John Ziebron
06-11-2023, 12:23 PM
I recently had a long, drawn out experience with getting a refund from Amazon and was wondering if others had an experience like this. I will try to keep this saga as brief as possible. Not that it should matter but I will preface this story by saying that I probably buy more than the average Amazon customer, am a Prime member and my purchases for the past 5 years they have been with an Amazon credit card. Also, in all the years of Amazon purchases I can count on one hand the number of times I had returned items.
Back in mid May I placed an order for a kitchen utensil. Total cost with tax was $26.45. A couple of days later I received a package in the mail but it contained a brass walking cane topper. Within the next 2 hours I applied, and was granted, a return/refund from Amazon and this incorrect item was taken to my local UPS Store for return shipment. The receipt I got contained a tracking reference number that is not like the usual ones we are used to. Later I discovered that it references a bulk shipment. Bottom line here is that I cannot track this number to ensure this incorrect item actually gets delivered.
As most of you are aware, when you go through this process the moment the return carrier scans it Amazon issues the refund which is then indicated as such on their website. And that was what happened in this case. Four days later I decided to check the CC website but the credit was not there. I then called Amazon Customer Service and, after some checking, was told that my credit should appear in a couple of days, which it did not. Four more days later the next person I talked to told me that the incorrect item was just received and that my refund would not be issued until this item was placed back in stock and that would take 3-4 days.
In the course of 3 weeks I had talked to 4 CS reps at Amazon, the last 2 supposedly being supervisors. I was told by 2 of them that the item was received and all four supposedly did something to assure me that my refund was taken care of. But it still never appeared on the CC website. In between these phone calls I received 5 automated emails indicating that a refund could not be issued because Amazon claimed that I told the USPS that this package was lost and not delivered, which was not true. Interestingly though, the emails also state that they have confirmed that I received the package but, of course, there is never a mention of my returning the item. I did convey all this information to the people I spoke with. I even replied back to 2 of these emails (one of them actually requested I supply information) with all the details including pictures of the package label showing the USPS tracking number and the UPS Store receipt.
None of this seemed to matter as the last email I received at this point said that unless I provide further feedback Amazon considers this matter closed and no refund would be issued. As a last resort, I called the CC company to dispute this charge. The young lady was very understanding and took down all the information. She also posted the credit, which appeared the next day, and said the ball is in Amazon's court to prove I don't deserve a refund. 4 days later I received an email from Amazon (this one from an apparent different source than the others) saying they have been made aware of my dispute and asked if I could explain my reasons for it. I replied back with the simplest explanation I could. 7 minutes later a reply came back saying they would notify the CC company to close the dispute in my favor.
I understand that with the millions of shipments from and to Amazon every day there will be problems. But in my mind this was just a cut and dry case of them shipping the wrong item and if I weren't diligent in checking the CC status I never would have gotten my refund. Clearly, Amazon's internal systems don't always play well together. The real monkey wrench here seemed to be that Amazon incorrectly indicated that I claimed I never received the package. But I don't understand why 4 humans couldn't override that mistake and understand that they received back the wrong item. I can't help but think that AI is somehow involved in this. I sincerely hope that none of you will have to go through an experience like this that took over 7 hours out of my life.
On a bright ending note, I did reorder the item 3 days after sending the wrong one back and did receive the kitchen utensil that I wanted.:o
Back in mid May I placed an order for a kitchen utensil. Total cost with tax was $26.45. A couple of days later I received a package in the mail but it contained a brass walking cane topper. Within the next 2 hours I applied, and was granted, a return/refund from Amazon and this incorrect item was taken to my local UPS Store for return shipment. The receipt I got contained a tracking reference number that is not like the usual ones we are used to. Later I discovered that it references a bulk shipment. Bottom line here is that I cannot track this number to ensure this incorrect item actually gets delivered.
As most of you are aware, when you go through this process the moment the return carrier scans it Amazon issues the refund which is then indicated as such on their website. And that was what happened in this case. Four days later I decided to check the CC website but the credit was not there. I then called Amazon Customer Service and, after some checking, was told that my credit should appear in a couple of days, which it did not. Four more days later the next person I talked to told me that the incorrect item was just received and that my refund would not be issued until this item was placed back in stock and that would take 3-4 days.
In the course of 3 weeks I had talked to 4 CS reps at Amazon, the last 2 supposedly being supervisors. I was told by 2 of them that the item was received and all four supposedly did something to assure me that my refund was taken care of. But it still never appeared on the CC website. In between these phone calls I received 5 automated emails indicating that a refund could not be issued because Amazon claimed that I told the USPS that this package was lost and not delivered, which was not true. Interestingly though, the emails also state that they have confirmed that I received the package but, of course, there is never a mention of my returning the item. I did convey all this information to the people I spoke with. I even replied back to 2 of these emails (one of them actually requested I supply information) with all the details including pictures of the package label showing the USPS tracking number and the UPS Store receipt.
None of this seemed to matter as the last email I received at this point said that unless I provide further feedback Amazon considers this matter closed and no refund would be issued. As a last resort, I called the CC company to dispute this charge. The young lady was very understanding and took down all the information. She also posted the credit, which appeared the next day, and said the ball is in Amazon's court to prove I don't deserve a refund. 4 days later I received an email from Amazon (this one from an apparent different source than the others) saying they have been made aware of my dispute and asked if I could explain my reasons for it. I replied back with the simplest explanation I could. 7 minutes later a reply came back saying they would notify the CC company to close the dispute in my favor.
I understand that with the millions of shipments from and to Amazon every day there will be problems. But in my mind this was just a cut and dry case of them shipping the wrong item and if I weren't diligent in checking the CC status I never would have gotten my refund. Clearly, Amazon's internal systems don't always play well together. The real monkey wrench here seemed to be that Amazon incorrectly indicated that I claimed I never received the package. But I don't understand why 4 humans couldn't override that mistake and understand that they received back the wrong item. I can't help but think that AI is somehow involved in this. I sincerely hope that none of you will have to go through an experience like this that took over 7 hours out of my life.
On a bright ending note, I did reorder the item 3 days after sending the wrong one back and did receive the kitchen utensil that I wanted.:o