I fought Amazon, and I won!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
41

Thank you fpr not taking the stance that I was malicious and Amazon was trying their best to accomodate such a vicous, rude, cancellling-in-the-middle rathscalion.

This is one of the last emails I received from them. On December 7, 2025. It was so obvious a delay that a referee ought to have thrown a flag.

(note: Sorry, the pre-formatted text scrolls rightwards and I just went with (quote)(endquote)

(quote)
Dear << Coriolanus, >>

Thank you for your patience regarding the chargeback you initiated through your bank for 202-3943840-1962754.

I’ve investigated your case further and want to provide you with the most current information. While our system initially showed the chargeback as approved, I’ve confirmed with our internal teams that your dispute is still in process.

If Amazon does not object by December 30, 2025, your bank will process the refund automatically
The refunded amount would then appear in your account according to your bank’s processing timeframe

I understand this process can be frustrating, and I apologize for any confusion to date. If Amazon does not contest the chargeback by the deadline, your refund will be processed as described above. I do not have any further information on this matter so I would ask you to please wait until December 30th.

Thank you for your understanding.
Regards,
<< Not Jeff Bezos >>
Executive Customer Relations
(endquote)

They are running 1950’s era ENIACS, or they are condemnable.

And again, they had already twice, on the first day - told me a “regular” refund was in my account or on the way to it.

And after I inquired on December 31st:

(quote)
Hello << me >>

A pleasant day to you! I hope you are doing well and that this email brightens your day. This is Afshan from Amazon, the one who is working on your issue right now and it certainly is a pleasure assisting you today.

I am sorry that you haven’t received the item from 202-3943840-1962754. I understand it would be quite upsetting and we certainly do not want our customers to experience anything as such.

As our valued customer your satisfaction is our top priority.

To make things right, a chargeback was already issued for £1,017.53 for Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra AI Smartphone, Galaxy AI, 12GB Memory, 512GB Storage, 200MP Camera, S Pen Included, Titanium Black, 3 Year Manufacturer Extended Warranty (UK Version) on 20 November 2025. You can contact your card issue bank for more information on this.

I hope this helps. We look forward to seeing you again soon.

Do contact us if you have any further queries. We are always here to assist you.

Take Care :slight_smile:

<< Them >>
(endquote)

So it was issued on November 20, 2025! Not January 4th. They really are a nice company.

42

From the Royal Mail website:

This was my first attempt at “serving notice” for the MCOL. As I understand it, Amazon gets palettes of Christmas Letters to Jeff Bezos that they just don’t have the time to sign, open, or acknowledge having done so.

Last updated: 29 Nov 2025, 11:49! We’ve got it

Then:

Your item has been posted at a Post Office. As you’ve used our Royal Mail Signed For service, the next update you’ll see is after we’ve attempted to deliver to the recipient.

“Signed for service” means somebody has to sign for it to legitimize my having served notice for the MCOL in (now) 7 days. In this case, the signature looks like “Mail (guy?).”

Last updated: 08 Dec 2025, 13:22! Delivered

All I can ask of the Dope is that I am not asked why I am serving notice (and paying £80) when the funds MUST have been in my account since November 20, 2025.

43

And no indicates the Op checked tracking.

Bezos hasnt been the CEO of Amazon since 2021.

44

An MCOL is a small claims court. No lawyers were contacted. Emails were first sent, politely reminding them that the refund had not arrived.

Yet weeks before the MCOL went into motion, I received these emails, a day or so after inquiring about my refund. I wrote above about how the day of delivery had passed, and I had received no contact. I was ASSURED they would look into it and contact me the next day.

I likely did contact them after the 2nd attempt on the 2nd day to make sure this would be cancelled. I may have said I had expected it for my wife’s birthday, and would please like to cancel and buy from another vendor.

They understood, gave me no grief about anything being unusual, and said they would cancel & refund.

Thus, I was free to buy another phone directly from Samsung. Overnight delivery and it arrived the day of my wife’s birthday.

After about two weeks, I was scrolling through my Revolut app and noticed the -1017.53 was not matched with a +1017.53. I do not believe I was told to wait 10 business days, yet this would have been about 13 business days.

I called them (actually, you call, then they call you back pretty quickly). Once again, they understood, apologised, and said the refund should have arrived in my account. and would happen.

The very next two emails were these:

(All times are UK/GMT. I have removed the blank lines for brevity.)

Nov 21, 2025, 11:44 AM

Hello,
We received your email about the credit card dispute you filed on Order 202-3943840-1962754.
To correct this problem, we have asked your card issuer to close the dispute in your favor.
You should have received a refund of GBP 1017.53 on your credit card
We are sorry for any inconvenience. If you need more information about the dispute or the credit card refund, please contact your card issuer.

Account Specialist
Amazon.co.uk | Amazon Disputes Team

November 22, 2025 1:09 AM

Hello,
Greetings from Amazon!
We have already processed a refund of GBP1,017.53 back to the original payment method for order #202-3943840-1962754
The refund IR for refund ID is amzn1:crow:cexCvmm9RlGgRp81PtoZRg
You can expect to see this refund reflected in your account within the next 7 business days.
Thank you for contacting Amazon.
We look forward to seeing you again soon.
Warmest regards,
Fiza

So one said you already had it. Another said 7 days. This is perfectly in line with trillion-dollar market cap multinational corporations.

Other than the blank line removal, I did not change a word of either message. As I mentioned, I also saved the .eml files, which contain digital signatures to verify the veracity of the text. I never got to use them in this form, other than quoting them (the straight text above) to both my bank and Amazon Support.

Oh shit, I got a detail wrong, My whole fanciful tale is shattered by important and cogent facts. My point was they don’t open their fucking palettes of mail. Unless you send them in a certain way, as I did the week following.

ETA: These snail mails were sent to AMAZON LEGAL, not Jeff Bezos or fucking Santa Claus.

I fought Amazon the Pit edition
45

Missed the window: There was neither a first or second “attempt”. There was no arrival of any courier. Amazon never claimed there was. They did claim there would be on the second day.

Yet you would have me sit around, telling my wife “Amazon is a fantastic company! The phone will arrive one of these days!”

Okay, that’s your opinion.

46

…and you have a right to your opinion.

As for our point/counterpoint, Doc, we’re going Over Here

47

Me too. Usually a minor complaint gets me something like a full refund including taxes and any rush fees, as well as a $5-10 “We’re sorry” credit.

But I’ve been a Prime customer pretty much since the service launched, and customer service usually mentions that-- it seems to be in their script-- “Thank you for being a prime customer since [whatever year].”

Possibly coming on too strong can backfire, because if they think you are already a loss, they won’t invest much in making you happy.

48

I don’t recall Amazon using happy or anything that wouldn’t be construed as "Why have you not yet gone away? till their last email on December 31, 2025, included that text:

A pleasant day to you! I hope you are doing well and that this email brightens your day.

Yet that email went on to say the chargeback happened on November 25. Another example of how bonkers Amazon was in keeping their shit together. By that time, I thought I thought for sure it was going to MCOL court, and them claiming something that wasn’t going to happen till January 4th, 2026, actually happened on November 25, 2025, is rather fantastic. For a judge to see that is pure gold if he got that far.

I think I was even-headed (I couldn’t think of the opposite of coming on too strong) and didn’t lose my head or temper. With Revolut, the worst I said was “Please stop saying, 'rest assured” - this was back in November, and all those calls in Amazon emails to “Contact your bank” did not cause me to write to them to stop saying that, as it was boilerplate, or to call my bank.

Once the MCOL was filed, there were just a couple more calls with Amazon Executive Relations about the chargeback, which seriously went from “We have no information” to “It’s coming” to “It’s not coming” and all of those rotated in random order for about nine emails. Also, mind that each of them ended with “Contact your bank.” It was that obvious cross-confusion that would have been a big element in any “defense” as I dated them in order, and any judge could think, “Wait a minute, didn’t they just say it was coming? Four times already?”

The biggest deal was their first two emails saying a regular refund had already come and then the next day was coming. Not sure a judge would look at much more beyond that. I put it all together nicely and orderly so he wouldn’t think I just shuffled the emails. On one hand, the refund cash in pocket beats what I was highly confident would be a win, yet probably in February, and only to get my filing fee and petty interest back. There would be no courtroom drama. Just uploads of dozens of files on my part.

I won because Amazon Legal did not want to lose. Your $5-$10 refund isn’t a loss for Amazon or a win for you. You appreciate it. I too, have appreciated their support and sometimes generous gestures. $1300+ they don’t want to part with sheds a different light on the matter. Nothing I did compares to David & Goliath: faith over strength, courage against overwhelming odds, and the triumph of wisdom over brute force.

The rock from my sling still might have sailed over Goliath’s head, so to speak. So a win is a win, and I’ll take some comfort that I won fairly, honestly, even-tempered, and had quite a good rock.

49

Kudos to you for being persistent and getting your money back. :+1:

With that said, you might consider some gentle suggestions on how to avoid all of this sturm und drang in the future. These are guidelines I tend to follow when ordering things online. Please note that I’m not saying you did anything wrong here. YMMV, and they may not all be applicable to you and the current situation.

  1. If you order an item from an online vendor, be patient. The delivery date is only an estimate. If it ultimately arrives later than they promised, and no longer meets your needs (like a missed birthday), return it.
  2. If you order an expensive item (or an item that might get damaged in the weather, or needs to be signed for, etc.), have it delivered to a drop point like an Amazon Locker or Amazon Counter. Or shipped to a local store, like the iPhone I ordered last month from Verizon.

And if you do end up in a situation where you need to get your money back, maybe let one process conclude before starting another? I’m unclear why it was necessary for you to contact Amazon and file a chargeback with your credit card and pay £80 for an MCOL. Not saying it happened here, but it’s possible that all of these overlapping processes actually slowed down your refund.

50

Often that is indeed the case. However, in this one

Sure, in hindsight. I held very little confidence in my bank and on the advice of a knowledgeable person this was considered prudent and wise. And indeed I believe it put pressure on them to settle. YMMV.

The phone was supposed to arrive on a given date. I contacted them when no courier showed up and was told “sorry, we’ll look into it, and get back to you” (gist-wise). By the next day, Amazon had not contacted me nor did any courier come.

As I have said, on my next contact I politely asked to cancel this order. I heard no reservations and received no grievance from them.

Uh, no. Maybe Amazon.com is now more like eBay. This was Get It By Date

ETA: As this drop-off involved an OTP, there could be no “drop point”. I had to give the OTP. In person.

ETA2: As for local shops, you might think I live in or near a big city. I do not. There are 3 supermarkets but no “phone shops”.

51

If we return here, I will play time travel just like Amazon does:

Early November, I decide my wife deserves a flagship Samsung 2025 for her birthday and putting up with me. Where to go? Why not Amazon? Have they ever wronged me? Nope. So we choose one and I schedule it for two days before her birthday. Ahh, but just before clicking the order buttons, the time-traveling me counsels against that: Waitrose no longer has an Amazon pick-up since every other delivery locker is just nearby. We both agree that’s a lot of money so even Royal Mail is out. And time-traveling me says "Buy direct from Samsung. Extra hugs and kisses if I get the pink phone only Samsung offers. Overnight delivery! Quite a bit more expensive, yet you get a free watch!

So I do that. And this thread vanishes. Just before I get to ask my future self if the Mets are going to celebrate a championship or 40 years without one, he too vanishes.

Next day I get a phone and watch! Had to chase after the DHL guy with a Union Jack (my USA flag is positioned upside down as in maritime distress). Return with flag and phone and everything is groovy.

52

What do you mean “flagship Samsung phone”?

The bestest? And pink? I like your wife’s thinking.

And tell her Happy Birthday from the Dope!

53

Yes, they always have a flagship that usually has more speed and memory than most people need, yet I was not settling for less (I know there are those tablet-flip phones).

I read through this thread looking for unusual acronyms. I won’t belittle you with YMMV stuff, so:

  • MCOL - Master Card something something. It’s Master Card’s small claims court. I had to legally “serve” Amazon to make my suit legitimate. I ended it because they paid via chargeback, which is just another way of getting a refund, but it’s through your bank. End result same. There is a Visa version too, yet I don’t know its name or what OL (online?) means, so “VOL?”

  • OTP: One-time passwords. Companies like Amazon do not trust their drivers, and for your safety, they’ll tell you the OTP yet not the courier. He or she enters it in, and that proves you are you. Not a bad system. Also their admission that it had not been used proved I had not received the phone.

  • NDD: Next day delivery (that might border on you already know, so sorry in advance if so)

  • I don’t see any others. I’m not a big acronymer (?), and I won’t use any UK (United Kingdom) - just kidding! acronyms without first having used the full name.

54

I knew OTP. I’ve had to do that a couple times. Not for delivery. Other things like I forgot my password or something.

The Mastercard thing kinda threw me.

I finally figured out it was a legal term of sorts.

NDD I’ve never heard. I wouldn’t ever expect next day delivery, where I am.

But thanks for clarifying. It actually may just be me. So don’t be concerned.

55

Well, Gawlly!

Amazon has hired an external law firm to settle all the things not settled after the MCOL closed.

Primarily, they are going to refund my £80 filing fee, even though this was resolved via chargeback.

I reckon they also want me to sign off on any future lawsuits. Darn, I really wanted to sue for a ride on the Blue Origin. Oh well, it wasn’t going to Mars anyway.

I’ll be the one to capitulate this time. £80 evens us up, if you don’t count all the effort I put into getting just a refund. Where the Doc to play point/counterpoint with me? Clearly I must have called a guy who called a guy who set this up.