They are definitely not trying to scam everyone but I do agree they needed to be a bit more upfront about the shipping costs, I actually think if you return the phone within the 14 day window that they should be sending you a label, Punkt, who I loathe as a company, but I will give them credit that they send you a DHL label with the Punkt phone so you can return it within the 30 day window
3 Likes
obviously the phone has value for those who are happy with it, for them it’s clearly not a scam. but for those who are unsatisfied customers like me who weren’t clearly warned about what returning would entail… (ie pay almost the full value of the phone in just shipping to return for a refund of just the phone and not the shipping…) it’s more than a bit scammy…
If mudita was upfront and clear about what it oftentimes takes to return the product to them and be issued a refund… I would call that bare-minimum honesty and still consider it good business.
maybe warn the customer at check-out?
This type of return mechanism is so out of the ordinary for online business in the USA, that to not make clearer note of it for your international customers feels shady. now, I don’t think they want to look shady or have their reputation for poor customer service continue to go in the toilet so I recommend that they change the way this information is presented to make it more clear to the end-consumer. I’m trying to be nice and constructive while I’m actually very angry about this.
there are plenty of places that offer services that might be a little more restrictive or inconvenient to the customer but are still frequented daily in massive numbers. there’s a fish and chips place out here that clearly marks in MASSIVE BOLD letters all over their establishment that they are CASH ONLY. the people that do not have cash understand they can’t go there until they have cash. but fish and chips still get sold and they are wildly successful even in this day and age!
there are plenty of places that do not offer refunds… this is understood and accepted in business if stated very clearly.
what this feels more like is when you sign up for something and the salesman told you that you can “cancel anytime” but later you find out what it takes to cancel. you realize this will be a full-time job tracking down customer service, you have to provide more time or even money than it’s worth to just keep it.
have you ever heard of timeshares? can I sell mudita one?
3 Likes
@adamkump Another user returning their Kompakt posted that they got quoted $40 from Shipstation:
I will ping customer service to see what other options we can offer.
Hello everyone.
Just as an update to the return situation ( a bit late, sorry!) customer service got back to me quickly after I raised this issue over the forum as seen here. thank you for that.
this was their response to me over email:
Email from Mudita Support Jun 10
We can’t refund the shipping cost if you’re returning or order based on a withdrawal. However, there should be various shipping options available that are far cheaper than $300.
If you’re unable to arrange the shipment at a reasonable cost, we have one other way we can help you handle this. Please know that this is a last-resort option that we only suggest if all else fails as it makes the refund complicated accounting-wise.
In this situation, you can return your order on a Fedex shipping label that we created. However, because you are returning it based on your withdrawal from the purchase, you need to bear the cost of the return shipment. This means that if you do use this label, we will have to deduce the cost of this shipment from your final refund amount.
Fedex shows me the estimated cost for this specific shipment to be 237.85 PLN, which is approximately 63.76 USD at today’s exchange rate. The final amount may slightly differ, but it should be close to this level.
This solution is the only possibility we have to help you return your order without you needing to arrange the shipment yourself. If this works for you, please go ahead and use the shipping label attached to this email for your return. If you’re able to find another cheaper option, you can use that instead.
You would need to print it out and give it to Fedex along with the package. You can contact Fedex to schedule a pickup for a convenient time or drop off the parcel and label at any Fedex pickup point. Scheduling a pickup won’t incur any additional costs.
TL:DR, they gave me a shipping label cheaper than one that I could find and deducted that cost from my refund. In this case it was $63.76 that I lost from trying out the mudita. I also want to add that it appears they had me cover the cost of shipping back because of the fact I “withdrew” or no longer wanted the device… not that there was technically anything wrong with it.
I was reminded to send this update after seeing that MuditaOS K version 1.2.0 just came out. I looked through the list of updates and it does appear to be a big improvement based on feedback I’ve seen mentioned in the forum. unfortunately for me I don’t think my hotspot control request registered on their radar as I don’t see it listed in their upcoming roadmap. oh well…
take care y’all.
1 Like