The great thing about return policies is the confidence they give customers. But Value America takes a new tack by making customers pay for this confidence. It charges a 15 percent restocking fee on undamaged return merchandise. At least it's openly stated in a policy so smart shoppers can steer clear. Customers won't bother coming back if they have to work so hard just to shop.
All sites still struggle with adopting consumer-friendly language on the Web.
Adding to our disappointment that they didn't have what we wanted, they essentially blamed us for choosing the wrong item. When we called the customer service phone number from the Web site, it had been disconnected. Oh, that packaging we threw away months ago. At first we thought Eddie Bauer blew it again when its gift reminder service missed an important June birthday we'd scheduled. We had experienced this before with the site.