RMA Return Envelope - Sue Beckman
Not much is free in life. If you have ordered a product from a TV advertisement or online, and wish you could change that decision, reading this may help.
Did you ever make a mistake and a minute after you made it, you wished you had made a different choice? Well, if you are like most people, you have.
A few weeks ago, I thought if I ordered certain weight-loss products, I could help a friend in his quest to lose weight. The ads on the TV promised results...and they were both risk-free trials: try the products and if you don't like them, you can return them, cancel the program, get shipping costs refunded and not be charged. This wasn't quite the way it worked. I ordered from the web site, not from the telephone, but the results were the same.
Several Costly Mistakes to Avoid:
- Don't believe that the product will do what the ad suggests. The marketing information may not be truth as you expect, and you may not even like the product.
- Be sure to READ the small print - no matter how many pages the Terms and Conditions document is.
- Do NOT presume that the trial period for any given product is 30 days. Even if you receive 30 days' worth of a product, the trial period more likely could be a 10-day or 14-day trial period - from the day the company ships it!
- Check your bank account register before the end of the Trial Period. Expect to have the listed cost of additional product deducted from your account on or before the end of the trial period.
- Check your bank account register regularly. The only way you can know what is happening financially is to check your online bank register. You may be able to set up a weekly text message with your bank to alert you of weekly transactions.
What to Do If You Make a TV (Phone-) or Online Purchase That you Don't Want:
- Call the company immediately upon receipt of the trial product to cancel any future shipments. You can always go online and re-order if you like the product.
- Do NOT listen to more of the company hype. They will try to get you to keep their product for much less than the listed price (could be only one-fourth of the original price). They may tell you that they do not accept RTS (Return to Sender) returns, that you will have to pay the return shipping and that you will not be reimbursed for the original shipping if you return it.
- Get an RMA (Return Material Authorization) number if you want to return an item. Without the RMA number, you may have to call the company, ask them to look up the return of the item by their own tracking number, and then hope to get a refund in a month or so. (Or you could just pay for the return shipping and pay for additional tracking to be sure it reaches its destination).
- Don't open the second shipment if you want to return it. If you didn't cancel before the trial period ended, you can still return the additional product to sender without paying additional shipping - even if the company tells you they don't accept any RTS packages!
- Take the unopened package and the company-issued RMA number to the Post Office. Give the postal representative the package and the RMA number and say that you wish to return the item REFUSED RTS.
- Verify that you will NOT be charged for shipping. Ask the Post Office to track the product with the sending company's own tracking number.
- IMPORTANT: If possible, take a picture of the return envelope with the RMA number and USPS information - just in case you need this information.
- Go online to the USPS website to track the item in a couple of days.
- Check your bank account within a week or two to be sure the money is returned to you. By having the picture of the item you sent, a copy of the USPS receipt and tracking number, you have the legal information you need to receive a full refund.
Don't Be a Victim of Fraud! - Check Out the Following Resources:
- To avoid becoming a victim of fraud, see the tips for consumers as published by the Postal Inspection Service in the March 2010 article, Delivering Trust, Delivering Justice, Release No. 10-033.
- The Federal Trade Commission gives a great deal of advice when shopping online. I wish I had watched this video, Free Trials Aren't Always Free, before I got sucked into the powerful television ads.
- One of the basic rules of online shopping is to check out the company with the Better Business Bureau (BBB). Search either by the business/company name or website. You can choose your own postal code or check an entire geographical location. You may not be able to see a company listed in your own city, but it may be listed elsewhere in a larger geographical location. Even if a business is not a member of the BBB, it may still be a valid company, but check on this site for any complaints and check the BBB Report for the company. There is a letter value (A to F) given to the company based on complaints, A is the best, F is the worst.
Learn from my mistakes, DO YOUR RESEARCH, and don't buy on impulse. Quality products sold on television are inevitably sold in stores at some point in time.
The MOST important lesson I learned through all this: I assumed that I could help someone else achieve his goal. It wasn't my job, nor was it his desire. What was I thinking?
Copyright Sue Beckman. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.
Sue Beckman - Sue Beckman has a BS Degree in Journalism from NAU and has written/Published more than 40 articles, and edited two publications.
