Edition 116, November 2021

Message From the Editor

By Felecia Przybyla, Reverse Logistics Association

RLA recently had another one of our free webinars, and the topic was Fraudulent Returns (you can find the recording here: https://rla.org/event/history/176).   The webinar was great and had valuable information.  The fact that we even need an hour-long webinar on this topic makes me disappointed in consumers these days - but it’s something we must deal with.  

Here’s a fraudulent returns example that I personally experienced.  I bought a Ninja Foodi a couple of years ago, and due to my lack of knowledge on the product and curious about different recipes, I joined a FB group all about the product.  The majority of content was super helpful and we ate some great meals using this amazing device and suggestions from the group.  However, I occasionally came across posts where group members asked about the warranty.  One post caught my attention:

The original poster had said that her daughter had dropped her recently purchased Ninja Foodi and the lid broke and now the unit won’t turn on or heat up, and since accidents on the consumer’s part isn’t covered under the warranty, she was just devastated that she was going to have to buy a new one.
 
These were some of the responses:
“Don’t mention what happened.  Just say it won’t turn on.”
“Buy one and put the messed up one in the box and take it back and say it won’t heat up.”
 
I confronted both of those responses, and of course, I got some snarky responses, including this one:  “ya but the company makes millions of these machines that are nowhere near worth $275, not on sale, they can take a hit. What they will do is write it off, so it really doesn’t cost them any money”

The ignorance and dishonesty of these group members just makes me shudder, but unfortunately this seems to be a norm in our retail world these days.  Discovering best practices to address or prevent these challenges is our goal with our association.   
 
Warm regards from your
RLA Magazine Editor,
Felecia Przybyla
editor@rla.org


Felecia Przybyla

Felecia is RLA's Director of Media.  She has been with the company since 2010 and has held a variety of roles within RLA.  She started out working with speakers the first few years and is currently managing all Media needs including Editor of the RL Magazine, the RLA Smarter World e-News, monthly Events emails, social media and now directs the annual RLA Conf & Expo in Las Vegas.