Sadly, I am returning my U11 to HTC

[anon(9785393)]

It seems like I'm the only one still stuck without a refund, so I figured I may as well post some new information for those who are considering doing business with HTC/Digital River. Below is the text of the e-mail that I received from the HTC Priority One rep after my last conversation with him.

"Hello XXX, Good morning.

This is XXX from HTC priority one department. First of all I hope you are having a magnificent Tuesday and that your week is starting on a really high note!

My name is XXX from HTC priority one department and I am the agent in charge of your case regarding the delayed refund process that you have currently open with us and pay-pal also for the BBB complaint that you placed. I had the pleasure of speaking with you regarding this situation, allow me to thank you for the information provided, your understanding, politeness and also to apologize for the inconvenience that you are experiencing at this moment. Please know that we are always working to improve our processes and guarantee your satisfaction with our products and service, however at this moment we are experiencing some delays on this process since pay-pal is having some issues processing the refunds.

Once I took possession of your case, I sent an email to make sure that this case takes priority over all others and it was placed on top of the list, just this morning when I came on shift I sent another email requesting updates on this case and I was advised that pay-pal is already aware of your case and the money should reflect back within 5 to 7 business days.

We don’t have visibility or receive notifications of when the money will be refunded, so you will be the first one to know so, what I will do for the rest of this week is to send emails requesting more updates just to ensure that this case is being handled as a top priority and most importantly that you receive your money back within the time stipulated, our first interaction was 7/21/2017 request was sent the same day if the process was started then or in the 22nd the seventh day will be between Monday and Tuesday of next week.

Please keep in mind that we are doing everything possible from our end, now we have to wait for pay-pal to cover theirs, if you happen to have any other question or concern please do not hesitate and reply to this email and I will set my wheels on motion for you right away.

Sincerely XXX. "

Considering that 10 day PayPal dispute response timeframe ends tomorrow and HTC still hasn't responded, I decided to reach out to PayPal and spent half of my lunch break on the phone with them. The claims department rep informed me that there is nothing in my account that would prevent me from getting a refund and requested that I upload a screen cap of the e-mail from the HTC Priority One rep to a special PayPal upload link. He stayed on the phone with me and confirmed that the document was received on his side. After reading the text of the e-mail, he stated that he will escalate the case to their investigations department and I should have a resolution within 72 hours.

Meanwhile, today marks the beginning of the second month since HTC received my return. I don't know whether it's HTC or PayPal (or both) that's playing games, nor do I really care.

Oh man, that's terrible. I bought mine with a credit card. I hope if I return it would be processed faster.

 

[anon(9785393)]

HTC's customer service is atrocious, based on what I've been reading thus far. It's almost like they're running an adhoc customer service division where no one is really in charge or has complete control over the operation. Now I wonder how others have faired in this same instance of obtaining refunds.

Shudder. I wonder if I should just send mine back and be done with it.

 

[kgbkny]

Oh man, that's terrible. I bought mine with a credit card. I hope if I return it would be processed faster.

Take a look at the rest of the thread, starting at page 3. I'm not the only one that this happened to. Initially, I had my case escalated by HTC, which was absolutely useless. Their typical responses were "we don't know what's going on, but we'll reach out to the processing department to find out and call you back within 24-48 hours", only to give the same canned response when I would reach out to them when they missed self-imposed 24-48 hour timeframe. They didn't start moving until I filed a BBB complaint.

 

[wynand32]

Oh man, that's terrible. I bought mine with a credit card. I hope if I return it would be processed faster.

I would think that with a credit card, you could simply dispute the charge. I use Amex, and they're very good about returning disputed charges in the meantime. If I do choose to buy from HTC versus Amazon -- which I might do if Amazon doesn't carry the 128GB version -- then I'll skip the financing and use Amex just to make disputes easier.

 

[Wildo6882]

I returned mine in June, they received it on July 3rd. I still don't have a refund either. I just went the PayPal route and filed a claim once HTC failed to respond to my email and attempts via Twitter.

 

[kgbkny]

I returned mine in June, they received it on July 3rd. I still don't have a refund either. I just went the PayPal route and filed a claim once HTC failed to respond to my email and attempts via Twitter.

I highly recommend filing a BBB complaint as well. HTC will respond within hours of BBB's notification of the complaint being forwarded to them and get to work on their end.

As soon as my refund is finally issued, I will report HTC to the Federal Trade Commission. I'm not sure how much that will do, but at least it'll put HTC on their radar.

 

[kgbkny]

Just got a notification from the BBB that HTC formally responded to my complaint. Here's their response:

"The refund has already been processed from our end, at this moment Pay-Pal is experiencing some delays with their refund process, the case have been escalated amongst the two companies and the refund should reflect back on Mr. XXX’s account shortly."

BBB now wants me to respond with whether or not I'm satisfied with the resolution. Seeing as I still haven't received the refund, I will wait until Tuesday (the last day of the refund timeframe stated in the Priority One rep's e-mail to me) until responding. Unless, by some stroke of luck, I actually receive it before then.

 

[kgbkny]

Just received the following e-mail from PayPal:

"Hello XXX,

We reviewed the information regarding the claim below and have decided the case in your favor.

We’ve issued a refund to your PayPal Credit account for the disputed amount as well as any interest and fees related to the transaction. Please allow up to 5 days for this refund to be reflected on your account.

This claim is now closed. We are truly sorry that you experienced a problem with this transaction, but hope you are happy with the outcome of this claim."

31 days from the date HTC received my return at their warehouse and many phone calls later, my refund ordeal finally comes to an end. Since yesterday was the last day for HTC to respond to the PayPal dispute and they have failed to do so, I have a feeling that this is exactly why PayPal made a quick decision. To those who are still waiting for their refunds, I highly recommend filing BBB complaints and PayPal/credit card disputes. The way HTC seems to be handling the refund process is a shining example of incompetence, so it's up to the buyer to jump through hoops to get their money back. Good luck!

On a side note, doesn't this blow a gaping hole in HTC's claims that the refund issue was on PayPal's side?

 

[bhatech]

Just received the following e-mail from PayPal:

"Hello XXX,

We reviewed the information regarding the claim below and have decided the case in your favor.

We’ve issued a refund to your PayPal Credit account for the disputed amount as well as any interest and fees related to the transaction. Please allow up to 5 days for this refund to be reflected on your account.

This claim is now closed. We are truly sorry that you experienced a problem with this transaction, but hope you are happy with the outcome of this claim."

31 days from the date HTC received my return at their warehouse and many phone calls later, my refund ordeal finally comes to an end. Since yesterday was the last day for HTC to respond to the PayPal dispute and they have failed to do so, I have a feeling that this is exactly why PayPal made a quick decision. To those who are still waiting for their refunds, I highly recommend filing BBB complaints and PayPal/credit card disputes. The way HTC seems to be handling the refund process is a shining example of incompetence, so it's up to the buyer to jump through hoops to get their money back. Good luck!

On a side note, doesn't this blow a gaping hole in HTC's claims that the refund issue was on PayPal's side?

Probably digital river is putting blame on PayPal when HTC is checking with them on costumer refunds. Bottom line agree HTC is to take the blame here since we bought from them and they have to probably make sure this doesn't happen in future. But I don't think they care about customer experience so probably this crappy experience will never get fixed.

 

[usguyver]

you guys could always just buy the HTC u 11 from Amazon since they sell in all colors. and it's really easy to return Amazon if anything happens. especially since it shipped and sold by Amazon.

 

[bhatech]

you guys could always just buy the HTC u 11 from Amazon since they sell in all colors. and it's really easy to return Amazon if anything happens. especially since it shipped and sold by Amazon.

Yeah many of us bought from HTC.com because of the $50 off coupon but in hindsight yeah should have bought from Amazon even though it was little more expensive in turn for superior customer support.

 

[wynand32]

So, a question that I don't think has been definitively answered (at least I didn't see it): are all of these return issues related to PayPal? Are any related to getting a refund to a credit card?

I ask because 1) I do want the $50 off and 2) I want the 128GB version and Amazon doesn't carry it yet (and who know if/when they will).

That said, if I had such a return issue with any vendor when I used a credit card, I would simply dispute the charge with the credit card when things got delayed. I'd get my money back immediately while the credit card pursued the issue with the vendor.

 

[anon(9785393)]

They will get the 128 I suspect. I'm waiting for that.

 

[kgbkny]

So, a question that I don't think has been definitively answered (at least I didn't see it): are all of these return issues related to PayPal? Are any related to getting a refund to a credit card?

I ask because 1) I do want the $50 off and 2) I want the 128GB version and Amazon doesn't carry it yet (and who know if/when they will).

That said, if I had such a return issue with any vendor when I used a credit card, I would simply dispute the charge with the credit card when things got delayed. I'd get my money back immediately while the credit card pursued the issue with the vendor.

There was a post in this thread from a forum member who paid with a credit card and had the same refund issue. He finally got the refund by filing a BBB complaint.

 

[Mike Dee]

Of course. However, when you travel into 3G areas frequently - as I do - and your phone won't work because it doesn't support 3G, well, that's a problem. And I'm sorry, but nothing should be "certified" by Verizon if it only works on some of Verizon's network. Verizon Visual Voicemail is MUCH better at identifying calls than whatever half-baked Caller ID is built into the U11 software.

Not supporting 3G makes it a poor purchase until 3G goes away.

 

[SkypilotOfHope]

So, a question that I don't think has been definitively answered (at least I didn't see it): are all of these return issues related to PayPal? Are any related to getting a refund to a credit card?

I had the same problem and I used a cc. I didn't call Visa but, after three weeks, I did call HTC to have it escalated. I believe the total amount of time from returned product arriving (Amazing Silver unit, which was defective) and my refund was 21 days.

You just have to go into it knowing that, as unacceptable as it may well be, you will, eventually, get your refund. I must be a glutton for punishment because I am typing this msg on my fantastic Solar Red! No regrets.

 

[wynand32]

I had the same problem and I used a cc. I didn't call Visa but, after three weeks, I did call HTC to have it escalated. I believe the total amount of time from returned product arriving (Amazing Silver unit, which was defective) and my refund was 21 days.

You just have to go into it knowing that, as unacceptable as it may well be, you will, eventually, get your refund. I must be a glutton for punishment because I am typing this msg on my fantastic Solar Red! No regrets.

Well, not to belabor the point, but it's not at all hard to dispute a charge. After a week with no refund, I'd just go online, open a dispute (which would get me the money back immediately), and let the credit card deal with it.

 

[Gunnyman]

I just did a dispute with Citibank. I wish I had done it sooner. I also filed a BBB complaint as I have been 3 weeks without my refund.

 

[wynand32]

I just did a dispute with Citibank. I wish I had done it sooner. I also filed a BBB complaint as I have been 3 weeks without my refund.

Good luck. Hopefully Citibank will light a fire...

 

[Gunnyman]

Probably not a coincidence, but I got a refund email from htc this morning. Lol