The fuck? Amazon actually disappointed me.
12Last week I jumped in on a purchase from Amazon for a Schwinn Hybrid bicycle. I purchased the bicycle to use during a family biking event that is happening on Wednesday. I aligned the shipping time table to insure that I would receive the bike in time for the event.
A nice large parcel arrived on my doorstep today. I haven’t owned a bicycle since I was 15 and thus I was very excited for my first “nice” bike. Alas, upon opening the box I was suddenly awestruck at the fact that it was the wrong bike. Not even close. A child sized Mongoose bike CLEARLY labeled as such all over the box.
Contacted customer service regarding the issue at hand. The ONLY SOLUTION they provided was that I drive the parcel to the nearest UPS store (25 miles away) and they would issue a replacement order that I should receive in one to two weeks. They offered to schedule a pick up, but I would have to pay for this service.
Up until this time, my track record with Amazon has been outstanding. ANY time something happened not only did they remedy the situation, but they insured that I was happy with the results, even if they weren’t the results I was exactly hoping for. This time, it wasn’t even close…
And yes, I know that there could easily be a bit of Millennial entitlement going on here, BUT, at the same time, in this day and age I feel its fair to have a level of company accountability for when these issues arise.
Have you ever had a lackluster CS experience with Amazon or other company?
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That’s strange. Anytime I have had an issue with a mistake that was theirs they have always offered me free pickup. I would contact customer service and ask for a supervisor - demand free pickup since they screwed up.
Unfortunately this will not help with your biking trip
@mfladd Called CS and got to leadership team. They requested I email them picture evidence…ugh. Email send, now I’m waiting for a reply.
@studerc Like you could make this merde up…
Wow, that’s a shocker from Amazon. They’re usually super dependable with their customer service efforts.
@jbartus
I must be a 1%er. And not in the income way. Cuz I haven’t had a positive experience with Amazon since they were just a book company.
@MehnofLaMehncha I guess you are. o.o
Amazon CS is great until they decide its not worth the $ to keep you happy. A bike costs a ton of $ to ship.
If it really is completely different than is on your order confirmation/receipt, contact your credit card company and see if they can help you out.
@MrGlass Which is why I love me my AMEX, they will take care of any problems with anything you order using it, especially if the vendor won’t.
@MrGlass Yea. That seemed to be the main angle that I kept getting from CS. Essentially…we (amazon) paid to ship that bike to you and we are willing to accept the return shipping and we will even re-ship you the correct bicycle. That only should suffice for us giving you the wrong bike in the first place. They seem to have failed in understanding the hardship they placed on the customer however and apparently my happiness is not worth any extra money.
@studerc Find out how much their pick-up fee is and charge them for having you drive to UPS.
Call Amazon.
Then ask to speak to US based customer service.
Then ask to speak to a member of the leadership dept.
Then demand they handle the full cost of return shipping door-to-door, politely, and don’t back down or give an inch.
That might work. Don’t skip a step tho.
@f00l Yeah, as I can attest, the email route is frustrating and apparently intentionally designed to get you to capitulate.
@f00l Followed steps. Got to leadership department and they asked for evidence that I received the incorrect bike and requested pictures of the item.
Email submitted, time will tell.
@f00l Amazon.com, Inc./Customer service
Image result for amazon customer service
1 (888) 280-4331
last time my friend called, they ask for your email address of your amazon account
With Meh-never.
With Amazon, often, and is it just me or do you also find it nigh on impossible to just email them without going through tons-o useless help screens?
They also don’t seem to have any idea that having a different person answer each email (without apparently reading what has gone on before) even in a thread of emails, which makes you have to go through the same explanation repeatedly, and is remarkably annoying.
Just saying…
@PhysAssist Totally!
@PhysAssist "Click on one of these six things which absolutely always cover any sort of problem you may be having…"
Except they don’t cover “wasn’t in the box with the other stuff I ordered” somehow.
@PhysAssist on the whole “different person every time” thing… I so agree. I wish there was a box to check that said “I’m okay with a slower response time to my emails as long as it’s the same person responding every time.”
@maburke I know, right!
@PocketBrain Or it never arrived, or you sent something I never ordered like the OP.
@Collin1000 That would be AWESOME!
Make it so #1.
Have you had a lot of complaints and/or returns to Amazon? I’ve heard they’ve been tracking this and doing a cost-benefit analysis to see if a customer is “worth it”.
However in this situation there is no way they shouldn’t pick it up directly from your house. You clearly didn’t get the bike you ordered. It would be one thing if you ordered the wrong bike, or it didn’t “meet your expectations”. But the flat out wrong bike, it’s on them.
@MrMark I’ve actually heard a similar thing regarding customer tracking. Only other times I’ve complained have regarded damaged goods. Picture evidence taken, submitted to CS, and returns/refunds provided without incident.
CS just didn’t seem to understand that this was their fault and they should take responsibility. I even offered to submit emails of the incorrect parcel but the chat representative said there was nothing they could do.
@MrMark Now that’s interesting because even with some normal returns I have also been offered free pick-up. I also buy way too much shit there - but it is sooooo easy.
@MrMark A news article a week or two ago noted that some Amazon customers have had their accounts closed for “excessive returns” of merchandise. Three examples were given; all had ordered 100 or more items (in a reasonable time frame, as far as I could tell) and had returned about 1/3 of them. That does seem pretty high to me, actually.
@mfladd Ditto to both, but as I said above, I have had my frudtrating encounters with their CS staff too.
@MrMark I actually got one of those letters. It kind of pissed me off, because any issues I had with Amazon I sent pictures of items being broken. I had to send two TV’s back because of cracked screens, LED lights because of reversed wiring (blue was red, red was blue), and a handful of other similar issues. I also had them partially refund some items that had significant price reductions a couple days after purchasing (I think they got rid of this, although my credit card still has this benefit).
This was the letter I got. Now, any time I had an issue, I have to email a special department so my account doesn’t get closed. The last time I emailed them was a month ago, for a hose reel winder that leaked where the hose goes in. They took over two weeks to get back to me, and that was only after contacting them via live chat when they never emailed me back.
Hello,
We’re writing to apologize for the number of issues you’ve experienced with your shipments. Your correspondences with us indicate you’ve required refunds on a lot of orders for a number of reasons.
Through the normal course of business, the occasional problem is inevitable. However, you seem to have had an unusually high rate of problems in your account history.
When unusual account activity such as this comes to our attention, we’ll evaluate each account on a case-by-case basis to determine if additional action is necessary, including closing the account. We’d prefer to work with you to avoid that inconvenience, as we do value your business.
If you have any questions in the future regarding your account, please write to us directly at cis@amazon.com.
Continued failure to comply with our policies may result in the removal of both your Amazon.com buying and selling privileges.
We appreciate your cooperation and understanding.
Best regards,
I always use their chat option instead of email and get really good results. Of course, I’ve never had an issue with an oversized item, but I find, in general, chat gets handled better than email because you’re talking to someone in real time. I hope you are able to get this resolved properly. I’m really surprised they didn’t offer to overnight the correct bike. This is what they usually do in screw-ups for me if it was originally a two-day or (or overnight) shipment.
@PurplePawprints Totally used the chat option…
@studerc Welp, there goes that theory. Sorry.
@PurplePawprints I asked if they could overnight the bike to me and they said that I live in a standard shipping only area.
@PurplePawprints I’ve had the exact opposite experience… email has always gotten me great service, chat has never really left me satisfied. Luck of the draw either way, I guess…
@studerc i live in a standard only area too, but for me that means that just the REALLY expensive “next day before 10 am” option is available. It’s Wed so too late for your bike trip now. Sorry i didnt see this sooner and hope you found a working option. Bike rides are awesome.
Apparently this is the new “in” prank at Amazon. Happened to a friend of mine. They call it mongoosing.
How many times did you use “fuck” when you were chatting with them?
Seriously, I’m sorry you are having this problem. I’ve had a couple of problems with Amazon CS recently. I hope this isn’t a new trend in customer relations with them.
All I can say, is to keep trying and try to talk to higher levels in their CS dept. I think they are intentionally making it as hard as they can for you so that you will give up.
@Barney Honestly…not even 1 fuck was utilized during the conversation. Over the years I have realized that I get far better service treating others with high levels of respect, I treat CS well in hopes that I too am treated well throughout the experience. Golden rule and such.
I’ve learned that if the item is not from Amazon but one of their vendor partners, they don’t give the same service as they do when it ships from their own warehouse.
I’m currently having a situation where I ordered a recliner and needed to change the delivery date. I called Amazon Customer Service and was told I needed to coordinate this with the delivery service the partner would select for delivery. They didn’t know who it would be but they assured me the delivery company would contact me.
The delivery company call turned out to be a robo call & I could not change the date/time. Then a real person called a few days later and said it wouldn’t be in town when the delivery was scheduled and I was able to reschedule. However, I’m told someone tried to deliver something today, the original schedule date. Nothing else is scheduled for me so I have no idea what the heck is going on and don’t expect any help from Amazon on this one because of how useless they were to start.
So now, if it’s not Prime, I’m not buying.
The few times I’ve needed to call support for an order it was delt with in minutes. I’ve got to say it’s the best service of any company I’ve ever had. I’ve spent a bit over 80k there in the last 5 years.
@skymeat Spending 16K annually might be part of thar.
Amazon disappointed me on Prime Day.
Their website was having problems which prevented me from checking out when I had discounted items in my Cart.
I hit up CS in a chat window later on and they basically say, “welp, that’s too bad, prices are higher now.”
That kind of made me go
I had a $300 fire pit that was guaranteed to arrive last Friday (for a party last weekend). It arrived late on Monday, torn half open with a dent in the box. This was the 3rd item in the last couple months that had been delivered late. I hadn’t pursued anything, but this one ticked me off. I called, talked with a gal and was offered a 30% refund and a 1-month Prime extension. I was happy with the resolution.
Funny, my wife ordered a stuffed animal net, and ended up with a bluetooth-headphone-sleeping mask sort of thing instead, just recently. Has there been a rash of mixups?
@kazriko Ooh, I hate it when my stuffed animals are hard to catch and I need a net. Little bastards have gotten too smart for the other traps.
Btw, it sounds like she made out on the deal. I’d imagine the mask is worth way more than the net. I’d keep the mask and order another net.
One time I ordered a relatively large multi-purpose copier from Amazon. Over 70lbs. They sent the wrong product. Getting a return was very difficult for exactly the same reason - Amazon doesn’t like paying to ship heavy items.
They were satisfied when I showed them their tracking number and their shipping label on the wrong product box. I think their gut reaction for these type of returns is to be defensive against fraud and buyers remorse “claiming” it as an Amazon mistake.
email Jeff… his office usually fixes any of these issues pretty quick
His email is jeff@amazon.com
@thismyusername If only someone on this site actually knew him personally…
@thismyusername This office reads so many emails at this point & takes care of situations that get out of hand very well but when they are seeing an obvious pattern that they should change
/giphy Eyes Wide Shut
Sorry, but not an Amazon fan. I may use site for product reviews …I try to stay local, or order from an independent retailer…
I hate to be That Guy, but return that thing altogether, get your money back, and go to a real bike shop (or your local bike co-op). Schwinns are unfortunately garbage department store bikes these days, and if you actually want to ride, you want something you’ll enjoy.
@minivanmegafun i appreciate the thought and youve echoed a thought ive heard from many. Unfortunately, due to finances the deal i was able to get on this bike made it affordable. I grew up in a poor household and riding cheaper bikes was just the norm. Eventually ill jump into a higher quality bike, but now is not that time.
@studerc I also grew up like you and am always amazed at what one can find at a second hand shop or even at a local bike shop selling used bicycles.
Not sure the deal you got at Amazon - but performancebike.com always has great deals (currently checked on Schwinn Streamliner Comfort Bike $219) but have seen other brands at $199.
They only ship to a local shop but that is a good thing (if you have one near you) as at performance they will do a life time basic tune-up of your bike!
I can go on and on about cycling as never got a motor vehicle license so having a decent bicycle is essential to my transport.
Do hope that you got something worked out for todays cycling event with family!
@fjp999 All of this.
@studerc If you’re in or near a large city, you probably have a bike co-op nearby (the big one in Chicago is Working Bikes, http://www.workingbikes.org). A good co-op has great people working there trying to just make the world a better place through biking, and will be more than happy to point you toward the best used bike for your budget.
Your local bike store likely has used models on hand as well.
All of these are a better option than standard department store bikes.
Unless you want to do this:
@minivanmegafun terrifying.
@minivanmegafun saw that a couple days ago… around my small town see very young kids with parts hanging off bikes all the time! So scary! then parents bring these things into a local shop and discover it will cost a huge amount to fix/replace most of the bike!
@studerc my local bike shop gets killer bikes in in trade that they sell for a fraction of the cost of a new model. I saw a $950 bike they were asking $350 for that was pristine, the only reason it didn’t come home with me was that the frame was too large for me.
Amazon used to be a reliable source of excellent prices. Now, I can almost always find better prices elsewhere and often by large margins. Their business model has changed; now that customers are loyal, the company is trying to extract profits. That means higher prices and lower levels of service.
I’ve been biting my tongue the past few days, mostly because I’m not entirely proud of how I responded, but I suppose I could share my recent experience with Amazon’s support anyway
Maybe I expect too much, but if expecting to get what you ordered is too much, perhaps I’m old school. They made promises on which they didn’t deliver.
I ordered a sissy bar, banana seat, tires and tubes for my son’s bicycle at the end of June. I had the upcoming weekend off and figured we could use it to restore his '67 Ross Barracuda. I placed my order on Tuesday, with guaranteed delivery by Thursday.
Thursday came and I received a box via UPS. I was pretty excited about it, and tore into it immediately.
Seat and Sissy Bar - Check
Tubes - Check
Tires - Where are the tires?
I checked my order info and the tires weren’t on it. I could have sworn I had ordered them, but they weren’t on there. I pulled up my order confirmation email and there they were. Tires. First thing listed. WTF?
I called Amazon and after spending 10 minutes telling the phone rep that I did, in fact, order the tires, she finally said “Okay, I see the problem. We didn’t have them in stock.” I was baffled. I asked why they didn’t tell me that when I ordered them and she said she wasn’t sure. I asked why they didn’t send an email notifying me before deleting them from my order and she said they did. I had no such email. Even my junk mail folder was empty. It was a lie. Not a white lie. That’s a bold-faced lie. Easily proven.
I blew my lid. I never cussed. I never insulted anyone there. I simply expressed my anger. “I work a lot. This weekend (tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday) is my last weekend off this summer. It’s the last chance I have to do this project with my son and you’ve ruined it.”
She offered to upgrade me to overnight shipping if I placed a new order right then and there. I submitted the order and she guaranteed I’d get them the next day (Friday). She also gave me a $15 courtesy credit to my account for use on my next purchase.
Saturday rolls up and still no tires. I check my order status and it hasn’t even shipped yet. WTF?!? I call up Amazon. The phone rep informed me, “We don’t have them in stock.” This time, I blew up in a way I never imagined I would. I said something along the lines of “Fuck you and fuck Amazon. I’m done. Cancel my order and stuff those tires up your ass.” In hindsight, it probably wasn’t the best reaction, but a man can only take so much before he succumbs to the opportunity to lose his shit on some poor, unsuspecting phone rep. She calmly responded “You’ll get them on Thursday, and you can work on your bike next weekend.” To which, I responded “No. I’ll never get them. Not from you, anyway. I told you to cancel the order and you’ll do that. If you do one thing right in this entire order process, make it that.” She said she’d cancel my order and asked if there was anything else she could do. “Do you sell time machines?” It was a feeble attempt to make light of the situation. I apologized for taking it out on her. It wasn’t her fault, but offered to cuss out her manager instead if she’d rather. She seemed to handle it like a champ.
I went to Walmart and they had the same tires for the same price. They were mine that day without the headache of dealing with incompetence.
The good news is that my son’s bike is done now. It turned out great and he loves it.
Here’s a picture after it was assembled, before I put the fenders and kickstand back on it.
TL:DR
Amazon deleted items from my order without telling me, then promised to send them overnight, but it took another week. I cussed some poor, unsuspecting rep in ways I never thought that I would. I am ashamed, but they’re lying, incompetent assholes.
@capguncowboy You are a good dad. That bike rocks - old school style!
@capguncowboy also I hate that you just started me looking for cool bikes for my son - who now that he is riding needs a new one. Not as cool, or old school as your stringray, but I just found this on craiglist locally for $50.
Prices for these on ebay are nuts.
@mfladd I don’t know about good dad, but I appreciate the compliment.
I try to do things with my kids instead of doing things for my kids. I picked up that old bike at a yard sale for $5. It was all original but was missing the original seat and 3-speed shifter. I was able to get everything it needed for less than $75. We spent about 10 hours working on it, sweating like dogs, but it was totally worth it. He helped me disassemble it. He’s 8, so he still needs lots of help. He painted it and I wetsanded it between coats giving pointers on what would improve his painting. By the time the last coat of paint went on, he was laying it down like a pro. I was pleased with the outcome, but he was ecstatic that he did the work himself instead of watching someone else do it.
@capguncowboy Like I said - you are good dad! The time you had together completing it is something he will always remember
@mfladd Yeah, prices are nuts when the seller knows what they have. It’s like anything, really. Check out yardsales in the fall and spring. If you’re looking online, use the keywords “muscle bike” or “vintage biycylce”. You’ll strike gold soon enough. Schwinn brand is commonly known as being elite. The lesser known brands are just as good and don’t demand a high premium. My son’s is a Ross, which from what I was told, was a MOPAR brand.
@capguncowboy If I can pick that bike up for $50 bucks I will snag it - waiting for call back.
@mfladd Awesome! Keep us posted!
@capguncowboy so beautiful. congrats to your son and a great dad for making it all happen!
@capguncowboy Done deal. One small rip in the seat and a little surface rust I can manage. I will pick it up in the next 5 days as it is about 1.5 hours away, but in my work area. Thanks for making me look - he will love it. But you are the better dad for for making it a project - me, my projects don’t get done - just ask my wife.
The Schwinn OC Chopper Bike. He said he bought it for his kids around age 7, and they are 19 now. So I like that it is older. $50 is a deal for this (as far as I am concerned)
@mfladd Awesome! He’s gonna love that thing!
@studerc, I work at Amazon, and this is incredibly non-Amazonian. Sorry for your experience.
You could send Jeff Bezos an email at jeff@amazon.com.
It would be handled like a regular customer complaint, only the complaint will originate from the top of the chain of command and head down. A lot more visibility and demand for a resolution that way.
I have the absolute worst luck buying tvs. A few year back I bought one off amazon. Placed the order on a Thursday and upgraded to the 1 day shipping so we would get it before the weekend. Friday comes and goes without the tv shipping and they send an email saying sorry that it was delayed and they refunded the extra shipping costs and they would ship it out Monday and overnight it and get it to me as soon as possible. That was a little annoying but there was no particular need for the tv so it wasn’t a big deal having to wait a few more days.
Monday comes and goes and still no shipping notification, I wait till Tuesday because sometimes they do same day delivery but still nothing on Tuesday either. They also don’t saying anything about another delay. I finally contact customer support and they tell me that they aren’t sure why it has been delayed again and that they are looking into it and will do everything they can to get the tv to me as soon as possible and I will get an email update as soon as they have figured it out. Later that day, instead of getting an email update or shipping notification, the order status is changed to delivered. The previous Friday(the original delivery date). Even though the shipping date was that day(Wednesday).
(TC edit to remove pic as requested)
I contacted them again, and said my package was most certainty not delivered 5 days before it shipped. And that even if it had shipped earlier no deliveries where made to my house on that Friday. And why would they not require a signature on a $300 tv, so there is no way it should have been left on the porch.
They tell me it must have got lost in transit or stolen and they would send out another one. That one got a tracking number later that day and showed up the next afternoon with no problem.
I thought it was funny how much easier it was for the to send the “replacement”, and that they would send it with no questions asked whatsoever. And that they generated fake tracking info for an order that never shipped just to pretend they made their original delivery date.
@Thumperchick I missed my edit window
Could you zap this picture, I’m gonna edit it an post it again so it’s not so tiny and has less personal information I probably don’t want to share.
Slightly more readable picture maybe?
Terrible tv buying story #2. Last year I bought another tv from newegg. When it arrived, on time with no shipping issues at least, the box had very obviously been opened and re-taped. When we opened the box, both pieces of styrofoam that hold the tv in place were broken into about five pieces each and taped mostly back together. Clearly the box and contents had been damaged while still in the warehouse because if it happened during shipping fedex would just say “fuck it” and shove shit back in the box the best they could, not try to tape the foam back together and pretend nothing happened. Got the tv out of the box and there is a crack about 10inches long across on of the corners and everything inside the crack is dead.
I contact customer service and ask for a replacement, they asked for pictures that I sent them and they approved the damage claim while I was still talking to them. They then tell me that they are all out of the model I bought so they can’t do a replacement, only a refund and that would be processed as soon as I shipped back the broken tv. They ended the conversation there and emailed me a shipping label with directions on how to drop the tv off at a UPS store.
I contact them again and explain that even though I have a UPS store about a mile from where I live, I don’t have a vehicle because I live in the middle of a city and even if it was possible to me to carry the 60" tv box, there is no way in hell I would carry it for a mile down the street because that would just be asking for something to steal it right out of my hands. They did agree that having me drop it off was out of the question and told me that they would schedule a pick up for me and email a new shipping label since the one I had wouldn’t work for pickup. I gave them 3 days that week that I would be home for them to schedule the pick up for.
Week goes by and they haven’t sent me sent me a new label or told me when a pick up is coming, I try to contact them again, but they are having higher than normal wait times for service and ask me to email instead or call or chat. I email and tell them that during the next week there are only one day and two evenings that I will be home and to schedule the pickup for one of those times.
Luckily, they had begun processing my refund as soon as the damage claim was approved and I had already gotten my money back at this point or else it would have been a bigger problem that it was taking to long for them to pick it up. My available days past and still no shipping label.
A few days later, when I was about a day from just throwing it all in a dumpster, because it was a big fucking box, taking up most of the hallway, and I couldn’t buy different tv until I got this stupid one out of the way. On my way out the front door one day, I run into the UPS guy and he has the label and was told to come pick something up from me.
If it wasn’t for lucky timing I don’t know what would have happened since customer service never contacted me back after they said they would schedule a pickup, which I guess they eventually did, but never told me about it. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I haven’t purchased anything from newegg since then.
After that I ended up just buying a tv from best buy, with their courier delivery and free set up. They guy tried to just leave it as soon as I opened the door but I made him come in and un-box it and turn it on because I wasn’t going to let him leave until I was sure it worked after the ordeal with the last return.
@metaphore I have a nightmare story about a TV as well. It seems like shipping broken TVs from the warehouse is a common thing. Maybe they plan on filing a claim with the carrier to make them eat the cost instead? Whatever it is, I’ll never order a TV online again. What a mess.
@capguncowboy There was a thread about the tv I bought from newegg, and another one for the same model sold from walmart, like 65% of the tvs were received broken. There was speculation that something happened to some shipments between the manufacturer and the re-sellers and the re-sellers all knew that the tvs were damaged but the manufactures wouldn’t take the returns unless they were customer returns. So everyone was just shipping out broken crap just to be able to return it.
@capguncowboy @metaphore Sounds complicated, but certainly plausible. Maybe that’s why I’ve skipped the whole online buying thing and got my 47" LCD from the curbside instead!
This just happened to us! We ordered two of the Schwinn Hybrid Women’s Wayfarer bikes in mint, and we were told it would take 1-2 months to deliver. Then suddenly, it was only a week, but it was coming from a seller called Stop N Drop instead of Amazon. We instead received another hybrid and a men’s mountain bike. Now we have to slug them to the UPS store and Amazon is supposedly sending us the correct bikes.
@studerc What was the end result of this? It’s been about a month or so since you posted. Hope you got a good end result!
@dashcloud ah snap. Totally forgot to post my results.
In the end. I ended up having to drop this off at ups myself which was a total pain in the ass but for some god awful reason they just decided to ignore me. I did get my replacement but it took about two weeks to show up…well past when i actually needed it for my family event.
I still buy shit at amazon even after the fucking terrible experience.
Meh. Im over it i suppose.