A question about online shopping

[Atomkilla]

I'm a relatively experienced online buyer, but I've had this weird thing happen to me today for the first time in my life.

I ordered 4 books from this website, and the time specified for arrival was 4-8 days. I've purchased stuff from them before and their time window was always correct. Trick with them is that they provide free shipping with no tracking number.

So the books haven't arrived in 8 days. I decided to wait a bit more. On the 10th day I contact Customer Support and they apologize and so on and I make an offer - I will wait several more days, and if it doesn't arrive by then, I will contact them again about refund and stuff.

The books hadn't arrived yesterday (14th or so after the items have been dispatched). I contacted them again and they said they can either send a new package or refund me fully - I go with the refund. They inform me that the procedure has began and my money will be refunded in 1-3 days.

Now here comes the big deal.

The books arrived today. They are in the local post, waiting to be picked up. The postman left the receipt in my mailbox.

And there's a refund ongoing which should arrive soon.




My questions:
a) Since the package was without tracking is there any way for the seller to know whether it arrived or not?
b) Since the package arrived after the specified time frame they offered am I in any obligation as a buyer to actually return the money/books at this point?
c) Is it possible to request to cancel the refund?
d) If I choose not to return the money nor the books can they actually know that the item has arrived?



I'm not gonna lie, receiving free books which otherwise costed me 65 euros is far from a bad deal, and I'm an asshole. On the other hand, I've been a customer on this website for ages now and they were always fair and super-cool with me, so essentially robbing them isn't nice.





Any of you guys had a similar experience? Thoughts? Advice?

 

[dopezilla]

Had the exact same thing with a Dutch webshop once. Package wasn't delivered in the timeframe they offered, about a week later I asked them to send me another package which arrived on time like promised. Then three odd weeks later the original package was also delivered. As long as there's no tracking number they can't track it either, I think. The guy told me it would be "nice" if I returned the items if I received the original package anyway. Which I didn't because I'm a cheap bastard. Never heard from them again, so I guess it's safe to just accept the package and pretend it never arrived.

So really it's up to you. You want to be nice, send it back, you feel like receiving €65,- worth of books for free, that's cool too.

 

[Atomkilla]

As long as there's no tracking number they can't track it either, I think.

If I had a 100% confirmation that this is true, I'd probably just keep the money too.

Have you ordered from that webshop again later on? Had any problems?

 

[dopezilla]

I've ordered from them again after that without any problems. Even kept the customer points and all.

I have to say, though, when I had them on the phone, the guy himself actually said there was no way for them to know if I received the package anyway...

You could try contacting the delivery company about tracking your package. If they confirm that it can't be tracked you're golden.