Virco Charging a '10% Restocking Fee' When They Haven't Started The Build?!

Placed the order yesterday, asked to cancel the order today. Virco say they want to charge a 10% 'restocking fee' Is this even legal?

I know they haven't started it as I chose some alterations and wasn't charged for them at checkout, so it said they would need to contact me before they started building to charge for the alterations.

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Comments

  • +3

    What do the T&Cs you agreed to say?

    • +1

      There is nothing in T&Cs regarding order cancellation

      • +3

        Assuming this is the same company, they have a 30% restocking fee for courtesy returns but nothing denoted on 10% cancelled ones. That might be a good cause to argue if not advised beforehand: https://www.virco.com.au/policies/refund-policy

        • +1

          Yeah that’s the same, nothing advised for cancelled orders. Have opened a PayPal dispute, thankfully paid with them.

  • Buyer beware

    • +1

      I’d understand a fee if they’d built it to order and I was trying to send it back. But this is nonsense surely?

      • +2

        Perhaps they have asked the warehouse staff to pull stock to the floor overnight once an order has been processed?

        • I quote from their message to me “ Restocking product charges 30%. In your instance, we decrease that amount to 10%, simply because we haven't have the chance touch your order as yet. ”

  • +4

    Virco does have dodgy practices. See thread here. They tried misleading a customer into thinking they got an upgrade. They also replaced a graphics card with a single-fan version (super loud) without informing the customer. To top it off, they also posted the customer's personal details in their reply.

    • Thanks for this, will be wary of them posting my personal info in response to this thread then.

  • +3

    What is the reason for cancelling? If it is because of change of mind, they do not even have to refund at all. It says right at the top that they do not normally provide refunds for change of mind, or bought the wrong product. They are within their rights to say this.

    Or was it something on their end? In which case, no fee should be charged

  • I made the order at 5:01pm Saturday and asked for cancellation at 9:51am the following morning. The reason was I had started to hear some negative reports of their ‘swapping out parts’.

    • +1

      So in other words you changed your mind.

      They are within their rights to refuse your refund. Whether or not it is an (profanity) move, it is perfectly legal as detailed on the ACCC website: "Retailers don’t have to give you a refund or exchange if you simply change your mind. Always check the store’s returns policy."

      They are now saying, they will do a change of mind refund for a 10% fee. Up to you if you want the items, or refund for 90%

      • +1

        It’s a cancellation though, not a return. A return implies I’ve got the item and I am trying to return. I have nothing to return, so it is a cancellation.

        And how can anything be ‘restocked’ that has literally not moved.

        From the ACCC "If the product is found not to have a problem, you may be required to pay the transport or inspection costs. An estimate of these costs should be provided to you before the product is collected, and the costs must not be inflated in an attempt to deter you from pursuing your claims."

        • This is if you warranty RMA something. They cannot charge you extra fees if they inspect and found it had no issue. This has nothing to do with the current situation. Your current situation is, they can charge a 100% fee to refund. As in, they won't give you any money back at all, as they are not required to. They have decided to charge a 10% fee only.

          And no, it is not a cancellation and it is not a return. I never used the word return in my previous reply, and neither did the ACCC website. The word you are looking for is "refund". As in you paid for something and now want a refund of the money paid. The ACCC specifically says that refunds for change of mind are not guaranteed. Nowhere does it use the word cancellation. Because you are cancelling for a "REFUND".

          Think of it this way. You walk into a brick and mortar store to buy a shirt. After you pay, you realise that the brand you bought has reputed poor quality. Before even walking out the store, you walk back to refund the shirt. This is change of mind and they can say no.

          • +1

            @Tech5: Interesting, it's more of exposing a loophole to not refund in the instance you've said though. It may not be illegal (per my original question) but it is surely immoral?

            • @cc23: Of course, I agree it is immoral. Which is why I said that it may be an (profanity) move. I’m just replying to your OP where you asked if it is legal

              • @Tech5: Appreciate it. They have now said that Shopify charge them a 10% fee which is why they have to charge me 10%.

                • @cc23: Can you get a different order so you can use the money you've given them and not lose ten percent?

                  • +1

                    @Quantumcat: The silly thing is I was actually going to order a slightly different model with them as I did love their promised despatch times. I just thought it would be easier to refund and then do a fresh order, but they have really put me off.

                    • @cc23: Yeah can understand! Hope you can get it sorted - PayPal should get you all your money back. It isn't your fault they used a payment platform that doesn't allow full refunds. They should take responsibility for their choices.

                • +2

                  @cc23: I run a Shopify store, they certainly don’t charge 10% for the transaction or charge for refunds. The original CC processing fee the store owner pays, so it’s 1.75% plus 30c.

                  • @omguleh: Yeah, I figured it couldn’t be 10%. I’m just a bit confused at the lack of transparency from them. Like if they said:

                    “Hey that’s absolutely fine, but we have been charged a 1.75% fee on our end so we can either refund 98.25% or we could have a look at some alternatives for you from our stock. Would you like me to give you a call this afternoon to discuss some options? Thanks, Virco.”

                    But instead it was super oppositional from the get go.

  • Update: had to open a PayPal case against them, they have refused to offer anything greater than a 90% refund at this point and have threatened legal action against me and PayPal if they close the case in my favour.

    • I say let them threaten, they'll ultimately do nothing.

      • Yeah I tried to reach out to them to ask them to simply charge me what it had actually cost them with shopify and refund me the rest to save us both time, they refused.

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