Is Woolworths Online's refund policy lawful?

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Woolworths

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  indium on 12/07/2014 - 22:02

  Just for clarification, if you purchased $150 worth of goods, got the $15 off so you paid $135. Just say you were refunded on a $5 item, would they refund:
  135/150 x $5 = $4.50

  So $4.50 refund instead of $5?

  If this is the case it does seem a bit wrong because you effectively only got say $14.50 off instead of $15 but depends on the amount you spent and how much the item that was refunded cost.

  I guess it is understandable if you bought a $150 item only paid $135 they wouldn't refund you $150 because then you would have made $15.

  Seems like they should give you that 50c (in my example) back into your woolworths account as credit to be spent on the woolworths online shop

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  cowiie on 12/07/2014 - 22:50

  Yes that's what they did to my orders as well. Instead of getting $10 refunded, I only got refunded $9.50

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  [Deactivated] on 12/07/2014 - 23:46

  Beyond this issue, have had proper inaccuracies in out-of-stock product refunds.
  Failed return of funds to card, too. More than once. You need to stay vigilant.

  I would prefer it if Woolworths adopted the Coles model of processing payment only at time of an order being finalised, with out-of-stock items, consequently, not charged.

  The inability with Coles Online to amend the delivery day and time without cancelling the order outright, is, however, a killer for us.

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    lakers1222 on 13/07/2014 - 10:45

    I've experienced the same ordeal. Bought some cheese online, but my order was delivered without it. Called Wollies up and requested a refund. They insisted they would refund me by crediting my Woolies online account. After kicking up a fuss, because I never want to use their dodgy delivery system again, I was transferred to a supervisor who said they can refund me to my credit card in 5-7 working days.

    1 week later. Still no refund, so I called them up again. This time the Woolies call rep become defensive and asked why I had left the matter so long before calling them about my missing cheese. I told them I had called a week ago and was promised a refund. Again, a refund was promised in 5-7 working days.

    Another week later. Still no refund.

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    Vallani on 14/07/2014 - 10:29

    Overall, I find Woolworths online to be fairer to the customer than Coles Online. Yes, there can be an issue with items that don't turn up or are out of stock, but in my experience Woolies will always give a refund if you make a phone call - still better than trudging through a crowded supermarket, IMO.

    I also prefer Woolies' approach of charging at the time of order, especially for fresh food for which you are charged a minimum quantity. It is much more generous. For example, if you order, say 0.5kg steak, you will frequently get 0.6-0.7kgs worth, or even 2 x 0.4kg, for the same price.

    I tried to do my weekly shopping in store recently for the first time in ages and found it very unpleasant having gotten used to online shopping. Once you know the tricks, and provided you are prepared to put up with the odd missing item, it is definitely the way to go.

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  LuvABargainSYD on 13/07/2014 - 00:35

  So here are my exact numbers:

  Groceries $173.32
  Discount -$15

  Delivery $9

  Total paid $167.32

  Missing items total: $16.94
  Actual refund amount: $13.63

  So basically they have reduced my $15 Birthday voucher to $11.69 solely due to THEIR supply errors.

  I know it's not much but it just doesn't seem right to me!

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 13/07/2014 - 00:56

    Chase it up with Woolworths and point them to this thread.
    If they turn around what is for you clearly a public-relations fail on their part, you will have set a nice precedent for others who feel aggrieved.

  • 

    cloudy on 14/07/2014 - 21:44

    Let me think about the course ter factual to see if I can make sense of thewWoolies logic, coz I can see their logic.

    Say you spent $151, and then got your $15 from the coupon, making it cost only $136. They say, a $5 isn't available, they can only refund, making your order $149. But since you now have less than $150,the code doesn't apply, so technically, the $136 paid doesn't cover the $149 bill.

    Their system has broken down.

    So a fairer way, in their minds, not necessarily mine, they would proportionally apply refunds. This way, it would be more workable.

    Now obviously in the case of OP, it would seem unfair. But it would be worse if you got an item less and was asked to pay a $13 difference.

    All in all, a rather complicated situation, uncessarily.

    • 

      RockyRaccoon on 15/07/2014 - 10:10

      Agreed, but you missed the post that the OP said they spent $173 so with undelivered items the spend was still above the $150 required for the coupon to apply.

      Its rather simple actually. They shouldnt have prorated the discount.

      • 

        cloudy on 16/07/2014 - 16:42

        but my point is, if they don't prorata the discount, how do they handle situations where it falls under the threshold and the buyer is in debt, and is missing a product.

        Prorata is a solution.

        but in general, i think this is a storm in a teacup over what will alawys be a small amount of money.

      • 

        RockyRaccoon on 17/07/2014 - 10:22

        @cloudy:

        Of course if its under $150 then pro rata it

        BUT you are confusing (Clouding) things. In this case it was OVER $150 so they shouldnt pro rata it.

      • 

        bluedufflecoat on 17/07/2014 - 12:20

        They probably shouldn't have pro-rated the discount, but most times… these things are "automated", following a set of rules… if they put too many qualifiers etc, it makes their business rules too complicated to implement. And one of the most important business rules is to keep it simple.

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  c64 on 13/07/2014 - 08:10

  if they offer a 10% off coupon then i don't see anything wrong with the policy. it is another matter if it is a $10 for a $100 spend

  i noticed that the automated refunds give you a full refund. once when i paid by gift card they refunded as credit. when i got credit converted to a gift card they only did the reduced amount. i had to whinge and got the remaining amount as credit.

  masters also do the same.

  • 

    RockyRaccoon on 13/07/2014 - 09:22

    +3

    Woolies have a lot to learn with their online businesses.

    The OP has said original order was $173.92 and the voucher is $15 off for orders over $150
    If the missing items are then deducted (173.92 - 16.94) then the order total is $156.98 so the order still complies with the original offer terms of $15 off for orders greater than $150

    They are in breach of their offer terms. (OP I think you might be able to take this to fair trading or the ACCC)

    I understand that in their own way they are trying to be fair, if they apply this to orders that would go under the $150 order threshold.

    It would be simple to say if the threshold drops below the order limit, then prorata the discount, if it stays above the threshold then give the discount. All it takes is some simple programming within the system. But they are novices in the online game and have no clue.

    Like when I gave a good review of one of the items I bought online from Masters which they rejected saying it didnt meet their standards but no explanation of what the unmet standard is. Then now everytime I buy something online the idiots want me to review it. Yea sure!! I love getting rejected.

    As they grow up they will understand how online really should work. Maybe they need to employ retail experienced online staff rather than just those who's online experience seems to be limited to games

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  [Deactivated] on 13/07/2014 - 18:24

  I've ordered a few deliveries from Woolworths (free deliveries). Each time, a significant number of items were missing (said to be out of stock, and I made sure to tick 'no substitutions'). I purposely make sure I order common items that are never out of stock in any Woolworths I visit in person.

  Really pissed me off since I couldn't understand how such common shelf items could be unavailable.

  So what was the point of having things home delivered? I still have to go to the shops to get those items anyway… I might as well save myself the time of making the order, waiting for it to be delivered etc, and go and buy everything myself at once.

  So frustrating. I also disliked how they charged for every item and only refunded the missing items AFTER the delivery has been received. It's just so inefficient and again leaves us with the extra step of then checking to make sure we've been refunded, and refunded the correct amount.

  I had a delivery from Dan Murphy's recently too (they're part of the Woolies group). They sent me the wrong size of one of the bottles. I wanted 1 litre, they sent me a 700mL. I called them up and told them about it, and they said I had to go into the store to swap it over for the right one. I couldn't actually get there myself, which is why I had it delivered in the first place. In the end I told them to refund the difference between the 1L and 700mL bottles and they reluctantly agreed.

  I totally forgot about the refund until 2 weeks later. Checked my account - no refund. They can expect a delightful call from me tomorrow :)

  TL;DR: will not be ordering deliveries from either of those places again. Pain in the behind, in short.

  • 

    [Deactivated] on 13/07/2014 - 20:33

    May not be the case in your case, and I am making a scandalous assumption here about OzBargainers generally, but I figure that a good proportion of out of stock items referenced and bemoaned in various Woolies threads were 'on special' at the time of ordering AND delivered while still on special.

    It's not a 100% guarantee, of course, and things can get tricky when certain items stay on special beyond the usual Wednesday to Tuesday cycle, but we dramatically increase the likelihood of receiving 'on special' stuff we order by keying delivery times to at least a couple of days after a given W-T cycle, to allow for re-stocking.

    Beyond that simple strategy, there are some actual order-related tricks that we sometimes employ, but that - sneakily aside - keep in mind that in the 'shopper notes' with Woolies, you can, with very careful wording, specify that which you consider to be an acceptable item substitution for some things that allow, and end up out-of-stock.

    We used to allow very little by way of substitution, but that has changed somewhat. Most relate to multiples - in both directions - of the identical product, but extra creativity, elsewhere.

    Thrilling OzBargain deals, ever just around the edge of the computer screen / corner.
    When you get your refund from Dan Murphy's, I trust that you'll splash out and buy yourself something nice.
    The computer, and OzBargain, say 'Yes'. So does Optus, but let's not complicate things, turnip-girl. Jesus.

    • 

      lisss on 14/07/2014 - 17:48

      +2

      The other possibility is you got a dumb or lazy staff member assigned to packing your order. I recently picked up a click and collect order which had items missing and incorrect items. I ended up having to replace the incorrect items myself in the store, so I had a look and lo-and-behold, many of the items marked 'out of stock' or ones which had been substituted when I allowed it were actually on the shelves so should have been included in my order.

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  earths_pacifist on 16/07/2014 - 16:16

  Sorry I am a bit late on this but were any of the missing items part of a deal (not your $15 discount) eg. buy 2 fo $5 etc?

  I used to be a manager at Kmart and know that if someone returned one item that was part of a deal they would charge full amount for the item kept and refund the difference. Eg. 1 chocolate normally $2 each, bought on sale 2 for $3. If only one is returned they would only receive $1 refund and pay full price for item kept.

  Normally if this was in store and was our fault I would refund the entire price but online or over the phone it may not be posible?

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  SirFlibbled on 16/07/2014 - 18:08

  Betcha this is the same guy.. http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=2283552

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    RockyRaccoon on 17/07/2014 - 10:31

    I like your maths

    The one you were rubbishing at whirlpool was complaining about 21c.

    This one is complaining about $3.31

    Like 15 times the amount.

    Any other reason you think this is the same person, Sherlock?

    • 

      SirFlibbled on 17/07/2014 - 10:55

      -1

      Coincidence that it happened to 2 different people both complaining in a matter of days about the same petty matter and this thread starting up about the time the other one was shut down.

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  aocal on 04/02/2015 - 18:18

  BUYERS BEWARE. IF YOU TAKE UP THE OFFER OF FREE HOME DELIVERY FOR $300 SPEND, YOU MIGHT GET CHARGE $20 ADDITIONAL IF YOUR ORDER WEIGHS MORE THAN 150k. NO INCENTIVE TO BE A LOYAL CUSTOMER! THEY GIVE THESE EXTRA DISCOUNTS AS INDICATED BY OTHER CUSTOMERS BUT HAVE FOUND A WAY TO TAKE IT BACK!