"Kudos" for vPost into turning a bad situation into something else
Wah lau! Really regret not checking this thread out before using vPost service...
My sad story:
Xmas Day 2017, I ordered a powerbank from Amazon and used vPost delivery service to have it shipped back to SG. The parcel reached vPOST's US warehouse facility in early Jan 18. Then, nothing heard from vPost until mid-Jan18, they sent me an email, saying the product could not be shipped back, as it fell into the prohibited category of items. Yeah, I did not read enough, so fine, my mistake for that. I asked them so what can I do? They said either ditch the product (some vPost staff in USA must have gotten very rich with all sorts of abandoned items) or return to merchant by requesting a prepaid return label from them. I was a noob in all these online transactions with Amazon, but I checked anyway. And wow, Amazon is amazing, click around the returns section and managed to get a prepaid return label! So I forward it to vPost, and they said that's good, but they have to charge me additional $6.50 for admin to help me return it on that label. I was okay with a few dollars more, as I could get $100+ refund back. So I paid up in mid-Jan, and waited. On the prepaid label, Amazon was transparent enough to state that the refund will be valid till 2 Feb 18, which I thought was a generous timeline, and for sure knowing the US parcel service, it should get back to Amazon in a couple of days. vPost even sent me an email saying that they got everything they needed for the return process. So I waited.
Come 1Feb (just 1 day before the refund expiry deadline of 2Feb), vPost suddenly sent me another email, saying they now need the tracking info from UPS. I called them up to explain what's happening, and why they didn't state that they are using UPS and therefore needed a specific UPS prepaid return label (I think the first label Amazon issued to me was a generic one) and the tracking information they needed now was missing in the first label?! They ignored all these questions from me, and just continue to reiterate that they needed the UPS tracking info. Anyway, I contacted Amazon immediately, half-expecting them to get really confused with what I was asking, but wow, amazing Amazon, after I typed all my story to them, the person on the end of the chatline understood what I was saying, and immediately re-issued me a UPS prepaid return label with tracking info on it! Got to give it to Amazon for being the best online retail shop in the world man!
Anyway, back to vPost. So I quickly sent them the new label, and said that if they read the instructions on the label (which was also on the first label I sent out to them in Jan), the deadline for refund is 2 Feb, and that day of the email was already 1 Feb. vPost replied "Thank you, we received your label, and will take 3 days to process the return". The vPost people must be either blind, or just too "atas" to even apologise. Based on the tracking from UPS, the scheduled return date to Amazon facility will be 6Feb.. so there, I will lose my refund for US$100+, I will have paid an additional $6.50 to vPost for nothing except this extra emotional rollercoast ride and wasting all this time from mid-Jan to now. vPost is really an expert at making a situation even worse than it was originally, and should really be voted for some sort of award for that!