Make Good for Military
-UPDATE BELOW ORIGINAL POST-
A customer is stationed with her family overseas. Her mail comes through APO- or Army/Air Post Office. The US Postal Service ships painlessly this way for families to send letters, gifts, etc overseas to their loved ones. There are certain mailing restrictions based on the end destination of the package, but generally speaking- it's pretty easy to utilize this service. USPS.com even has an online click and ship procedure to streamline the process even more. Suffice it to say that many military wives living at home in the states, as well as others that might be especially aware of the needs of those stationed overseas might very well have utilized the APO or other military mail to send leggings and other clothes for anyone that may have ordered them or as gifts for loved ones.
But what if this person bought the leggings or received them as a gift, and they turned out to be defective?
According to this LLR employee, they are not entitled to a refund because they are overseas. This woman was instructed to seek out her original retailer. What if she's no longer in business? This is funny to me. Chances are, these brave individuals are closer to the product as it's being manufactured than where they are sold from, and yet their orders don't seem to qualify for a refund. American dollars spent by American military, can't get a refund because they aren't on American soil? Now it's possible that this home office individual wasn't aware of how an APO works, and just misspoke. But I want to point out that there are no rules against a LLR Retailer selling overseas that I am aware of. I highly doubt LLR would have a rule that states: "You can not sell to the US Military overseas." But when these individuals and their families are stationed abroad to protect the freedom and liberties of the citizens of this country choose to wear and support a product from an American company- and that company won't honor their quality guarantee for these folks just like every other US resident, well... that's just not right. To this woman whose family is overseas, and to the scores of other military- first- thank you for your service. It is because you lay your lives down for us that I feel you should be given much more than you are. Thank you for being selfless and brave for all of us. You ARE appreciated. I can only hope the companies that were good enough to take support from military wives and families who enrolled as reps fulfill their end of the deal- by making good on a quality guarantee for military overseas as well.
UPDATE: After posting this blog, two individuals came forward with information. The first one, a former consultant who moved to Japan while her husband was stationed there for three years. She requested that her consultant account be put on hold until she returned because selling overseas was not allowed. Her request was denied. A screenshot of the conversation is included below dated February 2017. (Read from the bottom up)
The second is from another individual who is also living in Japan and saw an announcement from a consultant IN JAPAN. She claims she's complying with import law and has a sales account with LLR. This post is from May 9, 2017. The original post is from late May this year. So is the consultant lying about being allowed to sell in Japan, are there approved consultants in Japan, or is Kia (above) a very confused Make Good rep.?
I think the important thing to note here isn't whether or not LLR is allowing reps to sell overseas, but that product is being sold there. Further, that an APO is considered an American address, and the company needs to honor those return requests. If it's possible that the woman bought the leggings before moving overseas as well, that should be considered before denying her return request. But once again, there are many inconsistencies in what is and isn't allowed. Can you sell on base? Why wouldn't a sale from a military base not count for a return? Etc.