Amazon Order/Refund Frustration

[bunnspecial]

June 3rd, I ordered a bunch of miscellaneous stuff from Amazon-basically all stuff I needed around the house or garage. There were some spark plugs, mower parts, camera memory cards, and a few other odds and ends, but still totaling close to $500.

June 5th, I check and it shows out for delivery followed by "undeliverable" within a few minutes of each other. Apparently that means the carrier determined it was damaged and they would not even attempt delivery.

I never saw the package-it just went back to Amazon and they claimed a refund would soon be issued.

Here I am 2 1/2 weeks later and it still says(as it has for the past two weeks) "On the way back-refund will be issued soon." I've tried to talk to customer support but they can't tell me any more than what the tracking says.

I'm not looking for help but just venting. I normally don't have trouble with Amazon, but this is incredibly frustrating to have $500 of my own money tied up in a package that I never physically laid eyes on. $500n won't break me, but it's also not a small amount of money and I'd like to get a refund before I try to re-order the stuff...it makes me second guess ordering from them.

 

[PimTac]

Was this thru Amazon directly or a third party selling on Amazon?

From the items listed I would think different vendors so multiple packages. I know they can consolidate some stuff but mower parts and memory cards seem odd.

I guess be patient.

 

[Soft Cars]

I think what the problem is is that you ordered a whole cart of stuff. You're better off making each item a separate order. If they want to put everything in one box, that's on them, but at least you have separate order numbers.

 

[99Saturn]

Was it on an Amazon truck to be delivered or via UPS, FedEx, USPS? Just curious how the tracking works in that case since it never came to you and was on an Amazon truck.

 

[John105]

This has happened to me several times. I want to say there definitely was at least two times I had to chat with Amazon because the refund didn’t happen automatically, even though the status showed undeliverable. Did you try an online chat? You never got the goods so there is no way you’re not getting a refund…

 

[fsdork]

I had that happen with a hitch ball and mount I ordered. I did end up having to give them a nudge after waiting a few weeks with no change in status after being flagged as undeliverable. One follow-up (one too many) was all it took, and they didn't give me any grief about refunding the money. You're wise to keep an eye on it, but I wouldn't stress too much about ultimately getting the money back.

 

[SaberOne]

I agree with forum member ‘Soft Cars’. I used to be a power shopper on Amazon back before they got finicky, and shipping used items. Customer service went downhill from that point on. Returning items used to easy, and receiving concession discounts on damaged items was quite liberal.
Now days’ they’re more like the Soup Nazi. As such, I order things separately, and I give it at least a day in between orders so they don’t combine them. This makes life easier for me, and minimizes weird conflicts.

 

[Rand]

call 1 800 number they will fix it
1-888-280-4331

 

[RazorsEdge]

Amazon is not what it used to be,even though I still order stuff from them. Their customer service is a joke.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Call (or chat) and ask them politely to elevate to a supervisor. You need someone who can trigger an over - ride. I understand your frustration - this happened to me a year ago - it constantly said out for delivery but never arrived. No one I talked to could help until I finally asked to speak to a supervisor. Fortunately for me it was like 20 bucks so it was just a PITA.

The package needs to make it back to trigger the credit automatically - except its likely lost or stolen, so the credit will never get triggered.

The first level support just read from a script of problems - unless its AI then it regurgitates the same lines. Someone else needs to over-ride the automated system.

Someone needs to over -ride and credit - so you need to make it up a notch.

 

[Fla]

It's what happens when you out-source customer service to 4th world counties.

I'm still waiting for a refund for an item that I returned nearly 2 weeks ago and that they said a refund would be issued. I also recently had an item cancelled after they said that it was shipped. At the same time that they cancelled my order, the Quantity Available on Amazon's website dropped from 3 to none.

This is why I pay for nearly everything that I buy with a credit card.

 

[Dave Hess]

I ordered air filters for home A/C and Amazon driver lay them flat on the porch ground instead of against the wall under the roof and entire box got soaked when it rained.

I had to request replacement from Amazon customer service.

 

[Rand]

I had a return that wasnt refunding for a couple weeks after I shipped it back.
one call to fatima Sarah later it was fixed.

 

[Fla]

Amazon said that my $139 refund was issued on June 6th but here is is on the 21rst and I still haven't gotten it. I called Amazon today to find out where my refund is and I got some customer service type that doesn't speak English and she wanted me to give her access to my account so that she could find out the status of my order. NOPE! Not happening! Amazon should give them access to their ordering system from their end. I'm not giving anyone access to my account!

I'm very close to being DONE with buying anything from Amazon that I can't afford to simply throw away if it proves to be defective.

 

[John105]

Amazon said that my $139 refund was issued on June 6th but here is is on the 21rst and I still haven't gotten it. I called Amazon today to find out where my refund is and I got some customer service type that doesn't speak English and she wanted me to give her access to my account so that she could find out the status of my order. NOPE! Not happening! Amazon should give them access to their ordering system from their end. I'm not giving anyone access to my account!

I'm very close to being DONE with buying anything from Amazon that I can't afford to simply throw away if it proves to be defective.

This is truly strange, something has gone awry. No question, with the undeliverable orders from my own experience, a few did not automatically refund me. And there was one with a 3rd party that was a debacle--they switched from Prime to the seller doing the shipping. But if they issued you the refund, where is it? They should be able to tell you without access to your account granted by you. dang

 

[Pablo]

My gripe with Amazon stocked and supplied items is the absolutely lack of ability for:

a) someone to take responsibility and own the problem (seller says Amazon fault, Amazon says return it)
b) The absolute lack of options. Keep it or return it. That's it. No partial credit, no trash and refund, etc.

Case in point. Two bottles of good wood glue. Shipped in a plastic bag! Well of course the bag was squished and an absolute glue mess inside. The bottles did not burst though. Just the lids were not snug. I washed them both off and the remaining glue is usable. Maybe lost 20% from each bottle. I need the glue.

Well all you get online and the PHONE is return it.

Well poop.

 

[Donald]

I have in two different situations received the wrong item. Received Frontline for small dog and had ordered Frontline for large dog. Received ginger ale for SodaStream and had ordered Diet Pepsi. In both cases it said the items were nonreturnable.

I had to push customer service to give me a refund. They did not want the items back.

 

[Dave Hess]

My gripe with Amazon stocked and supplied items is the absolutely lack of ability for:

a) someone to take responsibility and own the problem (seller says Amazon fault, Amazon says return it)
b) The absolute lack of options. Keep it or return it. That's it. No partial credit, no trash and refund, etc.

Case in point. Two bottles of good wood glue. Shipped in a plastic bag! Well of course the bag was squished and an absolute glue mess inside. The bottles did not burst though. Just the lids were not snug. I washed them both off and the remaining glue is usable. Maybe lost 20% from each bottle. I need the glue.

Well all you get online and the PHONE is return it.

Well poop.

I ordered home A/C filters and Amazon driver left box laying flat on ground instead of upright under the roof overhang.

Florida summer thunderstorm showed up and box got waterlogged.
Amazon sent free replacement and I had to trash the damaged filters.

No human customer service, I had to do an automated chat box type request.

 

[John105]

I ordered home A/C filters and Amazon driver left box laying flat on ground instead of upright under the roof overhang.

Florida summer thunderstorm showed up and box got waterlogged.

Amazon sent free replacement and I had to trash the damaged filters.

Good to know, because I am expecting 3 cartons of toilet paper, delivery shows both Monday and Tuesday. Tue especially has a chance of thunderstorms.

Also, I am thinking that for those who knock rockauto, look at my example, 3 cartons of amazon commercial toilet paper. 2 come from one DC, 1 comes from another DC. And this is amazon.com. It would be more efficient if all 3 came together. But in amazon's case, the additional shipping (it's $0) is not passed on to the consumer.

Edit: 2/3 cases of toilet paper are out for delivery today, not Monday, 2 days early. This means they won’t be at risk for rain.

The other is still showing Tuesday. Again, qty 3 was ordered at once.

 

[bunnspecial]

I realize I never followed up on this.

I did call and the refund was issued while I was on the phone.

Funny enough, the status still shows refund in process in my Amazon account...