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Man, I really want someone to break Amazon's Monopoly... [Updated]
Posted by: Tiangou
Date: November 25, 2023 09:53PM
Had a bunch of expensive books waiting in my wishlist, including several box-sets which dropped to record lows on Black Friday. Cheaper than used on eBay in a couple of cases. Jumped on them. Was really pleased to have gotten such great deals, and with one-day shipping.

Saw that my books were out for delivery and just a single stop away as of 6pm.

The tracking page showed a detailed history from "Amazon facility" (warehouse?) to carrier to "carrier-facility" (has to be another Amazon facility because it was an Amazon delivery) to "out for delivery" and finally "delivered" as of 6:15pm this evening.

...Along with a really nice photo of some stranger's new-in-box prefab dresser.

Yeah. Wasn't my stuff. Wasn't my home. But I was able to figure out where the dresser was from the surroundings. And found it. Not my books. Just the dresser.

I caught the driver before he left my community and he was kind enough to check his truck and my books weren't there.

Called Amazon and they told me that the books might still be out for delivery and to keep checking til 10pm. Did so. No books.

Called Amazon and they told me that the books never left the warehouse and they *might* be here by Monday, after which I could wait two additional days and if the books haven't arrived by Thursday then I can ask for a refund, but they can't simply replace the books because the books were on sale and they can't honor the sale prices.

Of course, when I check the website it still says that the books were delivered.

In short, they either faked the tracking details or they lied to me, and I now have Schrodinger's books which simultaneously never shipped and yet have been delivered.

You'd think the one thing Amazon might be good at was shipping books.







Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/26/2023 02:22PM by Tiangou.
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Re: Man, I really want someone to break Amazon's Monopoly...
Posted by: Smote
Date: November 25, 2023 10:01PM
Buy.com tried. They lost.



"Defending your own life when in immediate danger to me is a basic right of each person. " Lemon Drop 11/17/2023 03:10 pm

Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008) Private citizens have the right under the Second Amendment to possess an ordinary type of weapon and use it for lawful, historically established situations such as self-defense in a home, even when there is no relationship to a local militia.

"The conclusion is thus inescapable that the history, concept, and wording of the second amendment to the Constitution of the United States, as well as its interpretation by every major commentator and court in the first half-century after its ratification, indicates that what is protected is an individual right of a private citizen to own and carry firearms in a peaceful manner." Right to Keep and Bear Arms: Report of the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Ninety-seventh Congress, Second Session. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1982. Digitized September 30, 2008.

From the NYSRPA v Bruen "Today, we decline to adopt that two-part approach. . . . Despite the popularity of this two-step approach, it is one step too many. Step one of the predominant framework is broadly consistent with Heller, which demands a test rooted in the Second Amendment's text, as informed by history."
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Re: Man, I really want someone to break Amazon's Monopoly...
Posted by: mattkime
Date: November 25, 2023 10:02PM
>but they can't simply replace the books because the books were on sale and they can't honor the sale prices.

BS. Talk to a manager. All Karen like.



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Re: Man, I really want someone to break Amazon's Monopoly...
Posted by: gadje
Date: November 25, 2023 10:25PM
The Schrödinger’s books was a nice touch. Thanks.
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Re: Man, I really want someone to break Amazon's Monopoly...
Posted by: C(-)ris
Date: November 25, 2023 10:56PM
This isn't exclusively an Amazon problem. This is a problem with most independent contractor last mile delivery. DoorDash, Amazon, UberEats, etc.

The people who are good and reliable all have jobs at UPS, Fedex, USPS, etc. What is left is mostly those who couldn't cut it at the top tier places, and a few people who are using it as supplemental income. Since Amazon can't complete with the top tier places they pay poorly because they know full well they aren't going to get any good long term delivery drivers so why pay for services you aren't going to get.

I wish you could specify the delivery company when ordering from Amazon. I'd choose USPS, UPS, or Fedex even if it took longer.



C(-)ris
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Re: Man, I really want someone to break Amazon's Monopoly...
Posted by: RAMd®d
Date: November 26, 2023 01:12AM
You'd think the one thing Amazon might be good at was shipping books.


Once upon a time, they were.






I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.
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Re: Man, I really want someone to break Amazon's Monopoly...
Posted by: GGD
Date: November 26, 2023 01:16AM
I need to call them again about an order where they broke it in transit because it had a thin plastic part that you could snap with your fingers and really needed to be shipped in a box but they shipped it in a paper bag.

When it arrived broken I called, they ordered a replacement at no charge and setup a return at Whole Foods, but then at the end of the call they said that since it was damaged they didn't need it back and I could dispose of it (it was around $15).

But I still got emails with a QR code and telling me to take it to Whole Foods, and if they didn't receive it by a certain date they would charge my card for it.

So a few days later when I was about to return something else to Whole Foods I called them again to just confirm that they didn't want the broken item back, they again said no, said that they would stop the emails saying that they wanted it back, and even sent me an email summarizing the conversation stating that they don't want it back.

And Wednesday I got another email saying that if I don't return it by Dec 10th they'll charge my credit card $15.27.

So I'll waste more of their customer service time going through the whole history and ask them to track down the email that they sent me after the last call confirming that I should dispose of it and that the emails asking for it to be returned would stop.

I suspect this will end sometime in December with me disputing the charge with my credit card company and sharing the email from Amazon saying they didn't want the broken item back.
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Re: Man, I really want someone to break Amazon's Monopoly...
Posted by: GGD
Date: November 26, 2023 02:47AM
Just called about the above, got the best Amazon customer service agent ever, spent 35 minutes on the line with her, she was British in South Africa with a perfect phone connection and easily understandable native British accent. And she's been with Amazon for years, and was testing a new release of their customer service system.

She understood exactly what was going on, was perfectly honest with me, saying that once the return label was issued there was no option in their system to cancel it after the first day, and that I would need to wait until they actually charge me for not returning it and then call back and they'll have the option to reverse that charge at that time. And she offered me a $5 credit for my trouble.

And she kept wanting to talk and asked if there were any other orders she could help me with while on the line. So I remembered one from a few weeks ago where it was "out for delivery" and then "running late" and then never delivered for the next 3 days that I had to wait to cancel and order a replacement. I never called to complain about that one where Prime one-day shipping didn't deliver as promised, so she gave me another $5 for that one.

And after she did that, since she was so experienced I also told her that the root problem with all of this was that they shipped it in a paper bag instead of a box, so she entered detailed notes into their system about the packaging too.

Then she sent me an email summarizing all that we talked about related to the original order and the need to call back again to finally resolve it.

I wish I could get her every time.

And when I call back on Dec 10th, I'll ask for another $5 for all of the calls I've needed to make.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/26/2023 02:49AM by GGD.
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Re: Man, I really want someone to break Amazon's Monopoly...
Posted by: Ombligo
Date: November 26, 2023 07:35AM
Maybe the easiest thing is to just send back the broken piece using the QR code. I think that is what I would likely do.



“No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.” -- François de La Rochefoucauld

"Those who cannot accept the past are condemned to revise it." -- Geo. Mathias

The German word for contraceptive is “Schwangerschaftsverhütungsmittel”. By the time you finished saying that, it’s too late
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Re: Man, I really want someone to break Amazon's Monopoly...
Posted by: GGD
Date: November 26, 2023 10:27AM
Quote
Ombligo
Maybe the easiest thing is to just send back the broken piece using the QR code. I think that is what I would likely do.

Except that the item was disposed of about 6 weeks ago once they confirmed verbally for a second time and by email that they wanted me to dispose of it.

I supposed I could try to just return a piece of paper with the QR code and see how that goes, but it would also require a trip to Whole Foods where I don't usually go.
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Re: Man, I really want someone to break Amazon's Monopoly...
Posted by: DeusxMac
Date: November 26, 2023 11:10AM
Quote
Tiangou
In short, they either faked the tracking details or they lied to me...

Hanlon's razor "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”
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Re: Man, I really want someone to break Amazon's Monopoly...
Posted by: N-OS X-tasy!
Date: November 26, 2023 11:34AM
Quote
Ombligo
Maybe the easiest thing is to just send back the broken piece using the QR code. I think that is what I would likely do.

100% agree.



It is what it is.
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Re: Man, I really want someone to break Amazon's Monopoly...
Posted by: gabester
Date: November 26, 2023 11:59AM
wait wait wait...

How do you CALL AMAZON with complaints / delivery issues?!?

I've only ever seen the web forms that are mostly useless.



g=
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Re: Man, I really want someone to break Amazon's Monopoly...
Posted by: GGD
Date: November 26, 2023 12:23PM
Quote
gabester
wait wait wait...

How do you CALL AMAZON with complaints / delivery issues?!?

I've only ever seen the web forms that are mostly useless.

Using the secret phone number that the used to post and still works that I've kept in my records, but is now impossible to find.

They now have an AI Bot that answers and always want's to text something to me, and doesn't like NO for an answer (I'm calling from a landline, can't text me), but just repeat "Representative" as the answer to all questions and you'll get a human.
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Re: Man, I really want someone to break Amazon's Monopoly...
Posted by: wurm
Date: November 26, 2023 02:05PM
...and by email that they wanted me to dispose of it.

I'd think that would be all the proof you'd need.

As for calling, I used to hunt for the number, but then I started just using the option to have them call me (after having to select "something else' when asked what I need help with). Someone usually calls me back within seconds, and I've always been able to get the problem solved to my satisfaction.

Something tells me I should not have written that.
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Re: Man, I really want someone to break Amazon's Monopoly...
Posted by: Tiangou
Date: November 26, 2023 02:21PM
UPDATE:

I found the (opened) box on my doorstep this afternoon.

Apparently, one of my neighbors received my package and kindly delivered it.

So, of the two options above, they lied to me.



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Re: Man, I really want someone to break Amazon's Monopoly...
Posted by: $tevie
Date: November 26, 2023 04:13PM
Quote
Tiangou
UPDATE:

I found the (opened) box on my doorstep this afternoon.

Apparently, one of my neighbors received my package and kindly delivered it.

So, of the two options above, they lied to me.

Where I live, my assumption would be that it was delivered late and a package thief opened it only to realize they didn't want it.



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Re: Man, I really want someone to break Amazon's Monopoly...
Posted by: gadje
Date: November 26, 2023 08:24PM
Quote
$tevie
Quote
Tiangou
UPDATE:

I found the (opened) box on my doorstep this afternoon.

Apparently, one of my neighbors received my package and kindly delivered it.

So, of the two options above, they lied to me.

Where I live, my assumption would be that it was delivered late and a package thief opened it only to realize they didn't want it.

A thief would not return it, even if they didn't want it. Why risk it?
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Re: Man, I really want someone to break Amazon's Monopoly... [Updated]
Posted by: d4
Date: November 28, 2023 06:56AM
On more than one occasion I've received a neighbor's Amazon package by mistake. Either my direct neighbor to the side of me, or directly across the street. (One house off)

It's not unusual for me to receive *many* packages on any given day. I sometimes open the boxes without checking the address label. It's not until I open the box and don't recognize the item inside that I glance at the shipping label. I don't want to embarrass my neighbor or make it awkward so I try and seal the package up as best I can, as if it wasn't opened, and I drop off the item at their doorstep anonymously when they are out.

If I'm busy, sometimes there are delivered packages in my home for a day or two, unopened, unchecked.



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Re: Man, I really want someone to break Amazon's Monopoly...
Posted by: $tevie
Date: November 28, 2023 02:32PM
Quote
gadje
Quote
$tevie
Quote
Tiangou
UPDATE:

I found the (opened) box on my doorstep this afternoon.

Apparently, one of my neighbors received my package and kindly delivered it.

So, of the two options above, they lied to me.

Where I live, my assumption would be that it was delivered late and a package thief opened it only to realize they didn't want it.

A thief would not return it, even if they didn't want it. Why risk it?
I meant more like rip it open, ew no thanks, walk off. But I live in the city, where the packages are right there by the sidewalk.



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