Amazon.co.uk shocking service. 17 January at 8:44PM in Consumer rights 31 replies 1.1K views

MobileSaver

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

MobileSaver said:

A bizarre attitude, why specifically don't you trust them?

Amazon are my retailer of choice with prices, product selection, delivery and customer service all being amazing which is why I order literally hundreds of products from them every single year.

I appreciate it can happen wherever you buy and we probably hear about it more with Amazon as Amazon has more customers than anyone else

I think that's the key; I don't know the specifics but if someone told me that Amazon processes more orders in a single day than any other online retailer does in a whole year then I wouldn't be surprised. Dealing with that many orders then things will go wrong from time to time but I'd feel much more confident that I'd always get my money back from Amazon than any other company I buy from.

Case in point; last year I ordered a £1,400 item, wasn't happy with it for some reason so I contacted Amazon and they collected it next day from my home at no charge and refunded me once they'd received it back. No hassle, no stress, no arguments just a few clicks and great customer service.

born_again

Penz_02 said:

Hi.

Just before Xmas I was given a £250 Amazon voucher by my employer as a reward for my hard work and dedication. 

I'd been eyeing up a Garmin Venu 2 watch for a while, they usually cost approx £350 but were still available at the black Friday sale price of £250 at numerous retailers. 

I would never spend that kind of money on Amazon as I don't quite frankly trust them. This voucher happened to fit perfectly what I wanted so I purchased the watch using my Amazon voucher. 

Amazon proceeded to send me the completely wrong item which I returned the following day. 4 weeks later and I am still waiting for my refund, not only that but that watch is now back to full retail price.

I have spoken to Amazon customer services several times but I'm not getting anywhere, I keep getting fobbed off about how long it takes to process returns. 

Not only am I angry and frustrated about the refund delay, but I'm pretty confident Amazon won't honour the purchase I made by sending me another watch at the price I originally paid for it.

What options do I have?

Thanks. 

Penz.

So that tends to say "MarketPlace", rather than direct from Amazon.
So what does it say on the order in your orders.

Manxman_in_exile

Penz_02 said:

... Amazon proceeded to send me the completely wrong item which I returned the following day. 4 weeks later and I am still waiting for my refund, not only that but that watch is now back to full retail price...

... Not only am I angry and frustrated about the refund delay, but I'm pretty confident Amazon won't honour the purchase I made by sending me another watch at the price I originally paid for it...

You sent it back for a refund?  Why didn't you ask them to replace the wrong item with the right item?

(NB - I've never personally bought anything from Amazon so I've no idea how their returns process works, but I don't think I would have sent back the item for a refund, I'd have wanted the right watch as a replacement, not a refund.  Particularly if it was a gift voucher purchase... )

In answer to your general question, in most cases where the law requires a refund to be paid because a purchased item doesn't conform to contract, the trader must pay the refund without undue delay and in any event within 14 days of agreeing that you are entitled to a refund.  Have Amazon yet accepted that they sent you the wrong item and that you are entitled to a refund?

Personally I always think that 14 days is quite a short period.  I think I'd be happy to wait up to 28 days or a calendar month for a refund before complaining.  But more than that is really too long if they've agreed you are due a refund.

MobileSaver

Manxman_in_exile said:

Penz_02 said:

... Not only am I angry and frustrated about the refund delay, but I'm pretty confident Amazon won't honour the purchase I made by sending me another watch at the price I originally paid for it...

I've never personally bought anything from Amazon so I've no idea how their returns process works, but I don't think I would have sent back the item for a refund

To be fair to the OP, I do buy a lot of stuff from Amazon and I can't remember the last time I was offered a straight replacement when returning something; the only option offered in the last few years has been a refund.

I think from Amazon's point of view it's too much hassle to replace products when the transaction can just be cancelled and refunded and the customer can then re-order if they wish.

I know it's not down to price as only last week a Christmas gift I'd bought for my girlfriend was faulty - a few clicks arranged a free next-day collection of the faulty item and a few more clicks allowed me to re-order the same item which was now a few quid cheaper than I'd originally paid. The next day the faulty item was collected, seconds later I received an email to say I'd been refunded and then a few hours later the new replacement I had ordered the day before arrived. Again, for me at least, outstanding customer service.

drjohn67

Agree - they refused to send the correct item in my case. Only refund which they put off for 6 weeks and wanted to push to 10 weeks.

I experienced the issue with the incorrect item being sent. The BBC ran a story yesterday regarding reports of high value items being replaced with cornflake boxes or pet food.

The number of similar cases might suggest criminal activity within the warehouse / distribution.

Seemed like customer services dept was maxed out earlier this week - the site leads you to a call back service and telephone number (both were unavailable). 

Manxman_in_exile

MobileSaver said:

Manxman_in_exile said:

Penz_02 said:

... Not only am I angry and frustrated about the refund delay, but I'm pretty confident Amazon won't honour the purchase I made by sending me another watch at the price I originally paid for it...

I've never personally bought anything from Amazon so I've no idea how their returns process works, but I don't think I would have sent back the item for a refund

... I know it's not down to price as only last week a Christmas gift I'd bought for my girlfriend was faulty - a few clicks arranged a free next-day collection of the faulty item and a few more clicks allowed me to re-order the same item which was now a few quid cheaper than I'd originally paid. The next day the faulty item was collected, seconds later I received an email to say I'd been refunded and then a few hours later the new replacement I had ordered the day before arrived. Again, for me at least, outstanding customer service.

Fair enough.  As I say I wouldn't know.

I suppose the OP's real problem here is that he purchased using a gift card something he wouldn't have bought without having had that gift card.  So it's not as simple as arranging a return for a refund and immediately re-ordering and paying cash again.

Given some of the threads posted previously on this board I'd be more concerned about Amazon not accepting they'd sent out the wrong item in the first place, and telling the customer that there'd be no refund because they'd returned the wrong item. 

TELLIT01

I'm not disputing the accuracy of the claims my by the OP for their experience, but I've been purchasing from Amazon for years and never had any problems.

Undervalued

Manxman_in_exile said:

Penz_02 said:

... Amazon proceeded to send me the completely wrong item which I returned the following day. 4 weeks later and I am still waiting for my refund, not only that but that watch is now back to full retail price...

... Not only am I angry and frustrated about the refund delay, but I'm pretty confident Amazon won't honour the purchase I made by sending me another watch at the price I originally paid for it...

You sent it back for a refund?  Why didn't you ask them to replace the wrong item with the right item?

(NB - I've never personally bought anything from Amazon so I've no idea how their returns process works, but I don't think I would have sent back the item for a refund, I'd have wanted the right watch as a replacement, not a refund.  Particularly if it was a gift voucher purchase... )

In answer to your general question, in most cases where the law requires a refund to be paid because a purchased item doesn't conform to contract, the trader must pay the refund without undue delay and in any event within 14 days of agreeing that you are entitled to a refund.  Have Amazon yet accepted that they sent you the wrong item and that you are entitled to a refund?

Personally I always think that 14 days is quite a short period.  I think I'd be happy to wait up to 28 days or a calendar month for a refund before complaining.  But more than that is really too long if they've agreed you are due a refund.

In my fairly limited experience of having to return something to Amazon, that was how they wanted to deal with it. Refund, leaving me to re-order or not as I pleased.

Undervalued

drjohn67 said:

Agree - they refused to send the correct item in my case. Only refund which they put off for 6 weeks and wanted to push to 10 weeks.

I experienced the issue with the incorrect item being sent. The BBC ran a story yesterday regarding reports of high value items being replaced with cornflake boxes or pet food.

The number of similar cases might suggest criminal activity within the warehouse / distribution.

Seemed like customer services dept was maxed out earlier this week - the site leads you to a call back service and telephone number (both were unavailable). 

The number is meaningless without knowing what percentage of sales it represents.

MobileSaver

Undervalued said:

drjohn67 said:

The number of similar cases might suggest criminal activity within the warehouse / distribution.

The number is meaningless without knowing what percentage of sales it represents.

I found one article suggesting Amazon deliver at least 120,000 parcels every single day so the reports here and in the media would appear to represent an incredibly tiny number of problems. (That's no consolation to genuine customers affected of course but it's obviously an exceptionally rare event.)