4 ms·

There's going to be a massive rise in this sort of stuff over the next few years. Firstly consolidation, then organisations too large to care about their client

by setquk 8y ago

There's going to be a massive rise in this sort of stuff over the next few years. Firstly consolidation, then organisations too large to care about their clients, then semi-automated punishment. Always remember that Amazon is in the same business as everyone and they can burn you down in a second if they decide they don't care. It's a pond full of bureaucratic crocodiles and the biggest one is boss. On numerous occasions companies have shipped me "fuck you" instead of what I paid for and Amazon won't deal with that. It's no better than a traditional market now. The good traders lose to the bad ones, the customers lose to everyone and the only winner is the landlord. The only thing you can do is refuse to play. I'd get a (off shelf) storefront up on a domain you control and can remain in control of and start looking for alternative sources of customers. If you have a customer database of any kind, send out marketing emails with product / brand relaunch. Start posting on twitter, insta, google adwords, popular related forums, everything you can. If you have a loyal customer base they will find you again. I know I would.

deleted 8y ago
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ajross 8y ago
> On numerous occasions companies have shipped me "fuck you" instead of what I paid for and Amazon won't deal with that. What? I've never once had a problem with an Amazon return. You click "return this item", choose the return method (their newer "Locker" thing around the corner is pretty convenient) and that's all that needs to happen. I mean... there's lots to complain about with Amazon, as there is for any big company. But customer service just isn't one of them as I see it. What has your experience been that you think Amazon "doesn't deal with" returns?
- nikofeyn 8y ago
  their automated systems are fine, but their actual service is terrible. anytime you need to do something outside of their "system", it is a complete mess and most of the time a complete dead end. as an example, in the past year, i have had to return/replace greater than 50% of the books i received from them since the books have ranged from being damaged, torn, or just plain dirty. it may be less than 50%, but there have definitely been windows of time where it's greater than that. this is a MASSIVE inconvenience because although all i have to do to initiate the return is click a button, i also have to handle repacking the books and then physical driving or walking them to a dropoff point, all of which takes an hour round trip. i have contacted amazon multiple times, and i am not even able to get the point across. they see that i returned or exchanged the book, so the problem is solved from their end. when i explain that this wastes so much of my time and effectively negates the amazon prime benefit of one or two day shipping (since once the book ships, arrives, i see it's damaged, initiate return process, wait on new shipping which defaults to two days even for books that shipped in one day in the first place takes about a week), they offer a $5 amazon gift card. there was no escalation process whatsoever or even concern. just this week, i have had to return two books back to them because both books basically arrived used, with dirty and damaged covers and stained pages. the box is in my car ready to be dropped of at ups. it's to the point that i am beginning to have no reason to shop on amazon for books anymore, and i am even considering canceling prime. i have noticed a marked dropped in quality of the books and packing, and i am also just tired of their terrible website. they were the originator of the online book sales, yet their website remains absolutely horrid for books, especially when it comes to multiple editions, releases, paperback vs hardback, etc. earlier this week, i came across a product listing that had reviews that were clearly for another product. there is no button to report such instances of reviews. try contacting amazon and see if anything even remotely helpful is done. and that's a case of you trying to help them. amazon, apple, and google are perfect examples of what you get at "scale": companies that treat customers as replaceable resources that should have interactions minimized. the less these companies have to deal with customers and users, the better, from their perspective.
  - mtnGoat 8y ago
    calling them in always a fiasco, both times i've had to call, the operator agreed with me that it was completely stupid how they run things and how complex certain things were. When your own employees agree, there might be a problem.
  - ams6110 8y ago
    I canceled Prime when my renewal came up this year. Never looked back.
- decebalus1 8y ago
  > What has your experience been that you think Amazon "doesn't deal with" returns? I ordered something and the wrong item came in. Returned it, another wrong item came in. Contacted support (had a bookmark, as apparently it's very hard these days to figure out how to reach somebody in their UI), they apologized, returned it and what do you know... another wrong item received. Contacted support again, made a fuss, they finally sent the right item but now the return tag was not 'package free' so I had to pay for the packaging at the UPS store. I wouldn't care normally, it was super cheap but I was so pissed off, contacted support again and only then did I manage to return the thing and get my refund.
  - rnotaro 8y ago
    > it's very hard these days to figure out how to reach somebody in their UI. You can go in your recent order -> Return or Replace items. Want to contact an human? Go to the Footer -> Customer Service -> Contact Us -> Fill the fields -> Select Phone Call or Chat. It's really one of the best customer service I've ever experienced on an online marketplace. They call you and have your customer file already open. They also give a General Help Number on their Contact us page. > Toll free: 1-877-586-3230 (Canada) > International: 1-206-266-2882
- setquk 8y ago
  Sorry for the delayed reply. Have been too busy. Today I got a delivery for 6 revision books for my daughter. One is incorrect. I know when I return it, I'm going to get the same damn wrong book again because somewhere along the line someone doesn't give a fuck and everything is so utterly compartmentalised. I only say this is going to happen because it has happened to me twice before. Then there's the two marketplace sellers I've complained and complained about and they didn't deal with it at all. Whereas the OP got shafted once. It's an efficient bureaucracy, reminiscent of the film Brazil, nothing more.
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nikkwong 8y ago
I am incredibly drawn to the appeal of refusing to play. It's not only the fact that they take an exorbitant amount of my cash flow, but they also act as a full-stop from having potential customers interact with the content on my website (of which I've built a lot). God forbid the day when Amazon's listing for my product outranks my own domain's ecommerce listing. But, (and I can attest to this myself personally), some people just won't purchase if it's not sold on Amazon. I know when I buy on a third party site, I am very worried about shipping, accountability, giving my CC info out, etc. The peace of mind that Amazon offers is tremendous. I get that. So, there's a huge fraction of my overall volume that I sell on AMZ that diminishes completely when I stop (happens, for example, now, and other times, when inventory runs out). It's a shame but I totally get it.

by setquk 8y ago

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

ajross 8y ago

> On numerous occasions companies have shipped me "fuck you" instead of what I paid for and Amazon won't deal with that. What? I've never once had a problem with an Amazon return. You click "return this item", choose the return method (their newer "Locker" thing around the corner is pretty convenient) and that's all that needs to happen. I mean... there's lots to complain about with Amazon, as there is for any big company. But customer service just isn't one of them as I see it. What has your experience been that you think Amazon "doesn't deal with" returns?

nikofeyn 8y ago
their automated systems are fine, but their actual service is terrible. anytime you need to do something outside of their "system", it is a complete mess and most of the time a complete dead end. as an example, in the past year, i have had to return/replace greater than 50% of the books i received from them since the books have ranged from being damaged, torn, or just plain dirty. it may be less than 50%, but there have definitely been windows of time where it's greater than that. this is a MASSIVE inconvenience because although all i have to do to initiate the return is click a button, i also have to handle repacking the books and then physical driving or walking them to a dropoff point, all of which takes an hour round trip. i have contacted amazon multiple times, and i am not even able to get the point across. they see that i returned or exchanged the book, so the problem is solved from their end. when i explain that this wastes so much of my time and effectively negates the amazon prime benefit of one or two day shipping (since once the book ships, arrives, i see it's damaged, initiate return process, wait on new shipping which defaults to two days even for books that shipped in one day in the first place takes about a week), they offer a $5 amazon gift card. there was no escalation process whatsoever or even concern. just this week, i have had to return two books back to them because both books basically arrived used, with dirty and damaged covers and stained pages. the box is in my car ready to be dropped of at ups. it's to the point that i am beginning to have no reason to shop on amazon for books anymore, and i am even considering canceling prime. i have noticed a marked dropped in quality of the books and packing, and i am also just tired of their terrible website. they were the originator of the online book sales, yet their website remains absolutely horrid for books, especially when it comes to multiple editions, releases, paperback vs hardback, etc. earlier this week, i came across a product listing that had reviews that were clearly for another product. there is no button to report such instances of reviews. try contacting amazon and see if anything even remotely helpful is done. and that's a case of you trying to help them. amazon, apple, and google are perfect examples of what you get at "scale": companies that treat customers as replaceable resources that should have interactions minimized. the less these companies have to deal with customers and users, the better, from their perspective.
- mtnGoat 8y ago
  calling them in always a fiasco, both times i've had to call, the operator agreed with me that it was completely stupid how they run things and how complex certain things were. When your own employees agree, there might be a problem.
- ams6110 8y ago
  I canceled Prime when my renewal came up this year. Never looked back.
decebalus1 8y ago
> What has your experience been that you think Amazon "doesn't deal with" returns? I ordered something and the wrong item came in. Returned it, another wrong item came in. Contacted support (had a bookmark, as apparently it's very hard these days to figure out how to reach somebody in their UI), they apologized, returned it and what do you know... another wrong item received. Contacted support again, made a fuss, they finally sent the right item but now the return tag was not 'package free' so I had to pay for the packaging at the UPS store. I wouldn't care normally, it was super cheap but I was so pissed off, contacted support again and only then did I manage to return the thing and get my refund.
- rnotaro 8y ago
  > it's very hard these days to figure out how to reach somebody in their UI. You can go in your recent order -> Return or Replace items. Want to contact an human? Go to the Footer -> Customer Service -> Contact Us -> Fill the fields -> Select Phone Call or Chat. It's really one of the best customer service I've ever experienced on an online marketplace. They call you and have your customer file already open. They also give a General Help Number on their Contact us page. > Toll free: 1-877-586-3230 (Canada) > International: 1-206-266-2882
setquk 8y ago
Sorry for the delayed reply. Have been too busy. Today I got a delivery for 6 revision books for my daughter. One is incorrect. I know when I return it, I'm going to get the same damn wrong book again because somewhere along the line someone doesn't give a fuck and everything is so utterly compartmentalised. I only say this is going to happen because it has happened to me twice before. Then there's the two marketplace sellers I've complained and complained about and they didn't deal with it at all. Whereas the OP got shafted once. It's an efficient bureaucracy, reminiscent of the film Brazil, nothing more.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

nikkwong 8y ago

I am incredibly drawn to the appeal of refusing to play. It's not only the fact that they take an exorbitant amount of my cash flow, but they also act as a full-stop from having potential customers interact with the content on my website (of which I've built a lot). God forbid the day when Amazon's listing for my product outranks my own domain's ecommerce listing. But, (and I can attest to this myself personally), some people just won't purchase if it's not sold on Amazon. I know when I buy on a third party site, I am very worried about shipping, accountability, giving my CC info out, etc. The peace of mind that Amazon offers is tremendous. I get that. So, there's a huge fraction of my overall volume that I sell on AMZ that diminishes completely when I stop (happens, for example, now, and other times, when inventory runs out). It's a shame but I totally get it.