Problems with Samsung Cashback Pre-Christmas Offer £80

Money_Grabber13579

This might not be the same item but it does always say on the Amazon website who the seller is and where it is being dispatched from - see the very bottom of this screenshot.

NikiPain

Thank you to everyone - Aylesbury_Duck, Alderbank, Fostgerdog, born-again.  
OK I can see where it might have said it now - in quite small print on the right hand side.  I have pretty poor eyesight and it is very small - so it might be possible I missed it.  It's hardly clear to buyers though - and certainly I didn't know Amazon didn't sell many things themselves. I've bought from other companies via Amazon - but its always been very clear to me in the past when I've searched for anything - and usually the name of a seller is near the description of the item at the top of the page.    I can see I may not get anywhere with this -  as I ticked a little box amongst pages and and pages of information and terms and conditions. Though obviously I remain pretty upset about my loss of money - and still "feel" cheated out of it.  Oh the joys of big businesses who only have profit at their heart. Let the buyer beware has become even more complicated.  Bring back good old fashioned business where companies really cared about their customers.  

Alderbank

NikiPain said:

Though obviously I remain pretty upset about my loss of money - and still "feel" cheated out of it.  Oh the joys of big businesses who only have profit at their heart. Let the buyer beware has become even more complicated.  Bring back good old fashioned business where companies really cared about their customers.  

I understand how you feel and I do sympathise but are you being a little harsh?
An impartial outside observer might say that this is nothing to do with Amazon or Only Branded who both treated you fairly, and the issue has only arisen because you tried to get money out of Samsung which you were never entitled to. You didn't lose any money, you just didn't get any of Samsung's!
Consumer rights are more widely known about and simply better than in the good old days.
And those big businesses are not charities. They are required by law to maximise profit for their shareholders.
What we try to do on this forum is to convince them that good customer care is good business.
Here endeth the sermon.

Aylesbury_Duck

NikiPain said:

Thank you to everyone - Aylesbury_Duck, Alderbank, Fostgerdog, born-again.  
OK I can see where it might have said it now - in quite small print on the right hand side.  I have pretty poor eyesight and it is very small - so it might be possible I missed it.  It's hardly clear to buyers though - and certainly I didn't know Amazon didn't sell many things themselves. I've bought from other companies via Amazon - but its always been very clear to me in the past when I've searched for anything - and usually the name of a seller is near the description of the item at the top of the page.    I can see I may not get anywhere with this -  as I ticked a little box amongst pages and and pages of information and terms and conditions. Though obviously I remain pretty upset about my loss of money - and still "feel" cheated out of it.  Oh the joys of big businesses who only have profit at their heart. Let the buyer beware has become even more complicated.  Bring back good old fashioned business where companies really cared about their customers.  

You're welcome.

Good old fashioned businesses do exist, and many bricks-and-mortar shops certainly care about their customers because they have to, they'll go out of business in the face of a tidal wave of online competition.  As you've discovered, great deals can be hard to come by nowadays and will perhaps become fewer as rising costs bite into margins.  There are often so many hoops to jump through to get these discounts that it's not worth bothering with, and you're better off just paying RRP on a model that is within your budget.

NikiPain

Wise words Aylesbury Duck - and I understand most of the points you make Alderbank.  But the issue for me is that I would NEVER have bought the phone without the cashback offer.  I only bought it believing I was going to get £80 cashback - so that does to me feel JUST like losing £80.  Its a real blow.  Tears have been shed!  Its an awful lot of money for me to lose.  And yes it seems now that I missed the detail - but I even phoned Samsung to check it out before I placed my order and they never mentioned point 13 on the phone when I mentioned I was going to buy it from Amazon.  So I understand the legalities of it, but as a human being, I will probably continue to feel upset for a while longer.  Rationally or irrationally.  But I'm not a robot.  

You also point out that businesses are required by law to maximum profits for shareholders.  Yes I know - but your point only saddens me all over again about how we set priorities in our world and the obsession of big profit for share holders, frequently at the expense of employees, customers or communities. I'm not talking smaller businesses who work hard to survive - but the big megaliths.  But hey ho - that's my sermon! I prefer to hope in your sentence Alderbank, that forums such as this might encourage businesses to see that good customer care is good business.  We live in hope. 

Anyway, I guess we'd better bring this to a close now.    Thanks everyone for your comments and support.  I appreciated everyone's opinions, helpfulness and time.  

LaDerniereSemaine

NikiPain said:

Wise words Aylesbury Duck - and I understand most of the points you make Alderbank.  But the issue for me is that I would NEVER have bought the phone without the cashback offer.  I only bought it believing I was going to get £80 cashback - so that does to me feel JUST like losing £80.  Its a real blow.  Tears have been shed!  Its an awful lot of money for me to lose.  And yes it seems now that I missed the detail - but I even phoned Samsung to check it out before I placed my order and they never mentioned point 13 on the phone when I mentioned I was going to buy it from Amazon.  So I understand the legalities of it, but as a human being, I will probably continue to feel upset for a while longer.  Rationally or irrationally.  But I'm not a robot.  

You also point out that businesses are required by law to maximum profits for shareholders.  Yes I know - but your point only saddens me all over again about how we set priorities in our world and the obsession of big profit for share holders, frequently at the expense of employees, customers or communities. I'm not talking smaller businesses who work hard to survive - but the big megaliths.  But hey ho - that's my sermon! I prefer to hope in your sentence Alderbank, that forums such as this might encourage businesses to see that good customer care is good business.  We live in hope. 

Anyway, I guess we'd better bring this to a close now.    Thanks everyone for your comments and support.  I appreciated everyone's opinions, helpfulness and time.  

It's hard to believe someone would only buy a £300 phone just because it's on offer.

Ultimately though you don't have a claim against anyone, the seller and Amazon are innocent third parties to this and Samsung haven't either by linking you to Amazon.

Never buy a product or service on the basis of cashback, which is at least one of the bits of advice Martin gives that I can agree with.

NikiPain

I don't see why its so hard to believe LaDerniereSemain.   It's simple isn't it?  I bought it because WITH the £80 off,  the phone I really wanted to buy was affordable with the money I had set aside for Christmas.  Perhaps you have enough money not to care and to be able to buy whatever you want, when you want - but I am retired - I don't have endless supplies of money.  

And don't worry - I won't be fooled by cashback offers ever again. 

Thank you everyone who replied - but as I have said several times now -  I get it thank you.     People don't need to keep going over and over the legalities. I have been helped to recognise the small print and now understand more about how Amazon operates.  

No need to continue this thread.  It's not helping anyone now.