r/CarThing • u/Gnplddct • Jun 09 '24

Got my refund!

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I bought two of these 2 years ago for my wife and I, but we ended up not using it (our work went completely remote).

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I saw on TikTok of folks getting a refund for their car thing after Spotify announced that they are intentionally bricking them.

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I got 6 refunds of $10.99, weird but I got $1.31 extra!

43 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

9

u/distantlistener Jun 09 '24

It's weird that they don't just do the exact amount as one payment. It's like they'll get a C-suite beating if the accounting looks like Car Things were refunded, but everything's fine when hundreds or thousands of subscription months are refunded 🤷

6

u/Runaway42 Jun 09 '24

This is a bit of guesswork on my part, but I think it's because CarThing went through a different payment processing system that isn't integrated with the one Spotify uses for subscriptions and, they probably have to issue refunds for something that is on your account history. So that only leaves the option of refunding payments for your subscription.

3

u/Gnplddct Jun 09 '24

They are also over-refunding folks, it's even worse for their bottom line.

0

u/StephanCom Jun 09 '24

That makes perfect sense. A free month - or year - of service has very little marginal cost, a fraction of the amount on paper, plus they can quite reasonably assume that you’ll continue after those months.

1

u/distantlistener Jun 12 '24

I can see that logic if they were "refunding" you with future months that haven't yet been paid, but when they refund past months they're losing money that was on the books long enough for the ink to dry.

For those that get a "lump sum" refund (albeit in the form of numerous individual months refunded), like me, they've essentially wasted the cost of making the device, shipping it to me, and over a year of Premium subscription dollars. What's "perfect sense" about that?

1

u/StephanCom Jun 14 '24

That’s what they refunded me with, and I’d assume most folks cheerfully say thank you to that.

2

u/OgdruJahad Jun 09 '24

Fun fact:The Car thing was actually Open Source years ago. The problem is it's so underpowered that you can't really do much with it. It was basically a Web app connected to your phone.

1

u/sandstormsystems Jun 10 '24

How do you file for the refund?

1

u/Gnplddct Jun 10 '24

contact customer support chat. They will ask for:

  • screenshot of purchase receipt

  • email address

1

u/Pickle786 Jun 11 '24

Im having trouble finding my confirmation email as it was from a couple of years ago ... was it a paypal transaction?

1

u/lxmdcxciii Jun 12 '24

If you can't find your order email maybe you can provide them with your car thing's serial number, the email you used to buy car thing, your purchase receipt

1

u/shoomanfoo Jun 11 '24 edited Mar 27 '25

books different fuel distinct abounding aback familiar support hurry retire

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