Lucy at three months!
Now that I’m never again shopping at Babies R Us, Amazon is my go to store for baby supplies. (See updated pic of my baby at right!) Last week I discovered an amazing Amazon deal when I returned a baby swaddling blanket
The blanket, which I highly recommend for new parents, helps my daughter Lucy sleep by keeping her tightly wrapped up. She grew out of size small so I ordered her a larger size. Each SwaddleMe blanket cost just under $10 when I bought them.
But when the blanket arrived I realized
it was the wrong one – made of thick fleece instead of light cotton. Temps are already warming up, so I knew the fleece would be too warm.
Disappointed, I logged on and clicked on the return link. Because I have a free Amazon Prime
But instead of giving me a return label, Amazon said I could keep it! Wahoo!
I got to keep the fleece blanket (she may still fit into it in the fall) and got a full refund. I ordered a cotton swaddle blanket, so I ended up getting two blankets for the price of one!!!
Before you ask: I did not feel guilty for getting to keep the blanket for free. It is Amazon’s return policy, not mine. I am positive the business has calculated the costs of paying for return shipping v. letting me keep the blanket. Plus, Amazon has to figure in how much the returned blanket could sell for, if at all. This blanket costs less than $10, so returning more expensive items would not necessarily have the same result. I’m not sure returning lower priced items would have the same result, either.
Has this ever happened to you?
Welcome to Bargain Babe! I’m Mara, and I’m so glad you’re here. I am an obsessive bargain hunter and penny pincher, and I am determined to live a full life without EVER paying full price. 
It happened to me with Cafe Press and I think one or two other times with inexpensive products. It’s a good thing when it happens if you know someone who can use the item or you can use it yourself.
I hope you’ve checked into Subscribe & Save for diapers/regular supplies. I love that they send you a notice when a shipment is about to be processed while you still have time to cancel or change the order. There’s also no penalty for cancelling the subscription, even after just one delivery.
I just LOVE the way Amazon chooses to do business! SO MANY RETAILERS put the customers last and it’s awesome that they almost always put the customer first!
They’ve been my go to place for YEARS for everything from food to gifts and I scream their name each time someone is looking for a source for just about everything!
Jeff Bezos is a total genius IMHO, and my hero! Just <3 him and the way he run his company, too!
*runs
Convoluted thinking….. If you’ve pre-meditated it, it’s stealing.
I agree. Have you heard the saying there’s no such thing as a free lunch? Amazon doesn’t eat the cost, the seller does. think about it..
Exactly, Amazon doesn’t manufacture/produce anything, when you steal from them you are stealing from a merchant who is making pennies on the dollar, hope you don’t raise your child to be like you.
Exactly! What Amazon is doing along with Google and other massive companies is ruining small business. America has all of us so ****** brainwashed and privileged we can’t see beyond the bull***. Sellers on Amazon are people trying to make a living and these CLOWNS don’t care if they make money or care if others lower prices down so far they lose on all transactions. More people need to be aware of what is really going on with big business. Its ruining millions of lives everywhere. I could go on about Google and others but if you don’t know you probably won’t care selfishly until it directly affects YOU!
Same for me with Art.com. The framed picture was not aligned properly when it arrived. I called them; they replaced it and told me to keep the first one.
I love Amazon, it is my first choice on shopping for everything. I have had the same thing happen with a return when a broken salt shaker got sent to me, but my husband bought something for his guitar and it was the wrong size and even though it only cost $6.99 they had us return it. They paid for shipping but still we did send it back. So….I think the return policy is product by product not a standard “keep it if it is under a certain dollar amount”.
That’s nice but I think by you broadcasting amazons good customer service you might be encouraging others to do the same dishonestly.
Lucy, is beautiful!
on more than one occasion staples has sent the wrong size file folders or wrong point pen and they said I could donate the wrong product to a local school ~ which I thought was a great idea since all of the public schools around Los Angeles have severe budget cuts.
Adorable Lucy is looking more like Mom these days. However, that’ll probably change over time.
As for getting to keep the fleece swaddling blanket… Fleece blankets are not very expensive, so the cost to Amazon is negligible and probably less than the cost to return it. My Red Hat pals and I made fleece blankets for the Binky Patrol (as part of Disney’s 1,000 Points of Light volunteer drive), and we found very inexpensive fleece in the fabric district in downtown L.A. I disagree that you’re encouraging others to try and rip off businesses willing to let you keep faulty products. You’re right in saying that the policy is Amazon’s, not yours! If you were trying to pull a fast one, I doubt that you would have posted about it!
@Debi I love Subscribe & Save! We use cloth diapers, so I don’t get the diaper discount (save more money with cloth anyway) but I do get a nice 15% off on household soap and tp.
@Ron Miller I agree, if it was per-meditated, that is stealing. In this case it was not. Thanks for standing by me, @EllieD
@Anastasia and @Susan Ditto! Amazon is becoming my favorite retailer for their great prices and excellent customer service.
@Karyen Thank you so much!
This has happened to me in the past with Amazon. I accidentally ordered 2it copies of a movie and went to return the second copy and they told me to keep it and was given a full refund. That was the first time this happened to me and I don’t have a prime account.
I like Amazon, too. Once, an order never arrived. I didn’t have to do it, but I contacted the USPS, which was a waste of time. Amazon simply re-sent the order. Also, if you need to speak with someone, rather than make you wait and age, they give the option of having someone call you back within a reasonable time frame and you are called within that period. Seems like a no-brainer to treat customers well, but there are those companies that don’t get it.
i had ordered a largeamount k-cups and received full diesel but ordered decaf and they told me just keep it. i love how they treat their customers and dont treat them like criminals when asking for a return
I received a small item from Amazon that was different from what I ordered. Customer service said they would send the one I ordered and to keep the one I received. The second time around, I received the same misordered item that they did want me to return only because they wanted to see how this item was different than what was listed and to correct this mistake. A shipping label was sent with their apologies. Great service though it was frustrating describing item that I received verus item I ordered.
@BB ~ Maybe I read your post too fast earlier today, but what do you mean by “Amazon shopping trick”? I would understand “Amazon shopping surprise” or “gift,” (because that’s what it amounted to), but what was the “trick”?
@kat ~ Speaking of reading too fast, I’m still chuckling. When I read the first few words of your post, I had an entirely different item in mind that you’d bought (“large”; “k-cups”–now that IS large). By the time I got to “full diesel,” I realized I needed to slow down. 🙂
@BB ~ Forgot to ask if you let Babies R Us know about your experience and your blogging about it.
Hi, I am a seller on Amazon. Amazon is about the worst business to work with (unless you sell media products). Buyers only buy FBA products from us. We are constantly getting bombarded with refunds that amazon issues for no reason. They do not say why or show us any record of it other than an email with the amount. A customer called last week that the post office delivered and he said claimed he didn’t get it. He later called Amazon and a full refund of $99.95 was issued. Time for me to start saying i did not receive my orders.
This has happened to me multiple times! I ordered 2 desks (one for each kid) they were supposed to be the same finish but one was light and one was dark (i ordered light), i didn’t realize it until the second was assembled and they said to keep it and i got refunded for it (over $100!). Another time i ordered a set of cake toppers (24 characters) and one was missing, they refunded it all! Another time i ordered beauty product gift sets for xmas gifts for friends, 2 of 5 cases were cracked on arrival and they refunded those 🙂 another time they sent the wrong color paper, they overnighted the right color and i got to keep the other one…i love amazon!
I’ve had similar experiences. I suspect Amazon has some kind of formula for determining when it’s worthwhile to have the consumer send back the product. I hope they never change that practice!