this post was submitted on 08 May 2024
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[–] [email protected] 64 points 6 months ago (2 children)

its 'growth at all costs'. profit first and only, quarter over quarter. 'breaking even' is failure in the batshit insane world of big business and the stock market. even if everyone gets paid for a job well done and the client is perfectly happy, someone needs to get extra paid . cut corners. cut services. at some point youre too big for it to matter. what are people going to do? go somewhere else? hahahahwalmarthahaha

[–] [email protected] 58 points 6 months ago

Hell, it's not even "breaking even" - making the same amount of money as last year is considered a failure, even if that number is astronomical.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 months ago (1 children)

what are people going to do? go somewhere else?

Amazon fucked up on this part of the enshitification strategy because there are still plenty of other options

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago

I've used Target for groceries and they're routinely cheaper for most things.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 6 months ago (2 children)

I ordered four 2 TB SSDs from them and got two 2 TB and two 1 TB, but all four had an Amazon barcode saying they were 2 TB. I didn't immediately install, was waiting for other parts, then once I realized they defrauded me, Amazon said it was more than 30 days and they couldn't be returned. Trying to get an agent that could help was damn near impossible, and then I had to pay a restocking fee for a mistake that wasn't mine. I am still shocked they didn't detect their mistake mislabeling a bunch of SSDs. I'm not going to shop with a company that connects me to a robot, especially the least sophisticated AI robot on the planet. I thought Amazon was a technology leader?

[–] [email protected] 20 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Assuming you're in the US, I 100% would've done a credit card chargeback. Bank would've taken your side on that one.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 6 months ago

I'm sure they'll deactivate your account over that, though, maybe blacklist you. Sucks if you need them for something and cannot risk the chargeback.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

In the UK if the goods were over £100 and you paid via credit card, you could raise a Section 75 claim with the card issuer under the Consumer Credit Act.

I used to work for a large train operating company and the sheer number of people contacting us for historic departure info to support a Section 75 claim because the news came out that someone got a 50% refund on their season ticket was astronomical.

Alternatively... Small Claims Court. Amazon will drag you through the coals if you go the chargeback route.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago

The chat is almost immediate for me. I would tell them over the chat.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 6 months ago (5 children)

Consumer rights in the EU are pretty strong. They include two-week free returns, no questions asked, on things purchased online/remote.

These rights do not extend to businesses, though. Sounds like Amazon is not interested in being helpful unless legislation is twisting their arm.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago

Amazon.com has 30 day free returns and no need to chat with anyone. We can just drop it off at a location with no packaging or printed label. Not sure if it’s different for .de or for businesses. I wouldn’t think it’s different for US business accounts in the US.

The article is long and confusing. Why are you creating a US based account from Germany. No company will allow that due to tax purposes, especially for businesses.

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 6 months ago (4 children)

I don't have a business account with them but have had a Prime subscription since Prime became a thing and have to say that something has changed in regards to the support as of late and not for the better.

Last week, we had 6 orders scheduled to arrive to our house and we got notifications for all that they had been delivered to the office and handed to reception, which we don't have, just a porch and a door. My wife contacted support to tell them and they said they would refund all of the orders without even looking to see where they got delivered to. The support person gave a few different totals, none of which were correct and we ended up having to go through our orders to add up the refund total since he couldn't do it correctly. After all of that a refund was issued..... and then the packages were delivered about 30 minutes later.

We have been trying for days now to let them know that the packages were delivered so we could be billed correctly but so far, every person we've talked to has said they're allowed to refund but not allowed to charge us and that it had to be passed to someone above them.

I don't have a lot of faith that they'll figure it out and worry that some day, they'll just cancel our account because they detected some type of fraud.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 6 months ago (1 children)

In some cases, it's easier to eat up the cost instead of dealing with one problematic order and having a potential future customer switch to a different site permanently. You can be sure that they won't ask if they said they can't charge you.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 6 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 months ago

Yeah, Aliexpress. All the same stuff as Amazon but at a discount you get for being patient.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

They likely can’t even charge you at this point so I’d give up. They’ll do something like ask you to return them, at most. And what will likely happen is they will say “just keep them.”

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

If you really want to pay them money, order it again and return the old items. There is an option to not request money.

Companies are not allowed to charge for items they already shipped correctly or incorrectly. Even if they could, I can’t imagine it being easy for anyone to just bill you money and mark the order as completed without shipping anything.

From the FTC website - “By law, companies can’t send unordered merchandise to you, then demand payment. That means you never have to pay for things you get but didn’t order. You also don’t need to return unordered merchandise. You’re legally entitled to keep it as a free gift.”

Since they issued the refund, you got unordered items. It’s a business write off as a loss to the seller or Amazon.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Amazon lost its way when in started acting as a storefront for others, rather than a bookstore. In other words, a good twenty years ago.

Tech gear in particular is one of the things that's extremely risky to order from there (along with food, meds, and anything for babies/small children), as there are a lot of fraudulent or damaged goods mixed into their supply. Go to a specialist supplier instead. Newegg isn't great, but at least they don't appear to mix inventory from different sellers the way Amazon does.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago

Or, if possible, order directly from the manufacturer.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 6 months ago (1 children)

This is long and I got bored but skimming it, it sounds like he was being stubborn about returning the items because he felt aggrieved. I can't really feel much sympathy for his situation.

Amazon has definitely declined but this isn't the shinning example I was hoping it to be.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 months ago

A lot of these small blogs are like that. Just authors being Karens while trying to sound like they're the victim.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

In a way, I'm glad people are slowing starting to come around and pay attention to this. For years, any time I would publicly complain about Amazon customer service online, it was very common for people to be completely dismissive or even blame me. I'd hear statements like "sure Amazon sucks, but they have great customer service" and I'd think to myself, just wait until it's your time to find out that the customer service isn't what you think it is.

Long story short, the item came with a broken part. Should have been quick and easy to rectify (send a replacement part, send a replacement unit, or refund the purchase). The seller was completely unhelpful. Amazon customer service would not intervene and insisted that I continue fruitlessly corresponding with the vendor, even though they had an "A-to-Z" money back guarantee if something goes wrong. It literally took months of back and forth between me, the vendor, and Amazon customer service before things were finally refunded in full.

So, basically I gave them another chance and they showed that things hadn't improved a bit.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

I was transferred between 16 different reps on an amazon chat trying to return a busted chair. I refused to log off, was polite, and started asking what the record for transfers was and of wed best it. I refused to explain the pr9boem again after the third transfer.

I wanted to return the chair and get the same model but not broken. I refused to take it to the post office.

They ended up refunding me the money and I kept the chair. Which kind of works. You can sit in it. Just can't lock it when you Kean back.

Same thing happened with a vacuum that worked but kind of shot.out dust when you first turned it on.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 months ago (3 children)

Easy solution; don't use Amazon.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago

Not that easy seriously. I boycott them most of the time, but there has been a product that I didn't have a choice to order through them in the last year. I don't mind paying a bit more elsewhere if it means they don't get any of my money, but they've literally destroyed some of their competition to the point where no alternative exists for certain products.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 months ago

Many corporations simply see customer support as a department that generates 0 revenue and costs them money.

They try to bring those costs down by off-shoring support, using AI, simply not having support, etc. These companies trade the good will of customers, the livelihoods of their employees, and the larger economy all for their short term greed. Line must go up this quarter.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 months ago (3 children)

“Has become”?

oh, sweet, summer child…

[–] [email protected] 13 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Nah, this is a stupid internet shit-take.

Amazon support was actually great when they first started, and has just slowly slid downhill ever since. They had to start strong, because nobody really trusted online shopping yet. People forget that before Amazon was a handful of sketchy one-off websites and mail-in orders.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I feel like such a Karen but in order to get help from Amazon, you just have to ask for a supervisor. They have the power that the old customer service reps used to have

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

The reason Karens do it is it typically gets them what they want, after all.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Well yes, because they used to be great, now they aren't.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago (1 children)

They haven’t been great in well over a decade

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

Depends where you're from. Present Perfect is fine in this context.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

I've had a lot of shitty experiences with their customer service lately. They were at least somewhat decent a few years back.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago

I've had Amazon delay refunding items I have returned for months for no reason. I have had to show them the tracking number shows delivered before customer service will issue the refund.

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