Avoid Amazon

Rhys · #1 05-21-2005, 12:36 PM

I saw a charger for my Nikon 995 on Amazon priced at a reasonable $25 (including postage). I ordered on April 7th and was promised delivery by 21st of May. That seemed a ludicrous delay but I waited. Today they sent an email stating that I should now wait until 22nd July. This means that they did not have the item in stock, would not have the item in stock and never intended to have the item in stock. Basically, it's false advertising. I've had this with Amazon before - a book that I ordered took 6 weeks to arrive despite numerous complaints and reminders and broken promised delivery dates. That time, they billed my card as soon as they received my order. This time I'm not sure. I'll have to check. To anybody considering Amazon I would say avoid this rogue e-tailer at all costs. It's not worth saving $5 or $10 ordering something that never comes.

Bluedog · #2 05-21-2005, 01:38 PM

Did you call them to complain. They have one of if not the best customer service in the business, that I've dealt with. Not to mention I made over $3000 on their stock two years ago ...

Rhys · #3 05-21-2005, 03:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bluedog

Did you call them to complain. They have one of if not the best customer service in the business, that I've dealt with. Not to mention I made over $3000 on their stock two years ago ...

Once a rotten egg, always a rotten egg. I should've remembered my last experience with them before this one.

Rex914 · #4 05-21-2005, 03:50 PM

I'm sorry to hear about your problems, but Amazon has always been an excellent retailer. It's just that when you get big, things can slip through the cracks. Usually, when something gets delayed or out of stock, they will replace it immediately, within a few days. I've even heard many cases where an out of stock item shipped within 2-3 days.

Rhys · #5 05-21-2005, 05:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rex914

I'm sorry to hear about your problems, but Amazon has always been an excellent retailer. It's just that when you get big, things can slip through the cracks. Usually, when something gets delayed or out of stock, they will replace it immediately, within a few days. I've even heard many cases where an out of stock item shipped within 2-3 days.

I've had 3 experiences with Amazon. The first was a book that I was billed for but which only arrived after 6 weeks and after I'd complained 3 times to Amazon and once to my credit card company. The second was a scruffy secondhand book that was misdescribed as a new book. The third was this nonsensical affair of my MH53 being given mythical delivery dates because they plainly did not posess one and further (extended) delivery dates were so lacking in credibility that they appeared as though they never would order one let alone send me one.

Amazon might be good occasionally but based on all 3 of my experiences with them and based on the experiences of others who'd rather pay full-price for the goods and actually receive them, Amazon seems to be a consistant rogue e-tailer.

Interestingly, Amazon's rating on resellerratings is (currently) 6.12 out of 10. They're looking shoddy.

Norm in Fujino · #6 05-21-2005, 06:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rhys

I've had 3 experiences with Amazon. . . .
Amazon might be good occasionally but based on all 3 of my experiences with them

I've used Amazon literally countless times over the past many years (I teach, and I buy almost all my books through them), and I've had very few problems. Perhaps the longest wait was last year when I ordered a metal detector around Christmas and it got rescheduled several times--'tis the season.

But that's once out of literally dozens of orders if not hundreds of orders. I've been very pleased. Obviously, if it's a time-critical order, then you're safest to look elsewhere--that's true with all online shopping--but 98% of the time for me they've been very good. Now tomorrow, they could burn me bad, but they haven't yet (knock on wood).

digitalshoujo · #7 05-22-2005, 06:11 PM

Amazon has become a huge company over the years, and as such, their performance is bound to decline, at least a little. I've never had any serious problems with Amazon, and I use them all the time. Books, CDs, DVDs, and even a few big things like a digital camera. I find they have decent prices - as long as you aren't getting charged tax - and pretty good shipping (except around the holidays). The only major complaint I've ever heard about them was this past Christmas dealing with trying to meet the iPod demand (things were backordered forever...)
Resellerratings is a gamble too, anyone can post ratings there. Read what people have written, don't just skim the numbers. Decide for yourself who was really at fault, and whether those experiences really apply to you. I've seen horrible ratings for places that came from ordering things like huge home theater systems. Personally, I'd never order something that huge through an internet company - there's just too much risk involved and it's too expensive. Does that apply to your book order? Probably not.
But really, it's up to you to make the decision of whether or not you buy from them again. It seems like you've had bad luck and that's unfortunate, but I'd hardly call them a rogue internet business.

thebac · #8 05-23-2005, 09:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rhys

I've had 3 experiences with Amazon. The first was a book that I was billed for but which only arrived after 6 weeks and after I'd complained 3 times to Amazon and once to my credit card company. The second was a scruffy secondhand book that was misdescribed as a new book. The third was this nonsensical affair of my MH53 being given mythical delivery dates because they plainly did not posess one and further (extended) delivery dates were so lacking in credibility that they appeared as though they never would order one let alone send me one.

Amazon might be good occasionally but based on all 3 of my experiences with them and based on the experiences of others who'd rather pay full-price for the goods and actually receive them, Amazon seems to be a consistant rogue e-tailer.

Interestingly, Amazon's rating on resellerratings is (currently) 6.12 out of 10. They're looking shoddy.

Rhys,

out of curiosity, how many of your purchases were from Amazon.com proper and how many were from third-party sellers selling through Amazon?

d48 · #9 05-31-2005, 04:31 PM

I have regularly bought from Amazon.com for many years. Rarely a week goes by that I don't place an order. I've had nothing but wonderful service.

I'm curious like the last poster - were your poor experiences from Amazon.com or a 3rd party retailer or someone selling used merchandise on their site? If it was from Amazon, did the item say when it would be ready to ship? On some books, it says they'll try to locate a copy but it may take a few weeks.

Rhys · #10 05-31-2005, 05:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by d48

I have regularly bought from Amazon.com for many years. Rarely a week goes by that I don't place an order. I've had nothing but wonderful service.

I'm curious like the last poster - were your poor experiences from Amazon.com or a 3rd party retailer or someone selling used merchandise on their site? If it was from Amazon, did the item say when it would be ready to ship? On some books, it says they'll try to locate a copy but it may take a few weeks.

Yes. It was an Amazon item. I check their site occasionally but they still advertose it but never have any in stock. It's an item they'll never posess. I'm surprised they don't advertise hen's dentures!