Amazon customer services

p00hsticks

drjohn67 said:

I did not like the effect on my cashflow especially as other bills were coming in. I am fortunate that I could transfer funds to cover it. Others may not.

Even if Amazon had successfully delivered the iPhone, you couldn't have paid your bills with it though.....

The_Unready

BBC News - Warning after Amazon customer sent dog food instead of iPhone

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-64296971

drjohn67

As I have already said quite explicitly, I could afford to replace the item pending the refund. I did not like having to do so. Others may not be able to do so.

In my case, the packaging and item weight were totally inconsistent with an iPhone so it supported my request for refund. So it looks like an issue at the warehouse (at least in my case). The refund process was also chaotic regardless of the need to investigate / verify. 

The BBC has picked up very similar cases so the risk / issue is being highlighted to a wide audience without scepticism.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-64296971

Peppa537

I’ve heard of similar happening to others when ordering phones and laptops from Amazon (other items received instead, empty boxes etc). Glad to see you finally got your refund @drjohn67 it must have been stressful waiting. I understand Amazon have to investigate but the amount of time they took was too long. Generally now their customer service is hit and miss and not as good as it once was.

drjohn67

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-64874963

More incidents here - again high value items.

Despite a low incidence of total sales, the percentage of higher value items is likely to be disproportionate and the impact on individuals could be very significant.

Some may have differing opinions regarding the risk of making such purchases from Amazon (incidence vs impact).
I have lost confidence.

Peppa537

Same here @drjohn67 My eldest wanted to buy a new iPhone last month and she was going to get it from Amazon as at the time they were offering payment over 12 months with interest free on that model. Chances are it would have been fine but I didnt feel it was worth the risk after what I'd read here and on other forums. Carphone Warehouse was the same price overall but she would have to pay in full, I lent her some of the money so she didn't have to do this and she's paying me back monthly instead. Carphone Warehouse sent it using DPD who are reliable for expensive purchases (this phone was £699). I can't risk expensive items being delivered by Amazon Logistics or empty boxes arriving because of poor security.