((Mon1ca))
Consumerist reader L. and his wife have been loyal customers of Amazon since the giant e-tailer started out, he says. But because of a recent email his wife received today, he says they’re going to reconsider their allegiance.
L. writes that his wife has returned three things in the past year, including two pairs of shoes, and that “Amazon is no Zappos.”
He says they’re rethinking their loyalty because Amazon has decided to rescind its return policy for one customer.
The email reads:
Hello,
We’re writing to apologize for the number of problems you’ve experienced with your shipments. Your correspondence with us indicates you’ve required refunds on a majority of orders for a number of reasons.
Through the normal course of business, the occasional problem is inevitable. However, you seem to have had an unusually high rate of problems in your account history.
Effective immediately, we’re unable to guarantee any further deliveries or compensate you for any additional problems with your shipments.
You can view our Conditions of Use here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/?nodeId=508088
If you have any questions regarding your account in the future, please write to us directly at cis@amazon.com.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Best regards,
Account Specialist.
Amazon.com
Has this happened to anyone else out there? Feel free to commiserate with L. and his wife, or offer advice.
UPDATE: Reader L. wrote in with a happy ending to the above tale of woe, and he’s thankful for the help of his fellow readers.
After my spouse’s beautifully crafted “WTF? I have weird feet…” email, and I would imagine, this thread, Amazon “reviewed” my wife’s account and decided the return pattern was not abnormal. They are reinstating the account to reinstate it – and her full shipping and return privileges. They acknowledged that buying shoes is not like buying other products.
Thank you, Consumerist hive and Amazon.
More From Consumerist
-
New Law Will Try (And Probably Fail) To Make Amazon Collect Sales Tax In Georgia
-
So I Guess UPS Has Just Stopped Delivering To My House?
-
Amazon Lies To Customer, Says Company Doesn’t Set Its Own Prices
-
Good Morning! It's OnTrac With Your Amazon Package Wakeup Call
-
Amazon Cancels My $6,000 Order Because It Doesn’t Know How To Use A Fax Machine
Yeah, after my 5th incident since November of problems with the shipping department at Amazon, I was informed that “Once a package is put in a carrier’s hand, the risk of loss for the package is transferred to the customer. This is discussed in our Conditions of Use:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=help_search_1-7?ie=UTF8&nodeId=508088&qid=1336518087&sr=1-7
“
So I have decided my loyalty to them is in short supply. I’ve had a good run with Amazon Prime, but they are just getting too sloppy and don’t care anymore. If I pay you to deliver something to my house in good condition, you can either hold up that end of the bargain, or I can not pay for the service. It seems very simple to me. So, here’s the deal, once they hand it to the carrier they choose on Prime, it’s out of their hands, and you have to deal with the shipping agent if you have a problem. These are the same shipping agents that don’t care because you aren’t the one that pays the shipping agent directly.
I finally got the issue resolved….after a week…and daily calls to LaserShip….and losing my temper a couple of times when I was guaranteed I would get a call back the next day and then never received said call.
BTW, when I spoke voice, I informed them that I wasn’t concerned with the money, but that if I was going to have to get to the point of going to Exec C/S to get someone to do something besides shrug, I was going to do it…..they gave me a refund..and it was signed:
“Sincerely,
Amazon.com
We’re Building Earth’s Most Customer-Centric Company
“
I’ve returned a couple things here and there. One time I complained a digital dl game downloaded too slow (9 gigs 4 hours on 50mbps fios). They gave me the $30 back and let me keep the game. I think to trigger this kind of response you probably need to complain ALOT.
Start doing a search on the internet and you’ll see Amazon is doing this to other customers as well. Amazon has been known to apply policies unevenly and for reasons that are unjustified.
It is what it is. You’re dealing with a faceless company that’s all online and little recourse.
It is what it is. You’re dealing with a faceless company that’s all online and little recourse.
Yet when someone complains about a brick and mortar store the comments about how wonderful Amazon and other etailers are flood in.
Sounds like something I have been known to say to the very rare customer.. ” I am very sorry that we seem unable to meet your needs, perhaps another retailer may be able to serve you better – in fact, I insist”
If they won’t guarantee further deliveries or help with future problems, then Amazon.com shouldn’t allow any transactions using their account. The letter seems to go against the main corporate goal, ‘to be Earth’s most customer-centric company’. OK, yeah – if you return everything you buy, that sucks. But Amazon.com isn’t losing any money in the process. They return items to vendors, or they have a salvage agreement with vendors that allows them to take the returned items and sell them via their used stores, or warehouse deals or one of their other sub-stores. Amazon.com bought Zappos.com and their CS ratings went up. Surprise? Nope. Zappos pays freight both ways on anything you buy. They take returns up to 1 year from DOP – no questions asked. Basically they friggen’ rock. Amazon.com can’t do the same with all of their categories of items, but there’s got to be a common middle-ground to be found.
I posted this as a reply earlier, but since I’m commenting so late in the day, if OP didn’t see this here it is again.
I’d definitely try to get more info from them. They have a secret phone number. If you sign in and go to the help page and click on Contact Us, there is a form to fill out for options, or you can call at 1-866-216-1072 from inside the US or 1-206-266-2992 from outside the US. I hope this number is still valid. If not you can try the other option. Once you fill out the form there is a button you can click to get a phone number, I think.
I hope that helps. There may have been some kind of error. I can’t imagine them cutting you off after only three returns.
UPDATE: After a brilliant “WTF?” email from my wife, and possibly this post, Amazon completely reversed course. Emailed her that shoe purchases are different than other purchases and that she’s fully reinstated, included her return and warranty privileges.
Blame the OP for that, Consumerist hive.
And BTW, that email from Amazon came 5 minutes after her email to them.
so… why did you contact consumerist before you contacted amazon? if you don’t want the hive mind chiming in, then don’t ask for it.
“Blame the OP for that, Consumerist hive.”
That’s a poor attitude.
You gave little detail in your original post/email as well as in your reply to another post. Of course everyone is skeptical of your claims when information is missing.
To become angry over people using their critical thinking skills, and the hive mind’s inability to solve your problem when information was missing, is the the actual “WTF?” of this non-story.
Also, I’ll gladly blame the OP. Your first instinct when a problem occurred was to contact the Consumerist instead of you know… talking to Amazon to find out what was up. This is also a “WTF?” moment.
Most articles posted here usually involve the OPs having contacted the problematic companies at least once to try and resolve the problem on their own before needing help from The Consumerist or other agencies. You didn’t even try…
I agree with much of what you’re saying here.
But note that since there wasn’t enough information to go on, the usual misogynists came out to blame the OP, essentially because there was a woman involved.
Also, please check my comment history. I pointed out that shoes/clothing returns will inevitably happen at a higher rate due to sizing discrepancies. I would now like a gold star.
Maybe the OP has returned 3-5 things every year since “the giant e-tailer started out”. Now that’s a lot of returns.. There’s also the possibility of continual complaining about late guaranteed shipments (1-day/2-day), in which the result is usually a refund on the shipping.
Look up.
Look down.
Amazon’s reliability in the past couple of years has gone downhill considerably. Although Newegg.com has definitely raised the bar for online retailers in my book, I’m reasonable and understand that even a giant like Amazon can’t be as good as Newegg.com. Still, every order I have placed with Amazon in the past two years takes 1-2 weeks to even ship. Amazon has begun changing Delivery Dates from pre-order to different Delivery Dates post-order. Before you place your order you will be given a date a few days from now. Then after you place your order you will be given a date of 1-2 weeks from now. After the order ships 2 weeks later they then change the Delivery Date to 4-6 weeks later to cover their butts. Sure, I don’t expect them to deliver the product to me Next-Day or 2-Day on Standard Shipping like Newegg (and other exceptional online retailers like Dr Martens), but why on earth does it take 4-6 weeks? Why is there a 1-2 week wait for an item to even ship when it says “In Stock”? Why does Amazon give you one set of Delivery Dates before you place your order, change the Delivery Dates immediately after you place the order, and then change the Delivery Dates again when the order finally ships 1-2 weeks later? If it happened just once or twice I’d forgive Amazon…things happen…but this seems to be S.O.P. for Amazon anymore because it has happened on every single one of the past 30 orders I have made with them in the past year or two! Granted, I don’t complain to Amazon and ask for a refund of my shipping charges…I just resort to Amazon as a last-case scenario…but if I did I could imagine myself in the same boat as reader L.
Why would you buy shoes online…slippers or something cheap, yes, but shoes? Other than those companies that specialize in shoes…just weird, to me…and only me…oh, well.