I placed an order through Amazon that was fulfilled through a third party reseller. There were two items ordered. A $40 fishing rod and a $20 spool of line. The rod arrived in a flat box, as in a box that would normally be a regular box, but it wasn’t unfolded into box shape. The rod was slid in and the ends taped.
When I received it, the tape was cut on one of the ends and while the rod stayed in by friction, there was no spool of line. The shipping label was marked 1/1 and there was no packing list, so I assumed it was missing. I emailed the seller and asked for re-ship or credit. They quickly responded and offered either option. I opted for credit and it was quickly processed by the merchant through Amazon. I was notified of the credit this afternoon and when I got home, there was the spool of line.
Now, I want to pay for it. I really do. I started to type up an email offering to call them directly with credit card info, or they could reverse the credit through Amazon, at their discretion. However, the rep who issued the credit should have looked at the order more closely and figured out that there were two shipments before issuing it. So for $20 of doing the right thing, the rep is probably going to take some heat on this matter.
In my experience, they certainly do not want the extra returned as it would be extra cost/hassle. Similar to: “this product has a minor cosmetic flaw that doesn’t affect it” “okay, don’t send it back, well send you a new one.” I am going to guess that doing another charge will be not something they want to do either or may not have the capacity to do so. Certainly not on Amazon. Their haste at replacing it rather than asking questions suggests that it’s not a big deal. And the 1/1 thing is confusing.
So ethically, you should pay, and you may go that route. But trying to pay may end up like trying to pay for two browsed grapes at the grocery store. I don’t know if there is an aggrieved party. If your conscience is sullied, buy more stuff from them in the future to make up for it?
And you may be right, but that’s not your call to make, ethically speaking. If he made an error, it’s unethical to hide his error from his company by not reporting, and it’s immoral in my book to decide (if there is indeed heat) that he’d rather avoid the heat than take your money, as that’s a violation of his free will. His work won’t get any better if his errors are hidden from him.
And I also think it’s a stretch to think he’d get heat, anyhow. I just don’t see it likely for a conversation to go any way other than, “Hey, boss, remember that guy who said he didn’t get his spool? He got it. He called to pay for it so I reversed the credit.” “Oh, cool. Nice of him to do that.” (or “What a numbnuts…I KNEW that spool was in there!”)
I would call them back and explain that I’d found the part I’d reported missing and offer to pay for it.
Yeah, I’m kind of thinking that they’re happy to be done with it and requesting to pay may be more of a burden to them (and the rep who should have caught it) than getting their $20. I wouldn’t return it, I want to pay for it. I just feel kind of bad, even though I acted in good faith.
The 1/1 was because it was two shipments, which was indicated in their shipment notification a few days ago. I didn’t notice it then or dig it out of my trash folder until today. The rod shipped UPS and the line shipped USPS. The fact that the tape was split on one side was sufficient for me to believe that the line was lost in transit. It was an Ugly Stik lite graphite rod and a 200’ spool of Berkley fluoro.
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Karma, I would put twenty dollars worth of effort into making it right. That should keep karma from hunting you down if you cannot make it right.
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I’m not sure what this means. I’d like to pay them for the line, but it’s probably more of a pain in the ass than it’s worth at this point and could impact the rep who issued the credit. I don’t owe them effort, I owe them twenty dollars.
I think all you need to do is to do the right thing according to what you received. So call them and say you got the missing item, offer to pay, and let them decide on how to deal with it.
Anything else is just making assumptions on your part. You don’t know really whether the rep will get heat for not checking the shipping order, or get praise for going out of his way to satisfy a customer ("the customer is always right). Or maybe it’s too minor to receive any attention either way. But that’s not your call.
Good points to consider, but I think you missed the part that the spool wasn’t in there. It was in a separate shipment, which I should have gone back to the notification email to check, but the rep should have absolutely caught after my request to credit or replace.
You’re right that hiding employee error is never good for the company, and the poll results so far back up your opinion. I think you’ve convinced me. I will say that I work for a company that does (as a fraction of our business) about a million a year in internet sales. In this exact situation, not even considering the reporting of error, I wouldn’t welcome the reopening of this closed situation. Then again, I would probably think well of the person who did it and tell them to consider it closed and consider us first for future orders.
More good points. I’ll go with my initial instinct that’s been backed up here and leave it up to them.
In a related story, I ordered some some clothing online a while ago. Two shirts and a pair of shorts for about $105 with shipping. I used a coupon code for 20% off for orders over $100. I ordered $112 worth of stuff and got a $22.40 discount, plus $15 shipping. The cheapest shirt was closeout, and they had an inventory error so they deleted it from my order, which dropped the value below $100, which erased my discount on the other two items. They just did all this without my consent and notified me after the fact. My $105 order was now $98, minus a $24 shirt.
So I called them, and asked for the discount to be reinstated on the items they shipped. They said fine, we’ll credit you the $22.40 and then I found myself in one of the strangest arguments of my life. I was telling them that they don’t owe me $22.40 because that was the discount of the full order amount. You don’t owe me $22.40, you owe me $17.60! I couldn’t convince them, but I tried.
It’s that kind of thing that makes me question trying to do the right thing, but I guess I’m obligated to try. Thanks.
I received the line in a separate shipment today. The tape on the box that contained the pole was split as I described, there was no packing list in or on the box and the shipping label indicated 1/1 so I assumed that the line was lost in transit. I’m sorry for the confusion.
Amazon is already processing the credit but I owe you for this item. I would be happy to call you directly to pay by credit card or you can reverse the credit through Amazon. Please tell me what’s easiest for you and I’ll be happy to oblige.
I really appreciate the rapid response and “no questions asked” replacement or refund that was offered. I will certainly keep you in mind for future needs and would not hesitate to recommend your company to anyone. Thank you for your service.
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I hope this puts the right spin on the situation. I just emailed it. Absolutely true that it’s not my call to make and I shouldn’t try to protect anyone. The rep clearly made an error here. It’s not customer service to credit someone for an item in transit, but errors shouldn’t be kept secret. Thanks to everyone who responded for pushing me to make the right decision.
Why do you keep saying that I owe them $20 “in effort” and not simply that I owe them $20, which I’ve clearly stated that I do, since the beginning. I’m honestly not trying to pick on you, but you’ve said it twice now. It’s confusing.
I think his point is, if you choose not to contact them and pay them on the grounds it’s too much hassle for them, you owe $20 dollars worth of “good deeds” generally. Karma, or suchlike.
The rep isn’t going to catch any “heat” over a $20 credit reversal, that stuff happens all the time in online transactions. It very well might be that the records their side only showed one shipment anyway, so how could they tell?
The rep fucked up. If she couldn’t see the shipments against the transaction, then I’m wrong and the company has some serious operational problems. The issue is resolved from my perspective. I already copied the email to this thread and I’m waiting for their response. There was no reel, the item in question is line. But thanks for treating me like someone who was trying to run a $20 scam. I appreciate it.
your original comment Now, I want to pay for it. I really do. I started to type up an email offering to call them directly with credit card info, or they could reverse the credit through Amazon, at their discretion. However, the rep who issued the credit should have looked at the order more closely and figured out that there were two shipments before issuing it. So for $20 of doing the right thing, the rep is probably going to take some heat on this matter.
it sounded like a half ass effort to make it right, you started an email implying you did not finish the email or send it. Then you shifted partial or full blame on the rep.
My point, no mystery to you, you got a credit and the spool of line. That makes you responsible for the imbalance. Karma dictates that the effort to make it right equals what you owe. So starting an email and shifting blame to the rep does not equal what you owe. Getting on the phone with a rep and explaining the situation or composing and sending an email explaining what occurred equals what you owe. Next move is theirs but you did your part to make it right.
It’s possible that the rep may have just assumed that the second shipment got mis-delivered or stolen off your doorstep and credited you for that reason, and not because of confusion about the number of shipments. They may even just have a no-questions-asked policy over low-dollar items.
That’s my take, too, and I see that you have already done this, Jake.
What it sounds like to me is, how much effort should I go to to correct an error that the Amazon rep should have caught if she hadn’t made a half-assed effort at doing her job?
At the grocery store last week, I used the self-checkout, and it was acting weird the whole time I was entering groceries. It kept saying, “Please remove last item from bag,” then the error would correct itself. I saw that one of my cat food tins had not seemed to have been charged, but since things were so wonky, I thought maybe it would come out okay on the final receipt. I got the final receipt, and I did indeed get a free cat food somehow. At that point, do I go wait in line for customer service and pay my extra 69 cents for a tin of cat food, or do I chalk it up to their stupid machines being stupid? I had done everything right - for reasons unknown to me, one cat food tin got through uncharged. How much effort do I owe the store when I had already done everything right, but still ended up with a free cat food?
I imagine you bought more then one can of cat food. Simple, not worth the effort to pay for it cuz the machine went wonky, take out the can you did not pay for and leave it behind, less then a 69 cent effort.
He called for a credit because he did not receive the spool with the original shipment. Credit received. He got the spool the next day, pick up the phone and tell them what occurred. Same act for the same 20 bucks.