Was charged tax on a purchase, but didn't receive the tax back when I returned the item. Is this legal?

You should have gotten back the tax. Follow up with your state taxing authority.

The only time I've seen this happen was at Wal-mart where they wouldn't refund the tax because we had no receipt and it was near New Hampshire which has no sales tax.

In your case it sounds like someone messed up. Even if they have already filed the taxes with their state they can recoup those funds at the next filing.

Yes you should get it back. Email them with the receipt and try explaining again.

Thank you for the advice. The email customer service representative said that it was their policy not to refund the tax. I had already submitted my receipt. I will try calling them and see where I get.

If it isnt on their FAQ sheet then you will never get the correct answer. Simply dispute the difference on your creditcard you tried once to get the tax refunded. It is not worth your time or aggrevation to try again. You will go round and round in circles on this spinning your wheels.

I think i returned an item with a receipt and they tried to simply return to me cash for the price of the item but i think they were keying in the item incorrectly for the return but this was in store.

the only time you should not get tax back is when you don't have a receipt/record of purchase. This happens @ WM because they don't know where you bought the item. For example I could buy something in CT (6.35% sales tax) then return it in RI (8%) and get 1.65% back on the purchase due to the difference in taxation.

Also be sure that the discrepancy wasn't a restocking fee.

Quote from Cycle10s : Thank you for the advice. The email customer service representative said that it was their policy not to refund the tax. I had already submitted my receipt. I will try calling them and see where I get.

That is bullshit...it's unjust enrichment for them...because the no longer have the tax liability.

Why did they refund you as a check instead of back to your credit card? Did you take too long to return it?

I could see them not refunding the tax portion because the "rebate" check is not tied to the original purchase. Logitech would technically remit the sales tax to the state since the "rebate" transaction was not made against the original order.

I believe here in California we also get tax back on no-receipt returns. I'm still trying to understand why they sent you a check.

Did you pay via PayPal or something? This is the only time I've had a company refund me via a check in the mail, because they couldn't issue refunds via PayPal for some odd reason.

UPDATE: I talked to phone support and they said their reasoning for not refunding the tax was to cover their shipping costs!

I told them that shipping has nothing to do with taxes and then asked them to tell me where the taxes are going if they're not being refunded to me. He ignored the question and then said that he will put in a request to have the taxes refunded. I should hear back by Tuesday.

Quote from PiratesSayARRR : That is bullshit...it's unjust enrichment for them...

This is exactly right. Logitech's return department has this whole scheme set up to screw you. The fact that they issued me a REBATE CHECK (with a 90 day expiration) instead of directly refunding my credit card is also pretty underhanded. It seems like these are the types of things class action lawsuits could be filed over.

Quote from dzap : I believe here in California we also get tax back on no-receipt returns. I'm still trying to understand why they sent you a check. Did you pay via PayPal or something? This is the only time I've had a company refund me via a check in the mail, because they couldn't issue refunds via PayPal for some odd reason.

Ah, thanks for pointing that out. I'll have to go back and check my PayPal and CC statements. I'm not sure which one I used.

UPDATE: I did in fact pay with a credit card. After another 3 phone calls and the promise that I would be refunded my taxes I received the response below:


Thank you for contacting Logitech Sales Support. We spoke yesterday in regards to your refund request for the M705. I had escalated the incident and received a response this morning.

Because the refund was not processed through sales, I was not able to see that the refund had already been processed and that you had then inquired on a full refund, including taxes. I would like to inform you that it is our policy, and in accordance with Government regulations, that we can only refund the original (MSRP) purchase price and any shipping and handling fees.

How do they get away with this??

Quote from Cycle10s : UPDATE: I did in fact pay with a credit card. After another 3 phone calls and the promise that I would be refunded my taxes I received the response below: Thank you for contacting Logitech Sales Support. We spoke yesterday in regards to your refund request for the M705. I had escalated the incident and received a response this morning. Because the refund was not processed through sales, I was not able to see that the refund had already been processed and that you had then inquired on a full refund, including taxes. I would like to inform you that it is our policy, and in accordance with Government regulations, that we can only refund the original (MSRP) purchase price and any shipping and handling fees. How do they get away with this??

Notify them that you are passing this info and emails to the BBB and then open up a complaint with the BBB. I like logitech but this is just wrong. Someone is misinformed about this at logitech.