Amazon - stolen phone

Mr.Generous

The small bottle of sun lotion sounds like something relatively cheap and therefore not held in any kind of secure space at an Amazon warehouse, but a close match in weight for any security check. I'd suspect Amazon rather than some delivery guy who would have to randomly open parcels looking for something decent to take. No help to you sorry, but when I worked for B&Q staff at the distribution depos found all sorts of ingenious ways to steal high value items by sending them out to a local store in a box for a much cheaper product and some kind of mark on the packaging to identy the one to buy when they sauntered into the store the day after delivery. Distribution staff are like anyone else. Most are decent, some thieve.

andrew_donnelly456

andrew_donnelly456 said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Presumably you go back to Amazon with the police crime number, and they determine what to do.

I get what you're saying, and you may think I'm being impatient, but the phone was a Christmas present and it takes 28 days before you get a reply from the police so I was hoping someone would have found a quicker solution to get their money back from Amazon 

I suggest you read the victims code then. If you have a crime number and their updates are every 28 days then that's either something you agreed to or the police are not upholding your rights as a victim. 

The police told me to raise the case with Action Fraud, are they

SergeantBaker

andrew_donnelly456 said:

andrew_donnelly456 said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Presumably you go back to Amazon with the police crime number, and they determine what to do.

I get what you're saying, and you may think I'm being impatient, but the phone was a Christmas present and it takes 28 days before you get a reply from the police so I was hoping someone would have found a quicker solution to get their money back from Amazon 

I suggest you read the victims code then. If you have a crime number and their updates are every 28 days then that's either something you agreed to or the police are not upholding your rights as a victim. 

The police told me to raise the case with Action Fraud, are they

Ok so they haven't recorded your crime therefore won't investigate it. Action Fraud may inform the police if there's a line of enquiry so in reality no one will investigate this. 

cymruchris

Nobody appears to have asked yet - was the phone 'supplied by amazon' 'fulfilled by amazon' or from a 3rd party supplier? What does your original order say? Did you have to provide a one time pass for delivery?

born_again

Can we take it that you supplied the delivery person with the security code?

MalMonroe

Did you initially report it via the amazon 'orders' page under 'problems with order' - you can select the 'different to what I ordered'.

That gives you space to explain exactly what happened and to state that you have not received what you ordered.

I have done that in the past and received an immediate refund. Whether an item comes from amazon or amazon marketplace or a third party supplier, is immaterial - amazon has always (in my experience) - taken responsibility.

Now, I think you need to go back to the police and report again and get a crime number. It's lazy policing for them to tell you to go to Action Fraud. You need a number so you can progress your claim. 

SergeantBaker

MalMonroe said:

Did you initially report it via the amazon 'orders' page under 'problems with order' - you can select the 'different to what I ordered'.

That gives you space to explain exactly what happened and to state that you have not received what you ordered.

I have done that in the past and received an immediate refund. Whether an item comes from amazon or amazon marketplace or a third party supplier, is immaterial - amazon has always (in my experience) - taken responsibility.

Now, I think you need to go back to the police and report again and get a crime number. It's lazy policing for them to tell you to go to Action Fraud. You need a number so you can progress your claim. 

In certain circumstances Home Office Counting Rules dictate that's what should happen. It's not lazy policing it's following government guidelines, maybe stick to what you know when offering advice?

MattMattMattUK

Mr.Generous said:

The small bottle of sun lotion sounds like something relatively cheap and therefore not held in any kind of secure space at an Amazon warehouse, but a close match in weight for any security check. I'd suspect Amazon rather than some delivery guy who would have to randomly open parcels looking for something decent to take. No help to you sorry, but when I worked for B&Q staff at the distribution depos found all sorts of ingenious ways to steal high value items by sending them out to a local store in a box for a much cheaper product and some kind of mark on the packaging to identy the one to buy when they sauntered into the store the day after delivery. Distribution staff are like anyone else. Most are decent, some thieve.

Amazon video/photograph all high value shipments as they are sealed. Also if it was done in the Amazon depot it would still be sealed with Amazon tape, not random sellotape. 

WhiskersTheWonderCat

The amount of these stolen phone from Amazon threads on this forum is scary. I'm sure as hell never buying one from Amazon. 

Aylesbury_Duck

WhiskersTheWonderCat said:

The amount of these stolen phone from Amazon threads on this forum is scary. I'm sure as hell never buying one from Amazon. 

I suspect it's more about the sheer volume of sales from Amazon than anything else.  I doubt their theft rate is significantly different from other sellers.

Personally, I wouldn't buy expensive lightweight tech products online unless they had a super-secure delivery/receipt process.  My last three phones have come from Tesco and I just went into the store to buy each one.  It's not something one does frequently, so it's no trouble.  Same with things like tablets.  Just eliminates the slim possibility of theft/loss in the process.