Amazon Customer Service Question...

[Xanthe_2871]

Ok so I made a new temporary account on Amazon with a free trial of Prime so I could order Christmas presents without others seeing my order history on shared devices. An item was guaranteed to be delivered on the 11th, but the package "got lost". 

 

They gave me a refund and when I reordered they gave me a new, estimated delivery of December 22nd. Now UPS says it will be here Tuesday, December 26th. That's too late, and I'm not interested anymore. I'll, ugh, go to the physical stores! For one item to replace this. 

 

But here's my question. If I call customer support their usual go to for "Sorry we screwed up" is a free extension of your Prime membership. But I don't want more free prime on my temporary Christmas account... 

 

Should I admit this is a temporary account, and see if they'll credit my primary account? Or is that a horrible idea, and I should come up with some excuse like, I wasn't happy with Prime, and hope they have some other small gift or bonus to make me happy, beyond a refund. 

 

I don't want to sound superrrrr entitled, but if I can get something extra beyond a refund I'll take it. This was super cute and I can't find anything like it locally. What a disappointment. (Though, not entirely Amazon's fault, I will admit.)

 

Thanks!

[Himommies]

Dosen't hurt to try telling the truth

[Leonard]

@Xanthe_2871, they will not care if it is a temporary a/c or not. you shouldn't get more than a refund because you only made that purchase and nothing more. All you need to do is just tell them that the second time you purchased the item it said on day X to receive which would have been fine for you and not it says day Y and you do not want it anymore and would like to cancel and they will without any issues or they should.

 

Sounding entitled, no, more like spoilt,  you want more than you put out come on fella.

[vong]

You reordered at the wrong time, USPS would be crazy busy.

[Xanthe_2871]

22 minutes ago, Leonard said:

@Xanthe_2871, they will not care if it is a temporary a/c or not. you shouldn't get more than a refund because you only made that purchase and nothing more. All you need to do is just tell them that the second time you purchased the item it said on day X to receive which would have been fine for you and not it says day Y and you do not want it anymore and would like to cancel and they will without any issues or they should.

 

Sounding entitled, no, more like spoilt,  you want more than you put out come on fella.

Mmm, no, they promised me a time and failed to meet it. They should do something beyond a refund, as I now have to change my plans. It would be different if they never promised a time to begin with, but they did, and they need to make it right... 

 

20 minutes ago, vong said:

You reordered at the wrong time, USPS would be crazy busy.

I suppose ? I really wish the first time it has just worked out! 

[Woldraxe]

I don't know how the American version works....

But, when I look at any given item it says explicitly "Expected to arrive after Christmas." (Currently). Busy times aside, it always says "Expected to arrive in X Days" or "Expected on <date>/".

The key word is "expected". You wouldn't complain if you got that item a couple days early would you? It's the Postal Service. Once Amazon hands it off to UPS, they can't do anything about it.

[Leonard]

5 minutes ago, Xanthe_2871 said:

Mmm, no, they promised me a time and failed to meet it. They should do something beyond a refund, as I now have to change my plans. It would be different if they never promised a time to begin with, but they did, and they need to make it right... 

At that point in time when they "promised" for you to have it on the time they said did you and they come to an agreement on what should happen if they do not meet the time stated?........hmmmmmmmm? i guess not and if they did they would meet it as in the past that is how they have dealt with me but they were up front on how they would compensate me as i requested it up front.........again, havr you done this?.....hmmmmmm?

[Xanthe_2871]

1 minute ago, Leonard said:

At that point in time when they "promised" for you to have it on the time they said did you and they come to an agreement on what should happen if they do not meet the time stated?........hmmmmmmmm? i guess not and if they did they would meet it as in the past that is how they have dealt with me but they were up front on how they would compensate me as i requested it up front.........again, havr you done this?.....hmmmmmm?

I'm sorry, I'm afraid I'm lost ? Are you suggesting I shouldn't have reordered the first time? Not being sarcastic, I genuinely don't follow.

[Himommies]

2 minutes ago, Xanthe_2871 said:

I'm sorry, I'm afraid I'm lost ? Are you suggesting I shouldn't have reordered the first time? Not being sarcastic, I genuinely don't follow.

I don't know if they promised you anything

Dosen't it say estimated arrival date for you guys

[Leonard]

Just now, Xanthe_2871 said:

I'm sorry, I'm afraid I'm lost ? Are you suggesting I shouldn't have reordered the first time? Not being sarcastic, I genuinely don't follow.

No...in my experience with Amazon and my prime a/c, i have ordered a good amount of stuff and there is a small percentage of items that were bought and either didn't arrive on time or arrived damaged or just didn't arrive and in most of the cases of that small percentage, amazon refunded me without any issues but there were two times in which an item was purchased and it failed to reach on time and it was then reordered through amazon live chat and in the chat i expressed the need to make sure it reached on time(reasons begin i live outside the US) and they agreed to compensate me to a gift cards but that was only after we both agreed to these terms before the second purchase was made, and what i was saying is that i am sure you never did that with them the second time.

[Xanthe_2871]

13 minutes ago, Leonard said:

No...in my experience with Amazon and my prime a/c, i have ordered a good amount of stuff and there is a small percentage of items that were bought and either didn't arrive on time or arrived damaged or just didn't arrive and in most of the cases of that small percentage, amazon refunded me without any issues but there were two times in which an item was purchased and it failed to reach on time and it was then reordered through amazon live chat and in the chat i expressed the need to make sure it reached on time(reasons begin i live outside the US) and they agreed to compensate me to a gift cards but that was only after we both agreed to these terms before the second purchase was made, and what i was saying is that i am sure you never did that with them the second time.

OH. I see. Well I had no idea! Thank you, now I know for next time ? 

 

16 minutes ago, Himommies said:

I don't know if they promised you anything

Dosen't it say estimated arrival date for you guys

Depending on the item most Amazon items have a guaranteed delivery date, and if for whatever reason they fail to meet that date in addition to a refund or replacement they'll usually give you some small credit. 

 

Other items have estimated delivery times, usually things sold by Third parties. If an estimated delivery item does not arrive on time they'll only give you a refund or replacement, no credit. 

[SlipperyPete]

2 hours ago, Xanthe_2871 said:

Mmm, no, they promised me a time and failed to meet it.

thats not true at all. UPS failed, not amazon. they provided the service they promised. they cant magically have something arrive at your house earlier than physically possible. refunding your purchase is well within the "debt" they owe you.

lack of forethought and planning is not amazon's fault

 

[Xanthe_2871]

19 hours ago, SlipperyPete said:

thats not true at all. UPS failed, not amazon. they provided the service they promised. they cant magically have something arrive at your house earlier than physically possible. refunding your purchase is well within the "debt" they owe you.

lack of forethought and planning is not amazon's fault

 

? Well I think you and I have different views on proper customer service. If my pizza is delivered cold I expect a replacement, doesn't matter if it was the driver's fault or just traffic...

[Xanthe_2871]

29 minutes ago, valdyrgramr said:

Few things.  1) Those times are estimated not promised times aka estimates. 2)  You also have to factor in holiday and business hours.  3) If you want to return the item just tell them through an online chat and they will send you a ups shipping label.  Either take it to them or schedule for a person to come pick it up.

The first time it was guaranteed. But I think I'm going to give the person the gift late. I will speak with Amazon customer service and see what they offer. 

[dalekphalm]

On 12/23/2017 at 6:46 PM, Xanthe_2871 said:

Mmm, no, they promised me a time and failed to meet it. They should do something beyond a refund, as I now have to change my plans. It would be different if they never promised a time to begin with, but they did, and they need to make it right... 

 

I suppose ? I really wish the first time it has just worked out! 

You could attempt to see if they can give you a free upgrade to express (faster) shipping?

 

In any case, Amazon didn't screw up. UPS did. They are the ones who lost your package, yes?

 

Amazon will generally bend over backwards for customers, even if they aren't at fault, so it doesn't hurt asking them for a discount code or whatever little bonus you want (Sometimes they'll give you a $5 coupon to be used on your next purchase, for example).

 

But either way, Amazon, ethically speaking, should refund the order, but doesn't have to give you anything extra (even though they probably will anyway).

 

It sucks, but that kind of thing happens all the time.

 

When you first found out it was lost to begin with, rather than getting a refund and re-ordering, you should have spoken to customer service first and see if they could give you a free upgrade to faster shipping (that is, unless, you were already using the fastest shipping method).

 

If you were already using the fastest shipping method? Well, it's Christmas. It's the busiest time of the year for couriers. UPS and USPS will be goddamn swamped, and it is reasonable to expect delays.

 

It's simply a trade off of buying online. Physical stores are a short drive away, and if something is in stock, you get it immediately. But prices are often higher, so take your pick of poison.

[SlipperyPete]

4 hours ago, Xanthe_2871 said:

If my pizza is delivered cold I expect a replacement, doesn't matter if it was the driver's fault or just traffic...

i couldnt agree more. but then they dont owe you 2 pizzas

[dalekphalm]

4 minutes ago, SlipperyPete said:

i couldnt agree more. but then they dont owe you 2 pizzas

It’s a bit different with pizzas, since both driver and baker are employees of the pizza company. There’s more expectation for extra compensation - especially since there’s an added urgency for food (being hungry, etc).

 

A pizza shop owner can fire the driver, or train him extra. Amazon can’t do shit if UPS fucks up. 

[SlipperyPete]

1 hour ago, dalekphalm said:

Amazon can’t do shit if UPS fucks up. 

my point exactly. amazon is actually moving a decent amount of its deliveries in-house. likely to decrease issues like this and shipping overhead

[dalekphalm]

7 minutes ago, SlipperyPete said:

my point exactly. amazon is actually moving a decent amount of its deliveries in-house. likely to decrease issues like this and shipping overhead

Yep. Though their in-house courier service doesn't serve a lot of places. I'm in a fairly large Canadian city, and I get Amazon packages through UPS.

 

With the in-house service, they have much more control over discipline, training, and even something like putting a special rush on an order due to a mistake, etc.

[SlipperyPete]

16 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

Yep. Though their in-house courier service doesn't serve a lot of places. I'm in a fairly large Canadian city, and I get Amazon packages through UPS.

 

With the in-house service, they have much more control over discipline, training, and even something like putting a special rush on an order due to a mistake, etc.

im in a densely populated portion of Massachusetts (north east of USA) and the facility in my area does about 25,000 packages a day and that is a fraction of the total amazon packages being delivered in this area.

 

source: worked at amazon over the summer, currently working at UPS over winter break