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They also used to send a UPS pickup for free, but lately I've been having to take the return to the local UPS store. It definitely pushes me past the convenien

by d23 3y ago

They also used to send a UPS pickup for free, but lately I've been having to take the return to the local UPS store. It definitely pushes me past the convenience threshold for impulse purchases where I'd rather not take the risk of having to unbox, find out something is broken or incorrect or a scam, repackage it, drive to the store, then purchase the product again elsewhere. Might as well just find the product literally anywhere else if possible.

Hamuko 3y ago
We definitely have to take the packages to our local DHL pickup location, but at least Amazon.de pays for the shipping. Seagate would've wanted me to send a broken hard drive with valid warranty to the Netherlands on my own dime. They would've also just sent out another hard drive of the same model, so I would've either had to wait for that to get to me in order to rebuild my RAID, or just buy a new drive and get shipped an unnecessary drive. Amazon just returned my money so I got a new drive immediately.
singleshot_ 3y ago
I find myself in the local UPS store from time to time and the amount of work the people have to do in there in order to deal with amazon returns is off the charts. One interesting tidbit I can convey is that when a person goes into a UPS store to return an amazon package, the UPS store is not compensated in any way (according to the owner of my local one). The UPS store employees are the customer service for the return part of the amazon customer lifecycle.
- SOLAR_FIELDS 3y ago
  If you are lucky enough to live near a kohls it’s still easy as hell. You literally just take the unwrapped item, walk in there, scan the QR code on your phone, and done. 10 second transaction.
  - vinay427 3y ago
    This seems to be the case for UPS store returns as well. It was faster than any Kohl’s return due to the size of the store (and not positioning it near the back like multiple Kohl’s locations I’ve visited). I assume the GP comment was describing the work done by the UPS store employees behind the scenes to package and ship returns?
    - singleshot_ 3y ago
      Just the work that the UPS store employees have to undertake to answer the phone, say hello, field a question from a "customer" (who will never pay anything) and answer "yes you can just bring it down to my store and put it in the box and it will magically get back to UPS" is absolutely mind-boggling to me, considering that it happens absolutely gratis and amazon is an enormous company. These UPS shops are, as far as I can tell (through knowledge gained from conversations with the owner of my local one) individually owned. There is no packaging, as far as I could tell; all the stuff that showed up while I was standing there was boxed and labelled and ready to ship.
  - singleshot_ 3y ago
    I was not saying it is challenging to make an amazon return. It is not. I meant the amount of work that the UPS store employees were doing for free on amazon's behalf was astounding. Answering phones, telling people where to put things, all for free. Amazon has offloaded the customer service part of the return process on employees of another company who are not reimbursed by anyone for their trouble. (At least the woman who owns my local UPS store, who was complaining about this to me, seems to think so.)

by d23 3y ago

Hamuko 3y ago

We definitely have to take the packages to our local DHL pickup location, but at least Amazon.de pays for the shipping. Seagate would've wanted me to send a broken hard drive with valid warranty to the Netherlands on my own dime. They would've also just sent out another hard drive of the same model, so I would've either had to wait for that to get to me in order to rebuild my RAID, or just buy a new drive and get shipped an unnecessary drive. Amazon just returned my money so I got a new drive immediately.

singleshot_ 3y ago

I find myself in the local UPS store from time to time and the amount of work the people have to do in there in order to deal with amazon returns is off the charts. One interesting tidbit I can convey is that when a person goes into a UPS store to return an amazon package, the UPS store is not compensated in any way (according to the owner of my local one). The UPS store employees are the customer service for the return part of the amazon customer lifecycle.

SOLAR_FIELDS 3y ago
If you are lucky enough to live near a kohls it’s still easy as hell. You literally just take the unwrapped item, walk in there, scan the QR code on your phone, and done. 10 second transaction.
- vinay427 3y ago
  This seems to be the case for UPS store returns as well. It was faster than any Kohl’s return due to the size of the store (and not positioning it near the back like multiple Kohl’s locations I’ve visited). I assume the GP comment was describing the work done by the UPS store employees behind the scenes to package and ship returns?
  - singleshot_ 3y ago
    Just the work that the UPS store employees have to undertake to answer the phone, say hello, field a question from a "customer" (who will never pay anything) and answer "yes you can just bring it down to my store and put it in the box and it will magically get back to UPS" is absolutely mind-boggling to me, considering that it happens absolutely gratis and amazon is an enormous company. These UPS shops are, as far as I can tell (through knowledge gained from conversations with the owner of my local one) individually owned. There is no packaging, as far as I could tell; all the stuff that showed up while I was standing there was boxed and labelled and ready to ship.
- singleshot_ 3y ago
  I was not saying it is challenging to make an amazon return. It is not. I meant the amount of work that the UPS store employees were doing for free on amazon's behalf was astounding. Answering phones, telling people where to put things, all for free. Amazon has offloaded the customer service part of the return process on employees of another company who are not reimbursed by anyone for their trouble. (At least the woman who owns my local UPS store, who was complaining about this to me, seems to think so.)