1- How did the customer request a refund? Did they submit a proper refund request through the system or did they just say it in a message?

2- If they did the proper refund request in the system, did you respond in the refund request system to grant a refund, or did you send out a postage label outside the refund request system and ignore the refund request? Ignoring the proper refund request without answering it can be the same as authorizing a returnless refund here because Amazon requires sellers to respond.

3- Do you have CSBA aka Customer Service By Amazon turned on? CSBA is known for giving away refunds for no good reason.

4- Was A to Z involved in this anywhere?

5- How do you KNOW that the refund was actually taken from your account? Did you see the refund posted (taken from your balance)? Or are you just guessing that a refund was done because of a message? If the refund wasn't actually processed, I could see how support would be confused by your questions. "Approving a return" is not the same as "refund processed".

6- The time frame involved?

a- When was the purchase date?

b- When was the return requested?

c- When was the refund transaction posted on your balance (under transactions)?

7- Was the return postage UPS or USPS? I know what "should be" is/was, but what carrier was it actually? You said you sent them a label. So, possibly 2 postage labels out there for 1 package.

a- What carrier's postage did you send them?

b- Did you see a tracking number for the postage that Amazon sent them?

If the purchase was done during the Christmas buying season, aka the time of winter holiday rental, the "customer" has up to January 31 to SUBMIT a return request but then god-knows how long to actually drop it off for returns, and if Amazon gave them a USPS postage, DeJoy's Post Office plans have successfully slowed down USPS, sometimes taking as long as several months to deliver mail and packages. ("customer" = the same as speaking the word CUSTOMER while doing air quotes with your fingers because you really mean SCAMMER.)

I believe Amazon puts the refund money on hold, taking it from your account, during the return period until either you or Amazon processes the refund. If you fail to process the refund within the allotted time or respond to the customer then Amazon automatically closes the return request in the customer's favor, giving them the money. If you don't get anything back by the end of the return period, 30 days after the end of the return request time, you can close the return as "didn't receive return" or however it is worded.

So, if the purchase was done during Christmas buying time, and the end of the return request time is January 31, you probably need to wait until the day after 30 days after jan31, = January 31 + 30 + 1 (for the day after) = March 3, before you can close the return as "not received" to reverse a Christmas purchase refund. Or it might be done automatically if the customer didn't use the Amazon-generated return label.

However, if the buyer talked to Amazon customer service and SAID that they returned it (whether or not they did), Amazon customer service may or may not have granted a full refund, and that refund may or may not have been funded by you with no recourse to reverse. In other words, maybe, simply, you = SOL.