Consumer complaint received 2024-05-07
Product: Payday loan, title loan, personal loan, or advance loan — Installment loan
Issue: Charged fees or interest you didn't expect — 
Company: Affirm Holdings, Inc (WI)

I used Affirm.com, a buy-now-pay-later company, to purchase some items from a company named XXXX. Upon receiving the items, I found them severely poor quality. Consequently, I contacted the company to initiate a return. However, after not receiving a response from the company, I attempted to reopen a case to return the items. Below are the details of my interactions with both Affirm and XXXX. 

1. On XX/XX/XXXX, I purchased clothing from a website called XXXX, which I now know to be a business many consumers do not trust ( after looking at their XXXX reviews ). I ordered two items which totaled {$57.00}. I utilized Affirm to pay for this purchase. Please see photo 1 attached, which shows the date of the order and the amount I paid. 

2. On XX/XX/XXXX, the items arrived and neither of them was as pictured. They were cheaply made and were of very poor quality and very see-through. They were not to my liking at all. See photo 2 for a picture of one of the items. 

3. That same day, I submitted a return request with XXXX. Please refer to the attached photo of the return request. See photo 3 for a picture of the attempted return request. 

4. For 6 days, I did not hear any word regarding the status of my return request. So, on XX/XX/XXXX, I filed a dispute against XXXX with Affirm. See photo 4 for the Affirm dispute filing confirmation and my attempt to file a dispute with XXXX on their website. See photo 5 for the second dispute attempt. 

5. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email from XXXX stating that my return was approved. Their message said, No Need to Return the Item. Firstly, we want to let you know that there's no need to return the item you purchased. We understand that sometimes things dont work out, and we want to make this process as easy for you as possible. They then proceeded to say, Please allow us 5-10 working days to complete this. Rest assured, we are working diligently to ensure that your refund is processed promptly and you will receive a confirmation once it's done. See the attached PDF for the email from XXXX. 

6. After not receiving a refund from XXXX, on XX/XX/XXXX, 18 days after the email from XXXX stating they would refund the order in 5-10 business days, I updated my dispute with Affirm informing them I had not received the refund. If a refund was processed, it would have been returned to my Affirm account. See photo 6 for the updated message to Affirm. 

7. Affirm then responded, stating I should provide proof of a refund from XXXX. However, I do not have this proof because XXXX never refunded the item. If XXXX had issued the refund, it would have been immediately reimbursed to Affirm, which should have then prompted Affirm to reimburse the {$28.00} I had already paid from my loan. See photos 7, 8, and 9 for Affirm 's response. 

8. I then followed up with Affirm with a detailed explanation with proof of all of my interactions with XXXX. 

9. On XXXX, Affirm decided to close the dispute in favor of XXXX, stating that the items were " unreturnable '' and they did not find XXXX to be in violation of it's policy. See photos 10 and 11.

10. If you look back at the attached pdf, you will notice that XXXX clearly states that the item should not be returned but instead suggested I donate the items. They also stated that they would return the money ( to my Affirm account ) in 5-10 working business days. I never received this refund, nor was I allowed to return the items. 

11. I am confused as to how Affirm can deem something unreturnable and therefore force me to pay the loan for that item when ( 1 ) the seller, XXXX explicitly declined my return and offered a full refund. 2. The seller never provided this refund. 3. Affirm is fully aware the seller did not provide me with a refund ( if they had issued a refund, it would have been refunded to my Affirm account ), or allow me to return the item.

12. I am now left on the hook to pay a loan to Affirm, a company fully aware that XXXX did not allow me to return the items, nor did they issue me the refund they approved ( as evident by the charges still on my Affirm account ). I would have liked to return the items and receive a full refund if that was an option, but XXXX never provided this option. 

13. A quick look at both Affirm.com and XXXX 's consumer ratings shows that neither company is a stranger to accusations of fraudulent practices. I believe that Affirm is facilitating the unscrupulous practices of XXXX, rather than investigating them.