Online retailer refuses to refund damaged drinks

Jelli

Hi,

I bought 6 bottles of drinks but they arrived as broken glass fragments inside the parcel on 3rd January, and when I contacted the retailer (Amazon) they shortly closed my account saying in an email I had breached their policies. The email was no more detailed than that so contacted them again saying I've been left with 6 broken bottles and just want a refund so I can move on and take my business elsewhere, They replied with "the delivery company reported no damage to the parcel and as your account was closed for abuse of our polices no refunds will be given".

But the thing is I never said there was damage to the parcel itself, the parcel was totally fine on arrival, but the bottles inside the parcel were not. They just kept saying "the parcel was fine on delivery including all the inside items and no refunds will be given".

I paid with a debit card and I'm housebound so don't know what to do next. The cost of the drinks came to a huge £190 and don't want to lose that. Should I contact my bank and see if they can refund me? I can't wright letters as I'm stuck inside the house and find the phone difficult as I'm hard of hearing (but will probably use the phone and persevere).

Collabora

Just because you received damaged goods and want a refund would not make Amazon close an account. You must have done something you are not telling us that forced Amazon to take this action

electic

Collabora wrote: »

Just because you received damaged goods and want a refund would not make Amazon close an account. You must have done something you are not telling us that forced Amazon to take this action

... Or possibly there has been a mistake somewhere, or a rogue employee has made an untrue allegation. Just so you don't think everyone will assume that you are at fault! Can you think of anything that might potentially be viewed as inappropriate behaviour on your part? I'm not accusing, just asking.

Amazon do have the right to close your account, but this is separate to your consumer rights to receive a repair, replacement or refund of a faulty product.

I would contact Amazon again informing them that you are rejecting the items as they are not fit for purpose under the Sale of Goods Act 1979. I would also suggest you take a photo of the broken bottles if possible. Clearly you won't safely be able to post back the broken glass but you could make it available for a courier to collect if they wanted (hypothetically).

LilElvis

Jelli wrote: »

Hi,

I bought 6 bottles of drinks but they arrived as broken glass fragments inside the parcel on 3rd January, and when I contacted the retailer (Amazon) they shortly closed my account saying in an email I had breached their policies. The email was no more detailed than that so contacted them again saying I've been left with 6 broken bottles and just want a refund so I can move on and take my business elsewhere, They replied with "the delivery company reported no damage to the parcel and as your account was closed for abuse of our polices no refunds will be given".

But the thing is I never said there was damage to the parcel itself, the parcel was totally fine on arrival, but the bottles inside the parcel were not. They just kept saying "the parcel was fine on delivery including all the inside items and no refunds will be given".

I paid with a debit card and I'm housebound so don't know what to do next. The cost of the drinks came to a huge £190 and don't want to lose that. Should I contact my bank and see if they can refund me? I can't wright letters as I'm stuck inside the house and find the phone difficult as I'm hard of hearing (but will probably use the phone and persevere).

I'm sorry but I don't understand how the parcel itself could have been undamaged. Surely 6 bottles (a few litres) of liquid would have significantly damaged the packaging.

Money_maker

Or maybe the OP has had above average other damaged or missing packages from Amazon which has raised their suspicions?

George_Michael

What I find a bit strange is that no mention has been made by the OP about what happened to the contents of the bottles.

If one bottle broke in a package I would expect there to be some sign of this (a smell or wet packaging) and there were 6 bottles reportedly smashed, surely this would have been noticed during delivery.

unholyangel

What type of drink?

Just asking as possibly thats what amazon mean when they say the courier said there was no damage....that it wasnt wet. And unless they're really tiny bottles, that's a lot of liquid to have not damaged the packaging in some way if it was amazons usual packaging.

unholyangel

George_Michael wrote: »

What I find a bit strange is that no mention has been made by the OP about what happened to the contents of the bottles.

If one bottle broke in a package I would expect there to be some sign of this (a smell or wet packaging) and there were 6 bottles reportedly smashed, surely this would have been noticed during delivery.

:rotfl: like buses, wait for ages and then two come at the same time.

LilElvis

unholyangel wrote: »

:rotfl: like buses, wait for ages and then two come at the same time.

Three, actually - see my post (#4)

I ordered drinks from Amazon last month and the bottles were bubblewrapped, each bottle was then put inside a cardboard box and those boxes then put in a standard Amazon box. Even if only one bottle had broken the outer box would have been significantly damaged.

unholyangel

LilElvis wrote: »

Three, actually - see my post (#4)

I ordered drinks from Amazon last month and the bottles were bubblewrapped, each bottle was then put inside a cardboard box and those boxes then put in a standard Amazon box. Even if only one bottle had broken the outer box would have been significantly damaged.

Ah if i'd only scrolled up Sorry!

bris

Money_maker wrote: »

Or maybe the OP has had above average other damaged or missing packages from Amazon which has raised their suspicions?

It's what they do, they monitor their customers returns rate and take action, Ebay have started it too now.


Online customers abuse the good nature of the better online retailers but there is only so much they will take before they realise it's no coincidence.


That and the fact 6 litres of fluid in a cardboard box wouldn't exactly go un noticed on delivery.