LL - Refunding Shipping Fees - to do or not to do?

Our Refund Policy and our return instructions say: “Our satisfaction guarantee applies to the product purchase only; shipping charges or return shipping costs will not be credited.”

While we set the expectation that shipping fees are non-refundable on our refund policy and return instructions, refunding the shipping is actually conditional and up to the receiving agent (see the guidelines below). 

The receiving agent should set the appropriate expectations with the customer in regard to their refund amount and let them know if it includes shipping or not. The REFUND team should also clarify what the refund includes (or doesn’t include) in their confirmation email as well. 

Example:

“ your refund amount is $xxxx (minus shipping)”. 

Guidelines for refunding the shipping fee on SHIPPED ORDERS: 

NO - IF the order has shipped and the customer changed their mind about using the product (product didn’t work, don’t want it anymore, my doctor said not to use it, etc.) then we would not refund the shipping fee. 

YES - IF the order was lost, never delivered, arrived damaged, etc. we should refund the shipping fee.

YES - IF the customer said they experienced a serious adverse reaction we should refund the shipping fee. (my doctor said not to take is NOT a serious reaction). 

YES - IF the customer is escalated, refund the shipping fee. 

YES -  IF something out of the ordinary or unusual happened, the agent should use their discretion by judging the customer’s level of agitation. 

Guidelines for refunding the shipping fee on UN-SHIPPED ORDERS: 

YES - If an order hasn’t shipped it should be refunded in full including the shipping fee. 

Note: 

Sticky automatically includes the shipping fee in the refund amount available box so the person refunding the order will need to subtract the shipping amount from the total.

original copy in google drive: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CuDEkmwPqmUMXuIM-8lkpnuMW3TUODr9W4DsNOvJqdc/edit?usp=sharing