Amazon.com Consumer Reviews - Page 4

I ordered a Nintendo Wii for a friend's birthday, but learned immediately after placing the order that I'd entered his old address rather than his current one. Since I selected one day delivery, I was not able to change the address with Amazon until the tracking number was issued by the shipper.

The next day, I contacted Amazon and gave them all the correct information so that they could fax an authorization to DHL to re-route the package. Since I received a confirmation email from Amazon that this was completed and my package was now re-routed, I assumed everything was fine until my friend did not receive his gift. Tracking the package with DHL, I learned they twice attempted to deliver to the wrong address, then Amazon ordered the item returned as undeliverable. At no point did anyone at either company attempt to contact me or the addressee at either phone number that was on file with them both.

Though DHL confirmed that they had the address correction in their files from Amazon, they claimed they never received the official authorization from Amazon. Amazon blamed DHL and DHL blamed Amazon. On the third day, a representative from DHL looked into my problem and promised that my package would be intercepted and returned to New York overnight for redelivery. I emailed my friend and explained that his package would be delayed a few days before it would make it back to him. Four hours later, a different representative from DHL called me and told me that it would not be possible to intercept the package and I was out of luck.

I called Amazon and spoke to two different people at an "offshore" call center who did not understand the problems I was explaining. When I asked if Amazon could just resend my package when it was received, it was explained that this would not be possible and my package would automatically be restocked. The technicians explained that I could order a Nintendo Wii right now to replace the returned item, but I would have to purchase it from one of Amazon's "œpartner" sellers at a cost of over six hundred dollars.

I explained that I'd paid $250 for the Wii directly from Amazon and had performed every reasonable step necessary to ensure my gift was delivered. Paying a $350 markup to rectify a problem that could not be solved by Amazon was not an acceptable remedy for their errors. The supervisor I spoke with said that there was nothing he could do and thanked me for my business.

The end result is that my gift is automatically going to be restocked when Amazon receives it and I have the "opportunity" to re-order the item when it comes back in stock. Being that there are international shortages of this particular product, I will not have the opportunity to reorder the same item and it is now weeks since my friends birthday has passed. I still have not been credited for my returned order and I still have not received any explanation from Amazon's customer service.

For six years, I have been a loyal and frequent customer of Amazon. I have spent hours building wish lists, reviewing items, and providing them with tons of valuable marketing data. After my experience, I can say with certainty that I will never use Amazon or DHL ever again. The lack of accountability on all parties is unacceptable.

FLORIDA -- Well here is my dilemma with Amazon.com. I as many others have heard nothing but great things about this company and how wonderful they are at providing a product. I suppose that's what I get for listening to paid commercials, because they are in my opinion not worthy of my dollars let alone anyone else's. Here is my story.

I purchased two books, a planer for woodworking along with a very expensive miter saw, all from Amazon.com. They appeared at the time I placed the order to have cheaper prices on the woodworking tools and I had looked elsewhere for the books, and not being able to find them locally, they appeared to have them, so I placed the order. Shortly after placing the order, within 30 mins. I saw the miter saw in a local ad so I went back to Amazon's site and followed the never ending links to cancel an order.

It stated in the info page that any item available to cancel would have a box to the right column with the phrase - cancel item. Well I didn't see this box on any of the items. So I kept looking and looking thinking I had done something wrong and to no avail, I never found this cancel box on any of the items. So I wrote to Amazon asking if I could cancel the order for the miter saw only, they wrote back rather quickly, within the hour, stating that my order had already gone out to the various shippers, and I wasn't able to cancel the item, but I could gladly return it once it was delivered for a refund.

I thought no problem, I keep the saw, the price difference wasn't that drastic. Shortly after that email I received a verification that the miter saw would be shipped out on the 23 of March and I would receive it around the 30th of March, 7 days later. Included in that email was a Federal Express tracking number. Heck, I was happy, the item had been shipped and I would be getting it in a week, great! I go to Federal Express website and put in the tracking number and it shows a expected delivery date of March 28th (today's date) with a delivery time of no later than 4:30 PM. I had the items to be delivered to my place of work since I had to be there to sign for the items.

So today, I sat and waited for the delivery. Seems I'm never that first person these delivery companies deliver to at the start of their day, I always seem to be the last delivery of the day, just my luck. Regardless I sit and I wait around, I get off work at 3:30 PM but wanted this saw to take home today so I waited. 4:30 pm comes and goes, I check the Fed Ex website to see if it had been delivered somewhere other than to me, nope. 5:00 pm comes and goes and I finally call Federal Express. They state that Amazon generated a package number for the parcel, but NEVER arranged for pickup.

In other words Amazon never shipped the package as they stated in their email. So I sit and wonder, I go and call my credit card company and inquire if I had been charged the $553.43 for this item, sure enough I had been charged for it. Now the fun begins trying to contact Amazon.com about where the heck is my order. Of course your only recourse is to write then yet again another email.

I asked them what happened with my order that they stated in their order email had been shipped? I asked them if the order had been canceled why had I not been notified? If they canceled the order why was I not credited back to my credit card? If the order had been delayed for some reason, again why was I not notified? Let's see, that was at 5:50 pm, and here I sit it's after 9 PM and I've not heard a word from them. Funny how they can get right back to you within an hour about canceling an order, but question them about having your money, messing up your order and who knows when I will get a reply.

I fully understand things happen, and I fully understand that sometimes things happen that they don't have any control over. But this is just a blatant lack of respect for their customer. They dropped the ball big time, have my funds tied up and I cannot get a reply, let alone my item I ordered. If they canceled my order, they could have emailed me telling me so. If they had a snag with their supplier, a simple email telling me so would have been all I would ask.

If they couldn't get the item at all, not charging my credit card would be the legal thing to do (I'm checking into the legality of their charging a card before the sale, Florida has some strict laws about that as many states do), sending me an email telling me they couldn't get the item any longer and again I would have been content. But to tell me I can't cancel my order, send me an email telling me the item has been shipped, charging my credit card for the item, and then never shipping it that'™s just wrong, border lines fraud.

I'm sure someday down the road Amazon will refund my money, but that's only part of the issue. They are a large company that's supposed to respect their customers and do the right thing. I paid for an item, I expected to receive the item and not be deceived with the expectations of my item being delivered in a timely manner. That's what their business is built on, supply and demand and providing products we need. I assure you if this had happened to one of the upper level people in that company, they too would be very upset and challenge the business tactics of that company.

Amazon.com has some issues, and they should address them if they plan to stay in business. So beware of how you are treated by this company and watch closely what they tell you. We all work hard for our money and to just toss it around to someone I trusted is very disheartening.

Truly too bad, because I would have enjoyed making additional purchases in the future, but I'm just a small fish in the sea to such a large company. But they lose site of that, it's the small guy, the small fish in the sea that has made them who they are, and it's the small fish in the sea that can bring them down as well. If Amazon does the right thing eventually, I'll gladly write yet another note saying so, it's only fair. I don't mean to knock someone and not be fair on the other end when they do the right thing and correct the problem. We shall see.

PA, PENNSYLVANIA -- I ordered dishwashing detergent from Amazon expecting 2 day delivery. Two weeks later I received nothing. Upon calling Amazon I expected to get some resolution that was reasonable since I am a Prime customer. They said they could check on it or cancel it. I canceled it. I'll know better to order these types of things from Amazon in the future. I advise you do the same.

HASTINGS, WASHINGTON -- While asking for help from the company's service they deleted my music library and now either cannot or will not replace. I have lost about $600.00.

MIAMI -- Good experience, everything flawless on prime day.

IPSWICH -- I have been trying to get a refund for faulty goods since May 5th. The overseas call center who have no interest in dealing with your complaint mainly because they cannot understand you in the first place and just keep stating the blindly obvious are simply hopeless. I will be cancelling my account after years of doing business. I have had enough!!! These clowns are failing to comply with the law in this country and appear to be hosting sellers that are nothing short of con artists!!

PHILIPINES -- I purchased a product from Amazon and the product was a total defect. I returned it on July 3, 2010. As of today I have not received my refund. Even though I was told they were refunding my $60.95 in full, they have not. Each time I call they have a different story. The first story was "we are refunding your VISA account. It will take up to 5 to 7 business days". After the 7 days went by and I didn't get my refund they had another story "well, we just received the merchandise back and we have to process refund", which was a flat out lie because I had the UPS receipt showing they had gotten in 2 weeks ago.

Anyway the last story, "I received it's up to your bank to refund you. We will request them to". My bank? what do you mean my bank? This is crazy.... If I were you I would go straight to the manufacturer to do business. Amazon location is in the Philippines I found out and they don't know what they are doing, they have no idea what they are selling and they would like to keep your money. I have to take them to small claims court just to get my refund back this is ridiculous.

SEATLE, WASHINGTON -- We were selling our products on Amazon for about a year. Then the Seller Performance Team (or Merchant Approval Department) emailed us that they suspended our selling privilege. They told us that they would consider reactivate our account if we submit a detailed business plan so that our defective order rate would meet 1% as the standard set out by Amazon. That means if we sell 100 products, only 1 is allowed to be returned. Anything more than that is unacceptable.

Due to the technical complexity of the products we sell (we sell point of sale hardware for retail stores), that standard is probably unattainable. 2 big reasons are responsible for that. One is the lack of pictures and description. On most items, there're only representative pictures so the customers do not know how the item they order look like. There are only conditions of the item such as "like new" or "very good", "used good", and "used acceptable". The description of the item are filled out by sellers, and extremely user unfriendly. It asks many technical details that are totally irrelevant.

The 2nd reason is Amazon follows the philosophy that "the customer is always right". They refunded the seller's money in a heartbeat without listening to the seller's side. They even refunded the money before buyer returns the item. After doing business with Amazon for sometimes, I find that they only like to do business with other big businesses.

The prices are about the same as if you order from other retailers. Good bargains are hard to find on Amazon. It's fine if Amazon just want to do business with certain merchants. I just wish they make it clear from the beginning what kind of expectations they have and give you enough warnings before they shut you out permanently. As a customer, I would stay out of Amazon as much as possible. It's not because they are not customer friendly, but because the prices and selections are suck.

I placed an order from Amazon on June 15th for a Father's Day gift. I declined the free shipping since its estimated delivery time is 5-9 days. I paid approximately $11 for standard shipping (5 day estimate), expecting UPS ground service which has taken 3 or 4 days for previous orders.

Imagine my surprise when my shipping notification arrives and the carrier is listed as United States Post Office with a delivery date of June 23. I call to complain and learn of their new shipping strategy where they hire FedEx or UPS to pick up the packages and deliver to a nearby post office for the final delivery. It enraged me that they kept referring to the delivery method as FedEx. Guess what; if the mailman drops it off, and it has a USPS tracking number, it ain't FedEx.

Well, the 23rd has come and gone and the package hasn't even made it to the post office for delivery tomorrow. I guess I'll count myself lucky if it arrives less than a week late for Father's day. I definitely wasted money paying for gift wrapping... Maybe they knew how long it would take to deliver and selected something with Santa or Christmas trees.

In Amazon's defense, they did refund the extra I paid for shipping, but money isn't the issue. I already declined the free shipping because I wanted the gift delivered by a certain date. I acknowledge that I took a chance ordering on Monday with an estimated 5 day shipping window. My gripe is that instead of the UPS ground service I have received in the past, it went out via the slowest possible carrier of all, the good old USPS.

So, unless you want to pay for 1 or 2 day air service, expect to have future packages from Amazon delivered by your mailman. I obviously don't know all of the details of their shipping scheme, but prepare to be disappointed. Hopefully a flood of Amazon shipping complaints will prompt a change. Until then, consider shopping elsewhere!

Update 6/25/09. Package shipped from Missouri, to Kansas, and is currently sitting in West Virginia. The destination: KANSAS! FedEx has a new estimated delivery date of 6/30/09. I understand that Amazon only provides estimates, but taking 15 days to deliver a package when providing an estimate of 3-5 days is pretty pathetic.

I was a new seller with Amazon, who began very slowly. After doing a bit of research on what books to sell and distribution, business began to roll! But after about 2 weeks of increased sales, they suspended my disbursement account. Initially, I was very understanding. They wanted to make sure that customers were getting their items. So, I sent them all of the confirmations. They were very non-responsive to my emails attempting to expedite the 30 day review process. I was told to send pictures of my inventory. I sent it in.

Then they said that I didn't have enough ratings. At the time I only had 4. But remember, I was only selling for 2 weeks. So, I contacted my customers and asked them to enter feedback. Some did. When I got 9 rating 100% positive, I just knew that they would release my account. Well yesterday, I received notice that my account was suspended because it is attached to another account. Which it is not. I was shocked. So, I immediately responded that this is not true and requested additional information about this.

Today, they responded, advising me that they have significant proof that my account is attached to another one. But they can't reveal the proof. What??? They also sent me an email advising that they will hold my funds for 90 days! 90 days??? They have all of my delivery confirmation numbers. All of my ratings raved how quickly they received their orders. And no one has made a single complaint against me! Amazon shut me down for no reason! And is holding my money hostage. I did nothing wrong!

I cannot even dispute what they are saying because they will not offer me any proof of their allegations. How can they be conflicted about discussing with me an account that they are saying is attached with me! Because they are just making all of this up! I want to sue these jokers, and I just might!