Screwed by Amazon.com

Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)
#1

Last Sunday, I made my first order with amazon.com. It was for a birthday present, with the birthday today. It was supposed to ship in 2-3 days. I figured it would get there yesterday or tommorrow.

Today, check my order, to see if it got there, or is on the way. It hasn’t even shipped yet! WTF? It says “shipping soon”, but doesn’t say when soon is. A day? A week? Next year? When I go to look up the toy again, now it says “back ordered.” I tried to cancel the order, but it says I can’t because it’s shipping soon.

It is too clear, and so it is hard to see.

#2

Welcome to the joys of holiday shopping. I have ordered from Amazon several times; they usually are quite fast, but tend, I fear, to underestimate the demand for their services during this time of year (does that compensate for their rising stock value when they have yet to show a profit?)

I ordered 8 things from them last week; 1 has arrived, 1 has shipped; the other 6 will ship soon.

Sue from El Paso

Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.

#3

“Back ordered” means they ordered it for you but their supplier didn’t ship it to them. There’s not much a retailer can do about that.

Anyway, they’ll give you a refund if you return it unopened.

#4

Call them VIA 800 number… Amazon should have “interactive order processing” and the rep should be able to make changes on the phone, even under those circumstances.

BTW: My family suffers from a high degree of absentmindedness and getting presents over a period of several days is now part of our B-day style and we like it.

#5

I order from Amazon a lot and have never had a problem…until now. I ordered three books and six CD’s last week. One CD has arrived. One book was shipped last Wednesday, but has not yet arriverd. The other two books were shipped Friday and aren’t here yet. The remaining five CD’s haven’t been shipped yet. As they are all Christmas music, I’ll be miffed if they don’t arrive soon.

“I should not take bribes and Minister Bal Bahadur KC should not do so either. But if clerks take a bribe of Rs 50-60 after a hard day’s work, it is not an issue.” ----Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, Current Prime Minister of Nepal

#6

Call them or write them an e-mail. This happened when I ordered a book for a birthday present… it didn’t get here in time and I called them about it. They sent me a return postage sticker and refunded the shipping charge. I have to honestly say their customer service rocks. Every time I’ve had a problem they have promptly fixed it.

Best!
Byz

#7

I love amazon.com. I use them all the time. I also love the US Postal Service. The two combined means I usually get whatever I order exactly two days after placing the order; rarely any longer.

My last order had a problem though. They sent me the wrong item. It was a more expensive item than I ordered, and I was charged for the item I really ordered. In other words, I saved money. I’d have probably never ordered the item I actually got, but I decided to keep it anyway. I’ll buy the other thing after the holidays :slight_smile:

“I’m just too much for human existence – I should be animated.”
–Wayne Knight

#8

Yes, they do sometimes have problems, especially around the holidays. They seem to be caught unprepared every year; you’d think they’d catch on.

I’ve had great luck with them when there’s been a problem, though. Once they credited me for a shipping charge and gave me a gift certificate – when the error was my fault (which they knew.)

Catrandom

#9

Amazon does have some problems, but to give them due credit, they have always been willing to acknowledge their mistakes and correct them.

I suspect that in many cases, the information they have about product availability doesn’t get updated until an actual order is placed. I can see how it would happen; Amazon receives information from the publishers about what books they have and assumes it’s accurate. Then six months later they order a book and are then told it is sold out.

#10

It would be nice if they’d let me know if the circumstances change. They sent me a confirmation e-mail with the 2-3 days shipping on it. If that number changes at some point, they should update me.

It is too clear, and so it is hard to see.

#11

Daniel, you DO realize that keeping an expensive book you didn’t pay for, and that they sent by mistake, is wrong. Right?

-Melin

#12

“The Teeming Millions want to know…”

and even if they don’t…

I just got an e-mail that my order was shipped. So “ships in 2-3 days” takes nine days to ship. They “upgraded” the shipping to US priority, so it will only take, well, just as long (3-7 days).

It is too clear, and so it is hard to see.

#13

it wasn’t a really expensive item. price difference was like pennies. I was just embellishing for the sake of the story.

#14

okay I didn’t think much about it at first, but now you’ve got me feeling guilty about it, Melin, so I went to amazon.com and discovered that both items cost exactly the same (probably because they were both movies on tape). I don’t know why I thought they cost different; probably I was just in denial as to how much less interesting it made my story seem :slight_smile:

I feel better about it now though. My story isn’t as good now though. . . :frowning:

I still intend to buy my movie after the holidays. That mistake just got them twice as much business from me. . .

#15

Melin, I was under the impression that anything sent to you in the mail, without your explicit request, was to be considered a gift from sender.

Like, a book club sends you a book with a bill, without sending a previous letter saying they were sending the book.

The book is yours. The bill is optional.

If they didn’t ask you or notify you, you keep it.

If they send the wrong thing, it’s yours, also.

Please, if I’m wrong, correct me.

–Tim

#16

If someone sends you something unsolicited in the mail, and sends you a bill, you can throw bill away and keep the item. I do know that that is the law.

I don’t believe that extends to a mistake, however, where you have ordered something and they send the wrong thing. The reason the law was initiated had to do with protecting people against unscrupulous vendors who would send out items people had never ordered and then demand payment of them. It’s a totally different situation when it’s simply that a mistake has been made, where you have in fact yourself initiated the transaction. And if you think about it, why should such a mistake run in your favor?

Not meaning to stir up old waters, but it’s also wrong, not to mention illegal, to keep any money the bank accidentally credits to your account. So if you walk in one day and the bank tells you you have several hundred (or more!) dollars than you know that you really have, you can’t just withdraw it and walk away with it. Not legally, and not morally, anyway.

-Melin

#17

There was an article in yesterday’s business section of the L.A. Times stating that Amazon.com is just overwhelmed with orders this year. To the point where they have the executives working in the warehouse! (I think that’s great – make 'em remember what it’s all about!)

Last night I sent an email to Amazon.com about an order that had been confirmed on December 7, but still not received. I noted that stuff I had ordered from barnesandnoble.com AFTER Dec. 7 I had already gotten.

Within half an hour I got a “real” email back, from a real person (who signed her name) who told me what was going on with my order, and apologized for the delay. This morning there was another email advising me that my stuff had been shipped out this morning via Priority Mail with the USPS, and should be here within 2-3 days.

Gotta give 'em credit for making the effort!

-Melin