Amazon sent an empty box and refuse to refund my £663

georgie_p

I placed an order on 4th January for a Ryzen 9 5950x CPU for my partners birthday on Amazon Prime. We use Prime regularly and have spent thousands on there. The delivery driver delivered the Amazon parcel on 7th January. For more expensive items you now have to give a passcode upon delivery. I wrapped the box up for the day after.

My partner opened his present on the morning of 8th January. The Amazon box was intact and no signs of damage, but when we opened it, the products box had been ripped. Upon opening the CPU box, there was no item in it, just the warranty slip.

I called Amazon and they said due to the value of the item I would have to log a police report. I said that the police wouldn’t do anything because the incident and item being stolen has clearly happened at the Amazon warehouse since the outer box was pristine. The woman said she wouldn’t refund me without a police reference. I called 101 and spoke to my local police station and explained the situation. They said they couldn’t do anything since I had no details of Amazon’s warehouse and Amazon should log the crime. She logged it anyway and gave me a reference then marked the case as “not for police investigation”. I have the reference to Amazon and their email response was:

We have fully investigated this matter, including with the delivery carrier who delivered the package. Based on the outcome of our investigations, we believe the package was delivered [to the correct address/with the correct item]. In particular, we have considered information from our records, as follows which indicate the item as delivered:

- the timed geocode stamp of the delivery location;
- information collected at the point of delivery; and
- the package weight and reported condition upon delivery.

Accordingly, based on our investigations, we won’t be able to provide a replacement or refund for this order at this time.

I’ve contacted my bank as I don’t know what to do. This cost £663! Of course, their systems were down so they can’t do anything until tomorrow. Surely this is illegal?! 

Diamandis

Get them to send you the package weight upon delivery if they are claiming to have that information. 

georgie_p

Diamandis said:

Get them to send you the package weight upon delivery if they are claiming to have that information. 

It’s so hard speaking to them. They literally do not understand a word I say. 😩 I’m sure that’s half the problem. 

georgie_p

As expected, the woman had no idea what I was asking and then hung up on me. 

Grumpy_chap

Diamandis said:

Get them to send you the package weight upon delivery if they are claiming to have that information. 

In this case, I suspect package weight is of limited value.  The box and then the plain brown Amazon box is probably disproportionately heavy compared to the very lightweight CPU chip, likely so much so that removing the CPU chip would actually be within the tolerance of measurement error in the weight of the overall package.

m-holland

It might not produce any better results, but Amazon have an online chat service as well. 

georgie_p

m-holland said:

It might not produce any better results, but Amazon have an online chat service as well. 

They’re even worse than the people on the phone! They won’t do anything at all. They want a police report. The police won’t accept it as an investigation because Amazon need to raise it, but they won’t. 

DB1904

georgie_p said:

m-holland said:

It might not produce any better results, but Amazon have an online chat service as well. 

They’re even worse than the people on the phone! They won’t do anything at all. They want a police report. The police won’t accept it as an investigation because Amazon need to raise it, but they won’t. 

What format is your police report number? 

Is it 1234 and a date or AB/1234/22?

arthurfowler

georgie_p said:

m-holland said:

It might not produce any better results, but Amazon have an online chat service as well. 

They’re even worse than the people on the phone! They won’t do anything at all. They want a police report. The police won’t accept it as an investigation because Amazon need to raise it, but they won’t. 

Amazon are going to be very difficult. In essence, the police report will do nothing with Amazon CS. File a report with Action Fraud (it is not relevant but it will log that you have reported a crime and you will get a reference number). Give that to them and see if they do anything. 

After that, stop dealing with Amazon over chat or phone (they will do nothing). 

Write a letter before action (putting this on the outside of the letter). Send the letter to:

Amazon UK 

60 Holborn Viaduct,

Holborn

London 

EC1A 2FD

Explain exactly what happened. Don't use emotion. Put dates, times etc of delivery and say you are willing to help aid any any investigation. It's not a guaranteed solution, but I got my refund for a similar issue within 48 hours of them receiving the letter. 

I have a letter which I sent, which I could also send to you, so you could see the style of letter. It's for a slightly different issue, but shows what you should say. 

DB1904

arthurfowler said:

georgie_p said:

m-holland said:

It might not produce any better results, but Amazon have an online chat service as well. 

They’re even worse than the people on the phone! They won’t do anything at all. They want a police report. The police won’t accept it as an investigation because Amazon need to raise it, but they won’t. 

Amazon are going to be very difficult. In essence, the police report will do nothing with Amazon CS. File a report with Action Fraud (it is not relevant but it will log that you have reported a crime and you will get a reference number). Give that to them and see if they do anything. 

After that, stop dealing with Amazon over chat or phone (they will do nothing). 

Write a letter before action (putting this on the outside of the letter). Send the letter to:

Amazon UK 

60 Holborn Viaduct,

Holborn

London 

EC1A 2FD

Explain exactly what happened. Don't use emotion. Put dates, times etc of delivery and say you are willing to help aid any any investigation. It's not a guaranteed solution, but I got my refund for a similar issue within 48 hours of them receiving the letter. 

I have a letter which I sent, which I could also send to you, so you could see the style of letter. It's for a slightly different issue, but shows what you should say. 

Looking at the evidence there's been a theft rather than a fraud. The OP is correct in reporting the theft to the police, they already have a reference number. I asked the op a question to establish whether or no that number was a crime number. Either way the local police have decided they will not investigate. 

Spies

This whole situation is disgusting, they should be able to use Cctv to work out who packaged it and what happened but I'm guessing their logs aren't that granular.