Am I the only one having issues when returning things to Amazon? I don't do it often but the few times that I have really haven't been pleasant at all.

Earlier in the year I ordered an item I ended up returning for a refund. Sent it back, forgot about it for about a week or so when I realized I still hadn't been refunded. I e-mailed CS and was told the item had indeed arrived back to them (tracking later showed me it had arrived 3-4 DAYS before I emailed them) but there was an "issue processing the refund back to the card", and I was immediately given my refund. I was infuriated. What's the deal? What would have happened if I hadn't reached out to them?

Last week I ordered a multi-disc box set. It arrived and the artwork and box were damaged, so I received a return slip. They sent me a replacement and that too was damaged. I ended up getting a return slip for that and sent the two packages back to them. I opted for the refund in the form of credit to my Amazon account because of the fiasco last time. Oddly enough, when I went back into my account, I didn't even have the option to track the packages I sent out. After last time I wanted to stay on top of its progress in case there was another "issue". I e-mailed customer service and was told that they saw the packages had been sent and that I should be able to track them soon. That never happened. A few days ago I get an e-mail saying that my return (the first package) had been received and that everything was complete since my replacement was already sent. That was fine, but what about my second package - the 'replacement' set I was supposed to get the refund for? Yesterday I e-mailed them expressing further confusion (and a bit of frustration) and I was told that they received that package on the 24th - TWO DAYS AGO. They could offer no explanation why I wasn't refunded or notified of that second package's arrival, but they immediately issued the credit to my Amazon account.

What is the deal? Stuff like this shouldn't be constantly happening. It's so unprofessional, and Amazon are making themselves out to look like a bunch of crooks.

I know. They're getting to be a real pain in the ass. I've emailed the idiots 3 times today because they can't seem to understand that I want to know why my order that was supposed to arrive today is still sitting in the motherfucking warehouse.

1. It was a martketplace seller fulfilled by Amazon. They're not waiting on a "supplier," processing or whatever.

2. The item page stated IN STOCK the day I ordered it.

3. "Dispatch?" did my email go to the fucking European offices?????

Fucking cocksuckers! Now I get an automated email from Amazon that says "We're encountering a delay in shipping your order." It was a simple marketplace fulfilled item that had no indication of delays on the listing. They either have the fucking thing or they don't. They've wasted 3 goddamn days of my time, and now it's the weekend. As a Prime member, this is un-fucking-acceptable.

I've set forth the facts, so believe what you want. Some people believe the world is flat.

Amazon's site and my Amazon account shows what they show. Amazon still has the books I ordered in stock, it has not shipped them yet, and my gift card balance is down to the exact amount that can only be explained by Amazon charging my balance for the books it hasn't shipped yet.

At this stage, I believe it's highly unlikely Amazon is going to deliver those books.

I'm normally an Amazon cheerleader, I have Fire TV, an Echo and several Kindles but damn have they gotten shitty lately. Every single one of my last several orders have been late. My latest order takes the fucking cake. Something I absolutely had to have by yesterday so I paid an extra $3.99 for next day shipping AND I didn't want any excuses about not being able to deliver so I chose an Amazon locker a few blocks from my house.

At 730 pm it was updated to couldn't deliver, business closed due to a holiday. Excuse me?? It's a fucking 7-11 and even if there was a holiday they never close and even if they did it's in the parking lot not the store!!

They're going to lose me if this keeps up and I've been paying for Prime for ten years.

This is a first... I had gotten a notice that my package was delivered, went home, no package!

I was about to complain to them, then I saw a box in my back yard leaning on my sliding glass door - the amazon delivery guy (it was amazon's own delivery service and not UPS or Fed.Ex.) went into my back yard and put the package there. Not that I have a problem with that, but they've have NEVER done that before. I'm sure it's so someone doesn't steal it from my porch - but that has never been an issue, nor is it an issue in my neighborhood. Further, I'm just glad the package wasn't records, because the back of my house is under direct sunlight for the entire day - a record being there would've been badly damaged.

Just a followup on my little Amazon saga.

Got my movies and got my books... arrived on the same day by mail.

Not sure how that worked out as the movies shipped at least a week before the books, and I didn't get a notice the books had shipped until 3 days before they arrived.

Thankful I got my books... but it doesn't change my opinion that the Amazon fulfillment process is whacked.

More fuckery. I ordered a BD early Saturday. The confirmation email claims it's arriving Monday, which isn't possible since it hasn't shipped yet and parcel services refuse to join the rest of us in the 21st fucking century and operate 7 days a week. I have a feeling I'll be bitching about this one too, just on principle.

Today is Sunday and my order of cat food shows that it should be delivered today. We will see.

So now Amazon is trying to sell Prime members a fucking Prime Pantry membership on top of Prime itself, and there's STILL a minimum for free shipping from the pantry. WHAT THE FUCK!?

This has to be a new one.

I ordered a CD (yes I still buy CDs) brand new. $10.99, sold by Amazon. It arrived today, and when I didn't see the white security seal on top I thought maybe I got a pressing from Europe or elsewhere, but it was made here in the US. Upon opening the jewel case I noticed how flimsy it felt compared to standard jewel cases - a dead giveaway that it was in a replacement case. I was annoyed but I could get past it.

Then I opened the case. I was clearly sent a used CD! Looking at the disc I could see tiny scratches, I could also see very faint (but present) swirls around the entire disc, an indication that it had been run through a resurfacing machine. How does this happen? How does Amazon themselves sell me a clearly used disc as new? I'm pissed. I could have easily gone to another site and bought it used for $3.

I was going to say "report all of this to them and return it at their expense" but then I was reminded of your previous post about problems with returns. In light of this I would call them and get seriously sideways with them, mention this problem AND your past problems. You'll probably get the CD for free as a result.

Did you buy it from a Marketplace Seller fulfilled by Amazon? Amazon does not sell used merchandise directly.

There's more to this.

That's weird. I've never had any problems with returns. I always get the refund as soon as UPS scans the package as being in their possession.

I still think you should go through the returns process with your used CD thing.

This is what baffles me. It did not come from an Amazon-fulfilled Marketplace seller. When I opened it I double checked my order info to make sure I didn't accidentally go with a Marketplace Seller FBA. I've had too many issues in the past with Marketplace Sellers selling re-shrink wrapped discs trying to pass them off as brand new, so I save myself the headache and seek out items shipped from and sold directly from Amazon, even if they aren't the cheapest option (which was exactly what happened here).

The more I think about it, I'm almost wondering if this particular copy was returned to Amazon by someone and somehow got overlooked since it was technically shrink wrapped.

I usually get the refunds immediately as well, it was especially weird since I asked for a credit on my Amazon account rather than a refund to my card since there were other things I wanted to buy. It sucks that in both instances I had to be the one to reach out and ask about the refunds in order to get them applied, but at least they sorted them out quickly. It also sucks that in the last case I wasn't able to track the return package. At least now I know that even though I shouldn't have to, I need to stay on top of tracking if I have to do a return again.

As far as the CD goes, I initially had requested a return and refund, but I canceled that and had them ship me a replacement copy of the album. We'll see on Wednesday if the replacement I get is truly brand new. If it's not, they'll be getting a nice e-mail from me.

Just an update! I got my replacement copy today and this one was even worse. I opened it to check it out and of course, the disc was used. This one, however, didn't look like it had been cleaned. The booklet had clearly been handled before and the back insert has minor wrinkling, possibly water damage? There are also spots on the back insert under the disc tray that could possibly be mold? I'm pissed. I sent them a nice little e-mail. Let's see what they have to say.

**EDIT** They responded almost instantly. I was told that they'd look into it, that they don't want me to send the replacement back and that they'd give me a credit on my Amazon account. Since they apparently don't spend more than 30 seconds reading their e-mails, they didn't specify whether or not I need to send the first copy back, but I have the return label for that already so I'm going to just send that one back to avoid a screw-up that results in me being charged for not sending that first one back.

Same. I ordered two XB1X's by mistake. I had a refund email from Amazon before I got home from dropping it off at the UPS store.

Apparently, Amazon broke their fucking checkout again. I've checked the box to remember my shit and skip to the last step 3 or 4 times this week, and it still makes me select payment and shipping info every fucking time.

The locker was probably full. Though they're supposed to know that before attempting delivery.

If you're in Dallas, you have one of the biggest Fulfillment centers nationwide. I'm in Phoenix and am lucky like that too. We have several hundred thousand square feet of Amazon warehousing. So most stuff ships from Phoenix and gets delivered next-day even when I select standard prime.

For non-locker deliveries, it's probably a problem with the delivery company they're contracting for Dallas. Or the management in control of it. Those courier companies (it's called Amazon Flex and Delivery by Amazon) are hit and miss. Some will try to find a solution, and some just move on to the next delivery. FedEx and UPS can be the same day.

On the subject of DVD's ... Amazon recently made it very hard for people to sell used DVD's and CD's. There's a whole approval process now. They also raised their fulfillment fees for sellers using FBA. It probably became too expensive and low customer satisfaction with all of the claims and problems. Lots of old DVD's are in Amazon's system already. But you can expect the used availability to dwindle. And, because of the approval process, counterfeits, resealed DVD's, etc. will dwindle also.

This can happen in a few ways...

1. If a Fulfilled By Amazon listing says "additional processing time", it means it's probably moving from one fulfillment center to another. Amazon has a complex system that determines which items to shift around. For example, if your product is selling all the time in NY, and it's overstocked in CA, they'll ship it CA to NY so it's on the shelf.

2. If the product was lost on the shelf, Amazon is pretty good at locating it. Their fail rate is incredibly low. But it's not easy. They have a whole process to locating a product. If the seller chooses to not "comingle" their inventory with other sellers, then only that seller's exact product can ship. If they do "comingle" their inventory, another seller's product (with the same SKU) can ship in place of the lost product.

Amazon's CS is really hit and miss on being able to communicate these things to customers.

I noticed that too. I never sold any DVDs on Amazon (I didn't want to pay $40 a month), but I had several CDs up for sale on the Marketplace and I kept getting e-mails about how all sellers had up until a certain date to prove where they're getting their inventory or some BS (invoices, etc.) and that those who don't do this will have their items removed from the Marketplace. Seeing as I was simply selling off my personal collection there wasn't much I could do, so I ignored it and my items were removed from the Marketplace. I understand that Amazon has to cover their assess and weed out the bootleggers, but just because there are a handful of people that do that doesn't mean that everyone should be punished. Sucks that Amazon did that, but they don't seem to care that people will take their business elsewhere.

On that note, I've noticed the increase in fees comes with the increase in product price. Used prices for CDs and DVDs have skyrocketed on Amazon. It's like they don't want people doing business through them.

Amazon has really been making it hard for me to want to do business with them this past year.

The fees are still about the same (somewhere around 15% ... I forget, I'm not in the media business). When using Amazon's warehousing, the fulfillment fee for books, movies, and music used to be incredibly low (somewhere around $2 to pack and ship your order). So a seller could post their item for $5 and still profit. Or even down to $4. But now it's around $5 just to pack and ship. So everyone had to raise their prices.

Just a FWIW post... it appears Amazon UK may be as wonky as the U.S. Got two orders, both just movies with no pre-orders, placed 5 days apart.

Guess which one is on it's way, while the other is still waiting?

Just an update. Turns out both orders are now shipping.

But neither has left Great Britain.

Has anyone else that actually uses a PC (not the bullshit phone app) had issues with the site not keeping you logged in when you check the damn box to remember you? Every time I got to do anything now it makes me login again, AND it doesn't remember my shipping and billing preferences anymore to skip to the last part of checkout. They apparently broke their own fucking cookies or added extra security for the holidays, and it's pissing me off. Those checkboxes should fucking work. I've used them for years. The checkout thing was fucked for a good 6 months another time. Then you email them and the idiots try to say it's a browser cache issue. Believe me, it's not. It's on their fucking end.