RMA and the US law?

[Troels]

Hello,

I have to return a defective part to the US which was defective from the beginning and not caused by shipping damage. It was not bought as defective, but as a new part free of defects, so it's an error on their part.

What does American law state regarding returns of goods under RMA? -

- Are shipping charges back to the US refundable by law?
- Are shipping charges originally charged for sending the defective goods to Denmark refunded?

I wasn't able to find any clear answers on this, so i asked in hope that someone knows for certain.

[mpcook]

I believe this is not governed by law, but by the policy of the vendor. You should check to see if they have a policy published on their website, or often it is included in the warranty, or on the invoice.

Mike

[Troels]

Thanks... well, it is not stated anywhere, so that will be interesting then

Hmmm... also kinda ontopic;
How are import duties on defective parts shipped to PA? In this case it is an LCD panel... Is it "caught" in customs, or is there some special declaration of RMA parts?
Would there be any additional fees by USPS?

[aaa]

There aren't customs on defective/replacement parts iirc. There's a checlmark on the customs form specifically for them I believe.

[iamdmc]

Shipping isn't normally refunded.


If you payed by credit card, call your company up and explain it was a defective item you returned. They will probably let you charge it back (always works for me).

Remember, the credit card companies love you. You give them money whenever you spend money.

[Johan]

<snip>
How are import duties on defective parts shipped to PA? In this case it is an LCD panel... Is it "caught" in customs, or is there some special declaration of RMA parts?
Would there be any additional fees by USPS?

Troels: In relation to your concerns about shipping your LCD for repair in the USA, I was recently in a sort of parallel situation: As you will recall, shortly before Christmas I had a significant amount of trouble with getting IBM/Denmark to honor a warranty repair which had previously numerous times been confirmed by IBM/Support both would and should be covered (all this discussed in the thread IBM/Denmark deny to honor warranty confirmed by IBM-Support). Fortunately, I never had to send the T42p in question for repair in the USA (which I seriously feared would become necessary). However, at some point I was preparing for this to be the only option, and during those investigations I found out that the Danish customs authorities require you to adhere to the regulations as described on the page B.1.4.8.4 Forsendelser, der skal frembydes for det regionale told- og skattemyndigheder where it amongst other things says: "Forsendelsen skal frembydes for toldmyndighederne, hvis den indeholder følgende varer: Varer, der udføres til reparation eller anden behandling i udlandet med henblik på efterfølgende genindførsel i uforandret stand mod toldlempelse" (in English: "Gods must be presented to the customs authorities before shipping out of the country if being sent for repair and later to be returned - in order to avoid paying import customs again when the repaired gods is returned". The same is said in the document B.1.7.1 Forsendelser, der skal frembydes for SKAT. I suggest you pay attention to this - unless you choose to let some professional shipping company (e.g. UPS, DHL, FedEx etc.) handle all the paperwork and also take care of the shipping.

I would be very grateful if you would be kind to share the specific details of how to send an item (from Denmark) for repair in the USA, and getting it "imported" into Denmark again after the repair, without getting caught by customs neither here nor there (in the USA), and without having to pay import VAT neither in the USA or in Denmark. Thank you in advance for sharing a detailled "how-to-prepare-all-the-paperwork"... and thus avoiding all potential problems!

Best regards,

Johan

[Troels]

Hi Johan,
Well it's most likely not what you think - i ordered a QXGA 15" IPS lcd to try out with a colleagues R50p - it works, but has a pressure mark, however it was tested prior to shipping and was stated as new and without defects of any kind.
The order doesn't have anything to do about Lenovo/IBM. They have accepted the return and a refund, and gave me their DHL account number. With that account number i can schedule a pickup for the LCD that needs to be shipped back.
But as they have an account, i sincerely hope they get a fat discount from DHL. If i had to send it without an account, it'll cost me $215 for shipping alone (no, it doesn't weigh a ton ).

As it is a warranty thing i was told to give it to DHL stated as zero value, and marked as warranty return with zero value.
I'm actually not sure and have not tried this before - but all the documents that always seem to come with things you buy from abroad - does DHL/UPS automatically take care of printing out the proper documents, so i shouldn't do anything else?

From my understanding, if i can prove that i have shipped said item back to the US and that i recieve some kind of confirmation of a credit back/item recieved in the US, i can get the money back that i was originally taxed the first time.

Iamdmc, i'm not sure it will work out as i paid with paypal, and that Visa here isn't a "credit card", but a "charge card" which is directly connected with the bank account. I think they will just think "uhh.. what's that got to do with us" when i present them the "problem"

aaa,
Great. I hope DHL can figure that out when i declare the package as warranty return with no value.