Amazon shipped fake product, refuses refund until 'correct' item returned • Hacker News Board

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

#151

Post by krolden » Mon, Dec 05, 2022, 3:28 PM UTC

SkyPuncher wrote: post #145

gtirloni wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> These days I go to a store and go to Amazon to check reviews and then buy it from the store. Why? Where I live Amazon has way better availability of products. The local stores might have a single model of anything I want while Amazon has dozens. If I'm looking for the best product that matches my requirements, I never check local stores because it's always a disappointment. Maybe if it's a recurring purchase and th…

Most stores can get me what I need within a day or two. Either by pickup from the store or last-mile shipping to my door. It's sufficient for most things.

And some of them will even do price matching.

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

#152

Post by lakomen » Mon, Dec 05, 2022, 3:29 PM UTC

I had something similar happen to me in Germany. A FireTV stick LAN cable adapter, which didn't work. I returned both the Ftv stick and the adapter in the same package. The stick was marked as received, the adapter wasn't. I wrote then 4 times. No response. The 5th time I wrote an angry mail threatening to go to the police. Literally the next day I received an apology email that it was a mistake on their end. At least it was resolved. But the nerves it cost me... no compensation for that. I don't appreciate being called a fraud.

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

#153

Post by stuntkite » Mon, Dec 05, 2022, 3:34 PM UTC

I use this fancy 3M “Velcro” called Dual Lock a lot. It’s expensive but awesome. I order it from 3M on Amazon. In 2020 about half of the time it was counterfeit. The adhesive was slimy, stank, and would fuck up anything you put it on. The packaging varied widely. I never tried to return it, I just kind of collected them.

Now that I think about it, the same thing happened to me with some modular dewalt storage bins. The yellow dewalt logos are a different color on two of them and they are a little off in fit spec.

What a fascinating problem.

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

#154

Post by lakomen » Mon, Dec 05, 2022, 3:38 PM UTC

Someone1234 wrote: post #127

Just this week Amazon shipped me a tempered with product similar to the one in the article (although $21 not almost $700). Shipped and sold on Amazon, and then rejected my review where I warned others and provided photos (actually both of the last two, negative, reviews I've tried to post got rejected). Ordered some LEGO for Christmas. On arrival someone had opened the box, removed the LEGO, replaced it with other ra…

That's the next thing, they outright reject negative reviews. They even share your contact info with the seller, so your review isn't anonymous at all. I got harassed via email by a seller once because I gave him a negative review. The USB hub I bought was brittle and broke after the warranty period.

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

#155

Post by robofanatic » Mon, Dec 05, 2022, 3:45 PM UTC

gtirloni wrote: post #128

robofanatic wrote: post #90

I used to go to a local brick and mortar store and checkout a product and order it from Amazon. These days I go to a store and go to Amazon to check reviews and then buy it from the store. How tables have turned for Amazon.

> These days I go to a store and go to Amazon to check reviews and then buy it from the store. Why? Where I live Amazon has way better availability of products. The local stores might have a single model of anything I want while Amazon has dozens. If I'm looking for the best product that matches my requirements, I never check local stores because it's always a disappointment. Maybe if it's a recurring purchase and th…

well if I don't find what I want in the store I go for Amazon. Also where I live, lately Amazon has some logistics problems like delayed delivery, lost/stolen packages, delivery to wrong address etc. last week a delivery guy was going around our neighborhood in the early morning hours in dark with a flash light. someone literally called a cop on him :-)

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

#156

Post by Blue111 » Mon, Dec 05, 2022, 3:56 PM UTC

shanebellone wrote: post #24

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.

I think that Amazon shows different prices to different people, too.

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

#157

Post by robofanatic » Mon, Dec 05, 2022, 4:04 PM UTC

mabbo wrote: 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…

> Items aren't inspected deeply when they arrive. Fakes can get in.

I think stores like Walmart do the same thing for returns, most of the time I believe they just trust the customer, don't know what happens after though if they simply put it back in the isle if the packaging looks good.

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

#158

Post by Merad » Mon, Dec 05, 2022, 4:05 PM UTC

Some of Amazon's policies are real head scratchers. Last year I bought a high end ultrawide monitor from them. I believe I paid about $1500 for it originally. Two or three days after it arrived, it went on sale for about $300 less. IME most companies have a policy in the fine print where if an item goes on sale less than a week after purchase they'll refund the difference, if you ask. So I contact Amazon support. The agent insisted that no refund was possible but that I should return the monitor for a refund and order a new one at the lower price. It boggled my mind so much that I asked them explicitly if they understand that they'd be paying for return shipping (at least $50 given the size and weight of the monitor), they'd be getting back an open box item that would lose probably 20-30% of its value, and I'd get back the $300. They said yeah, that was just how the system worked...

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

#159

Post by discardedrefuse » Mon, Dec 05, 2022, 4:19 PM UTC

gtirloni wrote: post #128

robofanatic wrote: post #90

I used to go to a local brick and mortar store and checkout a product and order it from Amazon. These days I go to a store and go to Amazon to check reviews and then buy it from the store. How tables have turned for Amazon.

> These days I go to a store and go to Amazon to check reviews and then buy it from the store. Why? Where I live Amazon has way better availability of products. The local stores might have a single model of anything I want while Amazon has dozens. If I'm looking for the best product that matches my requirements, I never check local stores because it's always a disappointment. Maybe if it's a recurring purchase and th…

> while Amazon has dozens

They have dozens of low quality knock offs. If that's what you're looking for just buy direct from from ali or banngood.

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

#160

Post by HelloNurse » Mon, Dec 05, 2022, 4:20 PM UTC

thfuran wrote: post #46

shanebellone wrote: post #24

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.

They seem to be both: in different product categories, and depending on what price marketplace sellers think they can get away with.