In the Monday episode of the podcast, I told you guys about a situation I found myself in with Amazon. You can listen to it here. I’ll briefly recap it now, but you’ll get loads more detail in the show… ’cause I went on and on about it.
Recap: I ordered a Kindle Fire tablet for Toney as a Mother’s Day gift. It’s always $150, but they were having a sale and offering it for $120. The “guaranteed” two-day delivery failed and it arrived a day late, on Friday. I was at work, and when Toney got around to cracking open the box, there was nothing but packing material inside. No tablet… no packing slip… What the?!
She passed on the good news, and I immediately called Amazon. I assumed they’d take care of it without any problem because I’m always hearing about their impeccable customer service. Thankfully I’ve never needed to use it, which is kind of amazing when you think about how long I’ve been doing business with the company. In any case, I was thrown into a baffling quagmire of uncommon accents, low-talking, and people “with fever.”
They needed to do a three-day investigation I was told, to find out what really happened. That kinda ticked me off… She was hitting that really part pretty hard as if what I was telling her was questionable. “I’ll tell you what really happened,” I answered, “Somebody stole it! Either an employee of UPS or someone in an Amazon DC. That’s what really happened!” Grrr…
Here are a couple of pictures of the box I took. As you can see, the Amazon tape on the bottom had been slit open and somebody re-taped it. Also, there’s a sticker on the top that seems to have REP written on it. I don’t know what that means.
But she insisted that an investigation must happen, and she’d personally get back to me on May 14. She did not. I never heard from them. So I called and was thrown straight into the same quagmire. It sounded like millions of people were talking in the background and the person on the line with me had a thick accent that I’d never heard before.
I told her I was promised a call-back and didn’t get one. I’m not sure if she apologized because I couldn’t make out 75% of the words she was speaking. But we quickly got down to business and she said they were very pleased to offer me a full refund. I told her I’d prefer a replacement, but she said that was not possible. So, I asked if I’d be able to re-buy the tablet at the sale price, and she said “no.” That was literally her answer, “no.” Why not?? We do not price-match, she said. “It’s your own price!” I shouted. “From a few days ago!” “No,” she repeated.
I said I appreciate the refund, but I’m not very happy with them refusing to honor the sale price. She got a little exasperated and said something along the lines of “I don’t know why you’re unhappy because as far as we’re concerned the package left our facility and was delivered to your house.” Which ticked me off again. “Yes, the package! Literally the package, with nothing inside!!” I answered. She just sighed and said nothing.
And that’s where we stand. The refund was issued, and the tablet now costs $30 more than the day I ordered it. I won’t re-buy it, because fuck that. But I read some stuff online and found out they don’t always offer a refund in that scenario. So, I don’t know if I should be satisfied or somewhat annoyed. I’m leaning toward the latter. What are your thoughts?
Also, have you ever had anything like this happen to you? How did it work out for you? Any experience with Amazon customer service at all? Are you familiar with the quagmire? What country is that call center located in? It sounded like the backward-talking in Twin Peaks.
And I must again emphasize… I’ve been doing business with Amazon since the late 1990s and hadn’t had to call customer service about anything before. This is, as far as I can remember, the only problem I’ve ever had with them. And it probably wasn’t even their fault. Some UPS employee probably did the plundering, right? They should definitely investigate, starting with the United Parcel Service. What can Brown do for you? Plunder your shit!
Please let me know your thoughts on this important matter.
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And speaking o’ the podcast, I’m going to upload the Thursday show for patrons shortly. I know it’s Friday, give me a break… It’ll be available at Patreon within the hour. Thanks for the support, and thanks for listening!
I hope you guys have yourselves a fine weekend.
We have a 6-pack of this stuff chilling in the fridge. It was purchased in Cleveland, and is possibly one of the best beers ever! That was my feeling after the first 6-pack, anyway. It’s unavailable in Pennsylvania, it appears… Good stuff.
I’ll be back on Monday.
Now playing in the bunker
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At least it was UPS and Amazon rather than Lasershit (Lasership) and WalMart. A Lasershit driver stole my new iPad and it took days of lies to get it back. Walmart didn’t care, they wanted *me* to get the police to deal with it. Er, no, it’s your responsibly to get my iPad to me, and if you choose to use a thieving bunch of crooks to deliver it that is on you!
Don’t buy anything expensive from Walmart online. I never will again. I’ll pay the extra $100 and get it elsewhere.
In my recent experience Amazon have gone downhill. Twice they have sent me the wrong product, and when I complained, they shipped me the wrong product AGAIN. Both times.
I’d sent a Tweet to Amazon’s account. Public shaming works wonders. And you get away from the drones in the boiler room.
REP means repossessed…from YOU!
My weekend quaff chillin’ in the fridge: https://santafebrewing.com/beer/7k-ipa/
Check to see if your credit card company offers insurance or dispute the charge and let them talk to the boiler room. They normally credit you right away and then resolve the dispute within 10 days. And you don’t have to talk to anybody.
I’ve had two issues with Amazon over the years. I started getting stuff delivered to work due to theft in the neighborhood. And one time the stuff I had sent to work came up missing also. One of things I was able to find a replacement for – but not the other one. We are talking about out of print books here. They did not give me to much hassle about it.
The other time the temp UPS driver decided to send back a whole box of cds I ordered because he did not like that fact there is a PO Box number included in part of the official work address. The order got replaced – but not with the exact versions of the cds I ordered.
Yes, and drone delivery will be just awesome! No way someone will shoot the drone out of the skies! Dude, there is no protocol for good customer service in 90 percent of business now. We have an Amazon distribution center an hour from here. It would be worth my drive to go postal on someone in person there. Im sorry this happened to you, as it was a generously good deed for your wife.
Remember when you’d never heard the term “brick and mortar”? Remember when we all had to get our fat asses in a car or on a bus and actually “shop” for what we wanted rather than order it with our pointer finger or worse? For that matter, do you remember what life was like before WalMart came to town? There’s never a lower price: we just pay the market price of a retail item in different ways, and we get to choose. When we think we’re paying less, we’re agreeing to be deluded or to delude ourselves. As the retail core of our cities has decayed into a rotting hulk with crime and overpriced “lofts”, we wonder where it all went. We sorta shout out who killed the Kennedys, when after all . . .
Don’t get me wrong. I was an early investor in Amazon. I overweighted AMZN until my broker actually threatened me. I lived about thirty miles from AHQ, and I knew what they were up to. Seemed like a winning strategy. But I was also a book collector: for a book collector an antiquarian bookstore with a coffee pot (and, at the time, one that didn’t just allow smoking but encouraged it) is as close as nirvana gets, and this attraction started for me before Kurt Cobain was born. These bookstores were not just sources of out-of-print esoterica or obscure Dashiell Hammett short stories: they were places where social outcasts who cared about ideas could gather and discuss the issues of the day — Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, socialists, Guevaran communistas, white nationalists, Black Panthers and more than a few weirdos. We also bought books: new, used, antiquarian, prosaic, esoteric.
The local hardware store had its “guys” too. I wasn’t one of them, so I can’t tell their story. I don’t suppose the local clothing store had a coffee pot on, but I’m sure other specialty stores did. And it’s gone, all gone, replaced by “lower” prices, shopping “convenience”, vastly increased “choice”, and previously unemployable delivery people in nondescript white vans.
I’m keenly aware that Sears (with or without a partner) had a catalog that transformed America. That was in the American agricultural economy. If you want to go back there and Make America Great Again, good luck. Women and black folks can vote now. Get over it.
I’m as old as I sound, but not as pissed off. Things change; shit happens; time marches on. We accept it and adapt to it or reside in the dustbin of history. But please don’t think you’re getting convenience, lower prices, access to objects Jesus and Shakespeare and Lincoln never dreamed of, or instant delivery anywhere in the world at no cost: there’s always a cost.
May you live in interesting times.
John
Bravo JTB. I’m on board with all of it. It still doesn’t make their corporate attitude acceptable or right, but it is the “way of the world” (no offense to MJ).
I’ve had to use Amazon customer service a few times… all were good experiences with customer service to fix bad experiences with Amazon. Twice I received dog food that I used to subscribe to on Amazon where in packaging or delivery the bags of food were somehow cut open, spilling out in and out of the delivery packaging. Both time a quick call had a new bag on my doorstep in a day or two with no questions asked. Another time I received a carriage lamp that was broken in shipping and I also received a prompt replacement. I held on to the lamp thinking they may eventually ask me to send them the broken one. I found it in the garage this spring when I was cleaning it out and and finally tossed it into the trash after a couple of years.
That said… I’ve decided to stop using Amazon for much other than a few household things and odds and ends I can’t easily find in town. I own a bunch of retail real estate and am finding it important to support brick and mortar operations as a matter of principle.
I cannot believe the level of contempt for a customer, rather less a loyal one, that you describe. For a company the size and profitability (borderline obscene) of Amazon, it’s absolutely ridiculous that they would not eat the extra $30 as a matter of good faith. I have had similar experiences as this and if you can get in touch with the corporate headquarters and explain the situation (to hopefully an English-fluent employee) you will almost certainly get a favorable resolution.
Between home and work, I probably get 3 orders from Amazon per week, for the last 7-8 years. Every screwup has been handled to my satisfaction. The only exception was similar to yours – I also wanted one of those $120 Kindles, and when mine came the battery life was lousy. I wanted to return it for one that worked properly, but couldn’t get the $120 price. I’m cheap, so I decided to suck it up and learn to live with the crap battery life. On the other hand, just this week I ordered item A, got item B, notified them, got a free return, and before I even got around to mailing back item B, I got item A. Amazon is killing it for wanton consumers like me.
I’ve never had a problem with their customer service — if they make a big mistake, I insist they tack on a month of prime membership.