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Amazon allegedly scammed out of $370K by 22-year-old's return shipments of dirt

foxbusiness.com

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Re: Amazon allegedly scammed out of $370K by 22-year-old's return shipments of dirt

#101

Post by zaroth »

AnssiH wrote: post #48
zaroth wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A missing DVD cover discovered by a weight discrepancy? Who’s to say it was returned in the original envelope? Perhaps more likely the extremely light items weight is hidden in the variance of the return packaging weight and so those packages have to be opened?

A missing cover sounds like it would be visible without opening the product packaging (which would be the cover itself, no?), i.e. they can easily notice the omission by comparing the returned item against a reference image. In the OP case the product packaging was filled with dirt, which is not as easily discoverable without opening product packaging.

Ah, they open the shipping envelope. They don’t open the product box itself. Of course.

Re: Amazon allegedly scammed out of $370K by 22-year-old's return shipments of dirt

#102

Post by djitz »

dfcmt wrote: post #59
eco wrote: post #31

I just ordered a MyQ garage door hub from Amazon Warehouse (listed as missing or damaged original packaging). When I opened it up it felt a little off. The protective film on the device had obviously been removed and reattached and nothing fit very well in the designated slots in the packaging. The device itself had faint scratches and dust on it. I decided to check the model number and sure enough, it was the previo…

This reminds me of a story I read once of a guy who bought a 1000€ GPU from Amazon and got a 100€ GPU instead, obviously from a return. When he got to return it to get his 1000€ back, he was told that he had sent the wrong GPU, that it had been destroyed by them (like you would shred a sheet of paper) and asking for the right card to be sent to them.

Something similar happened to me when I was a teenager. I bought a 3dfx Voodoo card from Best Buy the day it came out and when I got home, it had a parallel printer port card in the box. After several arguments with managers went nowhere and I finally got a hold of the regional manager and got a replacement.

I thought the money I saved for so many months was lost. But alas, I was finally playing Quake deathmatch in glorious 3D after some heartache.

Re: Amazon allegedly scammed out of $370K by 22-year-old's return shipments of dirt

#103

Post by anonytrary »

JadeNB wrote: post #17
anonytrary wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By this logic, everything is brilliant until it's not. That's not a good way to define "brilliant". Actions that eventually net undesirable consequences are stupid, not brilliant. E.g. Being a petty armed bank robber isn't brilliant until you get caught.

> Actions that eventually net undesirable consequences are stupid, not brilliant. I think it depends on how predictable the consequences are (it may be brilliant, or at least smart, to act in a way that offers a small possibility of an undesireable consequence in return for a large possibility of a highly desireable one), and on how long the time horizon is (it may be brilliant, or at least smart, to act in a way tha…

> small possibility of an undesireable consequence in return for a large possibility of a highly desireable one

Exactly, so the expectation value is net desirable. I wouldn't consider that stupid.

Re: Amazon allegedly scammed out of $370K by 22-year-old's return shipments of dirt

#104

Post by Svoka »

eco wrote: post #31

I just ordered a MyQ garage door hub from Amazon Warehouse (listed as missing or damaged original packaging). When I opened it up it felt a little off. The protective film on the device had obviously been removed and reattached and nothing fit very well in the designated slots in the packaging. The device itself had faint scratches and dust on it. I decided to check the model number and sure enough, it was the previo…

This is why we can’t have nice things. it’s upsetting that we have to build rules and laws around “worst” behaviors.

Re: Amazon allegedly scammed out of $370K by 22-year-old's return shipments of dirt

#105

Post by bArray »

DanBC wrote: post #56
bArray wrote: post #55

My family run a business that partially operates through eBay and this kind of crap happens to them quite regularly. They get variations of: * Returning (literal) rubbish to make up the weight * Returning the parts when they break them trying to use them * Returning the old parts they are replacing with the new parts they purchased * Returning parts they didn't check before purchasing and getting a full refund (inclu…

> * Claiming the parcel wasn't delivered, despite the courier company having a signature showing it was (one trick they use is to make sure the parcel is delivered to a neighbour) Watch out for this one though, some delivery companies are just terrible at locating the real address and will send the parcel anywhere.

For sure. It seems to be particularly bad when the parcels go international and the courier companies don't communicate particularly well. Trying to keep things tracked when the parcel goes abroad is difficult (because you also have to deal with customers asking "where is my parcel now?").

Re: Amazon allegedly scammed out of $370K by 22-year-old's return shipments of dirt

#106

Post by hcknwscommenter »

Alex3917 wrote: post #51
DannyBee wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He just had the wrong scam. Buy high grade dirt, return low grade dirt. Buy high purity reagents, ...

I mean you could actually do that. They sell bags of dirt with gold flakes in it for kids to practice panning for gold, so you could buy that and take the gold out and return it.

Everyone. Please do not do this. Please.

Re: Amazon allegedly scammed out of $370K by 22-year-old's return shipments of dirt

#107

Post by hcknwscommenter »

ryanlol wrote: post #73
Trias11 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Amazon's customer service is a huge part of the reason I order so much through them. Do i have time to go through multiple cycles of "get crap / return" until i get item I ordered? That's why I check more reputable stores first such as B&H first before succumbing to AMZN hit-n-miss-n-get-refund store.

This comment would make much more sense if AMZNs fuckup rates were much higher.

I don't think the point is about AMZN "fuckup rates" or "mistaken items" it's about outright fraud. I've received a fairly high percentage of just outright fake or broken stuff. Maybe I bargain hunt a bit too much . . . .

Re: Amazon allegedly scammed out of $370K by 22-year-old's return shipments of dirt

#108

Post by zelon88 »

djitz wrote: post #102
dfcmt wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reminds me of a story I read once of a guy who bought a 1000€ GPU from Amazon and got a 100€ GPU instead, obviously from a return. When he got to return it to get his 1000€ back, he was told that he had sent the wrong GPU, that it had been destroyed by them (like you would shred a sheet of paper) and asking for the right card to be sent to them.

Something similar happened to me when I was a teenager. I bought a 3dfx Voodoo card from Best Buy the day it came out and when I got home, it had a parallel printer port card in the box. After several arguments with managers went nowhere and I finally got a hold of the regional manager and got a replacement. I thought the money I saved for so many months was lost. But alas, I was finally playing Quake deathmatch in g…

When I was a kid I had a family member who would perform these "swappy swaps" that you were the victim of.

He would go out and buy a new card, gently open the wrapper so that it could be melted back on with a heat gun, remove the card, replace it with something of similar weight, and reseal the package with a heat gun.

One time I ruined the wrapper on him and he had to take the item to Blockbuster. He made up some BS about it being a birthday gift that the wrong child opened and he needed to use the cellophane machine. It didn't work, and Best Buy wouldn't accept his return. That was one of the last times I saw him use that trick.

I also saw him sign up for a store credit card using someone else's social security information. His plan was to get approved, buy a TV, and then shred the card. Luckily for whoever SSN that was; their credit got denied on the application and he was unable to steal a TV.

Sorry to hear your Best Buy horror story, or to think that I saw that stuff go down. On the bright side my family member no longer engages in those types of transactions and mostly flies straight these days.

Re: Amazon allegedly scammed out of $370K by 22-year-old's return shipments of dirt

#109

Post by ryanlol »

hcknwscommenter wrote: post #107
ryanlol wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment would make much more sense if AMZNs fuckup rates were much higher.

I don't think the point is about AMZN "fuckup rates" or "mistaken items" it's about outright fraud. I've received a fairly high percentage of just outright fake or broken stuff. Maybe I bargain hunt a bit too much . . . .

I’d estimate that I need to complain about approx 1% of the stuff I order from amazon.

I guess YMMV, but I feel like I’d spend much more time if I shopped around for alternatives.

Re: Amazon allegedly scammed out of $370K by 22-year-old's return shipments of dirt

#110

Post by djitz »

zelon88 wrote: post #108
djitz wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something similar happened to me when I was a teenager. I bought a 3dfx Voodoo card from Best Buy the day it came out and when I got home, it had a parallel printer port card in the box. After several arguments with managers went nowhere and I finally got a hold of the regional manager and got a replacement. I thought the money I saved for so many months was lost. But alas, I was finally playing Quake deathmatch in g…

When I was a kid I had a family member who would perform these "swappy swaps" that you were the victim of. He would go out and buy a new card, gently open the wrapper so that it could be melted back on with a heat gun, remove the card, replace it with something of similar weight, and reseal the package with a heat gun. One time I ruined the wrapper on him and he had to take the item to Blockbuster. He made up some BS…

Oh, that’s interesting. Back then, I was sure that an employee made the switch because of just how flawless the packaging looked.

No judgement here. Pretty much everyone has done or is related to someone who does some sort of crappy thing(s).

“Swappy swaps” LOL

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