Live data from Hacker News

Amazon refused to refund $7k after shipping an empty box instead of a Sony A1

petapixel.com

221–230 of 647 posts

Re: Amazon refused to refund $7k after shipping an empty box instead of a Sony A1

#221
post #125
post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

15k orders over 20 years is on average 2 per day or 750 per year. Is that a typo?

No, it's correct.

Privately or as a business? If privately, I'm very curious what kind of things you order.

Even if I'd replace all my store visits (grocery store, hardware store, electronics store are the main ones) with online orders, I'd probably still not oder more than once every five days (or maybe once every 10 days during covid, now that I go to the grocery store less often).

Or are you talking individual items, like you buy groceries from Amazon and every item is a separate order because they all ship from different sellers?

Re: Amazon refused to refund $7k after shipping an empty box instead of a Sony A1

#222

I do not trust Amazon to ship anything safely and securely anymore. Almost everything I receive is damaged, late, or mis-delivered. Books are especially abused somewhere in Amazon’s fulfillment. (They’re always bent, creased, or dirty.) Items that are supposed to be 1-day shipping typically take >=3, and Amazon’s tracking mostly says “oops! it’ll come trust us”. (Not verbatim, obviously.) Amazon’s return process is b…

Ironically I do not buy books from Amazon due to the atrocious quality of their 'print on demand' titles. These look like they are printed with a 5 year old heavily abused inkjet.

Part of the appeal of reading deadtree is the paper feel, smell and type quality. Majority of paper backs from amazon are nigh unreadable.

Re: Amazon refused to refund $7k after shipping an empty box instead of a Sony A1

#223

I do not trust Amazon to ship anything safely and securely anymore. Almost everything I receive is damaged, late, or mis-delivered. Books are especially abused somewhere in Amazon’s fulfillment. (They’re always bent, creased, or dirty.) Items that are supposed to be 1-day shipping typically take >=3, and Amazon’s tracking mostly says “oops! it’ll come trust us”. (Not verbatim, obviously.) Amazon’s return process is b…

I'm genuinely surprised that people have such vastly different experiences with Amazon. I made 231 orders with them last year(lockdown....) And haven't had a problem with a single one. Couple times I wanted to return something they just refunded me without asking to send the item back. Everything arrives next day, always(here in UK anyway), and the customer support is stellar compared to literally anywhere else. Anyo…

Maybe people just like to complain about anything that doesn't meet their impossible standards.

Re: Amazon refused to refund $7k after shipping an empty box instead of a Sony A1

#224
post #168

I used to live for many years in a "bad" area of Berlin, where my packages were constantly disappearing, not arriving, taken by neighbors (who put an X as a signature), or left by the delivery people outside our building door. After a few such accidents, each of it super tiring on its own to get things reshipped or reimbursed (and often I failed), I decided all this modernity is not for me. Nowadays I rather buy what…

That's definitely a Berlin experience. I used to live in a shady corner of Mitte and it was common for the delivery notes to be stolen from the front doors (naturally for people to go and pickup the package from neighbours etc).

I never ordered there, always to my employer's office. I had my neighbours ringing me multiple times, looking for their package (that naturally wasn't there).

Re: Amazon refused to refund $7k after shipping an empty box instead of a Sony A1

#225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right. That doesn't mean that some shops won't ask and expect an answer though. So even though you're legally not required to do so, you'll have to go through an argument about that with the shop, which is annoying and time consuming.

This is not a thing. At least in Germany I never once had anyone ask me why I want to return before I could. 90% of the time you already have a return label in the package. Worse case you don’t and you cannot even request one through the website, you send an email and get the label. I was only ever asked about my return _after_ it was issued by Charles Tyrwhitt after I ordered and returned a good number of items (due…

This is a thing, at least in the Netherlands. Especially if you order from smaller shops. I hardly ever do that, but it really does happen.

Re: Amazon refused to refund $7k after shipping an empty box instead of a Sony A1

#226

Like most people, I've ordered a lot of packages (hundreds?) on Amazon and almost never had a problem. In the rare case of a problem, Amazon would instantly refund me. But almost all those orders are under $1000. Everything changes when you have a problem with an expensive order. Amazon has a price threshold where the support system is different and the normal CS people are powerless. During lockdown, I ordered a Son…

They lost my 15$ package and even though they promised refund and a gift card, they never came through. Now I don't use amazon anymore than I really have to.

Re: Amazon refused to refund $7k after shipping an empty box instead of a Sony A1

#227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair to the person above, the article is really confusing by always referring to the product as a "Sony A1" as if it was completely obvious to everyone what it is. I thought it's a weird super expensive smartphone until I read the author's bio.

I mean, their Sony OLED TV series is literally called the A8, so I'd also guess an A1 is a TV

The Sony Alpha (α) camera line was introduced in 2006. Predecessors to the Sony α1 mirrorless camera includes the Sony α9 and α7 (no α8 though).

The TV you speak of belongs to a literal latin A line of products.

Re: Amazon refused to refund $7k after shipping an empty box instead of a Sony A1

#228
I bought two bath faucets. Amazon shipped the wrong color, I returned them but Amazon refused to refund me. They just kept them, wouldn't refund or return. Talked to several people including managers. Still owe me $700. Amazon works great when it does, when it doesn't the whole system collapses.

Re: Amazon refused to refund $7k after shipping an empty box instead of a Sony A1

#229
post #202
post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if there are regions (or countries) which are worse? Amazon in Germany is also great, so far. I’m like you - I’ve ordered so many things from Amazon this last year or so (new circumstances plus pandemic lockdown) and literally not one problem of the sort described. I can think of two items out of hundreds which weren’t on time (one, Amazons’s logistics made it a whole day late, and one was the seller’s issue…

Amazon in Germany can also go very wrong. This is why I stopped ordering there: I ordered a bunch of small electronics stuff, about 100€. In the order process Amazon selected an expired credit card (which I'm sure I had replaced in the settings already). They then split the order in parts and for each order part demanded an additional late pay fee, because the card was expired. This is despite me calling them to stop…

Why would an order go through with an expired credit card? Is this something like cash-on-delivery or card-on-delivery?

Re: Amazon refused to refund $7k after shipping an empty box instead of a Sony A1

#230
post #44

I've placed approx. 15k orders with Amazon Germany in 20 years and have probably had less than 100 issues, mostly with FBA sellers. I get an answer from CS within 10 minutes and 1-day shipments are on time ~98%. Refunds are issued as soon as I drop the package in the return box. Call me a fan. The best experience is still Amazon JP but returns are a little more complicated (Even within Japan) — Obviously b/c you more…

It really does surprise me how many people online claim have trouble with them. My experience has been essentially entirely positive as well.

Amazon is an easy target. Plus, I think many are referring to Marketplace and non-Amazon shipped orders where buyers lacked some basic common-sense. (E.g. 50% off cameras from a seller who just signed up...)
Post reply on HN