When it has to go back

Where a return starts

On the order page at the retail partner. The window, the packing rules and the way the money travels back are all set by that listing, and their record is what the process runs on.

Nothing should be mailed to the address on the mailroom page. There is nobody at that suite who can receive a crate, and a box arriving there enters no process at all.

The mistake behind most of them

The crate is an inch or two too small, because the dog was measured to the tip of the tail instead of the base, or the width in the product name was mistaken for the room inside. The interior length and the outside width both sit on every page here, and they are different numbers on purpose.

Ten minutes with a tape measure before ordering beats a week of repacking after. The mailroom will gladly check a measurement before the order goes in.

A cracked panel is a part, not a return

Most partner listings handle a damaged or missing piece with a replacement part rather than a whole crate going back. Say which panel by its number on the instruction sheet, and the right slab of wood comes in a slim box instead of a whole crate crossing the country twice.

Send the same photo to the mailroom with the order number. It will not speed the replacement, but it tells us which corner of which box keeps failing, and that is what the next production run gets drawn around.

If the dog is the reason

A furniture crate that a chewer is steadily taking apart should be swapped for a heavy kennel while the return window is open, not patched with brackets after it closes. That trade is the single most frequent advice this mailroom sends.

Write first if you are not sure. A photo of the damage says a lot about the dog, and the answer sometimes is that a different crate will not change anything a trainer could.