Comment by dwedge
4 days ago
Last year I bought a book from Amazon for over $100 and they sent the wrong book. I contacted Amazon support, they said they will refund it, I don't need to send it back (throw it away if I want), and also give me a $20 credit for the inconvenience.
A month later, no refund. I contacted them again, they said unless the book is sent back, no refund. I told them about the previous conversation and they said that the CSR had lied to inflate his scores, and if I've thrown the book away I'm out of luck, he generated a return label. I complained and they threatened to close my account unless I send verification documents. I didn't, I just sent the book back and the refund processed automatically.
About a year before that I had a Samsung Fold and it cracked down the middle. I told Amazon that it was only 6 months old and it was broken, and Samsung said I need to send it to Cyprus for some reason. Amazon said to send it back for a refund, I did, and I got a warning that I'd returned something "not in original condition" and next time I'll be banned.
Last week a package didn't arrive. I queried it and there was no longer the option to talk to anyone, just a link to phone numbers for the external courier.
So I would say that Amazon having stellar support 15 years ago, building a brand on it, and then choosing to stop doing that mostly proves how wrong you are. Sure, you can still sometimes speak to someone, but it's getting worse.
FYI you can sue them in small claims for this. This is one of the languages that companies really listen to. You would have to have actually thrown the book out in good faith, though, or commit perjury. Remember the airline LLM support bot and the bereavement fare?
Suing them could also result in one getting banned from Amazon for good.
I wonder if there's a way the law could make it so companies can't retaliate against people who seeking redress for problems they caused.
Would this actually work?
Surely, they have a mandatory arbitration clause in their customer agreement..?
And which state’s court?
It might. Nothing in courts is ever certain. You could always try it, and at worst you'd be out a court fee (low, for small claims) and wouldn't get your money back because of this clause. Or they could say the clause doesn't matter.
Meanwhile Amazon has to pay someone to attend the hearing.
Note that Amazon would probably ban your account regardless. Most retail businesses don't want customers who might sue them, even if they deserve it.
I have 400 orders a year on Amazon and never have any of those weird issues. How strange!
My grandma smoked until she was 90 and she was absolutely fine!
Haha yeah, Uber, Amazon, Starlink, Hotels etc just send me stuff or refund without even asking anything. I use all of them all the time for everything; that indeed seems to help. Logical of course.
But that could just mean you are a more profitable customer. And that could be influencing how amenable the AI/agents are and how much money they are willing to write off to retain you.
My house never burned down once in 40 years.
According to the comment I was responding to, he got 3 bad experiences out of 3 orders, so 100% rate of issues. What's the expected rate of house fires?
Both you and the other commenter about his grandma's smoking habit are making nonsensical comparisons about things that are extremely rare, to support something that is supposedly extremely common, if you were to believe the parent's comment (or other stories you read online).
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and now without prime, amazon packages take two weeks to arrive! Total garbage