer Service team.

>If you still have questions after submitting a return request or if you need assistance with the Amazon website or with Amazon returns, please contact Amazon directly.

>All the best,
Tyren
ThriftBooks

Hey, Tyren found the missing four sentences! Good for them! But I am becoming skeptical that they actually wish me "all the best" when they appear to actively be providing me with all the worst.

Long story short, I give up and go through the nightmare process of requesting a refund directly from Amazon. It takes hours and I eventually get it, no thanks to Tyren or ThriftBooks. I still don't know what Tyren's "Amazon returns process resolution center" is, but if it has anything to do with "Amazon Seller Central", it would have been incredibly easy for him to issue a refund.

So, any theories as to why "Tyren" refused to issue a refund? Or why "Tyren" is behaving this way? I don't pretend to know the reasons myself, but perhaps together we can find out, or perhaps a nice person from ThriftBooks will find this post and explain it to us.

UPDATE: If you are interested in getting a returnless refund in circumstances like this, here is what worked for me:

>Amazon Customer Service says there is no way to get a returnless refund from a third-party seller, even if they sent you garbage instead of the described item and respond to all communication by copy/pasting the same block of text repeatedly. They are wrong. Here is what what worked for me.
by u/SyncreticCitizen in amazonprime

No cluemark or envelopes

$1 each at teen challenge thrift shop

Found a book on eBay

Any suggestions thriftbooks cart?