Amazon Animosity
- September 10th, 2007
- 13 Comments
Ever order something Online because it’s a great value, only to discover that, for all the resulting grief, you would have been better off just purchasing it in a store? That’s the experience I’m having right now. With Amazon of all places.
That’s right, Amazon.com, that great bright beacon of modern commerce has left an $1,800 TV order in complete and utter ruin. Despite every effort on my behalf to rectify the problem immediately, the company has continued to perform miserably, causing the problem to twist and contort and ultimately spiral so far out of control, that it’s hardly comprehensible.
The debacle started back on Aug. 28, the night before I moved into my new apartment. After months of deliberation I ordered a SharpAquos LC42D72U. Valued at about $2,200, Amazon’s asking price of a mere $1,700 was the best deal around; one that I was happy to take advantage of.
Now I’ll preface this part to say that the error, could have, possibly, been mine — but I don’t think that it was. You see, as I said, I was moving into a new apartment and such I had a new address, one that I had to manually enter. It wasn’t a matter of simply selecting the wrong address, because I actually punched in a completely new one. Nevertheless, it shipped to my old address in New Orleans. But that was only the start of the disaster.
As soon as I saw that it had shipped to New Orleans, I called and put into place orders that should have had the TV and the remaining items in the order redirected to to Brooklyn. Unfortunately, the next day when the rest of those items shipped, it was AGAIN to the New Orleans address. Infuriated, I called back and again received assurance that the items would be redirected appropriately. Day passed.
I finally received an email after four days saying that I’d be responsible for extra shipping fees. I called back, yelled, argued, resigned myself to a hopeless fate at the hands of the increasingly un-benevolent Amazon. I was to pay $101.60 shipping to have it redirected here. And to be nice, Amazon agreed to give me a $50 credit. It was something and I accepted it.
But then this weekend I got an email from Amazon saying that Eagle (the shipping company) had been trying to reach me at a number I haven’t had for years (who the hell knows why it’s calling that number). After calling Eagle, I discovered that my package is now in New Orleans. After two weeks of pleading and trying to resolve this with Amazon, it’s done nothing except charge me more money and still allow my package to arrive at the wrong address on the other side of the country.
Now, I’m sitting here, waiting for Amazon to call me back (I was promised that it would be no longer than 20 minutes, but it’s been nearly an hour already). I expect that I’ll receive no recompense for the lost time and money, but maybe I can steer other from a similar fate: Be wary in your dealings with Amazon. It’s friendly, customer-concerned image is all a facade. It will screw even its oldest customers just to make a buck. I’ve received better customer service from Wal-Mart and Best Buy, and that’s saying something, because neither of those companies have much anything in the way of customer service.
Johnal (Who am I?)
11 months ago
Those large items that have hefty shipping costs can be a real pain in the ass when shipping errors are involved. If you have a confirmation e-mail from amazon or if you printed out the page showing where the shipment was SUPPOSED to go, then I can’t see how you could lose a battle against Amazon for the fees you’ve since had to incur. However, if it turns out that you had accidentally selected the wrong shipping address (Amazon stores multiple billing/shipping addresses) then it is understandable that Amazon doesn’t want to pay such large fees for a customer’s mistake on an item that was already severely discounted.
The second problem seems to come from the fact that after you contacted Amazon to rectify the situation, Amazon failed to communicate the information to the other vendors to make sure your other items were shipped to the appropriate address. In this case, Amazon shouldn’t force you to pay the difference in shipping fees, but should instead hold the vendors accountable.
RAvneet (Who am I?)
11 months ago
Blake,
I feel your pain. This is the result of the facade that the big (or small) companies make between the consumer and the actual workprocess. I bet there was a huge communication void between the people who you talked with @ Amazon, and Eagle.
Blake Robinson (Who am I?)
11 months ago
Well the address on the receipt was the wrong address, the problem is that I think that was a mess up on their end. Nevertheless, even after I broke down and accepted the extra charges, they still continued to mess things up. It’s infuriating all around.
Scottie (Who am I?)
11 months ago
You should send this post to Bezos, I’m sure if you are talking shit about his company on such a popular blog as this, he would hook you up.
PhilK (Who am I?)
11 months ago
I’m really surprised. I’ve had screw-ups with Amazon before (some mine, some theirs) but they’ve always been quick and courteous to resolve them for me.
Tan The Man (Who am I?)
11 months ago
Buy nothing over 100 lbs online unless you can pick it up brick & mortar.
Randy (Who am I?)
11 months ago
As a major Amazon user from the very small to a 61 inch Samsung DLP - I have never had an issue with Amazon. The few errors that have occurred over the years have been handled very well.
I researched my DLP (bought Nov 06) and was aware of the possible issues one can have when having a large TV delivered from Amazon (check out AVS forums). Luckily I had a good experience, but Eagle (and other carriers) can give Amazon a bad rap.
I would say partly it is your fault and the other fault lies with Eagle.
Blake Robinson (Who am I?)
11 months ago
Again, I accept the possibility that the initial mess up was my fault, though I continue to doubt it. Nevertheless, I made arrangements to fix the error almost immediately, and Amazon has remained inert in its efforts to help me (despite taking more money from me for shipping).
I don’t think it’s Eagles fault. I don’t believe that Amazon has coordinate with the Eagle at all.
Mathieu
11 months ago
They guessed your old number… for sure!!!
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christian
11 months ago
I totally know how you feel. I have learned the hard way myself to never make any serious purchases while still moving. I bought a car in my old state at 3.5% tax instead of 8.8 where I now live. Saving me almost $1000. But, it has already had to go back to the shop several times. I had the option of simply giving it back and rewinding the deal, but with such little time left before my move, and the fast I had already sold the car it replaced, I decided to stick with it.
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Blake Robinson (Who am I?)
11 months ago
No. The number was in there, attached to an old, old address. That’s what I’m saying. Amazon, for some reason, reverted to old shipping information. Stuff I haven’t used in years.
Buster (Who am I?)
11 months ago
Amazon sucks. I’m in my own personal hell with them, which started 2 days ago. It has nothing to do with what you’ve been suffering through, but it’s clear that this company doesn’t care about customer service.
I have had an amazon.com account since amazon opened. 2 days ago, amazon let someone else use my email address to set up a new account. Per amazon, this is permitted (although why they’d allow it, I’ll never fully understand). I started getting order notices, recommendations, other amazon spam to my email address. I called their customer service line (which, by the way, you have to do a google search to get because they don’t provide it anywhere on their website) and was told that yes, someone else was using my email address, but there was nothing I could do.
Fast forward to today, when I get 8 more emails for the a$$clown in question from amazon. I tried to log in to my account, and found that my password had been changed. I call again. This time, I’ve been told that the new person (who, mind you has had this account for all of 2 days) has called amazon because they can’t get in to “their” account, and in response, amazon.com has closed my account. That’s right, someone looked at our records and decided that even though I came first (by years and years), she should be able to get the use of the email address.
Now, of course, I’ve been told again that there’s nothing I can do, because I’m no longer the “owner” of the account. Never mind that I am on the receiving end of all of these emails, and that the email account is actually mine. Never mind that I am now being inundated with amazon spam because this person has signed up for every newsletter, recommendation email, etc. possible from amazon. No one at amazon cares, or is willing to do anything. My account is gone. I can’t stop the spam.
dwalk51 (Who am I?)
11 months ago
Would you like some cheese with that whine?