Why do we ignore recalls and returns?
“Oh, it’s just too hard to return it. I’d rather not fool with it”.
We’ve all felt like this before. The product didn’t work out. So, do you return it?, trash it?, give it away as a present to someone?, or put it in the “charity” column for a tax right off? Or did you stick it up in the closet somewhere thinking you might “fix it” or “use it” someday?
Recalls vs Returns: Don't ignore them.
The big difference between a recall and a return is that the company initiates the recall, and the buyer initiates the return.
There are many reasons a company might recall a product and even more reasons why a consumer might return a product.
In general, the percentage of people who respond to a recall can range from quite low to relatively high. For example, in some cases, only a small fraction of affected consumers may take action, perhaps because they are unaware of the recall, do not perceive the issue as serious, or simply do not want to go through the hassle of returning or repairing the product.
On the other hand, if the product is expensive or complicated, it might be repaired in some fashion.
Companies do not like to just give money to folks who cannot show proof that they actually bought the product, so they purposely make it hard to get a refund for the product.
This is one of the reasons half the recalls in 2023 were hard to get. In her article, Teresa focuses on what companies and Congress need to do to make this process easier for consumers. Folks do not want to jump through all the hoops and have to pay shipping to send the product back. It’s an expensive thing to ship and a headache to stand in line at the US Post Office.
Her full article is a huge eye-opener to how some companies work the system when a product is at fault. Sadly, A Fisher-Price product caused 30 infant deaths initially and offered a refund or voucher to distraught parents who then had to send back a piece of the sleeper.
Because the returns were so low, the recall was re-announced as another 70 babies died in the sleeper.
Well-spoken in her article:
[Companies should stop with the frustrating, unnecessary obstacles, the CPSC should try harder to negotiate better terms for consumers, and Congress should mandate easy recall requests to help keep consumers safe and not harmed financially just because they bought a product that was later recalled.]
How about those returns?
Now let’s look at returns. Those items are unsatisfactory to you, the consumer, and you want your hard-earned dollars back.
The return rate varies significantly depending on the sales sector and the period but, according to these data, we can say that at least 30% of all products ordered online are returned to the sender, compared to 8.89% of the items purchased in a physical store.
I suspect that the 30% rate is high because many of these products are returned through Amazon. But Amazon has a built-in check and balance system. If they see a product is being returned at an incredibly high rate, they will no longer sell it.
A physical store takes more time, gas, and motivation to get out and wait in line to get a refund after finding your receipt.
For 2022, according to the National Retail Federation, consumers returned an estimated $816 billion worth of retail merchandise purchased online. This was only a return rate of 16.5% of total retail sales or one out of every six purchases. Of this, 10.7% are considered to involve return fraud.
If my math is correct does this mean, we have about $873 million in returns that were deemed a fraudulent return? Whew!
But let’s go back to recalls…
For your convenience, here is a list of ongoing recalls you might want to look at:
For seniors, it is very important that you know your vehicle, food, and medicine are safe.
For example, right now, we may have a recall on our:
- Vehicle but you must put in your license plate and it will tell you if the vehicle needs repair.
- FoodSafety.gov https://www.recalls.gov/food.html - provides us with food recalls.
There were 19 food products recalled just last month.
Recalls are more about safety than getting your refund.We seniors should pay closer attention to them for not only our safety but the safety of our children and grandchildren. Returns? Well, if the product doesn’t work for you, why not just return it and get your hard earned money back? This puts money back into your pocket and keeps the product off your shelf! But Suzanne, it’s just to hard to return it. I’d rather not fool with it”. |
