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Amazon want me to contact the police instead of refunding me

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  • born_again
    born_again Posts: 20,377 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Fifth Anniversary Name Dropper
    The reason police do not want this type of stuff reporting is because it messes up their crime clear up rate.
    They know they will never investigate the crime or even catch anyone.
    So they just stone wall requests on grounds you are not a victim. But OP is, even if they get their money back, they have still had a item stolen.
    Or do police no longer take reports of house break in or car theft, as on the basis of ins paying out the owner of the property is not a victim...
    Life in the slow lane
  • Okell
    Okell Posts: 2,644 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    The reason police do not want this type of stuff reporting is because it messes up their crime clear up rate.
    They know they will never investigate the crime or even catch anyone.
    So they just stone wall requests on grounds you are not a victim. But OP is, even if they get their money back, they have still had a item stolen.
    Or do police no longer take reports of house break in or car theft, as on the basis of ins paying out the owner of the property is not a victim...
    Yes.  They don't want to report crime that they aren't going to investigate - let alone solve - and they don't basically want to do anything anyway - except perhaps monitor Harry Miller's social media activity...
  • Okell
    Okell Posts: 2,644 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Second Anniversary Name Dropper

    If your theory is correct... how do we get any murder crimes reported if only victims can report it?
    Well that's I wondered, I asked them if saw someone else get mugged in the street I can't report it, didn't really get an answer...
    Of course not.  There is no answer he could give.
  • DullGreyGuy
    DullGreyGuy Posts: 18,613 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    edited 16 November 2023 at 7:30PM
    Obviously limited experience, it was just interesting to see how hard it was to report an actual crime whilst you see these threads about reporting such issues to the police and really the odds of anyone being convicted over a missing parcel are incredibly slim. 
    Having been a victim of two thefts recently:

    1) Pickpocket
    2) Courier only half sticking the parcel through the door and then someone came along 5 minutes later and took it out and left with it...

    Both times it was easy to report, did online with the Met. Both time got an incident number immediately followed by a crime number the next day.

    On the second one we had CCTV of the whole event, a PC contacted and gave a link to upload the video, did that and then got a message back that as the thief was wearing a covid style mask in the whole video they couldn't do anything with it. 

     On the first one did message police saying the phone had geolocated itself to a house in north London at 3am on the day it was stolen but the police never asked for more details. 

    Never heard anything more about either of them, wasn't expecting to. The crime reference was enough for the insurance on 1 and on 2 it was a prescription medicine and they were happy to reissue without needing to get a new prescription etc. 

    We get it all the time in insurance claims where the PH's kids have "stolen" something or taken dad's car for a spin and hit someone. We want it reported as a theft to the police for us to consider it under the theft section else we assume it was consensual and as such the PH is liable for the persons injuries as well as their kid. If the police prosecute is up to them/CPS so as long as the matter isn't withdrawn by the PH we'll cover the claim. When the parent won't ruin their kids future with a criminal record then they get to pay the monies for the injury... £80k was about the highest I saw. 
  • HHarry
    HHarry Posts: 987 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper

    If your theory is correct... how do we get any murder crimes reported if only victims can report it?
    Well that's I wondered, I asked them if saw someone else get mugged in the street I can't report it, didn't really get an answer.

    Obviously limited experience, it was just interesting to see how hard it was to report an actual crime whilst you see these threads about reporting such issues to the police and really the odds of anyone being convicted over a missing parcel are incredibly slim. 
    I saw someone get mugged in the street.  I was travelling and couldn’t stop, but later reported the details to the Police.

    They weren’t interested as no victim had come forward.
  • m0bov
    m0bov Posts: 2,699 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Its a civel matter, so contact your card provider, you have not been handed the goods so they have not been stolen from you. Also, you have no evidence they have been stolen either.
  • born_again
    born_again Posts: 20,377 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Fifth Anniversary Name Dropper
    m0bov said:
    Its a civel matter, so contact your card provider, you have not been handed the goods so they have not been stolen from you. Also, you have no evidence they have been stolen either.
    Except retailer has proof of delivery. Which is all that is needed to reject chargeback 👍
    Life in the slow lane
  • This has put me off doing online shopping ever again let alone Amazon. Just been down the rabbit hole with that company and wow, I will never shop there again with the way they treat their workers and the environment.

    I am a victim and being made to feel like I've done something wrong. I have to pick my jaw up off the floor that it has come to this, but what are my chances in a small claims court?

    I mean, it's a sub £100 pc monitor. A big parcel that is being tracked. Do they really think I'd be stupid and criminal enough to try and claim it wasn't delivered when it was? An insult to my intelligence as well as being out of pocket.
  • born_again
    born_again Posts: 20,377 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Fifth Anniversary Name Dropper
    This has put me off doing online shopping ever again let alone Amazon. Just been down the rabbit hole with that company and wow, I will never shop there again with the way they treat their workers and the environment.

    I am a victim and being made to feel like I've done something wrong. I have to pick my jaw up off the floor that it has come to this, but what are my chances in a small claims court?

    I mean, it's a sub £100 pc monitor. A big parcel that is being tracked. Do they really think I'd be stupid and criminal enough to try and claim it wasn't delivered when it was? An insult to my intelligence as well as being out of pocket.
    Just simply report to the police, even if it's via action fraud.
    Fact is this is standard procedure for Amazon. It's nothing against you. They just want some proof that they can push on.
    Life in the slow lane
  • Okell
    Okell Posts: 2,644 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    m0bov said:
    Its a civel matter, so contact your card provider, you have not been handed the goods so they have not been stolen from you. Also, you have no evidence they have been stolen either.
    To me it's obvious that this sort of thing is both a civil matter and a criminal matter, and that the police would be completely wrong to claim that the addressee could not report a stolen delivery "because they are not a victim".

    Notwithstanding the provisions of s29 of the Consumer Rights 2015 and that the OP in this case may have a civil claim against Amazon, I'd be surprised if ownership and title to the goods had not already been successfully transferred to the OP after (1) they had paid for the goods and (2) a contract had been formed between them and Amazon.

    If a third party steals the goods before (or during) delivery to the consumer, it's the consumer who is the victim of that theft because they own the property that has been the subject of that theft.  They have been the victim of a crime.  The fact that the consumer might also have a statutory civil claim against Amazon is irrelevant and is none of the police's business from the point of view of recording a criminal offence.

    The police should be enforcing the criminal law and investigating crime - not ignoring it because it's too difficult or they can't be bothered or it screws up their clear-up rates.

    (Similarly I'd argue that Amazon shouldn't be able to report a crime here because they aren't a victim as the stuff stolen doesn't belong to them.  They might be statutorily liable to refund the consumer, but the goods aren't their property).
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