Change of Mind Refunds at a Lower Amount?

Ldfg555 on 03/09/2023 - 23:34
Last edited 04/09/2023 - 10:13 by 1 other user

I noticed how Centre Com gets a lot of bad experience here and I was about to buy something. I checked out their Warranty/Returns Policy and noticed that they have a Change Of Mind but if you decide to return an unused item they will base the refund value on either the purchased pricing or current pricing - whichever is lower. Same with PCCG. Is this legally allowed?

I checked local stores around me and they do not state this, I assume they will Refund at purchased pricing? Same with Amazon and eBay but I guess that's a different story.

Related Stores

Centre Com

• 

  Aureus on 03/09/2023 - 23:58

  +20

  They don't have to offer change of mind returns at all, so yes it is legally allowed.

• 

  scrimshaw on 04/09/2023 - 00:05

  It'll be up to the store to determine what their policy on change of mind returns are. There is no breach of consumer law or consumer guarantees from what I can see of Centrecom's policy.

  Just doing a lazy copy paste from Consumer.vic.gov.au

  Refunds for change of mind
  Generally, a store does not have to give a refund or replacement if a customer simply changes their mind about a product.

  Under the Australian Consumer Law, the customer is only entitled to a refund or replacement for a major problem with a product covered by consumer guarantees.

  In-store policies
  Some stores and chains have an in-store policy to offer a refund, exchange or credit note if a customer changes their mind. If so, this policy should be clearly displayed at the point of sale or included on the business’ website (if it has one), so customers can read it before buying. Stores that have such policies must abide by them.

  It is okay for an in-store policy to have some limits, such as:

  'No change-of-mind refunds on sale items'
  'No change-of-mind refunds after seven days'.
  However, the in-store policy cannot take away the customer’s rights under the Australian Consumer Law.

  If a store does not have a change of mind policy, the customer is only entitled to a refund or replacement for a major problem with a product covered by consumer guarantees.

• 

  Jimothy Wongingtons on 04/09/2023 - 00:19

  +1

  It’s called a restocking fee

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  AustriaBargain on 04/09/2023 - 01:32

  +3

  Centrecom and PCCG aren't exactly known for first rate customer service.

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  djsweet on 04/09/2023 - 12:12

  I've never heard of a return policy like that, but it wouldn't be illegal due to the reasons already mentioned. Kind of odd though. At least they are upfront about it. If the website screamed "free returns!" and then something like that was buried in the Ts&Cs, that would be somewhat problematic. But in this case, seems okay.

• 

  wetsandwich on 06/09/2023 - 14:34

  Doesn't it make sense though?

  If they can't resell it for the same price, they lose money, or you're basically getting paid money to rent the item off them if you can just sell it back at a higher price than it's now worth. That sounds like a very bad business concept where they would regularly lose money. Otherwise you could just buy a high end graphics card and return it and then buy another one, and basically never pay a cent for your $2000 piece of hardware as long as you're willing to return it every 13 days.