So, I’ve been a big fan of Amazon and the Kindle for a long time. I have/had a Kindle 2, 3 and Kindle touch. Loved them all and never had any problems……
So when my Kindle 3 dropped dead after being placed on a table working and picked up 5 minutes later frozen I was dismayed. I admit upfront I didn’t buy an extended warranty because they seem overpriced and in my experience electronics that last a year last for much longer.
So I called customer service (rep #1) and was told that my only option was to buy a refurbished Kindle for $85 with a 3 month warranty. Note at this point you can get a new Kindle for $79 with a year warranty. So, I declined the offer.
Subsequently I was offered an option to comment on my Amazon customer service experience. I did so and expressed my displeasure with the results. I was then offered the option to have another service rep call me. I accepted that offer.
Customer service rep #2 commiserated with my problem, looked at my records, saw I was a good customer and said they would waive the $85 replacement charge when I returned the defective Kindle. Life is good.
Subsequently I get the refurbished Kindle and am charged the $85.00 replacement fee even though the defective Kindle has been returned. Customer service rep #3 almost immediately sends me off to rep #4 who lies again and again saying that I agreed to the $85 fee, not true and verified by the email I received from rep #2. Rep #3 eventually passes me on up to rep #4 who first tries to stonewall like rep #3 but eventually says; sorry sucks to be you but rep #2 should not have made the commitment he did and Amazon is not going honor it.
I then get another chance to email Amazon and express my displeasure which I do. The response is basically: sucks to be you, Rep #2 was wrong, here’s a mailing label, send refurbished Kindle back and you can have a refund of the $85.
So the Kindle is on the way back and I will never, ever buy anything from Amazon again.
I’m not sure what you were going for here. You bought a product that guaranteed only one year of operation without defect. You decided that the cost of insurance was too high to cover the risk after that period. Then the product dies after one year and you wanted what? Replacement?
Look you took on the risk yourself. I understand that. Extended warranties are usually overpriced to begin with. But the product died after the coverage period. Buy another one.
As for the representative mixup, the customer rep blew the call and Amazon, while not exactly showing super service, at least admitted their mistake and promised a refund of errant charges.
I can see that experience might make you wary of Amazon’s customer service but I don’t see any evidence that you were treated badly.
Amazon called me back of their on volition. That rep apologized for the first rep and offered the free replacement. The part that pissed me off was the willful lying of the third and fourth rep although the fourth rep finally admitted that I was offered the replacement at no charge. I have the email they sent saying it would be sent at no charge.
I am not harming myself, I can read e-books purchased from many other sources than amazon. I can also purchase on-line stuff from other places. However I guess the rest of you are fine when you make a deal and the deal is changed without even informing you that the change has been made. More power to you. Care to buy an item from me, I’ll sell it to you for $85.00, just give me your credit card number, but don’t be mad or complain if I charge you $170.00 because my assistant made a mistake.
I do get being mildly pissed when someone goes back on an agreement, even though you know that they were already being generous making the offer in the first place. Don’t agree to do something if you don’t want to follow through.
However, I don’t get how it’s egregious enough to boycott them, since even the “tough nuggets, sucker!” reneg meant you basically would just end up where you started, not screwed out of a non-refundable charge or whatever.
You even admit that you called after the warranty expired. They didn’t have to do jack shit (not only in the legal sense, but ethically, too). And they contacted you just now, on their own volition, agreed to honor the generous agreement they were never required to make in the first place, and you’re still pissed off? Fuck that.
If you have loved a corporation or an electronic device then it is probably a healthy turn of events that have weaned you off that. Maybe they tricked you. Just remember: corporations’ only interest in you is your money, and electronic device are just pieces of plastic and metal clobbered together. Some deserves your hatred, none deserves your love. Same goes for Apple and iThings btw.
I’m assuming Amazon already collected the $85 before they sent the replacement Kindle (which was supposedly going to be free). And I assume Amazon isn’t going to give the money back until they receive the second Kindle back.
Even if there was some way that sinjin could finangle the deal to keep the money while also keeping the Kindle, Amazon would probably consider it an unpaid debt and send it off to a collection agency.
It’s a little confusing, but I believe Sinjin — by “Amazon called me back of their own volition” — referred to the second rep who mistakenly offered a refund. After the point Amazon reneged, they never again agreed to keep that offer. I can see remaining a little peeved about this; Amazon wasted his time by, essentially, lying.
Yes. Because corporations seek profit, no device purchased from such an entity could be worthy of affection. For purposes of forming an opinion about a product, the profit-seeking motive behind the provision of said product renders irrelevant the quantity of enjoyment derived thereof.
I’m curious, does this only apply to electronic devices? It’s very tough finding shoes that comfortably fit my awkwardly-shaped feet, and thus I really love the ones I have. But my shoes are just so much leather and rubber clobbered (cobblered?) together, and the manufacturer’s only interest is my money! So sorry, comfy shoes, it must be strictly business between us from now on.
You appear to have confused the two items. 1) Corporations are not worthy of love, in part because the only interest they have in you is your money. 2) Electronic devices are not worthy of love because no inanimate object is worthy of love. Goes for shoes too of course.
Good. It’s fortunate that you don’t share the peculiar shoe fetish so prevalent among your sex. thumbs up
The few times I’ve dealt with Amazon’s Customer Service they have bent over backwards to appease me. They gave me a $25 gift card simply because I called them and said I wanted them to honor a deal that had ended a few days earlier. They’ve paid for return shipping on items that have been unsatisfactory or simply not what I wanted. I am a customer for life now and advocate Amazon Prime to all my friends.
Disclaimer: I’ve had a subscription to Amazon prime since they first offered it. My wife and I do most of our non-grocery purchasing through them; between $200 to $500 a month. We also use their reward credit card as our primary CC.
That’s all well and good. How would you feel if they offered you something, you accepted it and then they retroactively rescinded the offer and didn’t tell you? Further, how would you feel if not one but two customer service representatives lied to you. And further still how would you feel if in the end Amazon said basically “sucks to be you”?
It wasn’t about the money. In the scheme of things 85 bucks is not a big deal. However, I would never buy a refurbished item for $85 dollars with a 3 month warranty if I could get a new one for $79 dollars with a one year warranty. Would you? Amazon customer service lied repeatedly. They knew they were lying, the higher level CS agents knew they were lying and none of them cared. This is the NEW Amazon.
