1 00:00:04,559 --> 00:00:08,200 Speaker 1: Free Amazon returns at Coal's what's the process? Like, Hey there, 2 00:00:08,240 --> 00:00:11,480 Speaker 1: amrich Demiro. This is rich on Tech Daily. Did you 3 00:00:11,560 --> 00:00:13,480 Speaker 1: know that you can return the items you buy at 4 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:18,240 Speaker 1: Amazon for free at select Coal stores. It's an unlikely partnership, 5 00:00:18,239 --> 00:00:21,000 Speaker 1: but recently I tried out the process to see how 6 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:23,799 Speaker 1: it goes. First, some background. The two companies announced the 7 00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:27,440 Speaker 1: partnership back in September twenty seventeen. It's offered in a 8 00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:31,120 Speaker 1: select group of stores in Los Angeles and Chicago. You 9 00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:33,280 Speaker 1: bring your stuff to Coals, they pack it up and 10 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:36,040 Speaker 1: then ship it back to Amazon for free. There are 11 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:39,200 Speaker 1: apparently even dedicated parking spots near the front door, although 12 00:00:39,240 --> 00:00:41,320 Speaker 1: I did miss this when I return my stuff. 13 00:00:41,360 --> 00:00:42,480 Speaker 2: So what does Coals. 14 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:45,440 Speaker 1: Get out of this? Well, more traffic and an Amazon's 15 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:48,360 Speaker 1: smart Home experience. In several stores, this is where they 16 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:51,920 Speaker 1: basically show off Amazon's smart home products like Alexa and 17 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:53,599 Speaker 1: all the stuff you can use with it. So it's 18 00:00:53,600 --> 00:00:55,680 Speaker 1: sort of a two way street with mutual benefits for 19 00:00:55,720 --> 00:00:58,720 Speaker 1: both companies. So what's the process of returning an Amazon 20 00:00:58,760 --> 00:00:59,480 Speaker 1: item to Coles? 21 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:02,800 Speaker 2: Really? Like? Well, it's pretty easy. Here's how I tried it. 22 00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:05,360 Speaker 1: I bought four phone cases for my phone, knowing I 23 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:07,600 Speaker 1: would only keep the one that I liked. So when 24 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:10,720 Speaker 1: I went to return the other three, Amazon wanted seven 25 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:14,360 Speaker 1: dollars for return shipping. Well, yeah, understandable because this was 26 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:16,360 Speaker 1: my fault. There was no issue with the product. I 27 00:01:16,360 --> 00:01:18,680 Speaker 1: don't lie when I returned stuff to Amazon. I just 28 00:01:18,720 --> 00:01:20,200 Speaker 1: tell them what the deal is, and I said, I 29 00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:23,160 Speaker 1: just didn't need it anymore. So when you return something 30 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:25,720 Speaker 1: that's not defective, it'll tell you how much it will 31 00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:28,680 Speaker 1: cost to return the item in various ways. So if 32 00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:30,959 Speaker 1: it's your fault and you have really no issue with 33 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:33,600 Speaker 1: the product except you just don't want it anymore, sometimes 34 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:36,080 Speaker 1: they will charge you a couple of dollars to return 35 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:37,080 Speaker 1: it via the mail or. 36 00:01:37,080 --> 00:01:37,720 Speaker 2: Something like that. 37 00:01:38,319 --> 00:01:41,319 Speaker 1: If it's defective, sometimes Amazon will pay for shipping. But 38 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:43,800 Speaker 1: in this case, it was my fault and I just said, hey, 39 00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:46,480 Speaker 1: I didn't need these anymore. And so my main option 40 00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:50,200 Speaker 1: that was free was the coal's option. The other options 41 00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:53,200 Speaker 1: were not available to me, like the Amazon locker. Mailing 42 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:55,080 Speaker 1: it back would have cost seven dollars. So I said, 43 00:01:55,080 --> 00:01:57,280 Speaker 1: you know what, let me try this out. The only 44 00:01:57,320 --> 00:01:59,280 Speaker 1: thing was I had to drive just a little further 45 00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:01,880 Speaker 1: to find a Lowcay where this was offered at a 46 00:02:01,960 --> 00:02:04,360 Speaker 1: coals near me. But when I got there, I was 47 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:07,840 Speaker 1: immediately greeted by an associate who noticed the Amazon packaging 48 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:10,079 Speaker 1: I had in my hand, and he directed me right 49 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:12,840 Speaker 1: to a special Amazon's return desk near the front door. 50 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:14,200 Speaker 1: I was pretty impressed. I thought I was gonna go 51 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:16,000 Speaker 1: to like a cashier or something, but it was a 52 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:19,400 Speaker 1: whole area set up just for this purpose. Then once 53 00:02:19,400 --> 00:02:21,960 Speaker 1: I got there, another helpful associate with a smile, took 54 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:24,720 Speaker 1: the items from me. She scanned a QR code right 55 00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:27,200 Speaker 1: off the screen on my phone. She printed out a 56 00:02:27,240 --> 00:02:30,239 Speaker 1: receipt and I was off. The interesting thing was she 57 00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:32,360 Speaker 1: didn't even look at the stuff that I had in 58 00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:34,519 Speaker 1: the packaging. So you know, if you go to best 59 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:36,919 Speaker 1: Buy or whatever and you return to Electronic, they kind 60 00:02:36,919 --> 00:02:38,600 Speaker 1: of take it all out, make sure all the parts 61 00:02:38,639 --> 00:02:40,440 Speaker 1: are there, make sure all the pieces are there. I 62 00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:43,160 Speaker 1: guess Amazon must do that on the back end when 63 00:02:43,160 --> 00:02:45,760 Speaker 1: they receive your goods. So the receipt that I got 64 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:48,320 Speaker 1: had a twenty five percent off coupon off of one 65 00:02:48,360 --> 00:02:51,600 Speaker 1: transaction good for seven days, and that was pretty much it. 66 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:54,520 Speaker 1: The transaction was done. Now, obviously they give you that 67 00:02:54,520 --> 00:02:56,600 Speaker 1: little coupon so that you stay in the store and 68 00:02:56,720 --> 00:02:59,240 Speaker 1: maybe a shop, maybe you buy something at Coal's. I 69 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:01,560 Speaker 1: did not do that. I just walked out of the store. 70 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:03,640 Speaker 1: But my receipt said that it would take up to 71 00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:07,440 Speaker 1: twenty one days to process my refund. But I had 72 00:03:07,440 --> 00:03:10,280 Speaker 1: an email from Amazon about three hours later in my 73 00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:13,280 Speaker 1: inbox saying that my return was processed and a credit 74 00:03:13,400 --> 00:03:16,320 Speaker 1: was issued to my visa for about forty five dollars. 75 00:03:16,320 --> 00:03:18,119 Speaker 1: So I did not spend a thing to return these 76 00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:20,760 Speaker 1: back to Amazon. The other neat thing about this process 77 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:22,959 Speaker 1: is that you don't have to pack your stuff up now. 78 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:25,399 Speaker 1: I brought it in an Amazon envelope that they sent 79 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:27,240 Speaker 1: to me, But you don't have to do that. All 80 00:03:27,240 --> 00:03:29,120 Speaker 1: you have to do is bring the products in and 81 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:33,640 Speaker 1: Coals apparently we'll get them into Amazon in a nice fashion. 82 00:03:33,919 --> 00:03:37,080 Speaker 1: The question is will this partnership expand will it last? 83 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:39,120 Speaker 1: As far as I can tell from the announcement date, 84 00:03:39,160 --> 00:03:41,640 Speaker 1: it doesn't seem like they added any news stores to 85 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:44,400 Speaker 1: the ones that are already doing this. But who knows 86 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:46,280 Speaker 1: if this will last. Time will tell. But all I 87 00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:48,040 Speaker 1: have to say is returning an item to Coles that 88 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:50,640 Speaker 1: you bought from Amazon is fast and easy, and it's 89 00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:53,040 Speaker 1: kind of a nice alternative to packing things up and 90 00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:55,200 Speaker 1: shipping them back. A lot of people don't have the 91 00:03:55,280 --> 00:03:57,800 Speaker 1: tape around their house or the boxes they need. The 92 00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:01,280 Speaker 1: Amazon lockers, I find are a pretty easy option too. 93 00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:03,680 Speaker 1: Of course, Amazon just wants to make the purchase and 94 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:07,320 Speaker 1: returns process as easy as possible for all of their customers, 95 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:09,960 Speaker 1: because the more comfortable you are knowing you can return 96 00:04:10,040 --> 00:04:13,760 Speaker 1: something easily, the more comfortable you are clicking that buy button. 97 00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:16,360 Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening. You can find a link 98 00:04:16,360 --> 00:04:19,000 Speaker 1: if you want to watch my full video review of 99 00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:22,440 Speaker 1: the returns process at cools from Amazon on my website. 100 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:25,400 Speaker 2: Just go to richon tech dot tv for the link. 101 00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:27,200 Speaker 1: And if you like what I'm doing with this podcast, 102 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:30,200 Speaker 1: please leave a review in the Apple Podcasts app. All 103 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:32,200 Speaker 1: you have to do is search for my podcast and 104 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:34,919 Speaker 1: look for the part where it says write a review. 105 00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:37,440 Speaker 2: I'm Rich Demiro. I'll talk to you real soon.