Unusually poor customer service from Amazon.

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Paul1977

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#221432 10-Aug-2017 15:55

This is more of a rant than anything else.

I placed an order at Amazon for two books to be delivered via standard shipping which should come to $14.97 ($4.99 per shipment, plus $4.99 per item). However at checkout the shipping charge came to $46.33.

The value of the books is under the threshold for them adding import duty collection, so "estimated tax to be collected" was correctly listed as $0.

This has happened before and a quick email to customer service and they corrected the charge.... but not this time!

I emailed and they replied that it was too late in the order process for them to change the charge and that I should contact live support.

So I contacted live support and got someone who kept insisting that it was an import duty charge and that if it was not needed it would refunded in 60 days. No matter how many times I tried to explain to her that my order was below the threshold and that checkout had clearly shown the the tax collected was $0 she just wouldn't listen.

I've sent a follow up email, and in the chat feedback expressed in no uncertain terms how dissappointed I was with the outcome of the live chat.

I am really infuriated right now!

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#1843636 10-Aug-2017 15:59

You can email their CEO, and their office can usually sort out any problems very quickly.

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mdf

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#1843637 10-Aug-2017 16:02

For physical books I have given up on Amazon and now only buy from BookDepository (which is an Amazon company). Headline price is usually higher as it includes the shipping costs. Occasionally I compare prices but usually cannot be bothered as it isn't normally that different at the end of the day, and prefer the lack of this kind of random niggle.

Not that it helps at all with your present predicament.

Paul1977

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#1843638 10-Aug-2017 16:03

mattwnz:

You can email their CEO, and their office can usually sort out any problems very quickly.

I'll see what they come back with first, but wouldn't the CEO be a little too busy to look at my shipping charge?

Linux

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#1843640 10-Aug-2017 16:07

If you email CEO does not mean he / her is actually reading the email they have an EA that would read the email and pass it onto someone else to sort out

Linux

Paul1977

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#1843645 10-Aug-2017 16:13

mdf:

For physical books I have given up on Amazon and now only buy from BookDepository (which is an Amazon company). Headline price is usually higher as it includes the shipping costs. Occasionally I compare prices but usually cannot be bothered as it isn't normally that different at the end of the day, and prefer the lack of this kind of random niggle.

Not that it helps at all with your present predicament.

Thanks I'll have a look at that next time. Amazon have always been fantastic to deal with in the past, maybe I just go a moron this time. However it's concerning that it is miscalculating the shipping charge in the first place.

Paul1977

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#1843647 10-Aug-2017 16:14

Linux: If you email CEO does not mean he / her is actually reading the email they have an EA that would read the email and pass it onto someone else to sort out

Linux

I was (half) joking :)

timmmay

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#1843684 10-Aug-2017 17:27

I read the Jeff Bezos biography a little while ago. Amazon are incredibly customer focused. I bet the CEO email address / complaints line is manned by dozens of people with power to do whatever it takes to keep customers happy.

networkn

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#1843694 10-Aug-2017 17:45

I think your "anger" might be a bit of an overreaction honestly. They haven't charged your credit card accidentally 30K causing you to miss a mortgage payment and you and your family are being evicted :) it's simply of a case that they have set processes and for someone to go outside them will require authorization. I am sure once a supervisor takes a look at it they will get it sorted.

Have a little patience. People aren't perfect.

As my wife sometimes says.. Don't sweat the small stuff.

andrewNZ

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#1843726 10-Aug-2017 18:59

timmmay:
I read the Jeff Bezos biography a little while ago. Amazon are incredibly customer focused. I bet the CEO email address / complaints line is manned by dozens of people with power to do whatever it takes to keep customers happy.

Meetings for the AWS teams don't discuss improvements for profit. Instead they discuss on how they can make the platform better, more reliable, and cheaper for the customer.

Amazing and encouraging from such a large company.

mattwnz

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#1843728 10-Aug-2017 19:05

I really hope they give NZ and Australia a big shakeup when they setup shop in Oz. Potentially they could bid for the NZ rugby TV coverage for their video service, which would relaly shakeup the NZ pay tv market. They potentially could also compete against the big 4 very profitable Australian banks. It does seem these companies like apple are moving into banking, which can be incredibly profitable in this part of the world.

Paul1977

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#1843767 10-Aug-2017 20:34

networkn:
I think your "anger" might be a bit of an overreaction honestly. They haven't charged your credit card accidentally 30K causing you to miss a mortgage payment and you and your family are being evicted :) it's simply of a case that they have set processes and for someone to go outside them will require authorization. I am sure once a supervisor takes a look at it they will get it sorted.

Have a little patience. People aren't perfect.

As my wife sometimes says.. Don't sweat the small stuff.

I was already having a bad day, and this was just the icing on the cake. I probably did get more worked up than was justified and now feel a little bad about the negative feedback I left at the end of the chat session, even though what she was say was incorrect.

It wasn't about the money as much as just being so frustrated because this person just wasn't listening to what I was saying (or reading what I was typing).

I have since received a reply from someone else to my follow up email acknowledging the overcharge and saying they will arrange a refund.

Every other dealing I've had with Amazon support has been great, so that probably made this experience seem even worse by comparison.

surfisup1000

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#1844855 10-Aug-2017 23:46

mattwnz:

Potentially they could bid for the NZ rugby TV coverage for their video service, which would relaly shakeup the NZ pay tv market.

not likely (yet) IMHO as satellite still has better coverage.

afe66

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#1844964 11-Aug-2017 09:27

I have some missgiving about amazon coming here.

Great for customers.

Rubbish for small owners who employ a lot of people.

Catastrophic for tax take.

All those small companies cant route their profits through tax shelters

richms

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#1844975 11-Aug-2017 09:33

Small businesses are terrible IME. Family owned means staffed by related bufoons with no idea how to manage, delegate or offer service. Noone wants to complain because they always take it personally and will do their best to shaft the person over next time they need whatever service the place offers.

Take mitre10 vs bunnings as an example. M10 is all owned by someone who is involved in the managment, they all have daft policies they make up in store. Totally inconsistant. Whereas bunnings are all the same, all smooth dealings without someone who acts as if you returning something is you directly screwing them out of money for their holiday.

Richard rich.ms

cshwone

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#1845026 11-Aug-2017 10:37

I bought a Karcher Window Vac from out local Mitre 10 and it had to be referred up to the Store Manager for a price match I was showing on a web page on my mobile.

The price match was with the Mitre 10 web site - I kid you not.

PS The karcher is brilliant little tool.

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