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Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

theguardian.com

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Re: Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

#181

Post by onli »

Hendrikto wrote: post #160
onli wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

.de promised to call me, never called. Split an order in three, used a bank account I had already removed from the system, then made me pay a fee three times when the money naturally could not be retrieved. One item in the order was a fake, when I returned it they claimed I kept it - thankfully I still had the receipt that I returned something, together with some stern words that was enough to end that. Never buy fro…

> Germany has a bunch of alternative online shops that are better. Such as? I never ran into such problems with Amazon, but I would like to know the alternatives.

For electronics: Mindfactory, Galaxus, Coolblue, alternate, Jacob, Proshop, alza, computeruniverse.

Re: Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

#182

Post by harvey9 »

octo888 wrote: post #152
harvey9 wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had crappy service on UK high streets long before Amazon. A keyboard I got from Tottenham Court Road stopped working within a week so I took it back in person. The shop manager tried to tell me I had to send it to the manufacturer. He backed down when I put the phrase "contractual relationship" into a sentence.

Currys? They're so well-known for immediately and always saying "talk to the manufacturer" it must be in their training manual right at the top

It was one of the many independent shops on that street. Curiously, the place is lately like a physical version of how Doctorow describes Amazon search results in the article: the same narrow selection of products, repeated at different prices.

Re: Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

#183

Post by distances »

aborsy wrote: post #155

Never had issues with Amazon, frequently shop. Local shops are scams in my area: expensive, don’t take back items, limited selections, don’t have the right items and have to settle for less, time consuming, bad customer service, can have language requirements for some people at the time of disputes (but not when selling), the reviews of items are not available and a lot of them turn out to be bad, long waiting lines…

> Local shops are scams in my area: expensive, don’t take back items, limited selections, don’t have the right items and have to settle for less, time consuming…

None of these are scams, you're misusing the word. You mean a worse shopping experience, not defrauding the customer.

Re: Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

#184

Post by Symbiote »

MrDresden wrote: post #113

For a few years now I have made an effort to first try to find a local (in the neighborhood, city or country) seller who has a good reputation before even considering Amazon. In all cases, where I have found alternatives, I've had great experiences, and no issues. The only thing I've noticed is the very big price difference between academic/technical books when bought on Amazon vs a local book store (40+%) in favour…

> Bulk discounts play a part in that I assume.

Potentially also threats — Amazon demands the discount, with the threatened alternative being they won't stock any of the publisher's books.

Re: Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

#185

Post by general1465 »

TrackerFF wrote: post #168

I've noticed that the enshitifacation of e-commerce marketplaces has become a global problem. Here's what I've observed for the past 5 years or so: - Pretty much every webstore of size will now list / sell everything , where 99% of the products are not in stock, and needs to be ordered - probably from the vendors in China, or whatever. - Explosion in independent 3rd party sellers, within those stores. You now have to…

Then it is a question, why not buy directly from AliExpress. At least you know what you have paid for and there is implicit agreements that there are going to be no returns.

Re: Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

#186

Post by microtonal »

sandebert wrote: post #93
Foorack wrote: post #77

I haven't read the article, but as a Swede I am stunned by the title. I shop from Amazon a couple of times per month, with Prime subscription. Delivery is always insanely fast (within 1-2 days), I always get exactly what I ordered, prices are always lowest compared to all competition, returns are convenient and human-free, and the additional Prime Videos is a nice bonus. I am honeslty worried of local Swedish busines…

Don't forget that Amazon is somewhat new in Sweden. I think we just haven't entered their enshittification phase here. (Swede too)

Yeah, this happens everywhere. Amazon in Germany also became a lot crappier once they had a strong foothold in the market.

Even if they are still great in Sweden, don't buy from them, don't let them murder your local, healthy ecosystem. (If you think it's not healthy, wait until they have most of the market.)

Re: Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

#187

Post by svelle »

dwedge wrote: post #64

I bought a $120 book from Amazon a couple of months ago, internationally, and they sent the wrong book. I told them, and they said they'd refund it, don't need to send it back, and they'd even add $15 credit. The refund never arrived so a few weeks later I got in touch again and they said I need to send it back if I want a refund. They told me the previous CSR had lied to improve ratings. I asked who I can complain t…

> Another time I bought a Samsung Fold and it cracked down the middle. I told Amazon and they said they'll refund it under warranty. I sent it back and got a warning that if I return anything else in "non original condition" I'd be banned. Even though it was a warranty return.

I once ordered a new pair of Jeans, expensive ones because I wanted them to last, from Amazon and got an obviously used and ripped pair sent to me.

I sent it back, noted that in my reason for sending it back only to receive an email from them with the same sentiment as you got. Luckily I kept all the receipts (figuratively) and took a lot of photos and screenshots.

Reaching out to support they apologized profusely to me but still it left a very bad taste in my mouth and I'm sure it'll happen again sometime in the future.

Re: Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

#188

Post by marksbrown »

dwedge wrote: post #79
globalise83 wrote: post #5

In some ways Amazon's entshittification is others' gain. For example, Amazon used to be a place you could easily buy and download music files legally. But they entshittified their music product to the point where it was impossible to use. Others stepped in selling lossless format downloads with a good buyer experience and made nice businesses out of them. The same will happen in all other areas previously dominated b…

Can you recommend one?

I'm a huge fan of Bandcamp
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