Amazon court case

Autumn2024

born_again said:

Autumn2024 said:

Hi, 

I am a newbie here and would appreciate advice from consumer rights experts. 

Two years ago I purchased an item on Amazon Prime Premium. I chose a premium delivery service as it was crucial to receive the order by a certain time. Amazon failed to deliver the order and issued a refund 3 months after the order was placed. I filed a money claim court case as I suffered a financial loss as a result but Amazon argued that the refund resolved the issue. My contention was that the Prime Premium delivery was chosen because timely receipt was crucial. The refund, issued after three failed deliveries and over 30 emails, letters, and messages, caused me financial loss and constituted a breach of contract.

It took two years to reach a hearing, but the judge dismissed my case. What are my rights in this situation?
 

None, given court ruled against you.
Prime is not a guaranteed delivery service.

If you suffered a financial loss, that sounds like you could be a business?

@born_again, I appreciate your comment.

Yes the court ruled to dismiss the case, however the judgement defies any logic?
Let's say you ordered a wedding dress or suit (not my case, but just wanted to illustrate the "time of essence principle"). The vendor then says that you can have it delivered on a standard basis, or on a guaranteed premium service if you pay extra fee. You opt to pay extra fee as you want your dress or suit as you want a guaranteed service for your order to arrive by certain date. The vendor then fails to deliver it and wastes your time by arranging 2 more deliveries that do not materialise. A day before your wedding you have to no other choince but to buy a replacement at a higher cost as well as pay extra fees incurred as a result (let's say alterations, shipments etc). After three months of emails, calls, letters etc, the vendor issues a refund.

You take the vendor to court, but the court sides with the vedor and decides that there is no case because you received a refund?
 
I am sure there is some reasonable explanation for the judgement, but it totally escapes me. I can't understand how can a business can get away with such an appalling service and there is no recourse for consumers to take. By this point, it is not about the financial loss I incurred, but about getting apology and accepting their fault. 

la531983

How much are you willing to spend in order to even have a chance of getting that?

Sarahspangles

Autumn2024 said:

By this point, it is not about the financial loss I incurred, but about getting apology and accepting their fault. 

You’re honestly throwing away good energy after bad. There is a process that may get you a financial solution, but your case was not upheld. Any apology you got would be a meaningless gesture offered to retain customer goodwill. They won’t admit fault to someone who has already litigated and could again.

Presumably you’re no longer a customer in any case?

MeteredOut

Autumn2024 said:

born_again said:

Autumn2024 said:

Hi, 

I am a newbie here and would appreciate advice from consumer rights experts. 

Two years ago I purchased an item on Amazon Prime Premium. I chose a premium delivery service as it was crucial to receive the order by a certain time. Amazon failed to deliver the order and issued a refund 3 months after the order was placed. I filed a money claim court case as I suffered a financial loss as a result but Amazon argued that the refund resolved the issue. My contention was that the Prime Premium delivery was chosen because timely receipt was crucial. The refund, issued after three failed deliveries and over 30 emails, letters, and messages, caused me financial loss and constituted a breach of contract.

It took two years to reach a hearing, but the judge dismissed my case. What are my rights in this situation?
 

None, given court ruled against you.
Prime is not a guaranteed delivery service.

If you suffered a financial loss, that sounds like you could be a business?

@born_again, I appreciate your comment.

Yes the court ruled to dismiss the case, however the judgement defies any logic?
Let's say you ordered a wedding dress or suit (not my case, but just wanted to illustrate the "time of essence principle"). The vendor then says that you can have it delivered on a standard basis, or on a guaranteed premium service if you pay extra fee. You opt to pay extra fee as you want your dress or suit as you want a guaranteed service for your order to arrive by certain date. The vendor then fails to deliver it and wastes your time by arranging 2 more deliveries that do not materialise. A day before your wedding you have to no other choince but to buy a replacement at a higher cost as well as pay extra fees incurred as a result (let's say alterations, shipments etc). After three months of emails, calls, letters etc, the vendor issues a refund.

You take the vendor to court, but the court sides with the vedor and decides that there is no case because you received a refund?
 
I am sure there is some reasonable explanation for the judgement, but it totally escapes me. I can't understand how can a business can get away with such an appalling service and there is no recourse for consumers to take. By this point, it is not about the financial loss I incurred, but about getting apology and accepting their fault. 

Is Prime a guaranteed service?

It would be easier for people to perhaps help if you gave your actual financial loss based on your actual experiece.

In your example case, I'd suggest the financial loss claim would also fail since you did not mitigate your losses when you waited until the day before the wedding to purchase an alternative - you could have cancelled for a full refund after the multiple failed deliveries. Consequential losses are rarely covered.

Autumn2024

Sarahspangles said:

Autumn2024 said:

By this point, it is not about the financial loss I incurred, but about getting apology and accepting their fault. 

You’re honestly throwing away good energy after bad. There is a process that may get you a financial solution, but your case was not upheld. Any apology you got would be a meaningless gesture offered to retain customer goodwill. They won’t admit fault to someone who has already litigated and could again.

Presumably you’re no longer a customer in any case?

Thank you! Yes, I am no longer a customer and my family are boycotting them too, but I know it won't make any difference to Amazon. 

Autumn2024

la531983 said:

How much are you willing to spend in order to even have a chance of getting that?

I haven't looked into it, but I have a heightened sense of justice, of which I am scared of myself. I wish i could just let it go, but I can't watch a big business getting away with things. In my dealings with them, I discovered some other ugly details of their practices, which Amazon should be ashamed of. 

Okell

Autumn2024 said:

... The refund, issued after three failed deliveries and over 30 emails, letters, and messages, caused me financial loss and constituted a breach of contract...

How could a refund cause you financial loss and be a breach of contract?

If you explained your case equally ineptly in your Particulars of Claim and didn't provide a sound legal basis for your claim then it's probably not surprising that the court found against you.

What was the basis of your claim as expressed in your Particulars and what reason(s) did the judge give for rejecting it?

I suspect that if you look closely at the Amazon "premium delivery service" T&Cs you will find that they expressly do not guarantee delivery within a certain time-frame, be that next day, 48 hours or whatever.

Rather than rely on late delivery as your basis of claim - if that is what you relied on - you may have been better advised to look at something called "loss of bargain".

Unfortunately, as you seem to want to play secret squirrel with the all important details of this case, nobody can really advise you as to whether it's worth appealing or not*, and you're just wasting your time and ours.


*But without knowing more I suspect it definitely isn't worth pursuing this any further - especially so if all you really want is an apology.  It wouldn't give you any recompense and Amazon wouldn't mean it...

Autumn2024

Thanks Okell,

Refund, issued timely (within reasonable time scope) would have been acceptable, if it gave the consumer the chance to make alternative arrangement within the time scope. Late refund - not so. I incurred loss due to poor service - loss of earning, cost of replacement etc. 

Yes, I did express myself rather ineptly (very obvious I am not a lawyer), I accept that with hindsight. I took the promise of "guaranteed delivery" at a face value, I am a typacal "man on Clapham omnibus". The basis of the claim was breach of contract, and implied failure to act with reasonable care and skill. 

I am not playing a secret squirrel - I thought the details were not important, so gave a brief outline. The valus of the order is about £250, if that makes any difference. The hearing was struck out during the hearing because the company made an application for strike off on the basis that there was no case to answer, and during the hearing the judge decided that the case should be struck off because he agreed with the reasoning of the defendant. 

eskbanker

Guaranteed delivery - Amazon Customer Service explains their compensation eligibility for guaranteed deliveries, was this all examined in detail during the court case?

Undervalued

Autumn2024 said:

born_again said:

Autumn2024 said:

Hi, 

I am a newbie here and would appreciate advice from consumer rights experts. 

Two years ago I purchased an item on Amazon Prime Premium. I chose a premium delivery service as it was crucial to receive the order by a certain time. Amazon failed to deliver the order and issued a refund 3 months after the order was placed. I filed a money claim court case as I suffered a financial loss as a result but Amazon argued that the refund resolved the issue. My contention was that the Prime Premium delivery was chosen because timely receipt was crucial. The refund, issued after three failed deliveries and over 30 emails, letters, and messages, caused me financial loss and constituted a breach of contract.

It took two years to reach a hearing, but the judge dismissed my case. What are my rights in this situation?
 

None, given court ruled against you.
Prime is not a guaranteed delivery service.

If you suffered a financial loss, that sounds like you could be a business?

@born_again, I appreciate your comment.

Yes the court ruled to dismiss the case, however the judgement defies any logic?
Let's say you ordered a wedding dress or suit (not my case, but just wanted to illustrate the "time of essence principle"). The vendor then says that you can have it delivered on a standard basis, or on a guaranteed premium service if you pay extra fee. You opt to pay extra fee as you want your dress or suit as you want a guaranteed service for your order to arrive by certain date. The vendor then fails to deliver it and wastes your time by arranging 2 more deliveries that do not materialise. A day before your wedding you have to no other choince but to buy a replacement at a higher cost as well as pay extra fees incurred as a result (let's say alterations, shipments etc). After three months of emails, calls, letters etc, the vendor issues a refund.

You take the vendor to court, but the court sides with the vedor and decides that there is no case because you received a refund?
 
I am sure there is some reasonable explanation for the judgement, but it totally escapes me. I can't understand how can a business can get away with such an appalling service and there is no recourse for consumers to take. By this point, it is not about the financial loss I incurred, but about getting apology and accepting their fault. 

Broadly you can only appeal against a county court judge's ruling on very limited grounds and not just because you feel s/he came to the wrong decision (on the balance of probabilities).

If you are going down that route you need proper legal advice. Did you have (and indeed heed) any professional advice before bringing your claim?