It's all well and good for a retailer to claim to offer "free, no-hassle returns," but if you're like me, you don't really believe it until you experience it. I recently had cause to return a pair of glasses to Coastal.com, and while there is room for improvement in the returns process, the experience was straightforward and completely free on my part.
In the interest of full disclosure, I ordered a pair that were too small for my face. It was totally my fault and serves as a reminder that a few millimeters DO matter in frame size! Anyway, I decided to send them back for a refund.
I logged onto my account, clicked on my "order history" and then clicked on "return items." I was prompted to fill out a two-item questionnaire about my return and then provided a label to print. The label was for USPS Priority Mail, so you can print the label and then put the glasses in your mailbox. Simple. (Do make sure you take note of your tracking number before you mail your glasses.)
I mailed the glasses on Aug. 21. The tracking indicated that the package was received on Aug. 23. When I had not received a refund or any return confirmation from Coastal by Aug. 27, I called the toll-free number on the website. The CS representative who helped me confirmed that my glasses had been received, after he placed me on hold briefly and checked the status of the order. I was told that it could take up to 10 days to receive the refund. He offered to help me order a new pair, but was not pushy when I declined to do so at that time. We then ended the call, and the next day I received an email stating that my return had been processed. The refund was credited on Aug. 31.
As you can see, this was a painless return. I've certainly experienced much worse when returning online purchases! I would, however, have preferred better communication from Coastal via email and through my account on the website. In fact, my Coastal account still does not reflect the return. But it's hard to complain when I received something with which I was unhappy (due to my own error) and the retailer paid for return shipping and gave me a full refund with no questions asked. I call this a win.
*It is important to note, if you are returning a pair purchased on the First Pair Free promo, that you will need to contact customer support to order a new pair with the same promo code. I specifically inquired about this. Just pick the new pair you'd like to order and give them a call. They are very helpful.
