4 ms·

Stories like these are the reason that I put my cellphone on a tripod and open every single package, I ever get from a retailer on camera, recording it. I do th

by cik 2y ago

Stories like these are the reason that I put my cellphone on a tripod and open every single package, I ever get from a retailer on camera, recording it. I do this in full, and take the necessary time. This has allowed me to continuously fight all silly return issues I've had. It's ridiculous that I have to do this. It's saved my bacon twice (once literally with a computer). But the $5 tripod was worth every penny.

tgma 2y ago
Why bother - isn't the return policy enough? I'm assuming they are optimistic on new returns being new, but they are liberal on the return end to compensate.
- JohnFen 2y ago
  I've returned stuff to Amazon twice, and my experience both times was pretty bad. But even if the seller is good about returns, having to return it is still a loss. It takes time and hassle, and you have to wait even longer for the thing you want.
  - throwaway173738 2y ago
    My wife had to repeatedly call Amazon to get them to re-refund a returned item on multiple occasions. That issue coupled with generally terrible quality on almost everything is why we stopped buying anything on there. They would refund the item and then a month later claw it back. The csrs usually wouldn’t understand what she was saying either so she would have to wait for a supervisor every time.
- skellera 2y ago
  Amazon has started to refuse returns on many items. One of their core customer value mechanisms has been destroyed. Online shopping requires returns. Removing that option significantly reduces trust and value.
  - dragonwriter 2y ago
    Once you establish a monopoly, the consumer-friendly behaviors which enabled you to crush the competition no longer have a justification for their cost.
    - tgma 2y ago
      Amazon is hardly close to a monopoly no matter how much some political class and their big competitors want to hammer that point. In fact I rarely buy anything from them precisely because they suck quite a bit on retail and competitors have gotten better (and consciously want to take my business elsewhere because I don’t like to benefit AWS). Because they are not a monopoly I don’t feel particularly in pain not purchasing from them. I suspect the cost structure and consumer behavior has forced their hand to be more restrictive on retail (and perhaps they no longer care as much either).
  - ccozan 2y ago
    Actually in Germany, any online buy is subject to return within 14 days without any questions asked. So Amazon.de cannot refuse the return of items.
    - noname120 2y ago
      You get banned from Amazon if you return too many articles, no matter the reason.
  - rurp 2y ago
    Yep I ordered a big jug of cleaning solution that showed up completely destroyed in a soaked and ruined box. Amazon refused to credit me a refund unless I returned the product to them, which was literally impossible. They have gotten big enough that they don't need to care about customers as much as they used to and, unfortunately, they might be right. The only solution is to not shop there any more. Another behavior I started seeing a lot more of the past couple years was paid listings selling a product for 4-5x the normal price, mixed in with the organic results. The only purpose of those is to rip off people who are in a hurry or confused and miss that they are being taken advantage of. They must work often enough to pay for the ad placements and clearly Amazon doesn't have any interest in protecting their customers.
JohnFen 2y ago
If I need to go to those lengths to protect myself from a seller, I'd just stop buying from that seller. I stopped buying from Amazon years ago because of that sentiment.
- asddubs 2y ago
  I've also pretty much entirely stopped buying from amazon, save for maybe 1 - 2 orders a year. Although my biggest problem is that because any number of sellers can offer products on the same listing, you often just flat out do not get what's in the listing. 32A fuses being sold under a listing for 16A because or even at times the title and description having different values. And that's not even talking about the abundance fake items. Amazon is just dogshit now.
  - radicality 2y ago
    Same for me, after way too many fakes, i have been reducing my Amazon spend by a lot in last two years and moving purchasing to places like Walmart (non-marketplace) for random items, HomeDepot for home stuff and B&H for trusted electronics (don’t even let it cross your mind to buy an SD card from Amazon!)
    - JohnFen 2y ago
      When I eliminated Amazon from my life, I replaced it with with first checking if I can find what I want from a local on-prem business. If so, I buy it there. If not, then I see if I can buy it directly from the manufacturer's website. 80% of the time, I can (often with free shipping). If that fails, then I check a small number of resellers that I trust. This mostly tends to be electronic components, so I'm talking places like Digikey. If that fails, then it's off to the classifieds and eBay. Those bring many of the same problems as Amazon, but I very rarely have to go that far.
j2bax 2y ago
Wow! That's dedication! You should at least start a Youtube Channel with the content. There are probably some odd folks out there that would enjoy watching that. Add a condenser microphone for some ASMR hits!
omoikane 2y ago
I also record every package I open, but actually Amazon never asked for proof when I file a claim. Maybe it's because I only filed so few claims, or maybe a generous return/refund policy helps Amazon cover up any reputation damage they might incur, and they figured it's cheaper to just eat this cost than trying to sort out why they ship out so much junk.

by cik 2y ago

tgma 2y ago

Why bother - isn't the return policy enough? I'm assuming they are optimistic on new returns being new, but they are liberal on the return end to compensate.

JohnFen 2y ago
I've returned stuff to Amazon twice, and my experience both times was pretty bad. But even if the seller is good about returns, having to return it is still a loss. It takes time and hassle, and you have to wait even longer for the thing you want.
- throwaway173738 2y ago
  My wife had to repeatedly call Amazon to get them to re-refund a returned item on multiple occasions. That issue coupled with generally terrible quality on almost everything is why we stopped buying anything on there. They would refund the item and then a month later claw it back. The csrs usually wouldn’t understand what she was saying either so she would have to wait for a supervisor every time.
skellera 2y ago
Amazon has started to refuse returns on many items. One of their core customer value mechanisms has been destroyed. Online shopping requires returns. Removing that option significantly reduces trust and value.
- dragonwriter 2y ago
  Once you establish a monopoly, the consumer-friendly behaviors which enabled you to crush the competition no longer have a justification for their cost.
  - tgma 2y ago
    Amazon is hardly close to a monopoly no matter how much some political class and their big competitors want to hammer that point. In fact I rarely buy anything from them precisely because they suck quite a bit on retail and competitors have gotten better (and consciously want to take my business elsewhere because I don’t like to benefit AWS). Because they are not a monopoly I don’t feel particularly in pain not purchasing from them. I suspect the cost structure and consumer behavior has forced their hand to be more restrictive on retail (and perhaps they no longer care as much either).
- ccozan 2y ago
  Actually in Germany, any online buy is subject to return within 14 days without any questions asked. So Amazon.de cannot refuse the return of items.
  - noname120 2y ago
    You get banned from Amazon if you return too many articles, no matter the reason.
- rurp 2y ago
  Yep I ordered a big jug of cleaning solution that showed up completely destroyed in a soaked and ruined box. Amazon refused to credit me a refund unless I returned the product to them, which was literally impossible. They have gotten big enough that they don't need to care about customers as much as they used to and, unfortunately, they might be right. The only solution is to not shop there any more. Another behavior I started seeing a lot more of the past couple years was paid listings selling a product for 4-5x the normal price, mixed in with the organic results. The only purpose of those is to rip off people who are in a hurry or confused and miss that they are being taken advantage of. They must work often enough to pay for the ad placements and clearly Amazon doesn't have any interest in protecting their customers.

JohnFen 2y ago

If I need to go to those lengths to protect myself from a seller, I'd just stop buying from that seller. I stopped buying from Amazon years ago because of that sentiment.

asddubs 2y ago
I've also pretty much entirely stopped buying from amazon, save for maybe 1 - 2 orders a year. Although my biggest problem is that because any number of sellers can offer products on the same listing, you often just flat out do not get what's in the listing. 32A fuses being sold under a listing for 16A because or even at times the title and description having different values. And that's not even talking about the abundance fake items. Amazon is just dogshit now.
- radicality 2y ago
  Same for me, after way too many fakes, i have been reducing my Amazon spend by a lot in last two years and moving purchasing to places like Walmart (non-marketplace) for random items, HomeDepot for home stuff and B&H for trusted electronics (don’t even let it cross your mind to buy an SD card from Amazon!)
  - JohnFen 2y ago
    When I eliminated Amazon from my life, I replaced it with with first checking if I can find what I want from a local on-prem business. If so, I buy it there. If not, then I see if I can buy it directly from the manufacturer's website. 80% of the time, I can (often with free shipping). If that fails, then I check a small number of resellers that I trust. This mostly tends to be electronic components, so I'm talking places like Digikey. If that fails, then it's off to the classifieds and eBay. Those bring many of the same problems as Amazon, but I very rarely have to go that far.

j2bax 2y ago

Wow! That's dedication! You should at least start a Youtube Channel with the content. There are probably some odd folks out there that would enjoy watching that. Add a condenser microphone for some ASMR hits!

omoikane 2y ago

I also record every package I open, but actually Amazon never asked for proof when I file a claim. Maybe it's because I only filed so few claims, or maybe a generous return/refund policy helps Amazon cover up any reputation damage they might incur, and they figured it's cheaper to just eat this cost than trying to sort out why they ship out so much junk.