Amazon & faulty goods

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Sandtree said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Sandtree said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Sandtree said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:
But they are striving to be the most customer centric company on Earth! Maybe only when it suits them... 

Kippets said:
while Amazon on the other hand actually offered to replace it - the only trouble being that they are out of stock of this particular model until mid October.

Seems fairly customer centric to me to offer a replacement after 30 days before even seeing the item

They have the luxury of charging your card if the return for that replacement doesn't come back or isn't in a condition they accept. 

Only if you have a card on file... ultimately any merchant you give a CPA to has the same luxury and will tackle matters if you say one thing and what gets returned is very different... I dont think being "customer centric" means being a fool and accepting an item back that has clearly been damaged by the customer.

No of course, my point is their replacement service, whilst good, doesn't have much risk to them. 

Risk is neither here nor there... I still think its more customer centric to say we'll send the replacement out for free now but reserve the right to charge if you dont return the original etc than what 99% of companies do which is say to return the original first and only after being satisfied with the return will they then send out the replacements. The later results in a longer period of the customer being deprived of the goods they've paid for. 

You send back an empty box or a totally different product and you'll be struggling to get a refund etc from almost all companies. 

The problem arises with Amazon where you have sent the product back but they say you haven't. 

Sandtree

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Sandtree said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Sandtree said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Sandtree said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:
But they are striving to be the most customer centric company on Earth! Maybe only when it suits them... 

Kippets said:
while Amazon on the other hand actually offered to replace it - the only trouble being that they are out of stock of this particular model until mid October.

Seems fairly customer centric to me to offer a replacement after 30 days before even seeing the item

They have the luxury of charging your card if the return for that replacement doesn't come back or isn't in a condition they accept. 

Only if you have a card on file... ultimately any merchant you give a CPA to has the same luxury and will tackle matters if you say one thing and what gets returned is very different... I dont think being "customer centric" means being a fool and accepting an item back that has clearly been damaged by the customer.

No of course, my point is their replacement service, whilst good, doesn't have much risk to them. 

Risk is neither here nor there... I still think its more customer centric to say we'll send the replacement out for free now but reserve the right to charge if you dont return the original etc than what 99% of companies do which is say to return the original first and only after being satisfied with the return will they then send out the replacements. The later results in a longer period of the customer being deprived of the goods they've paid for. 

You send back an empty box or a totally different product and you'll be struggling to get a refund etc from almost all companies. 

The problem arises with Amazon where you have sent the product back but they say you haven't. 

Again that goes for any mail order... my last Amazon return, faulty product, I opted for their collection as we're lacking in Amazon collection points or RM Parcelboxes in this area and I didn't have other need to go to the post office. Working from home so only risk was a doorbell during a meeting (or the usual courier lying about not being in). 

Within 5 minutes of the courier scanning the parcel on collection got an email from Amazon saying they've got the parcel so the refunds been processed. Had similar with other returns from them. On the flip side a return from an online watch company who collected their parcel on the same day I had to wait 4 working days to get the email saying they were now processing my refund (change of mind in that case).

Amazon are by no means perfect, I had a weird IT issue with them a few years ago where Next Day/Same Day delivery disappears across every single product for a couple of hours each day which they never found a cause for but seemed to fix itself and then reappeared a few months ago. Many promises of callbacks, several £5 goodwills for the call back not happening and eventually I gave up.

robatwork

Sandtree said:

Again that goes for any mail order... my last Amazon return, faulty product, I opted for their collection as we're lacking in Amazon collection points or RM Parcelboxes in this area and I didn't have other need to go to the post office. Working from home so only risk was a doorbell during a meeting (or the usual courier lying about not being in). 

Within 5 minutes of the courier scanning the parcel on collection got an email from Amazon saying they've got the parcel so the refunds been processed. 

That goes for me too. I'm sure the Hermes driver who collects from me isn't weighing the parcel. It's just Amazon think you're a good customer. By good I mean trustworthy - someone who orders N times the amount they return (I'm guessing N is around 10), and has a track record in returning things on time and in re-saleable condition. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Sandtree said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Sandtree said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Sandtree said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Sandtree said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:
But they are striving to be the most customer centric company on Earth! Maybe only when it suits them... 

Kippets said:
while Amazon on the other hand actually offered to replace it - the only trouble being that they are out of stock of this particular model until mid October.

Seems fairly customer centric to me to offer a replacement after 30 days before even seeing the item

They have the luxury of charging your card if the return for that replacement doesn't come back or isn't in a condition they accept. 

Only if you have a card on file... ultimately any merchant you give a CPA to has the same luxury and will tackle matters if you say one thing and what gets returned is very different... I dont think being "customer centric" means being a fool and accepting an item back that has clearly been damaged by the customer.

No of course, my point is their replacement service, whilst good, doesn't have much risk to them. 

Risk is neither here nor there... I still think its more customer centric to say we'll send the replacement out for free now but reserve the right to charge if you dont return the original etc than what 99% of companies do which is say to return the original first and only after being satisfied with the return will they then send out the replacements. The later results in a longer period of the customer being deprived of the goods they've paid for. 

You send back an empty box or a totally different product and you'll be struggling to get a refund etc from almost all companies. 

The problem arises with Amazon where you have sent the product back but they say you haven't. 

Within 5 minutes of the courier scanning the parcel on collection got an email from Amazon saying they've got the parcel so the refunds been processed. Had similar with other returns from them. 

Yeap that's what I got on my last return, followed by a reminder 2 or 3 weeks later to return the item as they claimed 1 of the 2 items (which were sold together as a bundle and damaged due to poor packing) wasn't returned.

Chat said they'd disabled the return requirement to ensure I wouldn't be charged but this was a £38 item and it's really put me off shopping with them as I doubt it would have been so quickly sorted for a £380 item.

Sandtree

robatwork said:

Sandtree said:

Again that goes for any mail order... my last Amazon return, faulty product, I opted for their collection as we're lacking in Amazon collection points or RM Parcelboxes in this area and I didn't have other need to go to the post office. Working from home so only risk was a doorbell during a meeting (or the usual courier lying about not being in). 

Within 5 minutes of the courier scanning the parcel on collection got an email from Amazon saying they've got the parcel so the refunds been processed. 

That goes for me too. I'm sure the Hermes driver who collects from me isn't weighing the parcel. It's just Amazon think you're a good customer. By good I mean trustworthy - someone who orders N times the amount they return (I'm guessing N is around 10), and has a track record in returning things on time and in re-saleable condition. 

Sure as hell wasn’t in a resaleable condition as was returned as faulty. 

However, yes, track record will clearly define response and when retuning a much more expensive item I did have to wait for an inspection (but got great photos before posting it back) 

robatwork

Sandtree said

Sure as hell wasn’t in a resaleable condition as was returned as faulty. 

However, yes, track record will clearly define response and when retuning a much more expensive item I did have to wait for an inspection (but got great photos before posting it back) 

Fair enough - oddly I returned something today and the refund was processed by the time the courier had got back into his car.
But that was £5.99. Most of my Amazon purchases are well under £100 which is probably why it's in their interest to "risk" the refund and impress me. 

If I ever return a high ticket item I will follow advice I've seen several times and video myself packing it, sealing it and weighing it.

Sandtree

robatwork said:
If I ever return a high ticket item I will follow advice I've seen several times and video myself packing it, sealing it and weighing it.

I admit I was anxious to see the high value items return but in two minds if I wanted them to deem it excessively handled (would love to own it but cannot justify the price to myself)