Refund Process

The Refund process differs depending on the payment method. Below will be a guide outlining the differences between each refund method.

Short Version.

Expanded Version.

Refunds in most cases will be processed either by the Order management team, or by AR once the Order management team has emailed them to do so.

Refunds are currently a manual process, which can be at times delayed by high workload, or by oversights in the current system that is set up.

If a customer has called chasing a refund, check the notes of all invoices on the customer card (refund notes will in most cases be left on the invoice the payment was made on).

If refund notes not present, check to confirm the that any Sales Returns (SRO) have been returned and are now Sales Credits (SC). Once an item is returned and a Sales Credit has been raised we can then refund the customer.

NOTE: If you are unsure of the status please consult with your Team Leader or with Order management before telling a customer a refund will be processed.

Payment methods.

Currently we have 6 different payment methods.

1. Credit card. (Adyen)
2. Paypal.
3. Zip Pay/Money.
4. Afterpay.
5. EFT (Direct Deposit).
6. Cash.

(Cash is a very uncommon method of payment and should only ever be offered once approved by Customer Experience.)

Credit Card.

Refund Method(s).

Credit card payments are the most common method for payment for orders. The refund process is fairly simple, but differing circumstances can change the way a refund is processed.

A general Credit card refund is just a reversal of the original payment made, either fully or partially.

This means we use the "Payment Reference" or "Transaction ID" to refund the payment through Adyen (the credit card payment system). We do NOT refund using the card number/details, nor do we keep those details on file anywhere.

If a customer asks for a refund to their credit card NEVER take down their credit card details and email them through, it is a huge security risk, and we also can't use those details to refund. We will simply reverse the funds back to the customer using the "Payment Reference".

Lead time for Refund.

Credit Card refunds take approximately 2-3 business days to appear in the customers account once we have processed, much like a bank transfer would.

NOTE: If a customers card has expired or been cancelled. We can still refund using the payment reference and the funds will return to the customers bank account. Alternatively given approval we can also arrange for a refund to their bank account directly, although this should be avoided at all costs due to the risk of fraud.

"Payment References" are only valid for roughly 1-2 years. Anything older than that may need to be refunded to the customers bank account directly.

Paypal.

Refund Method(s).

Paypal refunds are similar to a Credit card refund.

We reverse the original "Payment Reference"/"Transaction ID" back to their Paypal account through the Paypal Portal directly.

NOTE: Should the transaction be too old to refund (generally over a year old.) we can also refund directly to their bank account.

Lead time for Refund.

These refunds are "instant" and will appear in the customers Paypal account within seconds of being processed.

Zip Pay/Money.

Refund Method(s).

Zip refunds are processed back to their Zip account by again reversing the “Payment Reference”. We don’t need any additional information as all the information is stored on the Zip Site.

How the refund is applied for the customer depends on the following:

If the customer has NOT paid off their order through Zip, the amount refunded will come off the amount that they owe Zip. So the customer will not receive any money back into their bank account.

If the customer HAS paid off their order through Zip, the money will be returned to their Zip account as a credit amount. For them to receive this money back they will need to contact Zip and provide Zip with their bank details for a refund.

NOTE: AOL can NEVER refund a Zip customer back via EFT (Direct Deposit) or any other refund method. This is because Zip has paid us, not the customer. The customer has paid Zip.

Lead time for Refund.

The refund should affect their Zip balance immediately, but advise the customer this may not always be instant, and could take up to 2-3 business days.

If the customer is to receive money back from Zip, we do not know the lead time for this, best to refer the customer to Zip to get this information.

Afterpay.

Refund Method(s).

Afterpay refunds are processed through either the Afterpay site directly, or also through our AOL Portal.

These refunds are processed to the customer in a similar way to Zip (in that the customer does not receive the refund immediately through us and may need to be claimed through Afterpay), but there is 1 key difference.

If the customer has NOT paid off their Afterpay order, the refund will apply from the final installment first and then up from there - for example.

$1000 order.

4 equal installments of $250.

A refund of $100 is processed.

The payments will be;

1. $250
2. $250
3. $250
4. $150

If the customer HAS paid their order off through Afterpay, the refund once processed on Afterpay’s side should then be forwarded to the customer without them needing to chase it up.

However this may be subject to the specific order situation. Afterpay will send an email to the customer outlining the refund process, so if the customer has questions please refer them to that email or to Afterpay.

Lead time for Refund.

The customers Afterpay balance should update immediately, however for refunds they may be owed, it is subject to Afterpay's lead times in refunding, we have no control over this. Please refer customer to Afterpay for more information.

EFT (Direct Deposit).

Refund Method(s).

EFT payments will only ever be refunded back to the customers bank account.

This is because we do not have any “Payment Reference” to reverse the money back too.

This means a refund form will be emailed to AR by OM, then once picked up by AR they will refund back to the customers bank account, AR processes these refund back on Tuesdays and Thursdays, as long as the request was received by 2pm the day before.

Lead time for Refund.

EFT/Bank transfer refunds, once processed will take approximately 2-3 business days depending on the bank lead times.

Cash.

Refund Method(s).

Cash payments will need to be refunded back to the customer via a bank transfer.

Again because there is no "Payment Reference" to refund back to.

A Refund form will be emailed to AR by OM and then refunded on their next refund run.

Lead time for Refund.

Cash refunds via an EFT/Bank transfer, once processed will take approximately 2-3 business days depending on the bank lead times.

Note:

We can make concessions in certain situations for customers, but all it will need to be approved by relevant team leaders/customer experience.