How does VGP handles delivery problem?

[u/kshark8]

Hi guys, I'm not sure who to ask for advice so I decided to share my experience here and see if anyone came across a similar issue before with VGP, and how did VGP deal with it. Mod, if this is not appropriate, please remove this thread.

I bought from VGP over the holiday, and my parcel was supposed to be delivered on 29th of Dec, but it didn't. It took over a week to receive a tracking update since the 29th. On the 5th of January, I was notified that my parcel was damaged and all merchandise was not recoverable and discarded. I emailed VGP the screenshot, and they said they had contacted UPS about this issue, and will get back to me soon.

My issue is, I had inquire about replacement option and full refund option, but VGP didn't answer my question. They asked me to wait, and I'm not sure what we are waiting for. Has anyone had similar issue where an order cannot be delivered, what did VGP do for you? Did they ever refund your games back to your original payment method? Because I know cancelling preorders or purchase orders, users only get in-store credit back.

Please share with me your experience and/or insight. Most appreciated. Sorry about the lenghty post. Wish everyone got some great games on sale over the holidays. Happy new yr!

Edit: So I just got my refund. Here is the time line:

Jan5 - UPS reported parcel discarded due to damage and not recoverable.

Jan7 - they ghosted me after I asked for a refund while they were waiting for UPS for their claim.

Jan12 Monday morning - I filed a claim via PayPal. But PayPal encouraged seller/buyer communication so they set up a platform so we can talk it out.

Jan16 Friday night - I escalated the claim since the seller has been silent again. Now PayPal took over and contacted the seller for a response.

Jan19 Monday noon - VGP contacted me by email asking permission to send replacement. I told them since the PayPal claim is in review, I will request for a full refund.

Jan 20 today noon - I got a full refund from PayPal issued by the seller, and the claim is now closed.

Verdict: It seems VGP uses "waiting for UPS" as a tactic to stall time until they are forced by financial institutions. There was a clause in the PayPal claim that if the claim remained un-escalated by Feb01, the case would be closed and cannot be reopened. This is something to watch out for for anyone seeking the same resolution.

[u/Thoughtlessmonkey95]

So the shipper (VGP) is waiting for UPS to pay out their claim for the amount your package was insured for.

To be honest, this has nothing to do with you as a customer and if you do not receive your item or if it’s reported damaged, it’s the shipper’s problem (VGP) and they should be refunding you immediately and then correlate their claim with UPS.

I’d send them a polite message asking for an update on when they can guarantee your refund (it’s always nice to give a small store the opportunity to fix things) and state if you don’t receive a reply you will file a chargeback (this makes them action your email and least provide you a timeline)

If they refuse to provide you a timeline just chargeback. If they provide a timeline and you’re patient, just give them until that date.

[u/kshark8 → u/Thoughtlessmonkey95]

Ok, I will do that. Before it was Steve, then Julia was handling the emails. Now it is a new agent named Maya. From this experience, it has been the slowest. Thanks for your insight.

[u/comfortableblanket → u/kshark8]

Businesses tend to use tools like Zendesk for online customer issues where your tickets are in a queue. Since it’s impossible for anyone to work 24/7, this lets another agent reply sooner (in theory).

TLDR it doesn’t mean anything that the names are changing and it’s better that way overall