Unpleasant experiences at amazon.com - share your stories!

[VirtualLarry]

I have two stories to share, one from me and one from a buddy. Both involve purchasing items from a third party through amazon.com's storefront.

I went looking for a replacement battery for my relatives Nokia 6010 phone. I found a few listings on amazon.com for compatible batteries, that were made by Nokia. (I only want original mfg batteries.)

So I find http://www.amazon.com/Nokia-Li-Ion-B.../dp/B00005A1OO , and I order it. Cheap enough, if it doesn't work, I'll just recycle it. Crossed my fingers that the picture was correct, and that I would, in fact, recieve a Nokia BLC-2 OEM battery.
After I order it, I find http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...Q4KQ0TADQAG279
Same thing, slightly different description, lower price by a few cents. Same seller.
Well, it just came in the mail today, and surprise surprise, it IS an OEM BLC-2 Nokia battery, but it appears to be used. No where in the description does it say it is used.
I'm a bit unhappy about that. I wanted a (new) replacement battery. What good does it do to purchase a used one to replace the used one already in the phone and failing.
I made the mistake of thinking that all used products had to be described as "used" somewhere on the product page. Naive me.

Second story. My buddy wanted to buy a Win7. I told him to just buy the retail upgrade, because you can legally upgrade from the RC, and he also owns a retail XP, but he refused and wanted to buy a full version. He was going to purchase an OEM copy, but then he found a full edition copy on Amazon.com for $138. List is $200. The picture on the listing was of the full retail box edition. So he ordered it, trusting amazon. Little did he know, it was from a third-party seller, and after a few e-mails, it has become clear that he is purchasing a key code, and a couple of burned ISOs from some guy. Guy claims that he purchased win7 HP full from MS online store as a download, but then never used it, because the Guys friend got a copy of Win7 Ultimate.
Sounds really sketchy to me. In fact, I knew about the student deal for Win7, that was a downloadable edition, but I didn't realize that you could purchase retail win7 as a download. At least I hope it's retail and not OEM. (Does anyone know if the student deal for Win7 was for retail or OEM edition?)

 

[JEDI]

all i see is amazon.com's storefront, and a wall of txt.

cliffs?

btw- based on 'storefront' comment, it's like blaming ebay for bad sellers

 

[oogabooga]

all i see is amazon.com's storefront, and a wall of txt.

cliffs?

btw- based on 'storefront' comment, it's like blaming ebay for bad sellers

Agreed. Amazon and Amazon sellers are different. Most amazon sellers seem okay from my experience, some aren't as good. You bought off a storefront seller, it's a risk you take for the lower price.

I have only had issue with Amazon (The actual amazon and not a storefront) once, and that was with how they packaged something. They sent me an order that had a bunch of things that included many text books, a new computer mouse, and a graphic novel. The graphic novel got placed oddly so it ended up under some of the heavier books and shipped that way. It wasn't torn but it was bent quite severely.

But this actually ended up being a positive experience. I emailed customer service and complained poor packaging led to my item being damaged. They offered me some choices: replacement or 10% off of my order. 10% off my order was more than the cost of the graphic novel so I accepted that, essentially getting it for free.

 

[oynaz]

I have on three occasions experienced my orders gone missing in transit - both from Amazon (the English and German branch, though) and their resellers. On all occasions, an email to customer services has led to a replacement being shipped to me without hassle.

 

[chusteczka]

In fact, I knew about the student deal for Win7, that was a downloadable edition, but I didn't realize that you could purchase retail win7 as a download. At least I hope it's retail and not OEM. (Does anyone know if the student deal for Win7 was for retail or OEM edition?)

The student version is typically retail to allow switching the installation from one system to another. Microsoft knows that students like to learn, experiment, and pirate. This is a method to curtail such pirating.

 

[shortylickens]

So far, none. But I havent bought a whole lot from them.
I did order Symphony of the Night once, and it took 2 months to get to me. But that wasnt Amazon it was one of their dinky little associate stores. I wrote up a bad review of them. They had a replacement copy in the mail the next day.
I took down my bad review.

EDIT:
Symphony of the Night doesnt work correctly in a slimline PS2. I dont feel like buying another playstation just to get it working.

 

[mugs]

Yeah both of those stories are about third party sellers. Did either of you file a complaint with Amazon to get your money back?

In hundreds of orders I've never had a bad experience with Amazon. I did have a third party seller who never sent the item, but Amazon refunded my money.

 

[nageov3t]

I've been shopping with amazon since back when they only sold books and have never had a negative experience (at least as far as things that amazon can control is concerned)

 

[moshquerade]

thread title is misleading. amazon. com itself has never given me any issues. they will go above and beyond what most retailers do to please you imho.

 

[nanette1985]

As an Amazon third-party seller, I know that Amazon protects their customers. What happened when you contacted customer service? Both of the situations you described can get a seller banned from selling on Amazon.

 

[her209]

The only "horror" story I have is when I purchased a book from a seller (i.e. not Amazon, LLC), they sent the book at media rate, i.e. slowest fucking mail possible. Took the book ~2 weeks to get from Florida to California. Had I known at the time (i.e., read the reviews of the seller), I would have ponied up the $0.02 more from the next highest seller.

 

[Imported]

Never had a problem with Amazon or the third parties..

 

[waffleironhead]

I have had people send instructors editions and international editions when I ordered the student US version. A-Z guarantee has been helpful in those instances. Steep refunds have been offered by the sellers rather than having me send them back their books to them.

 

[F1N3ST]

Wall of text is telling me not to read it. Bye.

 

[Cyco]

I've never had any problem with Amazon.com nor their sellers. As far as the sellers go, I only buy from those that have a good number of positive reviews. In doing that, I've been nothing but satisfied with them as well. If you're willing to gamble going with those that don't have the reviews in order to save a few bucks, you might get burned. Remember, if it seems like too good of a deal, it probably is. That's just common sense.

 

[Imp]

Marketplace problem. Ordered a $2 poster with $5 shipping from a seller. 4 weeks later, it still isn't here. Going to write a bitchin' letter at work on Tuesday to get my money back.

 

[novasatori]

I ordered a DMM from a third party seller and 2 weeks later its still not here cause they sent it media mail.

I don't really care that it isn't here, but I do feel ticked off that they used media mail to take advantage of lower rates for something that obviously doesn't qualify, and I paid for regular shipping.

I don't know if I can complain with amazon/usps, but I may try.

I've never had problems with Amazon though, only third party sellers, one didn't send a text book and i spent a month without a book in my college course until amazon gave me my money back.