A rant about Amazon - and their customer number

[tatt]

made the mistake of ordering a couple of CDs for a child's birthday present from Amazon. First they gave a delivery date of mid December (order placed weeks ago but one item was a pre-order, released this week). E-mailed them - delivery date changed but pre-order deleted. I was told I could order an apparently identical item but by then the first cd was being shipped so I couldn't change the order. Nice man in customer services ( 0800 279 6620) changed it. Only it was still showing as not sent 2 days after they had stated on their website they had it in stock. So I rang them and was assured it would be delivered that day - really, after 4p.m? Told them they'd hear from me the next day if it wasn't. E-mailed again, no reply. Today had an e-mail saying it would be delivered by promised date of 31. Hello - the date promised was 26th! Anyway rang customer services - who tell me I can't cancel it as it's with the shipping agent (how convenient). Maye it'll arrive next week, maybe not but I won't be ordering with Amazon again.

So - anyone tried to complain to ASA about advertising items as available when they aren't?

they are obliged to accept your cancellation and give you a full refund including the delviery charges if you haven't yet received the goods

they must also supply a full geographic address (not a PO Box) for yopu to contact

your cancellation must be in a durable means either email, fax or letter

the regulations for distance selling were changed in spetember too here

if its any consolation (it isnt) i have ordered a million things from amazon and never had a moments bother with them. i adore amazon.

my sister recommends play.com instead though. says theyre better value, quick and postage included.

hope you get your money back

A lot of people posted here last Christmas that they had problems with Amazon, but like you Lady Undetrun, i've never had a problem with them. I use them lots of times.

do they have a geographic address on their website as it's illegal not to

also they have to refund you within 30 days of a cancellation if you make it within 7 days of receiving them and refund the original delivery costs whether or not they heave received the goods back and if you have unwrapped them (not cds) to examine them and ypou send them back with the original packaging rather than it they still have to refund in full even if they will not be able to resell them

I have to change my terms and conditions on my website I see as some things have been changed

It isn't just one error though - it's several. Listing the wrong delivery date, cancelling part of the order, insisiting the item would still be delivered on time (how stupid at 4p.m on delievry day). And now I discover misinforming me of my legal rights! Also I forgot to mention when you call customer services the first call will probably disconnect and they keep putting you on hold to "call up your account" - so it takes 15 minutes at least. And it isn't even Christmas yet, what will they be like when they have a rush on?

I have used both play.com and cd-wow.com before. Cd-wow were good at first but then we had something that was such poor quality it looked like a fake - and they wanted it sent back to Cyprus. If I'd suceeded in cancelling the Amazon order I'd have gone to play.com as I've not had problems with them. When I placed the order play didn't have a pre-order for the item the child wanted.

If you continue to use Amazon don't ever try to pre-order from them and keep the customer services number handy, you're going to need it.

missed your post, zippitoes, I'm a very slow typist. I've allowed them to go ahead as they said it was with the shipper, the poor kid wants her present and it's being delivered to her direct so I'd have a problem getting it sent back.

But I'm going to study those reg very carefully.

they are interesting, very much in favour of the consumer and a lot of websites don't comply (including mine at the moment)

though i very rarely get complaints and I generally go beyoind the laaw in responding to them (unless customer is nasty to me in which case they get their rights and nothing more)

but i can see that complying if you are a small business is quite hard particualrly sending out all the customers rights with each despatch is something I haven't done before

also having to refund without getting the goods back and them not having to be resaleable could be pretty expensive for businesses like me and some customers are shapr practitioners will soon spot this

been reading the regs. You are legally entitled to cancel the agreement even if it has been sent. You just refuse to accept delivery of the item. However for something like a CD that will just be put through the letter box it's a bit difficult to refuse delivery, isn't it! However this does mean that the information about cancellation on Amazon's website is incorrect, as is the information I was given.

it's always been that you could cancel after despatch up to 7 days from the day you recieve the goods

but it used to be that the company could refuse to refund the delivery charge as wellas your return charge if they said this on the terms and conditions on the website

now it seems that they must alwys pay the delivery charge and only not refund your return charge if they state this in the t&cS WHICH MUST NOW BE SENT OUT TO THE CUSTOMER

well they've now e-mailed me to say they will cancel the order and I should refuse to accept it. So I have to arrange for them to refuse delivery if they can and if not for a reply paid label to send it back. I've ordered from play.com at 4p cheaper!