Last month I ordered a couple of items from Chinavasion.com. This is an online store based in China.

One of the items ordered was a MP4 player that was dead on arrival. I engaged in several chat sessions and email exchanges trying to get them to pay for the return shipping costs for me to get the defective item back to them and get a refund. After all, they sent me a bad unit out the door, why should I have to pay for that mistake? They wouldn't do it. Their terms and conditions said that it was the customer's responsibility, however, that return shipping cost could be refunded under extreme conditions. It was sufficiently vague and they wouldn't give it to me. I gave up and just sent the item back so that I can at least get refunded for the defective item and my original shipping costs.

The item finally made it to China and I get a refund thru Paypal for the cost of the item. However, they did not refund me any of the original shipping costs. It is clearly and explicitly stated in their Terms and Conditions on their site that the original shipping costs would be refunded.

I start up a chat session with them and try to explain the situation. Then I start getting excuses for why shipping costs are not refunded. I point them to their own webpage and paste the text for them. I continue to get new made up excuses for why they will not refund me the original shipping costs. The excuses don't even make any sense.

I actually saved the chat transcript and can probably post some of the interesting reasons they were trying to come up with. All throughout, I was trying to be as diplomatic as possible.

The question is, do I have any recourse here? I'm probably looking at recovering only about $14 here, but it really pisses me off that they are blatantly ignoring their own Terms and Conditions just so that they don't have to refund this amount to me.

My chat transcript, I removed some stuff to shorten it up a bit, highlighted a couple of things:

IvyL: how can i help you?
Gambit: ok, well, I returned a defective item, and exchanged a couple of emails with her, and she recently processed a refund for me
Gambit: first of all, I would like to thank her for that
Gambit: however, the refund amount did not include the "original shipping cost"
Gambit: please note I am talking about the original shipping cost for getting the item to me, not the return shipping cost for sending it back to Chinavasion
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IvyL: regarding to our refund policy, if the products have been shipped out, we will not refund the shipping cost to you
IvyL: because the shipping was taken
IvyL: and the cost was existed
Gambit: Ivy, this is from the terms and conditions on your site
Gambit: Here is the link:
Gambit: http://support.chinavasion.com/index...leid=132&nav=0
IvyL: please note once the parcel shipped out to you, we can not refund the original shipping cost to you
Gambit: Ivy, I don't think you understand. Your company policy in the Terms and Conditions clearly state that a "full refund of the original item purchase cost original shipping cost"
Gambit: I am not sure why you are trying to argue this point. I did not make this up.
---
IvyL: we can full refund the purchase cost and original shipping cost , but that is based that the parcel have not been shipped out
IvyL: i mean shipped from chinavasion
Gambit: Ivy, please, please, please, please stop saying that. I don't know how to make the terms and conditions any more clear to you. It says that a full refund of both purchase cost and original shipping cost can be made "in the case of returned faulty items."
Gambit: It says nothing about if the parcel hasn't shipped yet. And that wouldn't make sense. If you didn't ship it to me yet, how can I figure out that the item is faulty and then "return" it?
Gambit: If you would like to transfer me to talk to someone else, then that would be fine. I just want to get this matter resolved as quickly as possible so that we don't waste too much of your time or my time.
IvyL: can we suggest you be more patient, we will check the link you sent to us
Gambit: No problem.
IvyL: we have double cheked our refund policy
IvyL: for some order and situations, we can refund the full amount
IvyL: but not all the orders
IvyL: as you known, it is exist depreciation rate in the transit
Gambit: Ivy, please, stop! stop! please
IvyL: and the item you returned not the original package from chinavasion
Gambit: I just don't understand why you are trying so hard to not just refund me that shipping cost
IvyL: sorry, it's our procedure.
Gambit: we are going through so much and it's not like I am asking for any more than what your terms and conditions are saying
Gambit: because now you are bringing up all these other things and then saying that it is not in the original packaging when I know for a fact that I put everything back and sent it exactly like I received it
Gambit: everything that you are talking about with depreciation, original packaging, etc. doesn'
IvyL: sorry, hope you can understand it 's our company's procedure not mine
Gambit: doesn't even apply... that item cost transaction was already submitted, I am just asking about the shipping ... that's it... and really, it's only half the shipping cost, because I had two items in the original order and I don't expect you to refund the entire shipping cost
IvyL: so our response is all the same
Gambit: I really don't know what to do here... I don't know why I am being treated this way
Gambit: I'm following exactly your policies, and then all of a sudden, there's all of these other excuses and stuff
Gambit: I'm just simply asking for the original shipping cost as stated in your policy
IvyL: sorry, as you known, every company has its compellent policy
IvyL: we can just inform you that we can not refund the shipping cost to you
Gambit: actually, I didn't understand that, but what I really don't understand is why you are trying to ignore your policy by coming up with all these other things right now

If you used Paypal, can't you dispute the charges? At least it will lock the funds up on their side while the dispute is being processed.

That sucks. I don't think I would order from a company called Chinavasion though. It sounds a little sketchy... Let us know if you get any of the shipping refunded. Good luck!

I'll probably try Paypal, but since this is sort of after the initial transaction, not sure whether they will consider this as something that I can dispute.

Well, they are a China wholesaler, somewhat similar to DealExtreme. I've seen mention of their products in various places such as Engadget. I had looked them up on resellerratings and their overall rating seemed pretty good so I figured I would give them a try. What a mistake that was.

Hi Gambit, it's George here from Chinavasion. Sounds like you had bad luck with this player, and I'm sorry for the non-helpful support response you got there.

Please post your order number here and I'll make sure you're refunded for your original shipping.

Being a wholesaler in China makes return issues inevitably a bit complicated. Our policies were originally established for dealing with our bulk import buyers. We're currently developing a network of local distributors around the world who will improve this situation for end users such as yourself.

As a china dvds wholesaler,i feel shame for this.We have to treat our customers well and try to sort the problem for them.Only this way we can keep cooperation for long time and make our customers happy with our products.