AMEX Return Protection: Did They Make You Return The Item?

[jl75]

Seeing as eBay is no longer going to be accepting direct payments from American Express cards starting next week, meaning that paying via PayPal is going to be the only way to use AmEx cards on eBay, I'm wondering if anyone has had any experiences getting claims approved over the past year or so using AmEx cards via PayPal (even if not on eBay). It's been years since I used PayPal, and I can't remember if I ever claimed anything that involved PayPal years ago. Anyhow, any DPs would be greatly appreciated!

[jc1234]

Seeing as eBay is no longer going to be accepting direct payments from American Express cards starting next week, meaning that paying via PayPal is going to be the only way to use AmEx cards on eBay, I'm wondering if anyone has had any experiences getting claims approved over the past year or so using AmEx cards via PayPal (even if not on eBay). It's been years since I used PayPal, and I can't remember if I ever claimed anything that involved PayPal years ago. Anyhow, any DPs would be greatly appreciated!

Do you have a DP of using Amex on Ebay without Paypal and return protection covering the charge? I thought there is a possibility this wouldn't have worked even before ebay stopped accepting amex.

[TheGlobeTrotter]

Return Protection is great. I've been an Amex cardholder for decades and my mantra is as long as your return is within the program rules, it will result in a successful outcome. As others have said, you may not have to return the product to them. I'd note though that Amex, just like other major companies, have "customer scores", "profitability scores", and other models that rank your value to them. I wouldn't risk trying to max this benefit across multiple cards.

[jl75]

Do you have a DP of using Amex on Ebay without Paypal and return protection covering the charge? I thought there is a possibility this wouldn't have worked even before ebay stopped accepting amex.

I've done so numerous times over the past ten years without any problem (but I do recall other posts on this forum in the past asking whether eBay purchases would work for Return Protection). The important thing is for the item to be listed as "New" (not "Like new" or "Open box" or "refurbished", which I've never tried and doubt would work). Over the past several months, they've started asking for photos of items from eBay (maybe also from other retailers) and evidence of delivery, for which you can get the tracking number from the purchase record on eBay and then look up the rest of the details on USPS/UPS/FedEx/etc. But the bottom line is that yes, eBay purchases of new items are definitely eligible for AmEx Return Protection. The only thing I'm unsure of is whether buying via PayPal somehow makes it ineligible (hopefully not, since you're still paying for the entire purchase price with an AmEx card, just using a middleman to process the payment).

[Fish Tank]

Annex asked me for a letter from the merchant that I wanted to return and it was denied. I didn't actually reach out because it was easy past return window.
Any suggestions?

What did you end up doing?
I have the same thing now - getting asked for proof that I attempted to return the item. I have no way to provide proof.

[etech0]

[Savingsbeast]

Annex asked me for a letter from the merchant that I wanted to return and it was denied. I didn't actually reach out because it was easy past return window.
Any suggestions?

What did you end up doing?
I have the same thing now - getting asked for proof that I attempted to return the item. I have no way to provide proof.

If you try to return the item and getting rejected because it's past the return window, isn't that proof of attempt and denial?

[etech0]

If you try to return the item and getting rejected because it's past the return window, isn't that proof of attempt and denial?

but what's the proof? do you need video footage?

[imayid2]

What did you end up doing?
I have the same thing now - getting asked for proof that I attempted to return the item. I have no way to provide proof.

Maybe call tomorrow and ask if it can be returned, when denied ask if they’d provide you with a letter to that effect.

[etech0]

Maybe call tomorrow and ask if it can be returned, when denied ask if they’d provide you with a letter to that effect.

If I was a store I might be nervous to do that. When people talk about credit cards stores worry about disputes.

[jl75]

If I was a store I might be nervous to do that. When people talk about credit cards stores worry about disputes.

I immediately thought the same thing a couple years ago when AmEx asked me for proof that I hadn't returned, exchanged or been refunded for an instrument that I had bought at a smaller-sized brick-and-mortar musical instrument store. I e-mailed the manager and in making my request for a letter, I tried my best to make it clear that it was for an insurance claim (which could have been for anything as far as they were concerned, including fire damage, flood damage, other loss, etc.). In my case, the store manager very kindly and quickly e-mailed me a letter which I successfully used to get my RP claim approved. Of course, YMMV depending on the particular store manager, but I 100% agree that it's best to make clear that this isn't for some kind of charge-back or dispute that will end up reflecting badly on them or affecting them financially.

[Fish Tank]

but what's the proof? do you need video footage?

Exactly. I have no proof.

[Fish Tank]

Maybe call tomorrow and ask if it can be returned, when denied ask if they’d provide you with a letter to that effect.

That would be a good idea, except that now it's past the 90-day window (return attempt was in June, within the 90 days)

[etech0]

That would be a good idea, except that now it's past the 90-day window (return attempt was in June, within the 90 days)

If you have a receipt does it say the return policy on it? Maybe you could send that in and say that when you decided to return it (on X date) you looked at the receipt and saw that it was too late.

[jc1234]

I've done so numerous times over the past ten years without any problem (but I do recall other posts on this forum in the past asking whether eBay purchases would work for Return Protection). The important thing is for the item to be listed as "New" (not "Like new" or "Open box" or "refurbished", which I've never tried and doubt would work). Over the past several months, they've started asking for photos of items from eBay (maybe also from other retailers) and evidence of delivery, for which you can get the tracking number from the purchase record on eBay and then look up the rest of the details on USPS/UPS/FedEx/etc. But the bottom line is that yes, eBay purchases of new items are definitely eligible for AmEx Return Protection. The only thing I'm unsure of is whether buying via PayPal somehow makes it ineligible (hopefully not, since you're still paying for the entire purchase price with an AmEx card, just using a middleman to process the payment).

Thank you !

[jl75]

That would be a good idea, except that now it's past the 90-day window (return attempt was in June, within the 90 days)

Just sharing my best-guess on this. You're right that it's probably NOT a good idea at this point to make a second return attempt just to be able to document it, because even if you weren't past the 90-day RP period, they would likely still look at it as an invalid claim because you have to attempt to return the item BEFORE you submit the claim, not after (in other words, it needs to be "I need to file a Return Protection claim for this item because I tried but I can't return it", not "I'm filing a Return Protection claim for this item and I'll attempt to return it if you ask me to").

I think you have two options at this point: If it's the type of retailer where you can contact someone who might take your word for it, you can call/e-mail/message them and ask for a letter stating that you did try to return it on XYZ date but that they wouldn't accept the return since it was outside of their ##-day return policy. (Remember to tell them that this is for an insurance claim, not for a dispute or chargeback that's going to affect them financially.) If they won't do that for you, then I would write a letter to AmEx Assurance simply stating that you called/e-mailed/messaged the retailer on ##/##/2024 and that while you unfortunately did not take note of the name of the person you spoke to (or the e-mail/message was answered by someone who did not provide their name), you were told that it was outside of the window for accepting returns, thus the return wasn't accepted by the retailer. I had to write a letter for a somewhat different situation--they were asking for proof of delivery but by that point they asked me for it, it had been more than 90 days since the purchase and eBay or Amazon no longer had the tracking number listed for the item--and I simply explained the situation and was approved. At that point, I wasn't too optimistic that it was going to get approved, but thankfully, it was. Anyhow, if you do decide to upload an explanatory letter, make sure you include whatever supporting documentation you can get--either a copy of the receipt where it shows the return policy, and/or a screenshot of their website where it states the return policy (assuming that they have a website...if it's a brick-and-mortar store and it's not too far, try getting a photo of their posted return policy maybe?).  At some point, while of course AmEx Assurance is an insurance company, they're also serving us as AmEx customers so they'll hopefully take that into consideration and not treat you like they're investigating a multi-million-dollar health insurance claim or something like that.

I've also gotten the impression that the final approval--especially where additional documentation has been requested--all comes down to a subjective decision by whoever is assigned to your claim. Writing an explanatory letter might be enough for one claims adjustor but not another. Funny thing is, I've had a claim "closed" without payment because I didn't get around to submitting the documentation (but then even when it's "closed", you can still submit the documentation and they'll approve it, so "closed" is kind of a temporary status for RP). I also had a strange experience about six months ago where I had two claims that I didn't get around to submitting the extra requested documentation for (I think it was proof that I didn't return the item, or something like that), yet they STILL approved both claims a few weeks later! I wouldn't recommend taking that approach, but at least it's a DP (or two) attesting to the strange outcomes that sometimes happen with RP!

[iluv2travel]

You can't say that you emailed to the retailer and didn't take note of who responded unless you are ready to cough up a copy of that email. You can easily do this for a phone call but an email you can be asked to provide the evidence so that's not such a great idea IMO.

[jl75]

You can't say that you emailed to the retailer and didn't take note of who responded unless you are ready to cough up a copy of that email. You can easily do this for a phone call but an email you can be asked to provide the evidence so that's not such a great idea IMO.

You're right that nobody should claim that they e-mailed someone if they didn't (at least not for an insurance claim where you could be held liable for fraud). What I meant was for the OP to tell AmEx Assurance that they e-mailed about returning an item IF it was actually true that they did e-mail someone within 90 days after purchase. I've had experiences (not for returns but for other business transactions) where a company will have someone answer an e-mail but the e-mailer's name isn't included, and the e-mail address is a generic customer service e-mail. Same thing can happen for chats with various companies; for example, AmEx Chat used to always give the agent's name, then last year it started always simply saying something like "An agent has joined the chat", and in the past couple months, I've noticed that sometimes the name is given and sometimes it's not. So, yes, I 100% agree that you should never lie to an insurance company, but it's not always true that you'll have the e-mailer's name if a large company responds to your e-mail (either way, yes, you'll definitely want to be able to provide a copy of the e-mail as proof, and be aware that companies keep records of chats so if AmEx Assurance was to request it from the company and find out that you lied, then you'd be in equally big trouble). Anyhow, sorry if something I said made it sound like I was suggesting people lie to AmEx Assurance or any other insurance company, as that definitely wasn't my intent!

EDIT: I see where the misunderstanding may have originated. I suggested to "simply" try something (contacting the retailer and/or writing an explanatory letter to AmEx), and I should have made clear that I was only suggesting that IF the OP had actually made that return attempt.

[jc1234]

If I bought clothing, removed the tags, and then realized I don’t like it, does anyone know if Amex will cover the return? Especially since the store doesn’t accept returns without tags?

[imayid2]

If I bought clothing, removed the tags, and then realized I don’t like it, does anyone know if Amex will cover the return? Especially since the store doesn’t accept returns without tags?

If the store will not accept it back it is covered