Amazon refund process

anonuser23

Hi everyone.

Has anyone dealt with the Amazon refund process recently? I was hoping to get some advice on the best approach to take.

I'm dealing with what seems to be an increasingly common issue of a package turning up only to find the product box inside empty. In my case it was a smartphone of about £250, a costly purchase. After a call with Amazon CS they interpret this as 'theft by third party' and ask you to submit a police report.

I submitted the report online, and received a standard letter back from police saying there is obviously insufficient evidence to investigate further.

Sent the letter to Amazon CS and called them a few days later. They refused to accept the police letter claiming the details on it don't match what they have and asking me to go back to police asking for the full report.

It's really annoying dealing with Amazon CS, they seem under instructions to just delay and obfuscate the process in the hope customers give up. I don't get what I paid for and Amazon eat my money!

Anyway long story short(er) I now have the report with all the details Amazon ask for added to it (I hope), so I can try one last time with Amazon CS.

Just wanted some advice about what to do if Amazon continue to find excuses to refuse the refund.

Do I escalate to a supervisor? Or write to the jeff@amazon email I've read about in some other cases?

Another option I have is the credit card I used seems to offer a refund protection option - can I just ignore Amazon at this stage and try getting my money back that way?

Thanks for any advice.

marcia_

anonuser23 said:

Hi everyone.

Has anyone dealt with the Amazon refund process recently? I was hoping to get some advice on the best approach to take.

I'm dealing with what seems to be an increasingly common issue of a package turning up only to find the product box inside empty. In my case it was a smartphone of about £250, a costly purchase. After a call with Amazon CS they interpret this as 'theft by third party' and ask you to submit a police report.

I submitted the report online, and received a standard letter back from police saying there is obviously insufficient evidence to investigate further.

Sent the letter to Amazon CS and called them a few days later. They refused to accept the police letter claiming the details on it don't match what they have and asking me to go back to police asking for the full report.

It's really annoying dealing with Amazon CS, they seem under instructions to just delay and obfuscate the process in the hope customers give up. I don't get what I paid for and Amazon eat my money!

Anyway long story short(er) I now have the report with all the details Amazon ask for added to it (I hope), so I can try one last time with Amazon CS.

Just wanted some advice about what to do if Amazon continue to find excuses to refuse the refund.

Do I escalate to a supervisor? Or write to the jeff@amazon email I've read about in some other cases?

Another option I have is the credit card I used seems to offer a refund protection option - can I just ignore Amazon at this stage and try getting my money back that way?

Thanks for any advice.

I have seen several similar posts on here and none were successful in getting a refund in these circumstances.

 Yes you have the option of a chargeback, where your bank takes the money back from Amazon, or even better if you paid with a credit card s75 where the bank themselves refunds you. You should be clear with the bank you want s75 not a chargeback. 

Be aware if you do a chargeback Amazon would likely close your account. 

born_again

marcia_ said:

anonuser23 said:

Hi everyone.

Has anyone dealt with the Amazon refund process recently? I was hoping to get some advice on the best approach to take.

I'm dealing with what seems to be an increasingly common issue of a package turning up only to find the product box inside empty. In my case it was a smartphone of about £250, a costly purchase. After a call with Amazon CS they interpret this as 'theft by third party' and ask you to submit a police report.

I submitted the report online, and received a standard letter back from police saying there is obviously insufficient evidence to investigate further.

Sent the letter to Amazon CS and called them a few days later. They refused to accept the police letter claiming the details on it don't match what they have and asking me to go back to police asking for the full report.

It's really annoying dealing with Amazon CS, they seem under instructions to just delay and obfuscate the process in the hope customers give up. I don't get what I paid for and Amazon eat my money!

Anyway long story short(er) I now have the report with all the details Amazon ask for added to it (I hope), so I can try one last time with Amazon CS.

Just wanted some advice about what to do if Amazon continue to find excuses to refuse the refund.

Do I escalate to a supervisor? Or write to the jeff@amazon email I've read about in some other cases?

Another option I have is the credit card I used seems to offer a refund protection option - can I just ignore Amazon at this stage and try getting my money back that way?

Thanks for any advice.

I have seen several similar posts on here and none were successful in getting a refund in these circumstances.

 Yes you have the option of a chargeback, where your bank takes the money back from Amazon, or even better if you paid with a credit card s75 where the bank themselves refunds you. You should be clear with the bank you want s75 not a chargeback. 

Be aware if you do a chargeback Amazon would likely close your account. 

So long as it is purchased from Amazon & not a marketplace seller.
Still not a 100% get out of jail free card.

Hoenir

anonuser23 said:

They refused to accept the police letter claiming the details on it don't match what they have and asking me to go back to police asking for the full report.

Don't match "what" ? 

anonuser23

Hoenir said:

Don't match "what" ? 

Amazon send you an email saying the following:

"In order for us to validate your Crime reference , it must be reported in the local jurisdiction (city, county, municipal) in which the package was reported delivered, and include the following:

- The delivery address regarding this incident.

- The items were delivered according to the carrier tracking.

- The report was created for stolen items/theft/larceny/incorrect delivery or similar crime.

- The date the report was created.

- The name of the police department."

So I presume those details need to be present in the police report.  I have a report from the police now with those details included, and will send back to Amazon.

Let's see what excuses they come up with to reject it this time. This will be my last attempt I feel.

I suspect this refund issue will only be resolved through my credit card company.

DullGreyGuy

It's unlikely that they will actually buy a copy of the police report, not sure they could even if they wanted to. Hence they want enough detail in the letter from the police to ensure the crime reference number is in relation to the alleged stolen item rather than you calling the cops saying you saw a dangerous overtaking of a cyclist by some random car and trying to pass it off as the stolen item report. 

Have plenty of experience of Amazon returns, my experience is the exact opposite and that they are often too eager to refund and often well before they got the goods back. In fact recently was trying to ask them a hypothetical question on returns on items sold on Amazon.co.uk but supplied by Amazon EU but the agent didnt get it was hypothetical and insisted on an order number. Made it clear it was hypothetical and gave them a recent order with the same scenario and within 2 minutes they came back saying they'd refunded it and I didnt need to return the goods. 

Fortunately never had an empty box delivered, thought I had once when I ordered a single tile drill bit and a box big enough for my wife to sleep in turned up but eventually found the 6cm/51g bit amoungst the kg or two of paper they'd put in the box. 

born_again

anonuser23 said:

Hoenir said:

Don't match "what" ? 

Amazon send you an email saying the following:

"In order for us to validate your Crime reference , it must be reported in the local jurisdiction (city, county, municipal) in which the package was reported delivered, and include the following:

- The delivery address regarding this incident.

- The items were delivered according to the carrier tracking.

- The report was created for stolen items/theft/larceny/incorrect delivery or similar crime.

- The date the report was created.

- The name of the police department."

So I presume those details need to be present in the police report.  I have a report from the police now with those details included, and will send back to Amazon.

Let's see what excuses they come up with to reject it this time. This will be my last attempt I feel.

I suspect this refund issue will only be resolved through my credit card company.

I hate to say this, but as Amazon have proof of delivery, then a chargeback could be rejected. Or if they do not, take this on for debt collection.

S75 could also be rejected on the same basis that amazon are dealing in that good were delivered, as such no breech of contract.

Was this from Amazon or via the marketplace?

AkoAko

Amazon appear to be using a clever trick to avoid refunding large value purchases and I think consumers should be made aware of it . I will explain how it worked on me . Consumer law states that the retailer is responsible for the goods until they are delivered to the customer .

I ordered a Mobil phone costing 229.99 and gave no instructions for it to be left anywhere but with the recipient , I did not select any of the alternative delivery instructions such as leave it with a neighbour or leave around the back or in the shed , that meant that at the very least they had to hand it to someone at the delivery address . I was given a delivery time of between 2pm and 4m and confirmed my son and ex wife would be at home .

Around 4pm I received an email from Amazon saying the goods had been delivered , I was surprised , I have been sending presents to my son there for many years and my ex wife had always messaged me on Facebook immediately they arrived and I hadn't heard for her . I messaged her to say I had the email and she said that she had been waiting and keeping her eyes open and no one ad called and she not seen any delivery person outside . I checked the tracker to find it said only “ DELIVERED TO NEIGHBOUR MARK AT DOOR 10 “ it had been delivered at 2.54pm . My ex wife's neighbour was a lady called Angie and lived alone , she didn't know anyone called Mark , if anyone had called she would have told them to knock on the other door .

I reported to Amazon that the packet had been delivered to the wrong property and I had not given permission for them to have done so , the tracker information was sparse , there was no Road ,Street , Avenue given or any surname so the information wasn't any help in locating the package .

Amazon said the would look into it and get back to me in a couple of days , I then bought a replacement expecting to get a refund on the original in due course , the replacement was for the same phone delivered to the exact same address and arrived without incident 2 days later .

When Amazon did respond with an email saying that from my statement and their own inquiries they concluded the package was stolen and I'm urged to do a Police report , there was no mention of Refund and I stupidly thought that it was normal procedure for a higher value item so I was happy to file a Police Crime report and included al the information that Amazon had instructed me should be included .

When I eventually got a Crime reference number I forwarded it to Amazon who insisted I have to provide them with a PDF file of the complete report .

The police were adamant that they don't provide a copy to the person making the report but Amazon are well aware of the procedure and can easily get one .

I told this to Amazon in an email and later through their live chat option but they were insistent that I had to provide the copy and that maybe I should go higher up the chain of command in the police force , that was the end of any communication on the topic , each time I email Amazon there response is another copy of the original email , I have about 12 copies now . I tried contacting through instant chat again and the response was remained the same , I needed to provide the copy of the Police report before anything else , after the chat I received yet another copy of the original email .

It wasn't until 2 weeks later I realised that what Amazon had done was to treat me as if the package had been delivered to the correct address and I had claimed after that it hadn't , Amazon had made themselves to be the victim , the issue of responsibility for failing to deliver goods had been avoided Amazon now will not answer any email with anything other than the original email or just not respond at all , and chat just repeat the demand a for a copy of the Crime report before they will discus anything else .

I have been polite throughout and tried everything possible but it now look like I have to give up , I am 74 years old and have a serious health issue and last Friday I required medical attention due to the stress brought on be receiving of one more of the same old email in response to mine .

I finally gave up and wrote to them explaining that I am not the victim of theft , they are , so its for them to file a Crime Report and chase up whoever they employed to deliver the goods , my contract is with them and in failing to deliver the goods they have broken it. I provided them with the official letter from the Police in PHD form that gives them the Crime Record Number to do with as they wish but I will not be contacting the Police again . They did not respond