Expected to pay for return shipping for flawed books?

Are customers typically expected to pay for return shipping for books that clearly exhibit issues? I'm in the US and the cost of return shipping will be significant. I was excited to discover FS recently, but some of the books in my first order have very poor printing quality (the Tolkien books, wish I had seen the numerous threads on the issues with these particular books here before ordering them). FS is offering a refund, but has made no mention of providing a shipping label for their return. I really like the other editions I've received so far, and what FS offers in general, and I realize that FS is a small company and not, say, Amazon, but this experience is starting to turn me off to the company.

Have others had luck requesting shipping labels in such cases?

On the rare occasions where I have needed to complain to Folio they replaced the damaged items without requiring me to return them. In their email, they invited me to donate the damaged copies to charity, which I duly did.

In the UK they supplied me with a pre-paid returns label straight away. I suspect the quality of customer service, unfortunately, is really dependent on your geographic proximity to them. As >2 ubiquitousuk: mentioned if you kick up enough of a stink they may invite you to donate them instead of providing a pre-paid label which is probably worth more to ship back across the Atlantic than the books are worth.

I’m in Canada and any time I have had issues they send replacements without requiring me to return the damaged books.
Not sure if that has changed.

I’m in Canada and have always been offered the free replacements as long as I can send pictures demonstrating the damage, which I thin is fair. I can see, though, that their response might be different if you were asking for your money back. I would call/email and ask what they can offer.

Agreed with the above. The only time they've refunded me instead of automatically sending a replacement of a damaged book is when the item has sold out in the meantime. In a couple of instances, this happened with a sale purchase and they refunded me the cost and did not ask me to return the replacement. I'm in the USA.

>1 EC85: FS is offering a refund, but has made no mention of providing a shipping label for their return
But have they mentioned actually returning the books to them? Probably not. I'd clarify it with them. I've never heard of FS demanding to ship damaged books back to them at the customer's cost. FS generally provides excellent customer service and I strongly recommend reaching out to them to clarify your doubts.
Enjoy your new Folios, look for older Tolkien editions printed by the Bath Press (or even earlier letterpress printings) on the secondary market, and welcome!

Thank you all for the replies. Will reach out to them for more clarification.

I’m in the US, and they did ask me to pay out of pocket to return my poorly printed copy of LotR. When I pushed back, they dropped the request and just refunded me.

They told me they will replace books without requiring the damaged books to be returned. However, to get a refund, you have to return the books. They don’t have international return labels, so you have to send them back at your own cost. I’m in the U. S.

I wonder whether Folio have got the message yet, that accepting the standard of printing found in some of the current Tolkien books is going to cost them dearly in terms of refunds and customer goodwill. I've seen pixellation as bad and worse before, but only ever in books from Indian facsimile publishers who are sometimes the only source on earth for a printed copy of a specific text. Quite content to live with it when that's the deal, but the FS is in no position to expect such leniency from their customers.

I'm in Europe, so that might play a role, and I didn't ask for a refund but for replacements. But it was always possible to arrange for a refund on the return shipping of books, if a return was required.

>9 ambyrglow:

>10 indigosky:

Very disappointing to hear. I'll see what I can do, still waiting for a response from them.

Just received a copy of Life in the English Country House (prompted by low stock warning) with a biffed corner on book (slipcase undamaged), so following my email yesterday a replacement is being sent (excellent swift response), with a request to return the damaged copy using a reply paid label (UK), as with >3 wongie:.
I sent a photo of the damage and the FS email says “the book should be refurbishable, and would like our Production and warehouse teams to see what has been sent out here.”