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

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

#361

Post by dboreham »

ghaff wrote: post #332
aristophenes wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really is location dependent, since most of the problems are caused by the shipper. Amazon will use multiple shippers, and in some areas will use what ends up being people driving around in their personal cars to deliver packages. If you have unreliable shippers in your area, it’s hard to deal with Amazon when things go wrong. In one place I lived, Amazon would use the US Postal Service, UPS, and Fedex. I had no c…

I don't get FedEx much but had a terrible experience with them on a few orders. One package left way out by my mailbox on a busy road. Another tossed to the side of my long driveway (????). Then things were fine again. Assume there was some driver who was, shall we say, not good at their job. Periodically I do have shipper issues (including USPS on occasion). I have a long gravel/dirt driveway and some shippers obvio…

FedEx is bimodal: they have "real" FedEx like Tom Hanks in that movie, and then they have contract drivers who bid for delivery routes on a short term basis and are not FedEx employees.

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

#362

Post by simonsarris »

ptero wrote: post #311
ageitgey wrote: post #215

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…

For expensive stuff I almost never go with Amazon now: too many counterfeit / fly by night sellers. For "prosumer" items a store that serves professionals is likely to watch their suppliers very carefully and have customer-friendly policies when things hit a snag. For cameras and optics (and flash sticks) B&H is my go-to place. My 2c.

Same. After getting clearly-open-box (used? counterfeit? returned?) Makita batteries on Amazon I only buy tools from Home Depot, only buy camera equipment from B&H, etc. No more pricey tools or electronics from Amazon, or food for that matter (years ago, bought box of protein bars, came expired!)

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

#363

Post by 55555 »

donkeyd wrote: post #214
marban wrote: 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…

> Obviously b/c you more or less do not return stuff in JP Not so obvious to me. Could you elaborate on what you mean here, sounds intriguing.

He appears to reference a Japanese cultural principle called 反省 which means something like "self-reflection". I believe he means that in Japan people do not return things often, they take the blame and learn from their mistake.

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

#364

Post by [deleted] »

bjornjajayaja wrote: post #288
ageitgey wrote: post #215

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…

Best thing to do is buy straight from manufacturer if possible require insurance on the shipment—that way the post has to deliver it or they are paying you!

[deleted]

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

#365

Post by ericmay »

harimau777 wrote: post #360
ericmay wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, but we are far from centralized. Very far. -edit- If you think we're centralized and you're "downvoting to disagree" at least have some decency to explain how we're centralized. There is nothing that Amazon sells that I can't buy an alternative product at a dozen other retailers for comparable prices, for example.

I think that it varies. Due to network effects, there often aren't good alternatives for social media like Facebook or collaborative cloud tools like Google docs. For games, it's not unusual for indy games to only release on Steam. Even when there is a physical release, that option is becoming increasingly difficult (e.g. many computers no longer have a built in disc drive, many stores no longer carry PC games, etc.)…

Sure, kind of.

So Steam and Etsy themselves trend toward some amount of centralization, but in the case of Stream for example you have Playstation, Microsoft's platform, Stadia (soon to be cancelled I'm sure), Switch, Epic game store, iOS, and others. They aren't all exactly 1-1 comparable but I think that's ok. Frankly, you can get games from a lot of sources. You might say you can't get an indy title from one of these sources that you can on Steam, but you can't buy Halo on Playstation either - that doesn't make things centralized. It's a very competitive market.

In the case of Etsy I think you're a little more right, but there's no reason that has to continue to be that way.

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

#366

Post by malka »

rkalla wrote: post #315
nigerian1981 wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve found my credit card company, American Express to be great for getting refunds in cases like this and always use my credit card for larger purchases.

Like others have said - be careful with this option - there are a LOT Of examples in the Google Fi forums about people doing a chargeback with Google because of charges they felt were fair or fraudulent via Google Fi, and next thing they know their Google Account (Photos, Docs, Email, etc.) is disabled. I would watch the same thing with Amazon (Music, Alexa, Photos, AWS, etc.)

That's one of the reasons I degoogled my life. I want to be able to tell Google to go screw itself in such events

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

#367

Post by biztos »

formerly_proven wrote: post #291
lotsofpulp wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I presume the “their” and “them” in this comment refer to third party sellers, which could be anyone. I would rather order from the brand directly, or Home Depot or Best Buy or any other established business that does not try to pawn me off as a customer to someone else.

Especially for audio/video/photo stuff there's a bunch of dealers just for that, which tend to be quite good (in terms of prices, packaging, customer services), and also specialized distributors ("sells small numbers to professionals"), that's why I'm surprised people go for Amazon. Some examples: Random camera: Amazon: 2000 €, any photo dealer: 1800 € Random high-end lens: Amazon: 2500 €, photo dealer: 2000 € Random…

For my last camera purchase of about $3500, Amazon had it on sale for a couple hundred bucks less, and I was going to buy from them because it was a big enough difference to overcome my loyalty to B&H.

I decided to think on it for a day, and sure enough by the next day B&H had the same price. Pretty sure it was a manufacturer discount but in general I think they try to match prices.

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

#368

Post by ghaff »

ericmay wrote: post #365
harimau777 wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that it varies. Due to network effects, there often aren't good alternatives for social media like Facebook or collaborative cloud tools like Google docs. For games, it's not unusual for indy games to only release on Steam. Even when there is a physical release, that option is becoming increasingly difficult (e.g. many computers no longer have a built in disc drive, many stores no longer carry PC games, etc.)…

Sure, kind of. So Steam and Etsy themselves trend toward some amount of centralization, but in the case of Stream for example you have Playstation, Microsoft's platform, Stadia (soon to be cancelled I'm sure), Switch, Epic game store, iOS, and others. They aren't all exactly 1-1 comparable but I think that's ok. Frankly, you can get games from a lot of sources. You might say you can't get an indy title from one of th…

People clearly differ.

Steam and Etsy are actually two companies that, if I were unable to use them starting tomorrow, that would basically have zero impact on my life.

Whereas, although I do order from a variety of online retailers, going cold turkey on Amazon would be a fairly significant inconvenience for me--although some seem not to use them much.

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

#370

Post by oort-cloud9 »

ageitgey wrote: post #215

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 did refund you. And you should not complain because it takes them time to verify things It could be the shoppers fault or the vendor's fault. This kind of verification is not a simple affair, and you are not the only one of their customers. Next time buy expensive items from BH and open the box in the presence of the mailman. Also BH has PayBoo credit card that pays the sales tax. I just bought from them Canon R5 and 2 RF lenses, and the huge tax was taken care of by PayBoo.
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