Something comes back · ↩
It goes back where it came from
Something arrived and should not have, or was only ever borrowed. The difference between this and any other van job is that the deadline belongs to somebody else and there is usually money behind it.
Tell us the deadline first. It decides whether the job is worth doing at all.
What a return involves
The deadline is the whole job
A returns window that closes, a hire agreement with a date and a charge behind it, a delivery that must be back at a depot before a slot expires. On a return the timing is not a preference, it is the reason we are being asked.
So it is the first thing to tell us and the thing that decides whether we can help at all. A return arriving at us after the window has closed is a conversation we would rather have early than late.
Check the packaging before it goes out
A great many returns policies require the original box, and a great many boxes go straight out with the recycling on the day something arrives.
It takes thirty seconds to check and it is the commonest reason a return that should have been straightforward turns into an argument with a seller.
Why hire companies will not collect
Usually stairs. A hire agreement frequently covers collection from a ground-floor accessible point rather than from a third-floor flat, and the distinction appears in the small print rather than at the point of hire.
Getting the item down to where the hire company will take it is a perfectly ordinary job and it is what a good deal of this page is actually about.
Proof, which is worth having
On a return, being able to show the item went back and when is worth more than it sounds, because the dispute that occasionally follows is about exactly that.
We record the handover as a matter of course rather than as an extra, and on anything with a refund attached it is the part you will be glad of.
It goes back where it came from
Questions about it goes back where it came from
- What do you need to know first?
- The deadline — a returns window, a hire end date, a depot slot. It decides whether the job is worth doing and which days we can offer.
- Does the original packaging matter?
- Frequently decisively. Many returns policies require the original box, and most boxes go out with the recycling on the day something arrives.
- Why will the hire company not collect?
- Usually stairs. Agreements often cover collection from a ground-floor accessible point rather than from an upstairs flat, and it is in the small print.
- Can you take it to a seller rather than a depot?
- Anywhere it needs to go — a shop, a saleroom, a private address. What we need is the address and whether anybody has to be there.
- Do you evidence the return?
- We record the handover as a matter of course. On anything with a refund attached it is the part you will be glad of.
- What if the window has nearly closed?
- Tell us that first rather than last. We would rather say plainly that it is too tight than take a booking that arrives too late to help.
Does anything have to come back?
Both addresses, what is going, and whether anything has to leave as something arrives, go back where it came from, or be collected afterwards. Any yes makes it two legs.