Maybe you all know this already, but I didn’t: Dover is no longer doing free return shipping on sized items. A few times I’d order a small or medium in an item when I wasn’t sure of the brand or fit, knowing I could return the one that didn’t work. That’s not an option any more. I think it’s just Riding Warehouse and SmartPak that still do this.
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Thanks for the heads up. Guess that’s the end of me ever ordering anything from Dover that’s not a duplicate of something I already own and know fits.
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Yep, I’m in the market for a new helmet and wanted to try a Chas Owen MIPS vs current Tipperary. I have no idea if it will fit or not, so will be shopping somewhere else.
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And it’s pretty expensive… Just checked Dover’s website and it is $7.95 for the return shipping (deducted from your refund it says).
I personally never loved Dover’s return system because I felt like it took forever to get the refund. Once Dover received the product it had “to be processed in the warehouse” and then the refund would get issued - usually 10-14 days (on top of the days in transit).
I wonder if you can return in store for free? I didn’t see that spelled out on the Returns page. I was going to do a chat session to ask that, but they are offline for the evening.
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You can, I do this sometimes since I have a store near me. They also have a store pickup option on the website now. Really disappointing they’re charging for return shipping though, I guess I’ll be shifting more of my purchases to SmartPak from now on.
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A couple of months ago I had to return DEFECTIVE boots. There was no return label included and I couldn’t find any information on free returns. So I sucked it up and paid a bunch to mail it back to them. I had also contacted them but it took awhile for a response. They claimed at that time that there were free returns and I should have used the (non-existent) return label. I was hoping they’d reimburse me but all I go was a discount code for a few bucks that I never used. Super frustrating.
—I’m dumb, we have a Dover not too far, I should have taken them to the store!
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I would pester them or contact your CC. I’ve never had an issue with customer service with them and would argue they have (or maybe I’ve gotten lucky) some of the best I’ve encountered recently.
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To be fair, most online retailers are going away from free returns (unless you do it in store, like Eddie Bauer and LL Bean). This is not surprising as it costs them a great deal to process returns-- heck, most returned items never even go back on the original retailer’s shelves. Lots of clothes are either sent to the discounters (TJ Maxx type) or are sent to landfills. So everytime you buy three sizes and return two, you are costing the company $$ to handle the returns beyond the cost of the items at times.
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This. It took them well over a month to process my return and then refund me when I returned an item.
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Tacking on to add. Even Amazon is no longer doing free returns.
My bestie returned some items to Amazon thru Kohl’s (or maybe it was Staples). And then the lady at customer service, put her box, in to another box which was all getting returned to Amazon. I think it was a $1.00 to print your own label??? but I could be wrong on that.
Every penny is getting pinched.
The only reason Dover did that was because the original SmartPak company did it. I took advantage of it several times at SmartPak, including getting a new helmet for a young friend in Florida. Dover has always had a reputation for expensive shipping. I surprised they didn’t drop this earlier.
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In some ways, if it gets the consumer to think more about what they are purchasing, its not a bad thing.
I gave up ordering multiple sizes and sending the ones back that didn’t fit when I realized that many of the returns were ending up as landfill.
I try to be very conscious of measuring carefully for online purchases so I only order once. I still make mistakes, though. It was really so much easier when you could go to the local tack store and try things on.
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I feel like there’s this weird culture of just buying tons of stuff and then returning 3/4 of it, so I honestly can’t blame companies for starting to charge. Free returns were being massively abused. When you order something, make sure you really want it and do your research first.
I can count on my hands the number of times in my life that I’ve returned something online or to a store, and it’s always been because the item was defective or I was sent the wrong thing. A few times I’ve bought things that ended up the wrong size, but that’s largely avoided by sticking to brands where I know my size or carefully checking out the sizing chart and reviews. If in doubt I tend to go up a size. That can be dealt with… too small cannot. In one case the brand must have massively changed their sizing and the breeches I bought were a final sale closeout/clearance. They wouldn’t even fit over my thighs, so I put them on consignment at the tack shop and got more money out of them than I had originally spent.
If anything, maybe this will drive some more business to local tack shops (I understand not every area has one anymore) where you might spend a bit more but have the certainty of being able to try things on.
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Dovers warehouse receives many hundreds of boxes daily, from vendors, customers, stores etc. They take a while to sort through and once the return is processed it can take up to 10 business days (meaning two actual weeks) for the bank to credit your account.
Also, $7.95 doesn’t cover the cost of return shipping. If you’ve shipped anything recently, you know that sending a small 2lb package anywhere costs far more than that.
Many online sellers have stopped sending free return labels and many are raising the threshold for free shipping.
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