Amazon wrangle

You've given the seller a chance to put it right, they've pissed you about, it's time to let amazon's system refund you (it'll likely be an AI you're dealing with, which is basically programmed to be on your side) then leave a review describing how it went ...

This reminds me: always take screenshots...

Thomas Prufer

Good point. thanks. I did, but too late it seems.

Good advice. I'll follow it and see how it works out.

Return to UK address is a fairly standard way of 'proving' that you didn't just complain and keep the goods,

I did business with some dodgy gentlemen from Birmingham who placed an identical ad in Perth Scotland.

They declined to post or courier the goods and said I had to collect in person. I attempted to cancel the transaction but Ebay said the goods had already been dispatched.

They said they couldn't refund 'because Ebay wouldn't let them'. So I played Ebay's game, and sent the unrecieved goods back in an empty box using Ebays return note sticker and Ebay gave me my money back.

Same issue with faulty goods from Ali express, Sent them back to a UK centre and got a full refund/

I think the point I am making is that paypal, ebay, amazon,ali-express all favour a simple method to keep customers happy, Send it all back get a full refund.

Another instance. I got two RAACO cabinets - both arrived with broken drawers. So I filled one with all the unbroken drawers and sent the other back and got a full refund and bought another one with it

In today's online churn costed world, customer service does not mean sorting the customers problem out, it means removing any legal leg they have to stand on by refunding *everything*.

They are well prepared, the first option in the drop down list when I had to return a couple of items was "Counterfeit Item", spot on for me :-)

I admire your smartness and I'm sure what you suggest is a practical way of dealing with such problems if you have lots of spare energy.

There have been lengthy communications with the suppliers, which I consider to be unpleasant work, particularly when I'm being lied to.

Also being advised to repack the items and go to the trouble of returning them, when all I was really prepared to do was pay for the goods advertised and receive them, on the basis that by doing so, my level of responsibility in the matter had been fulfilled.

Unpacking the kit and then carefully photographing the parts of the kit that I'd received and comparing those with pictures of what had been offered was yet more work.

I don't want a job jumping through questionable hoops. I just want to receive what I paid for, or at least be compensated for the missing part.

I would really prefer this to be the sellers problem not mine.

It's also Amazon's way to close the loophole where an overseas seller says 'to get a refund, just post it back to China' when they know full well that's going to cost more than the item is worth. Amazon insists they must accept returns to a UK address. I expect that address delivers directly to a skip.

(or possibly one of those 'returns pallets' that get auctioned off wholesale and then people buy them to resell the goods on ebay)

It's simply cheaper for them to click the refund button for anything other than sending another box from the warehouse. Unless you're in the car or appliance business, 'spare parts' often don't exist.

(I broke my Makita light - I was pleasantly surprised that spares were available, and more pleasantly surprised than the price of the plastics was quite reasonable - £1 per part. Not bad for a £35 item)

Theo

That's not how things work, however much you might wish it otherwise.

(When returning stuff to Amazon it is now necessary to fill in an online form relating to the item, saying why it's being returned, condition, etc, which saves Amazon a job when it arrives at the returns centre. Amazon's social media people have the authority to override the automatic systems when necessary, by the way,as I found out when the standard carriage fee allowed is much less than the actual cost for sending somthing back that is required to go outside the company's normal systems. I went on to the Facebook page, explained the problem and a credit was put in hand straight away. And if you've had the misfortune to speak to a call centre person who hasn't understood the problem, just post negative feedback - I did that and he was on the phone to me within minutes, telling me to keep the non-functioning lithium battery that couldn't be returned by post but where's there's no system in place for the use of an approved carrier, and refunding me.)

I posted back something to a supplied address and received a full refund

- then the Post Office returned my parcel " Not known at this address".

Mega LOL!

I'm not surprised. Amazon etc insist sellers provide a UK address for returns. But handling returns is a cost, and Amazon only care that the tracking says the buyer dispatched the return. So much cheaper just to pick a random address for your returns location and get somebody else to pay for your waste disposal.

These (mostly) Chinese sellera do have lots of 'innovative' ways to be shady, I'll give them that.

Theo

Well its not exactly shady, they are just gaming the system like everybody else.

"Damn clever, these Chinese", a well-known phrase or saying seventy years ago.

Ah. Dr. Fu Manchu and the 'Yellow Peril'

The innocent days of unashamed racism.

Actually Sax Rohmer was writing even before WWI - over a hundred years ago.

The books are good reads provided you regard them as works of unashamed fiction for an unsophisticated audience. Proper ripping yarns.