Amazon Renewed Rip-Off

littlebighorse

I bought a phone on Amazon Renewed on 8th August. It was £330 (Iphone 15) and around the same price as other refurb phone sites but I thought Amazon were a reliable company. Like all the items on their Renewed site it was supplied by a third party seller. At the time they had generally very good reviews
The money was paid to Amazon through my Amazon account. The seller sent tracking details but the item never arrived at the courier. The deadline for delivery (14th-15th August) passed and I was told I needed to wait until the 19th. The courier has never received the item and tracking number just seems to be one that has been initiated without any attempt to ever supply the item.
Since then numerous reports by other buyers have been made on Amazon with people with similar experiences. Money taken, no item sent, being fobbed off. It's quite clearly a scam and I don't understand why Amazon have allowed it
I really need my money back to buy a replacement phone but Amazon say I can't even apply to get my money back until the 20th and then it it will take 2 weeks. Their customer service has been shocking and I have been lied to repeatedly.
Can anyone offer any useful advise or will I have to try to borrow some money from somewhere so I can get a new phone as I can't wait 2 weeks or more.
I don't understand how Amazon have allowed this scam and why they wont sort it quickly.
Many thanks.

Aylesbury_Duck

If the seller previously had good reviews and suddenly they don't, perhaps Amazon haven't had time to investigate and take action.

It's not "quite clearly a scam". It may be, but it may also be something more innocent, like a business owner being taken ill and the automated part of the order process continuing as normal.

You'll need to let Amazon deal with it, and will have to accept that it won't be dealt with instantly.

Can you not buy a really cheap handset to tide you over a couple of weeks?

Grumpy_chap

It's pretty much as A_D said.

Patience is a virtue.

Can your current / old phone keep you in connectivity for another couple of weeks?

Or one of the many old phones everyone seems to have stuck in a drawer somewhere?

littlebighorse

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82107252#Comment_82107252

The seller is called "Discount Direct" and was on Amazon Renewed, not some individual small-time marketplace seller. It was sold through Amazon and my money was paid to Amazon.
There have been 125 reports of exactly the same experience as me in the last few days (item marked as despatched but never arrived at couriers, seller doesn't respond to messages at all). Prior to recent times they had mixed reviews but some positive (those these may have been fake) similar to most of the other sellers on Amazon Renewed (Amazon's equivalent of Backmarket)
It just seems very unfair that I am going to be £330 out of pocket for a month whilst a giant conglomerate like Amazon keep my money.
No, I don't have the money to waste on a cheap handset whilst I wait 2+ weeks for a refund. I guess I'll just have to use my old phone (Iphone 12 Mini) but it is badly damaged and over-heating so it's far from ideal.
Lesson learned. Never buy a phone via Amazon Renewed ever again. Was just hoping that someone may have a contact detail for someone senior at Amazon who might take it seriously.

littlebighorse

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82107275#Comment_82107275

As I said in a previous reply. I only have my old phone which is 6 years
old, badly damaged and wont fully charge due to overheating issues. It
is not ideal but of course if I have to I'll soldier on.
It just seems to be quite unfair that I am left out of pocket by £330
for a whole month by a huge giant like Amazon through absolutely no
fault of my own. I have already waited 11 days for it to be delivered (no response from seller) and now it would seem I'm going to have to wait 17 more days before I get my money back.

oldernonethewiser

Amazon have a process they seem to be working through and doubt if you'll find a way to speed it up.

I've read complaints over quite some time about buying stuff from Amazon renewed and poor quality.

Good idea to buy elsewhere (should be Amazon's motto 😉)

littlebighorse

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82107315#Comment_82107315

Yes, it's just so frustrating to be out of pocket for a month when if I
had ordered from any other reputable reseller I'm pretty sure I would
have been refunded by now so I could have bought a phone from somewhere
else.
I thought Amazon would be the best bet but clearly not. Their customer
service is shockingly bad. Some people in comments (on the dodgy firm)
say they have got tough with Amazon and received refunds but alas I have
had no joy.
Will never buy from Amazon Renewed again.

Grumpy_chap

I don't think any other retailer would necessarily be quicker at processing the refund.

Amazon have said it will take two weeks.

If the purchase is cancelled under CCR, then the refund has to be within 14 days.

littlebighorse

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82107331#Comment_82107331

It will be 2 weeks from me applying for a refund (for which again I will have the painful and time consuming process of attempting to contact Amazon customer service) but I have to wait almost 2 weeks before I can apply for he refund making it virtually a month in total. All for a phone that was never even sent.
Frustratingly I could have ordered the same phone via Loop Mobile slightly cheaper but I went with Amazon Renewed as I thought they would be more reliable. Bad mistake. If you're wealthy and £330 is a drop in the ocean to you then it doesn't matter but to me it does. Will never buy from Amazon Renewed again.

eskbanker

If the phone was meant to have arrived on 14th/15th then it doesn't seem unreasonable for Amazon to require a few days before considering it undelivered, in order to initiate a refund claim on that basis?

littlebighorse

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82107439#Comment_82107439

I agree. Though the phone isn't lost. It should have been delivered earlier then got pushed back to the 14th/15th, now the 19th but it has never been dispatched to the courier and the tracking has not changed since the 9th.
It has never been sent and there are literally hundreds of reports of this seller doing exactly the same thing in the last two weeks, all seemingly relatively high end items (high end to me anyway, I appreciate to some people £330 is very little money).
If they had refunded me in 2 weeks that would have been okay. What I am am struggling with is that I now have to wait a further two weeks on top of that which will take it to a month before they will issue a refund and I really need the money to get a new phone as my old one is smashed and barely useable. Other people have said that they have already been refunded but had to get tough with Amazon but I guess you need to know the right people to contact and I only have their general customer services number who are hopeless.
All because Amazon have allowed this scam seller to sell on their Amazon Renewed site.