Amazon- Beware

[whataboutbob]

This isn’t really an AIBU but I want as wide a readership as possible. I ordered a monitor screen for WFH via Amazon, a good 12 weeks ago. The delivery time was long but never mind, thought I’d get a good product recommended by a colleague, at a reasonable price. The delivery date came and went. I contacted the seller who said that due to covid, items were getting lost. It may still turn up but in any case they’d reimburse me within 7 working days . 7 working days came and went, no refund. No monitor either. So contacted again and got same automated message as 1st time round. Contacted Amazon and left a poor review on the sellers Amazon site. Amazon said they’d investigate and I’d be re I nursed by 27th of November ( by now about 12 weeks after I paid). And worst of all thy are refusing to post my review.
Clearly they are making a packet from this seller who has a load of good reviews.
I am never buying off amazon again if I can help it, and definitely not from stores based in China.

There’s a massive difference between buying from Amazon and buying from a random Amazon marketplace seller. The latter is essentially like buying something from a random eBay seller.

Obviously Amazon will refund you as they have an A-Z guarantee, but as it wasn’t them who sold the product to you there’s a different process. If you’re unhappy about this, you should have bought it from Amazon directly.

You haven’t even given them a chance to resolve this - they said the end of November latest yet you’re already posting on forums warning people about them

As I discovered to my cost there is a difference between buying goods made in China and goods sold directly from China. It’s often well, and deliberately, hidden. Facebook and other reviews are heavily edited/deleted. Trust pilot is a good place to check. Though I did not realise that at the time. My stuff took ages to be sent and then got stuck in customs as the correct amount of duty had not been paid. It was nearly impossible to get any customer support.

Lesson learned.

I doubt they have “made a packet” because legally they will have to refund every buyer that has been scammed here

i dont know whay amazon have all these ties with dodgy sellers - why dont they just stick to selling their own stuff?

i ordered a calculator last week for my DC's maths test at the end of the week. It hasn't even been dispatched yet so no way it'll arrive in time. I did try to cancel but there's no obligation for the seller to respond straight away so imagine they'll probably post it anyway but it'll be too late for the test

Why do Amazon waste their own and everyone else's time?

@BumbleFlump
Always check sellers info and see where it’s coming from, most Amazon items are next day or just a day or so. Same with ebay also check seller.

@BumbleFlump

RENUS 2-Line Engineering Scientific Calculator Function Calculator for Student and Teacher www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07TR5LQSL/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fabc_YNfTFb8XJQG09?psc=1&_encoding=UTF8&tag=mumsnetforu03-21

Delivered Thursday 😉

There’s a lot of anti China racism on here. Tbh it’s generally not a bad idea to order directly from China- you’re just cutting out the middle man as most electronics manufactured in China. As others said, you are no worse off and Amazon are investigating.

I buy from amazon a lot, granted that isn’t great but I do. Never had an issue and I cancelled something purchased a few hours later and had the refund within days. If you buy from a seller then it’s the seller you deal with and amazon doesn’t step in until later. I’ve also never bought something that wasn’t prime or at least based in the uk, so maybe that’s why.

There’s a lot of anti China racism on here

Woooahh, that’s a strong accusation.

There can be issues when you unwittingly order from a supplier on the other side of the world with poor tracking systems, virtually no customer service and find your goods stuck in customs. With the retailers essentially suggestion that you pay the customs duty yourself. I would not order direct from China again.

If that is racist so be it. I value my time too much to try to hunt down customers service. It was far from clear how I would return the goods, and the vast majority of people on Trustpilot were saying the same thing. But hey, we must all be bad people.

I have always found Amazon customer services fantastic ans never had a problem with refunds.

SBTLove thanks, DS now tells me they actually have a shop at school which sells the one he needs (new school, sixth form) - why he didn't tell me this last week is beyond me (something about not knowing where the shop is

It will most probably be in a container ship somewhere between the Maldives and Gibraltar.

That’s why you should only buy products which say sold and dispatched by amazon or at best fulfilled by amazon.

You've gotta be wary on Amazon, the way they handle inventory from different sellers is to basically lump them all together regardless of who sent them on so fake products get mixed up with real items and you basically get a lucky dip when you order.

Incase you wanna know more -
www.redpoints.com/blog/amazon-commingled-inventory-management/

Always pay with a credit card then you can ask your bank to do a chargeback if you get no joy from the seller after a reasonable time.

Always google the ceo and go direct with a serious complaint. Most of them have an executive team that deals with such complaints because they know customers who do that mean business.

Recently a friend of mine ordered a laptop from Amazon and what arrived was a laptop box with a shopping basket in it!!

It took a few weeks to sort but they got their money back.

@Crankley

Had you contacted Amazon and not the seller you would not now be in this position. SBTLove is correct.

So you want as wide a readership as possible so they can see you incorrectly contacted the seller instead of Amazon?

Amazon will not help out between customers and third party sellers

I once ordered from a 3rd party seller. Never turned up. I have to say Amazon were very good. They refunded me no problem.

You need to leave a review for the actual shopfront and not for the item.
Shouldn’t be a problem then.

@whataboutbob

This also happened with shoddy goods in Etsy, vendor refused to repair for free so I went to Etsy who refunded me, but they didn’t allow me to post a review about the poor product and the vendors rudeness. The platforms are too cozy and interdependent with the vendors I guess. 😡

That's why I use PayPal as it's easy to raise a dispute through them.

I order a ton from amazon and have done for years. In my own experience I've never had an issue having a dispute resolved with Amazon. Ever.

I learned the hard way about buying items from China via eBay. The shipping address was in the UK and I never checked the business address which was in China. I got shoddy goods and was told to ship a computer chair back to Hong Kong at a cost of £100 to get a refund. I did eventually get my money back from Ebay after a long fight.

Amazon customer service is normally excellent but they don't make it obvious where items are shipped from or where the seller is based. Buying expensive goods from China is always a bad idea.

Sympathies OP but you didn't buy it from Amazon you bought it from a private seller using amazon marketplace, by the sounds of it. For all the moral issues with Amazon it is probably the one place I've never had any issue with. Their CS always respond fast, always refund (often as soon as you've dropped it off at the post office) and on the odd occasion somethings gone missing over the years they've replaced and compensated. I think buyers (such as yourself) need to be more diligent from whom they purchase and ensure they understand where they are making a purchase. If they have otherwise good reviews I would assume they generally run their business at least reasonably well. The anti China sentiment is ridiculous. I actually can't say I've ever had any issues on occasions I have (on purpose god forbid) ordered direct from China. Everybody knows the delivery time can be lengthy.

I'd ask to delete this post to be honest. The title is untrue and it's basically pointless. OP had an issue (that is likely to be resolved) with one of the thousands of independent sellers operating on amazon, that otherwise had good reviews. What warning are we supposed to be heeding exactly.

Sincerely hope you get the refund and end up satisfied OP but this doesn't make much sense.

Amazon have protection based on....reviews. You can get refunded easily and you still have nine days left.

Your warning should be don't pay for shit because NINE days BEFORE it's stated you will be refunded I have not been refunded..

Simple option is find someone to trawl shops and deliver to your door the same day