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Amazon shipped fake product, refuses refund until 'correct' item returned

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Re: Amazon shipped fake product, refuses refund until 'correct' item returned

#131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where am I supposed to buy electronics online? I live 2 hours away from the nearest Microcenter, and newegg is also a nogo.

That's such a weird question lol, there is more online stores then Amazon and Newegg? There is hundreds. Just go buy it from literally anyone else besides Amazon if you give me your state I can probably tell you a list of about 100 that will ship there.

And because I haven't heard of them, I'm taking as much of a risk as I am with Amazon and Newegg. The best part about hacker news is asking a genuine question often receives a genuine response, and it seems like "hundreds" boils down to separate people saying B&H.

I already use parts express for my audio equipment and probably always will because their customer service is incredible, but I rarely buy pc parts anymore. I want to do a new build in the coming year and having this conversation saves me the future research.

Re: Amazon shipped fake product, refuses refund until 'correct' item returned

#132
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> shitty bazaar Such a great way to put it. Amazon doesn’t care about the quality or reputation of the stuff they (through random foreign listings) sell. Unless you know ahead of time exactly what item you want, shopping on Amazon is just paying a premium to sift through the bargain bin.

If I have to buy something on Amazon I've gone out of my way to make sure I'm buying from them directly lately. Too many issues with them pulling crap like this when it's a third party seller. But by forcing them to be the seller I force them to also be subject for that transaction to my state's consumer protection act. That seems to cause them to care more because suddenly they are on the hook because they are not j…

That doesn't protect you since Amazon commingles merchandise.

Re: Amazon shipped fake product, refuses refund until 'correct' item returned

#134
post #46

I've spent ~100k on Amazon and have been a Prime member since introduction. Last month, I canceled my membership and stopped using Amazon altogether. I've never had a problem returning product. But Amazon pivoted from a discount retailer to a premium retailer of convenience. In some cases, products are 3-4x the price of local retailers. I'd rather spend the money locally than pay a premium to Amazon.

>But Amazon pivoted from a discount retailer to a premium retailer of convenience. While it's true that they don't always have the best prices on everything, that's pretty much the exact opposite of my main gripe with Amazon. They pivoted into being a shitty bazaar.

I've purchased items from Amazon since the days when they just sold books, but I've stopped doing business with them now that I can no longer trust that they will ship what I order.

Re: Amazon shipped fake product, refuses refund until 'correct' item returned

#135
post #94

Having spent many years in "Outbound" of Amazon Fulfillment, I'm skeptical that Amazon would ever know that they didn't send a fake item. Items aren't inspected deeply when they arrive. Fakes can get in. Items that are misplaced and later found are presumed to be good- no quality checks opening the package. If the barcode scans, the system just adds it. The picker, sorter, packer all do a quick quality check to see i…

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[deleted]

Re: Amazon shipped fake product, refuses refund until 'correct' item returned

#136

Amazon Prime has become a prime (haha) example of how capitalism is failing. It's not the best price, it's not faster anymore, it's not good quality and you can't trust anybody. Amazon is being flooded with the cheapest of the cheapest stuff from China and alike. Either with ripoffs of well-known products or just 25 items which look the same but are from different "brands". Finding "good stuff" for a topic you don't…

Could you explain why this is an example of capitalism failing and not just an example of a business (Amazon retail) starting to fail?

Re: Amazon shipped fake product, refuses refund until 'correct' item returned

#137
post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where am I supposed to buy electronics online? I live 2 hours away from the nearest Microcenter, and newegg is also a nogo.

Microcenter will ship items purchased online. You have to select "Shippable Items" from the "Your Store" drop-down in the center at the top of the page.

Microcenter will not ship most items online. I just did a random check and there are 0 graphic cards available to be shipped online. In comparison my local Microcenter offers 63 models of graphics cards in stock today.

Re: Amazon shipped fake product, refuses refund until 'correct' item returned

#138
post #94

Having spent many years in "Outbound" of Amazon Fulfillment, I'm skeptical that Amazon would ever know that they didn't send a fake item. Items aren't inspected deeply when they arrive. Fakes can get in. Items that are misplaced and later found are presumed to be good- no quality checks opening the package. If the barcode scans, the system just adds it. The picker, sorter, packer all do a quick quality check to see i…

Excellent analysis. But the issue here isn't that someone made a mistake somewhere.

But rather, that at a very high level: Amazon knows perfectly well that a certain percentage of its customers are getting screwed over, just as it knows it could probably do a lot more internally to prevent this kind of stuff from happening. But having sat down and done a "rational" cost-benefit analysis -- it has calmly decided that it plainly doesn't care, as long as it thinks it can get away with it.

That's just the way the company is - from the highest levels down.

Re: Amazon shipped fake product, refuses refund until 'correct' item returned

#139
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's why, for large items from untrustworthy retailers, I start filming the moment the delivery person rings the bell and film the entire handover process, including signing the delivery, constantly keeping the product in frame until the package is open, I've got out the product, installed it in a test setup, and it's actually working. I ordered a GPU on ebay earlier this year, and followed this process to the lett…

LOL, your delivery guy doesn't just dump everything on the doorstep as quietly as they can? Or for anything requiring a signature (actually, can't remember the last time I had that through Amazon) run up and stick the "customer wasn't home" sticker on the door without even trying the doorbell or knocking? I have been working from home, my wife also working from home--so driveway full of cars--and on several occasions…

Funny how different something as mundane as deliveries (and as widespread as Amazon) can be.

> your delivery guy doesn't just dump everything on the doorstep as quietly as they can?

Never had that, no.

> Or for anything requiring a signature (actually, can't remember the last time I had that through Amazon)

They email & show in 'my orders' numeric codes to give the driver who then enters and verifies them. (This verifies they actually delivered it too, since they don't know the code, just enter what you tell them.)

> run up and stick the "customer wasn't home" sticker on the door without even trying the doorbell or knocking?

You get stickers on your doors? Here in the UK (with any courier) it's a piece of paper through the letterbox that says missed/with a neighbour/in your safe place/whatever.

I suppose that's because you have mailboxes outside with little flags rather than letterboxes in doors, so they don't want to try to deliver to your door and then look for that as well when it doesn't work, easier just to stick something on the door where they already are?

Re: Amazon shipped fake product, refuses refund until 'correct' item returned

#140

Amazon Prime has become a prime (haha) example of how capitalism is failing. It's not the best price, it's not faster anymore, it's not good quality and you can't trust anybody. Amazon is being flooded with the cheapest of the cheapest stuff from China and alike. Either with ripoffs of well-known products or just 25 items which look the same but are from different "brands". Finding "good stuff" for a topic you don't…

Could you explain why this is an example of capitalism failing and not just an example of a business (Amazon retail) starting to fail?

If Amazon is not "peak-capitalism" through and through, what else is? If they don't get these things right, who can, who will?
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