Refund then collection of goods - how long is too long

[barker22]

Odd title however explanation below. Apologies for the long read. It just gives a bit of context.

I bought an ac unit from a company that delivers appliances directly. This was the beginning of July. Unit developed a fault, basically the unit wasn't put together properly or a seal missing and water was going somewhere it shouldn't and instead of evaporating away it leaked onto the carpet instead.
The fault was reported towards the end of july. The company offers free collection in the event of a fault. So it all seemed to go well with customer service, they acknowledged the fault and said they would arrange a collection. This never happened so I emailed customer services to sort to which they again acknowledged the fault and said someone would be in touch to arrange return. Once again this never happened several more times so I opened a PayPal case. Long story short they never replied for 2 months and the case was eventually closed on my favour with a full refund after much chasing.
2 days later I get a phone call from the company trying to arrange collection. I no longer have any packing and tell the company I am refusing to be responsible for packing the item incase of courier damage and also die to the shoddy service I am washing my hands of it all. They arrange for a courier to pack and collect. I get this in writing from the company. Except the courier turns up and refused to collect due to no packing. This happens again and again.
Now I'm sure many would say I should stop being a pain in the ass and just wrap the bloody thing and be done with it. But how many days can I wait in for couriers to actually turn up and then bank on it being one with the correct info for collection regarding packing. I refuse to be responsible for any damage in transit due to ill packing and then I am on the hook for the cost again. The unit must weigh 30 odd kg and isn't exactly compact. If the thing fell over no amount of packing would save the internals from damage.

What are my rights regarding washing my hands of this completely and disposing of the thing? Or do I have to suck it up and either wrap the thing and take the risk of damage. Genuinely 4 days holiday have been used waiting for couriers to turn up on this. Any advice or a different plan of attack would be much appreciated.

[Rivenink]

1. Ask the company to send you the required packing.
2. Ask the company to confirm in writing that once the item leaves your possession with the courier it is entirely their responsibility.
3. Video the packing process so that its clear the item was packaged sealed with no damage.
4. Video the courier taking the item as packaged and sealed.

I would imagine this would be overkill to prove in a claims court that in the balance of probabilities that you did all you could to facilitate the safe return of the faulty item.

[mattyprice4004]

To answer what your thinking, you can’t just bin it and disclaim all liability; the payment has been reversed so it doesn’t belong to you.

That said, you’d think they’d put more effort into collecting something worth a decent amount of money...

[Drawweight]

No help but I’m assuming the couriers were all from the same company ‘company policy innit’

I returned an integrated fridge freezer with no packing without comment although the courier did take pictures before he loaded it on.

[barker22]

I think i am just at the end of my tether with dealing with what should be a simple returns transaction.

2 months I was left in the loop waiting for an answer which never came regarding collection and even paypal once the case was open were dragging their feet. In their words due to the value of the item it had to go higher up the chain to be approved for refund.