Amazon return issue - potentially destroyed return item

soolin

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable can advise but regardless of consumer or business isn't Amazon an involuntary bailee in this situation with a duty to take reasonable care of the goods and see them restored?

That was my thought, they have received goods and although they have no duty to return them, don't they have a duty to take care of them until OP arranges their safe return at his own cost ? Although I wonder if the potential fraud issue trumps that especially as this is a B2B  transaction, this is a bit of a minefield. Pushing for 'rights' on this might in turn push Amazon into making more of the fraud issue.

I stick by my earlier thoughts that this needs handling in a gentle way, with hopefully a bit of give and take on both sides (although I accept that isn't always easy with Amazon staff working to a script)

cx6

i may have missed it, but did you get the refund? normally when you scan in a return at eg the post office the refund comes immediately ie amazon don't wait for it to arrive their end.

Alderbank

That is my experience too, the refund email arrives within an hour or two of scanning the return at my local shop.
However OP has said:

I'm out of pocket £150... I've paid for the light and they've not refunded me

bigfrankblue

Manxman_in_exile said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable can advise but regardless of consumer or business isn't Amazon an involuntary bailee in this situation with a duty to take reasonable care of the goods and see them restored?

I think that's right and the OP needs to try to explain this to Amazon - they can't just bin it because they thought it "might" have been a scam.  No doubt Amazon see it as not being worth their while to investigate this sort of situation too deeply and just dispose of the item.  But it being "not worth their while" doesn't mean they are entitled to destroy another person's property.  If that is going to be their business model, Amazon need to recognise that they will sometimes have to compensate people if they just bin their property.

But I suspect the OP may find it difficult to explain this to Amazon in a way that they understand and accept.

If he can't persuade them, he'll have to sue them - if he wants to go down that route...

Personally, I think I'd blame the work colleague who sent off the old one.  Couldn't they tell them apart?  (Maybe they couldn't but it seems a particularly stupid thing to do.  I'd have thought a basic check was to make sure you were returning the correct item in the first place.  If this is B2B rather than a personal or consumer purchase, I think I'd just bear the loss and take it as a lesson learned.)

Thanks for your thoughts. The problem I'm having is communicating the points. The phone agents and chat agents, don't seem to have ownership of anything that is more broadly complex on the return front. It's a bit off their script I suspect. 

So my only option is to communicate via this provided email address - where all the communication coming back to me is largely templated copy. In terms of the switcheroo - both items were identical. I'm very anal about the kit (sadly not diligent in this instance) so every bit of kit lives in its retail packaging or Pelicases in our storage area and having had both of them out of their boxes to compare the power supply noise, it's very simply just been put back in the wrong box. 

There's no material gain in sending the old unit, it's exactly the same, there's no damage and it's actually better functioning on the noise front. It's not like it's marked or broken - but I get the volume of returns Amazon gets mean they don't consider these points in their inspection.

I just don't want to send in another parcel for there to be further issues and then I've got no kit and out of pocket for more. My one thought was that because we've shipped the wrong unit in the wrong box. When I return the other one there's going to be the same box, item mismatch. I'll try and persevere and report back. 

Given the level of business I do with Amazon, at this point I'd be happy to just accept a credit for the total and consider it settled. Again, in over 8 years plus of having an account there's never been an issue before.

bigfrankblue

Alderbank said:

That is my experience too, the refund email arrives within an hour or two of scanning the return at my local shop.
However OP has said:

I'm out of pocket £150... I've paid for the light and they've not refunded me

No refund has been received. I was told that from September only smaller value items are now refunded at scan. What those values are I don't know but in the instance of an iPhone case costing £13 that I returned the week before - that was an immediate refund when handing it over at the post office. 

cx6

Hadn't heard about the change from September but I am not surprised.

So what is the latest position re the refund? Do you think the returns centre will notice and you will in due time get the refund, or has your call to customer service put a block on that?

bigfrankblue

cx6 said:

Hadn't heard about the change from September but I am not surprised.

So what is the latest position re the refund? Do you think the returns centre will notice and you will in due time get the refund, or has your call to customer service put a block on that?

They've requested the return of the other unit, now sending me a return label - and I keep asking will the originally sent-in unit be returned to me. Each and every comms just ignores this point. 

bris

https://www.ecommercebytes.com/2021/03/16/abusing-amazon-returns-can-land-you-in-jail/

https://tamebay.com/2019/08/biggest-amazon-fraud-ever-in-eu-discovered.html

Just two of the many  scams they get, in fact if you google it you will see the eye watering sums of money the lose.

Chasing this may very well cost you your account, can you afford to lose the account?

Personally it would cost me a fortune if I lost my Amazon account, they are so much cheaper for all the stuff I need for both business and pleasure, and TBH customer service has been excellent for me on the very rare occasion I needed them.