zyzzle

^ I'm sure your reply wasn't even read by a real person, just some damn AI algorithm. So, it's useless to try to state your case with that wall in front of you. Hence why you simply got a "rewording" jarble of platitudes as your reply. Don't worry about it, and hold Amazon in righteous indignation as you place any future orders. Order only essentials. All they care about is getting your money. They're fucking devils.

joe_b

It's true, there's no human touch or understanding. That's been my experience with them for the last decade. I did come to the realization that I was probably trying to reason with an automated response program.

It's scary to know they've put so many small town shops out of business (if Wal-Mart hadn't already) and then some office drone can permanently shut you out as a customer if their data flags you as no longer profitable. All because you were unlucky enough to receive a few damaged or defective items each year and opted to send them back in clear compliance with Amazon's return policy. I could imagine being an elderly or disabled person living out in the sticks on a fixed income. You depend on this company for affordable essentials delivered to your door and one day find yourself cut off from your biggest supply source.

As it stands, I can never again risk buying an item on Amazon that might have even the slightest chance of requiring a return. Any peace of mind I had about shopping on the site is gone after receiving that e-mail. It's framed as a "What can we do to improve?" message, but it's basically a thinly veiled "You've been warned" - and also the last step before they ban a customer outright, apparently. A quick web search indicated this is Amazon's usual operating procedure.

The reply from the Account Specialist explicitly stated restocking fees and partial refunds on any future returns were "as a result" of my recent activity. Implying I've been singled out for punishment for not accepting damaged or defective merchandise. That's what frustrates me most. Am I in danger of being perma-banned if I dare protest? Is this flag on my account ever lifted? I'm sure they wouldn't tell me, so there's no way to know. Who wants that kind of uncertainty and paranoia hanging over your head while browsing for bed linens?

Their refund policy states they may only refund "up to 50% of the item's price" if it's not returned in original condition for "reasons not due to an Amazon.com or seller error". So apparently if the item ends up being faulty or gets broken in transit (and if they choose to deny their inadequate packaging was at fault), they can keep more than half of your money once the return is processed? Regardless of what you selected as the reason for the return? That's completely unacceptable, even if it's something they only enforce on accounts flagged as problematic that they don't end up closing outright.

Not to go off the rails, but I've read stories of customers being banned on Amazon for choosing to dispute a transaction after reaching a dead end with customer service. Not banned for a year, not five years, but for life. Any appeals are ignored and any new account you might open is closed by their bots within a few hours. So even contacting your bank or credit card for help in that situation could negatively impact your life if you're someone who relies on Amazon for necessary supplies. That's a dangerous and morally dubious policy for a mega-corporation who classify themselves as providing an essential service to the public during these stressful times - a service that a good chunk of the planet (thanks to Amazon's ruthless undercutting of any competition) is now finding increasingly more difficult to live without. Without government intervention, I fear there could come a day when an Amazon account is required to buy groceries, fill up your gas tank or get your prescriptions filled in America. Can you imagine being shut out of commerce all together because the Bezos empire blacklisted you for returning some damaged shipments twenty years prior? I don't want to live in that creepy Twilight Zone world.

JeffTheAlpaca

I ordered a bunch of Blu-rays and CDs today Tues March 24 and none of them have any preorders and the estimate shipping date is May 1-2

I assume they don't have priority with people buying essential items with the Corona-virus pandemic and those items getting priority?

Why So Blu?

^ Correct. Folks wanting physical media items will have to wait a month or two. They are not essential items. Even on a select few items - there may be a longer than usual wait time.

b2net

Not a complaint by any means yet wanted to mention the No Rush Shipping Credit is also suspended as they adjust to priority items. I mentioned this as an awareness not to complain.

b2net

Well it turns out that some items do still have No Rush Shipping as an option and also have increased the amount to $3.

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rduncan

For those who have complained about or received the famous/infamous lack of packing in an Amazon shipment, my latest Staples external hard drive arrived in a similar package. Luckily being lightweight, yet not a SSD, it arrived fine. Largish box with one air pillow (better than some Amazon packing I know) floating in the box.

andicus

In Canada we get a much shittier option. Either wait a month for shipping, or pay $4 to get it shipped at a normal time. The benefits of Prime...

stvn1974

I have started receiving emails for preorders for May and June stating that amazon will no longer be honoring the release date delivery shown when I placed the order. I get why so not so much of a complaint as letting others know.

PerryD

I ordered the $50 Neo Geo Mini and was given a date a month out, but I got it in a week, but I suppose they are just conditioning us not to expect anything in two days and feel grateful to get a prime shipment in a week.

Noonan

I ordered a PS4 game that was marked down yesterday afternoon and it just showed up. The order page said it wouldn't arrive until Sat, IIRC

TomOpus

Got the email today. No biggie since I was expecting this to happen.

fujishig

I'm pretty sure if it's already in a warehouse near you, it's going to go out fine, but getting the items to the warehouse is where the prioritization takes place, hence the issues with new/preordered stuff.

JeffTheAlpaca

3 of the 10 items I ordered are now being shipped.

I guess the new Weeknd album is an essential item.

JTH182

Why did the "saved for later" section in the cart change? Now I have to click on another link to get them to show up. Annoying since I keep items in there to watch their prices.

ytrez

I have a safety razor on order since 2/14. It's been listed as "In Stock" for at least a few weeks now. Shipping has been pushed back to 3/15, 3/27, and now 5/2. I tried to contact customer service via their obviously AI chat function and got nowhere, I tried to get to an agent and got "none are available", tried by phone and got the same thing. I get this is a crisis, I just want to know if it's really in stock so maybe it'll ship sooner than 5/2 or if it's not and I should go elsewhere. Hell my son has ordered Manga that's shipping much faster.

BobO'Link

That happened a week or two back. It's pretty annoying, but I've not liked the infinite scrolling/opening "saved for later" at all. I much preferred the time when it was links at the bottom of the page so you could jump to the end, middle, or elsewhere easily if desired. I'd guess they got complaints about not being able to see the junk at the bottom of the cart page unless you scrolled through all your "saved for later" stuff. I don't use or look at any of that sales/promotion junk anyway so it never bothered me.

Sometimes stuff like that is an experiment that you can revert by clearing *all* your Amazon cookies. The trick to that is:

Close *all* Amazon tabs (must do this first)
Go into your "privacy" settings and clear *all* Amazon cookies (this changes several things on Amazon so be aware of that - it puts the "remember what you've browsed" setting back to "on" and will log you out)
Close your browser completely.
Start the browser, go back to Amazon, log back in, set that "remember what you've browsed" back to "off" if it annoys you (it does me), and check your cart. If the link to "see all" is still there then it's likely a permanent change.

It's not yet annoyed me enough to do that process (although one of my computers has a "feature" in the wish lists that removes lots of price info - % drop since added, other prices, etc. - that one's horrible).

andicus

I'll admit, the hidden 'saved for later' items does annoy me, but as it informs you of any price changes when you go to your cart, anyway, it's not a big deal.

The other thing that annoys me is that I wish you could set a threshold for changed prices. I couldn't care less that something is 2 cents cheaper or more expensive. A dollar would be a useful threshold.

dvd-4-life

I received a 70 dollar Marvel Omnibus book from Amazon today and there is a crease on every page in the upper right corner.

Returns are probably a pain in the butt since I don't drive and can't leave the house anyways so what other options do i have except keep the book?

I could call and complain about it .

slybone

Start the return process on their website, within a few clicks it will tell you what your options are, there may be a free option where USPS or UPS will pick it up from your house without you having to go anywhere. If there are no acceptable options that way then call or chat with customer service. Given the current world situation I would think that they’ll be working closely with folks to make returns with no health risk. Who knows, they have been known to give refunds without the product needing to be returned.

DJariya

Has anyone noticed that a lot of physical media are going out of stock? I've checked out my wish list and quite a few items on it are out of stock and have not be re-stocked in weeks. I guess as previous stories have reported that they are closing off their Warehouse to non-essential items.

slybone

Yes, I’ve also noticed this and it does go along with what they have been saying. They just aren’t focusing on stocking that stuff now. Hopefully in the coming weeks and months that will change as the world starts to get more of a handle on this thing.

andicus

I haven't noticed that, but I have noticed that most items sold by Amazon in my cart have gone up in price.

fujishig

Is it out of stock or just won't ship out for a month or so because it's not at a local warehouse and they're prioritizing the essential stuff?

slybone

^All of the above are happening.