Robert found a great deal on swimsuits on Amazon, so he ordered a half dozen. What he didn’t notice during the ordering process was that the vendor is in China, and his purchase wouldn’t show up for six weeks. Sigh. Oh, well. He could deal with that, but didn’t like the seller hounding him for good feedback before he even received the items, then when he was unhappy with them.

The problems began only a week after the order and five weeks before the suits were scheduled to arrive. He received this message regarding the purchase from the seller’s account:

————- Begin message ————-

hey.stupid.leave me 5 star positive feedback .rubbish

————- End message ————-

He was not pleased, but couldn’t find a way to complain to Amazon about a seller. He did get an apology, though:

Dear [Robert],

We are sorry for the message you have received. This letter was sent by a new workmate, she didn’t have a good knowledge of Amazon, we sincerely apologise for this email that she sent to you.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions.

Yours,
[Company] customer service team

Not a good knowledge of Amazon, of customer service, or that “stupid” is not a proper salutation for a customer. Ah, well. All Robert could do was wait for the swimsuits to actually show up: maybe the misunderstanding would all be worth it.

It wasn’t.

He writes:

I order a size XXL [being 6’7″ and 195 LBS.] but what arrived measured with a 28″ inch waist. Perhaps XXL in their province, but definitely in the United States [expect for, maybe, Abercrombie and Fitch]. One suit had begun unraveling on the seams and other were slip shot.

To make a long story short, I reviewed the items and the product on the Amazon site, giving them lowest possible rating.

This morning I found the e-mail from Amazon:

Dear [Robert],

Firstly, please accept our sincerest apologise for the inconvenience you have incountered when you bought products from us. We strive to offer the best services to our customers.

I’m sorry for the letter, this letter was sent by a new workmate, she didn’t have a good knowledge of Amazon, we sincerely apologise for the letter you received before. We can give you a partial refund. Could you please kindly remove the negative feedback? [Company] need your positive feedback in order to expand, your kind gesture is greatly appreciated.

The following steps show the way of removing feedback.

[Here they described in detail how to remove feedback.]

Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions.

Yours,
[Company] service team

I’m impressed they will give me partial refund, without stating the amount of refund, only if I remove the negative review. Obviously they haven’t dealt with me before.

As for the swimsuits, I gave them to my niece for her 7 year old… they fit him quite nicely, though a bit snug.

Looking at the seller’s items, they do now warn customers now about the Chinese sizing, telling them that they’ll ship one size larger than what you actually order. A size chart is not provided. Another customer who ordered around the same time Robert did complained of being called “the b word.”

What lessons can we learn from Robert’s experience? Don’t assume that every Amazon marketplace seller is located in the United States; look carefully for hints about where they’re located. Sometimes, a pile of cheap stuff from China is just what you need: I like to buy dirt-cheap phone cases from the Amazon marketplace.

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