I've been using Amazon for years now and I've finally run into a huge problem.
I bought a used laptop in April. It was originally bought(by the seller) in 2007. The seller advertised it as "Like New - Working Condition". Immediately after I got it it was giving me problems. Two weeks after I received it the hard drive completely broke down.
I emailed the seller and got no response so I finally filed an A-Z claim with Amazon, but it got denied. I filed another and that one got denied. I called them four times. The first representative said they would email the seller to help me out. The seller emailed me back and said, "Giving you a refund on this computer would be like giving you a refund on running shoes that you ran in 100 times". The second representative told me they'd send me a prepaid shipping label so I could send the item back. They ended up just emailing the seller and of course the seller told me he wasn't giving me a refund. The third representative told me to go check with the manufacturer and see if they can do something for me because Amazon can't. I hung up... The fourth representative told me the same thing but I was so livid at this point that I just snapped at him telling him that the seller posted the laptop for sale and said it was in "Like New - Working Condition". The representative kept telling me to go through the manufacturer because I got the laptop in May and the warranty should still be good. I told him that the laptop was from 2007 and that the seller registered the laptop in 2007 so the warranty expired in 2009(I checked the manufacturer's site). The representative told me, "that doesn't make any sense. We can't do anything for you". So I told him, "Alright, so you just allow false advertisement on your site and you can't help the buyer out?"
After about four emails and four phone calls I'm out of a couple hundred bucks because Amazon is s^*t. Stick to eBay. Also, avoid the seller "dsobers".
Only thing I buy on Amazon is textbooks, because they're dirt cheap (in comparison). Don't have much need to buy anything else there.
It sounds like this seller is a real ass though. I'm surprised Amazon won't help, or at least be a bit nicer about it. Not very good customer service, it sounds like.
That's tricky business. It's a pain in the butt (you'll want to go higher than local authorities) if the poster lives in the US. A lot of times these things go unresolved. Just have to be careful.
I love Amazon. I love living less than half an hour from the warehouse, so some packages come the same day. 😀
See, I'm in the southwestern part of Hamilton County, Indiana, near Boone County. The warehouse, which is in Whitestown, Indiana, is in Boone County and is just a drive up I-65 away.
I am cautious when buying products from Amazon. I once had someone send only 1 book, but I order a set of 2 books, so I only got 50% of my package.
I complained, and the seller let me keep 1 of the book, and gave me a refund.
I now mostly use Amazon to buy paid apps, downloadable PC games, and downloadable content since I live in Canada, and Amazon Canada prices are higher than Amazon.com, and shipping stuff to Canada is sometimes expensive. I can sometimes buy stuff cheaper or the same price at Wal-Mart, or locally.
eBay is a better deal in my experience if you are lucky enough to win an auction, or find a seller who sells cheaper items.
You do know that you could have switched out Amazon for eBay and came out with the same result. The problem is the seller not the site that the item was listed on. The only thing we can really do is be careful when buying stuff and do your research both on what they claim as well as feedback from previous customers. I normally only do business with people with extremely high positive feedback that came from a lot of transactions.
You unfortunately ended up doing business with a bad seller but you shouldn't pin that all on Amazon.
Without knowing the specifics, we really can't say if this person ever had a case or not.
I like eBay more since they own Paypal, and if you used Paypal to pay for something, and got a problem, Paypal will usually refund you your money if your case is reasonable, and you have proof that the seller took your money, or scammed me.
Once a seller on eBay never shipped me my package, and after a few days, I got a full refund from Paypal after they read my case, and agree I should have a refund.
Never had problem with Amazon but this sounds like no really issue for Amazon as its a third party selling that sells on there but i can understand your problem if was me then i would go directly head office speak someone telling them i paid laptop that not working and not meeting the fit for purpose this means has be fixed or refunded very simple rule in the UK not sure other like that in other country's but on very nice Law protects people from issues like this.
I have had limited dealings with Amazon support but from what I have, it has been positive. As other users have mentioned, the issue is really to do with a third party seller rather than Amazon directly. The same thing can happen on other sites like eBay also so it is not an Amazon only issue. While they are the inbetween company, there is only so much they can do. I personally always try to buy items that are sold & dispatched by Amazon rather than third party sellers... especially if it were something electrical or expensive. Amazon can help alot more if I start having issues with the product and I know that it will be more likely to be resolved.
As with any company, usually the more people you speak to, the wider range of help you will be offered and the more chance that you will get somebody that is willing to do all they can to help you. Amazon will not give you a refund as they don't have your money and they didn't supply you the product. The most I think you can hope for is Amazon stopping the seller from selling any more on their site. There are just so many things to consider and check that it would be hard for them to be sure on who should lose out financially... especially baring in mind it is a high value item.
If you paid for the computer with a credit card, you can ask your credit card to do a charge back, and refund your money saying you got scammed because the seller failed to honor his warranty for what he is selling, or you got broken goods from the seller, Amazon failing to protect its buyers from getting ripped off, and see if your credit card or bank you use to make the purchase is willing to refund your money, and go after the seller for fraud, or failing to honor his warranty.
You can also contact consumer protection agencies, and the Better Business Bureau to see if they can help you get your money back by protecting your consumer rights, and warn other consumers about your poor experience with Amazon, and this seller.
It may be worth your time to ask for legal advice from the police, a law school or place which offer free legal advice, and small claims court, and they may give you legal advice on how to resolve your problem.
It harms the seller significantly if you're able to get an A-Z claim through Amazon, as well as negative feedback.
When we were selling on Amazon if a customer had an issue we always favored there opinion. It wasn't always in our best interested, but we knew the negative impact would be much more severe than just handing over a few bucks.
There's always going to be good/bad sellers on Amazon, unfortunately, it's not always Amazon's fault. It's the sellers.
I have never bought something on Amazon but so far I have seen many people buying products with a big percentage being satisfied but again once in a while you will get vendors who doesn't meet expectation.
This. As well as that, ONLY use private sellers if you're certain they can be trusted. I tend to avoid sellers that are below 98% good feedback (if they have a lot of sales) or 95% if they have say, 100 sales. If they're a new seller or have very few previous sales/feedback notes, I won't touch them.
