Amazon and small claims court

Aladinsaneuk

knowing that amazon don’t do engagement, and have no complaints service, i am contemplating filing a small claim action.

to explain:

i bought a steam iron from the amazon warehouse

arrived, and set up with no issue.

ironed a couple of shirts, then two, brand new next shirts that had been crumpled in transit - the iron deposited rust stains across them - ruining them.



i contacted their “customer services”team who offered me £13 as a refund on the iron - or could return the iron for a full refund…. Leaving me down the two shirts
(i cleaned the iron out - ran several steam cycles, used bottle brushes and its now working properly - i suspect that it wasn’t checked properly in the warehouse and came with no advice / caution note).



i am angry that they won’t engage - so i want to send:
the shirts
a transcript of the chat
a copy of the receipt
and a formal statement seeking replacement or i will spend £35 on a small claims case.

has any one experience of doing this? Is this the right approach or do i ac cept that I have e contributed to Mrs Bezos’ next plastic surgery ?

cheers in advance

swingaloo

You can call and speak to them. I have just done so after having a bad situation with a seller and they were really good at sorting it and refunded me in full whilst the seller would not.

I would ask though- If the iron ruined one new shirt why would you carry on and use it on another?

Aylesbury_Duck

Some have, and from what I recall, Amazon sometimes "folds" and pays before court action.  There is always the risk that taking legal action against them may result in them closing your account and any accounts associated with your address, so if the sum involved is trivial, that's a consideration, especially if you have digital access to books, music, films, etc attached to your account.

TELLIT01

A brand new iron shouldn't be putting anything other than clean steam out.  The question of why do a second shirt when it ruined the first is however a valid one.

On-the-coast

Isn’t Amazon warehouse second hand stuff (ie returns?)
is so (and for potentially small value - though don’t know how expensive your shirts are) I’d tread carefully.  

I’d expect to iron a few tea towels and run a steam clean etc before trusting a reboxed iron. 

user1977

Why do you want to send the shirts to them? Apart from anything else, it will leave you with a lack of evidence...

Aladinsaneuk

It is only a negligible amount
but it’s the principle

the first damaged shirt I thought was just steam marks- it’s why I carried on

thanks for comments - it does seem like corporate companies write their own rules

Aladinsaneuk

user1977 said:

Why do you want to send the shirts to them? Apart from anything else, it will leave you with a lack of evidence...

Fair comment

 because it’s proof of what occurred 

and I would like to think that the photographic evidence would be sufficient 

Aladinsaneuk

swingaloo said:

You can call and speak to them. I have just done so after having a bad situation with a seller and they were really good at sorting it and refunded me in full whilst the seller would not.

I would ask though- If the iron ruined one new shirt why would you carry on and use it on another?

Oh I did chat with them - the £13 offer

Aylesbury_Duck

Aladinsaneuk said:

It is only a negligible amount
but it’s the principle

the first damaged shirt I thought was just steam marks- it’s why I carried on

thanks for comments - it does seem like corporate companies write their own rules

Principles can be expensive things, not just fiscally.  If the negligible amount is made even more negligible by accepting the £13 or the refund for the iron offered, you might consider accepting that.  Amazon isn't going to care whether they win or lose, you're just another customer and there are plenty more where you came from.  The best way to work to a principle is to shop elsewhere.  

sheramber

TELLIT01 said:

A brand new iron shouldn't be putting anything other than clean steam out.  The question of why do a second shirt when it ruined the first is however a valid one.

Amazon Warehouse sell goods that been returned.