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Cameras and secret trackers reveal where Amazon returns end up

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Re: Cameras and secret trackers reveal where Amazon returns end up

#251

Post by BrandoElFollito »

rtsil wrote: post #231
BrandoElFollito wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here (France). I will actually pay a bit more for Amazon products because I never, ever had any problem. The closest I had to a problem was when I sent an email stating that a product is not functional after a year and a half. They replied that the 30 days return window is over and that I should contact the producer. I replied that according to the law, I have 2 years of warranty with zero costs from my side. Th…

Amazon may be awful elsewhere, but it's miles better than our local French online retailers. I've got a lost mouse (the package was delivered empty), Amazon immediately refunded. I had other packages not delivered at all with other retailers, and they wouldn't refund until they enquired with the delivery company, which had to do an internal investigation. And some of them wouldn't refund but gave vouchers instead. Al…

I am completely with you. It is even surprising that none of them wants to get the, let's call it patriotic part of French Amazon customers.

But they indeed all rate much worse than Amazon

Re: Cameras and secret trackers reveal where Amazon returns end up

#253

Post by ElFitz »

rtsil wrote: post #231
BrandoElFollito wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here (France). I will actually pay a bit more for Amazon products because I never, ever had any problem. The closest I had to a problem was when I sent an email stating that a product is not functional after a year and a half. They replied that the 30 days return window is over and that I should contact the producer. I replied that according to the law, I have 2 years of warranty with zero costs from my side. Th…

Amazon may be awful elsewhere, but it's miles better than our local French online retailers. I've got a lost mouse (the package was delivered empty), Amazon immediately refunded. I had other packages not delivered at all with other retailers, and they wouldn't refund until they enquired with the delivery company, which had to do an internal investigation. And some of them wouldn't refund but gave vouchers instead. Al…

Heck, I once bought two folding cushion "stools" that could be unfolded into "ground sofas" (for lack of a better word) from IKEA.

Delivered by "Trusk". They were left with the building caretaker who just signed without checking.

We only got one. And IKEA won't do anything, because we can't prove we didn't receive the second one and aren't just fraudulently asking for a freebie.

Never got these kind of issues with anything sold by Amazon. Only time a package went missing, despite "La Poste" stating the contrary, they just re-delivered it without a fuss.

Re: Cameras and secret trackers reveal where Amazon returns end up

#254

Post by searchableguy »

gambiting wrote: post #84
nextos wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've also stopped buying at Amazon after 15 years. Even consumables and small items are problematic. Just in the last year, I encountered many issues including: * Showerhead that came without box, and clearly used. It still had a lot of water inside! * Underwear from a brand that sells items inside a sealed bag and discards returns came used, without bag (yuck!) * A module of Samsung RAM had visible wear signs and di…

I'm always shocked when I read these comments on HN. I swear it must be just the American Amazon that's so shit, because I literally never had any problems nor know anyone with these problems here in UK. Just this year I'm on 108 orders and counting, every single one of them was fine, working, definitely not used, definitely not counterfeit and delivered within 1 day as promised with Prime. Last year I've had 140 ord…

Highly depends on the sellers and general market in your country, I suspect. In India, Amazon was good early on until it attracted scammers and painful customers.

Customer support switched to Indian contractor companies and it is not as nice anymore. Reviews became useless and downright harmful. I have gotten many incorrect items from their fulfilment program in the last 2 years. I never got any before it.

Re: Cameras and secret trackers reveal where Amazon returns end up

#255

Post by Bayart »

gambiting wrote: post #84
nextos wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've also stopped buying at Amazon after 15 years. Even consumables and small items are problematic. Just in the last year, I encountered many issues including: * Showerhead that came without box, and clearly used. It still had a lot of water inside! * Underwear from a brand that sells items inside a sealed bag and discards returns came used, without bag (yuck!) * A module of Samsung RAM had visible wear signs and di…

I'm always shocked when I read these comments on HN. I swear it must be just the American Amazon that's so shit, because I literally never had any problems nor know anyone with these problems here in UK. Just this year I'm on 108 orders and counting, every single one of them was fine, working, definitely not used, definitely not counterfeit and delivered within 1 day as promised with Prime. Last year I've had 140 ord…

In France the only problem I've ever had that was arguably Amazon's fault was a broken glass item (arguably because it's really down to the container used by the manufacturer and the thing being broken anywhere from packaging in China to my postbox, the Amazon packaging wasn't bad).

Everything else was 100% down to the manufacturer or negligent Marketplace seller.

I have tons of valid complaints about the shitty search engine, the poor quality of filters, the dark patterns pushing shit and the over-abundance of third-party Chinese crap, but Amazon still is more reliable and friction-less than the vast majority of e-tailers.

This being said the other sites have gotten much better (not much choice), to the point Amazon isn't my one-stop-shop anymore (as it would have been five or ten years ago).

Re: Cameras and secret trackers reveal where Amazon returns end up

#256

Post by eigenvector »

gambiting wrote: post #84
nextos wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've also stopped buying at Amazon after 15 years. Even consumables and small items are problematic. Just in the last year, I encountered many issues including: * Showerhead that came without box, and clearly used. It still had a lot of water inside! * Underwear from a brand that sells items inside a sealed bag and discards returns came used, without bag (yuck!) * A module of Samsung RAM had visible wear signs and di…

I'm always shocked when I read these comments on HN. I swear it must be just the American Amazon that's so shit, because I literally never had any problems nor know anyone with these problems here in UK. Just this year I'm on 108 orders and counting, every single one of them was fine, working, definitely not used, definitely not counterfeit and delivered within 1 day as promised with Prime. Last year I've had 140 ord…

Anecdotally, Canada & US Amazon used to be like you described when they first started becoming the "everything" store but things have really declined lately.

6 or 7 years ago there was a much higher proportion of items actually sold by Amazon. Now it's a morass of third-party sellers with inaccurate listings to the point that even just finding an item is quite a choice. I recently gave up trying to buy kitchen knives because most listings had no OEM part number, a vague description and photo and people arguing in the Q&A section about basic features like whether it had a serrated edge or not.

Amazon has become a dumping ground for people who buy things on Alibaba, at liquidation or even just at Costco and try to resell for a markup. Even a search for basic consumer products like a box of cereal will have the top results be these kinds of sellers. For instance, I just searched for "ichiban noodles" (a popular international brand of instant noodles that can be found for Yes, Amazon still replaces or refunds almost anything that you have an issue with, but I'd rather just get the thing I wanted the first time.

A perfect of example of this is a picture frame I bought from Amazon (or rather, third party seller fulfilled by Amazon). It arrived damaged because it was thrown into a too-large box with no padding. I notified Amazon and they sent another one. It arrived identically packaged and also damaged. Then I asked for a refund. At this point, almost a month had passed and I still didn't have a picture frame, despite a huge amount of resources having been consumed by Amazon.

No store that actually has to bear the cost of returns themselves would do that, but Amazon made out like kings on the transaction: they got a cut of the original purchase, their FBA fees, then got to charge the seller for disposal of a broken item - twice!

Re: Cameras and secret trackers reveal where Amazon returns end up

#257

Post by 9HZZRfNlpR »

jolux wrote: post #244
cambalache wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

nice anecdote

You're right, I don't have a peer reviewed study. I suggest asking some other women what they think of clothing sizes if you're this disinclined to believe me about it.

Right, and I suggest you to talk with few men before doing sexist remarks about clothing sizes and talking anecdotes as ultimate truth.

Re: Cameras and secret trackers reveal where Amazon returns end up

#258

Post by cwoolfe »

Why not have the customer hold onto the return item until another customer buys it as used on amazon, and the return label ships directly to the new customer? Sure people could send unacceptable returns, but couldn't that be mitigated by losing the privilege to return in that way with amazon? It still seems better than the alternatives of throwing it away.

Re: Cameras and secret trackers reveal where Amazon returns end up

#259

Post by gilrain »

ThePhysicist wrote: post #83

In Germany there are companies that buy up returns by the kilogram (mostly clothes), sometimes the e-commerce companies even pay them to take the goods off their backs. They then ship them to countries like Irak, Serbia or Lebanon to prevent those perfectly goood items to "flood" the European market. That way especially clothing brands protect their inflated prices.

This practice has resulted in it being impossible for local competitors to spring up in those places, incidentally. When your clothing market is flooded with nearly-free product from overseas, domestic competition becomes impossible. This would seem good for consumers superficially, but it winds up limiting economic growth and creating a dependence which is likely to eventually fail.

Re: Cameras and secret trackers reveal where Amazon returns end up

#260

Post by eigenvector »

rtsil wrote: post #231
BrandoElFollito wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here (France). I will actually pay a bit more for Amazon products because I never, ever had any problem. The closest I had to a problem was when I sent an email stating that a product is not functional after a year and a half. They replied that the 30 days return window is over and that I should contact the producer. I replied that according to the law, I have 2 years of warranty with zero costs from my side. Th…

Amazon may be awful elsewhere, but it's miles better than our local French online retailers. I've got a lost mouse (the package was delivered empty), Amazon immediately refunded. I had other packages not delivered at all with other retailers, and they wouldn't refund until they enquired with the delivery company, which had to do an internal investigation. And some of them wouldn't refund but gave vouchers instead. Al…

The flip side of this is Amazon actually refuses to inquire with delivery companies, and here in Canada, the post requires that the sender be the one to inquire.

I've had several instances where the item was clearly at my local post office but misplaced. Canada Post refused to check without Amazon requesting it, and Amazon refused to do anything but send a new item. In each case the original item mysteriously appeared in my box months later when the postal workers inadvertently found it.

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