Rrrr - the ongoing epic!

[amethyst73]

You may remember this post, where I ranted about being sent the wrong volume of D&D 4th Ed Player's Handbook.  I waited a few days after the first email, cc'ing Barnes and Noble this time to advise them that a seller hadn't gotten back to me about a problem.  That same day, I received the following response from the seller:

We are sorry to hear that you did not receive the correct order, we no longer have this book in stock to send you a replacement order. we have issued a full refund and you should be able to see it soon [sic - no period]

*shrug*  Fine; I can live with a refund.  B&N emailed me later that day letting me know that full refunds had gone to the various forms of payment (gift card and credit card).  Meanwhile, I still have a book on hand that I don't want and don't really legally own anymore, having been refunded for it.  The seller failed to enclose a Merchandise Return Label or anything useful like that, and I didn't exactly want to pay out-of-pocket to return the darn thing.  So I emailed the seller again, asking how to go about returning the unwanted book.  And I get back as a response, this:

Ok thanks. We will be shipping out your Player's handbook 2 today via expedited mail.

Hrm?  Wazzat??  You, uh, didn't actually answer my question.

I mean, I'll be happy to have the book (assuming they do it right this time).  But unless they are clever enough to include a merch. return label this time, I'll have the dual problems of (1) still having a book on hand that I don't want and feel obligated to return, and (2) getting Barnes and Noble involved again and getting them to re-charge the gift certificate and my credit card so that I can legally own the desired book that I will then have in hand.  (Mind you, that won't happen until the new, correct book arrives.)

This was not supposed to be this complicated.  I would advise people not to buy books on the B&N website from Book Outlet (on their marketplace), because they appear to be Very Confused.

Comments

[karakara98.livejournal.com]

I would not stress overly much about not returning the book. I am also scrupulously honest about such things, and I think you should let the seller know if you've been refunded the money and now have two books you didn't pay for. But I don't think you're obligated to do anything other than send an email notifying them of this fact (I would however, save that email). It sounds like their basic operations are pretty screwed up, and that's their problem, not yours.

[cerebralpaladin.livejournal.com]

Agreed. In particular, once you've informed them of the problem, they should be contacting you to get the incorrect book back. If they don't, at some point you can reasonably treat them as having abandoned the book.