4 ms·

The moment amazon.de turns into this, im gone. The only thing keeping me there is the no-nonsense, helpful, customer support. Any issues i have are always res

by tacker2000 1y ago

The moment amazon.de turns into this, im gone. The only thing keeping me there is the no-nonsense, helpful, customer support. Any issues i have are always resolved, so it still seems to be working over here.

bornfreddy 1y ago
Being subject to german laws sure helps there.
- mschuster91 1y ago
  ... and not just the law but consumer protection agencies. The Verbraucherschutz does not mess around - break the law strategically and you will get banged up hard.
- bschwarz 1y ago
  Amazon.de customer service has consistently been much better than anything else in Germany, so it's probably not the law.
  - spwa4 1y ago
    It's "loss leader", selling under the price to make your competitors go bankrupt, then use monopoly power. It's illegal under German law, EU law, and I'm sure it's also explicitly called out as illegal in at least 5 trade treaties Germany signed. Needless to say, like everything in the EU, it's only enforced against local companies, in this case German ones.
    - mlrtime 1y ago
      Or, it's easier for Amazon to have a consistent customer experience everywhere in the world. But that would make too much sense?
      - spwa4 1y ago
        Yep, I'm sure it's the brilliance of Amazon and not the same old trick of creating a monopoly then exploiting it that people have been using since the early middle ages and regularly outlawed because it destroys economies. Say ... what was Amazon's initial reason for success? Being cheaper by exploiting the interstate commerce clause to avoid paying sales tax when it's competitors weren't allowed to do so? You don't say. Amazon is famous for losing money on their delivery business (up until recently)? It's constantly repeated in 10+ years of their financial statements ... So either Amazon has completely changed tactics and become truly brilliant and we still don't understand the plan ... or they're up to their old tricks, being slightly cheaper, now with less legality!
- archi42 1y ago
  This is what Cory writes about: We need laws and regulations if we want to prevent enshittifiaction. In the US these laws have been dismantled since the 70s (if I get the text correctly, I'm not expert on US labor law). And in Germany there is a chancellor who is pushing to increase the 40 work week (which still meant up to 50 hours) to a 48 hour work week - that's the change necessary to have Amazon (and others) treat their drivers and warehouse workers with more dignity. /s
- tacker2000 1y ago
  Well, germany has customer protection laws, but before amazon, customer service was always worse than in the US i would say. Just think about Media markt customer service for example… Amazon changed that by introducing US-style no-questions-asked 30 day returns etc… but nowadays they are slowly chipping away at that, 14 days is the the norm now, (which is the hard limit anyway, since being set into law a couple years ago) But yes the customer friendliness is slowly being cut down, due to growing costs. Zalando (an online fashion retailer) has also reduced their return policy recently.
Semaphor 1y ago
Had a similar (not as bad) experience on .de a while ago. That was when I canceled my prime subscription which I had almost as long as it existed here.
onli 1y ago
.de promised to call me, never called. Split an order in three, used a bank account I had already removed from the system, then made me pay a fee three times when the money naturally could not be retrieved. One item in the order was a fake, when I returned it they claimed I kept it - thankfully I still had the receipt that I returned something, together with some stern words that was enough to end that. Never buy from Amazon, especially not .de. Germany has a bunch of alternative online shops that are better.
- Hendrikto 1y ago
  > Germany has a bunch of alternative online shops that are better. Such as? I never ran into such problems with Amazon, but I would like to know the alternatives.
  - onli 1y ago
    For electronics: Mindfactory, Galaxus, Coolblue, alternate, Jacob, Proshop, alza, computeruniverse.
    - patrickk 1y ago
      Caseking and Alternate.de for PC components.
      - onli 1y ago
        All of them are good for PC components :) But right, I forgot Caseking.
  - mraniki 1y ago
    Idealo for larger selection and comparison
    - nixass 1y ago
      Idealo and Geizhals are price comparison sites and nothing else
AdrianB1 1y ago
Check the Philips Ultinon H7 led bulbs reviews on Amanzon.de. There are dozens on verified reviews complaining that they received halogen (cheap) bulbs in the led bulb packaging, suggesting some internal job at Amazon warehouse.

bornfreddy 1y ago

Being subject to german laws sure helps there.

mschuster91 1y ago
... and not just the law but consumer protection agencies. The Verbraucherschutz does not mess around - break the law strategically and you will get banged up hard.
bschwarz 1y ago
Amazon.de customer service has consistently been much better than anything else in Germany, so it's probably not the law.
- spwa4 1y ago
  It's "loss leader", selling under the price to make your competitors go bankrupt, then use monopoly power. It's illegal under German law, EU law, and I'm sure it's also explicitly called out as illegal in at least 5 trade treaties Germany signed. Needless to say, like everything in the EU, it's only enforced against local companies, in this case German ones.
  - mlrtime 1y ago
    Or, it's easier for Amazon to have a consistent customer experience everywhere in the world. But that would make too much sense?
    - spwa4 1y ago
      Yep, I'm sure it's the brilliance of Amazon and not the same old trick of creating a monopoly then exploiting it that people have been using since the early middle ages and regularly outlawed because it destroys economies. Say ... what was Amazon's initial reason for success? Being cheaper by exploiting the interstate commerce clause to avoid paying sales tax when it's competitors weren't allowed to do so? You don't say. Amazon is famous for losing money on their delivery business (up until recently)? It's constantly repeated in 10+ years of their financial statements ... So either Amazon has completely changed tactics and become truly brilliant and we still don't understand the plan ... or they're up to their old tricks, being slightly cheaper, now with less legality!
archi42 1y ago
This is what Cory writes about: We need laws and regulations if we want to prevent enshittifiaction. In the US these laws have been dismantled since the 70s (if I get the text correctly, I'm not expert on US labor law). And in Germany there is a chancellor who is pushing to increase the 40 work week (which still meant up to 50 hours) to a 48 hour work week - that's the change necessary to have Amazon (and others) treat their drivers and warehouse workers with more dignity. /s
tacker2000 1y ago
Well, germany has customer protection laws, but before amazon, customer service was always worse than in the US i would say. Just think about Media markt customer service for example… Amazon changed that by introducing US-style no-questions-asked 30 day returns etc… but nowadays they are slowly chipping away at that, 14 days is the the norm now, (which is the hard limit anyway, since being set into law a couple years ago) But yes the customer friendliness is slowly being cut down, due to growing costs. Zalando (an online fashion retailer) has also reduced their return policy recently.

Semaphor 1y ago

Had a similar (not as bad) experience on .de a while ago. That was when I canceled my prime subscription which I had almost as long as it existed here.

onli 1y ago

.de promised to call me, never called. Split an order in three, used a bank account I had already removed from the system, then made me pay a fee three times when the money naturally could not be retrieved. One item in the order was a fake, when I returned it they claimed I kept it - thankfully I still had the receipt that I returned something, together with some stern words that was enough to end that. Never buy from Amazon, especially not .de. Germany has a bunch of alternative online shops that are better.

Hendrikto 1y ago
> Germany has a bunch of alternative online shops that are better. Such as? I never ran into such problems with Amazon, but I would like to know the alternatives.
- onli 1y ago
  For electronics: Mindfactory, Galaxus, Coolblue, alternate, Jacob, Proshop, alza, computeruniverse.
  - patrickk 1y ago
    Caseking and Alternate.de for PC components.
    - onli 1y ago
      All of them are good for PC components :) But right, I forgot Caseking.
- mraniki 1y ago
  Idealo for larger selection and comparison
  - nixass 1y ago
    Idealo and Geizhals are price comparison sites and nothing else

AdrianB1 1y ago

Check the Philips Ultinon H7 led bulbs reviews on Amanzon.de. There are dozens on verified reviews complaining that they received halogen (cheap) bulbs in the led bulb packaging, suggesting some internal job at Amazon warehouse.