Positive Amazon Feedback

[Optegris]

OK Amazon do get a lot of flack but I've just had a very positive experience with them. I ordered a couple items for the missus for her birthday and since I was running late and it was her birthday soon, chose the guaranteed next day delivery option and paid £4.99 for the privilege.

Now this was on Monday but the items only just turned up so 48 hours later. Went onto my account and had the following live chat:

You are now connected to Amazon from Amazon.co.uk.
Me:Refund request for next day delivery charge

Amazon:Hello. My name is Elizabeth. I'll request the refund for you.
May I have the name on your account?

Me:The name on the account is Philip Williams

Amazon:Thanks Philip. Your email address is <<removed>>, correct?

Me:Yes that's correct

Amazon:Thanks. I'm just checking your account for you - is this the order for the Robbie Williams CD and Bones Season 7 DVD?

Me:Yes that's correct

Amazon:I'm sorry about the delay to your order. I'll refund your delivery costs for you, and confirm this in an email to you later this morning

Me:Thank you, I appreciate it.

Amazon:I know from personal experience how frustrating this can be, especially when paying for delivery! Refunds take about two to three days depending on your bank

Me:OK I'll keep an eye for it. Thanks again...

Amazon:Thanks for your time today Philip! We hope to see you again soon! Please click the "End Chat" link to close this window.

Now one thing struck me here was the speed which they acknowledged the problem and dealt with it. Assuming they come good with their promise to refund, I am very impressed.

 

[360interactive]

Amazon use Yodel and I once had an item completely disappear despite it being tracked. I got through to a member of customer service who informed me that as it is lost i'd have to wait a few weeks for them to find out where it is. I was not too impressed as I know that with Yodel you often have more luck attaching the item to a flying goose and hoping it goes in the right direction. Without much effort on my behalf he then changed his mind and refunded straight away.

 

[Mike W]

Quite ironic that you're impressed with the service, when in fact you didn't actually get it ...and all you're getting back is the money you paid.

I'd have been mightily peed off having paid extra for fast delivery only for not to show.

 

[mhall]

Being Cynical I would point out that Amazon don't care as they would simply recharge the provider and probably a charge on top so it's no skin off their nose to refund you.

I'm not knocking it, you deserved the refund, but it's easy to give other peoples money away. It used to happen all the time at places like B&Q - take your Black & Decker back and you would get a refund - no questions asked. Black and Decker would then have to refund B&Q PLUS a "restocking fee" PLUS an "Admin Fee". Made B&Q look great - but they never lost a penny.

 

[Optegris]

Quite ironic that you're impressed with the service, when in fact you didn't actually get it ...and all you're getting back is the money you paid.

I'd have been mightily peed off having paid extra for fast delivery only for not to show.

You're missing the point. I was annoyed that I paid for the next day delivery and it didn't happen. I was impressed by the fact they refunded it without an argument.

 

[simon field]

You're missing the point. I was annoyed that I paid for the next day delivery and it didn't happen. I was impressed by the fact they refunded it without an argument.

I'm struggling to see how on earth they could have had an argument?

If you pay for something and then don't get the thing, it goes without saying you get your money back doesn't it?

 

[Mister B]

It's all abour turning a negative into a positive.

By taking the right course of action, at little or no cost to themselves, Phil wil more than likely shop again with them whereas if they hadn't acted favourably, Phil would have walked and spread bad news.

Simple philosphy that works.

Mister B

 

[Vectis]

I'm struggling to see how on earth they could have had an argument?

If you pay for something and then don't get the thing, it goes without saying you get your money back doesn't it?

Maybe, it SHOULD go without saying but, unfortunately, getting your money back for a service which didn't happen can be time consuming, stressful and annoying.

And, why not mention it when something went right and you were treated correctly? We all like to moan when things go wrong but maybe we should be as quick to say something when things work well.

 

[fairestcape]

Best plan is not to give Amazon any money in the first place. All of it's going offshore as we now know. Rather support British businesses who pay their fair share of taxes.

I don't care how cheap something is on Amazon. Until the company starts to pay fair taxes they won't be getting a single penny out of me.

 

[Optegris]

I'm struggling to see how on earth they could have had an argument?

If you pay for something and then don't get the thing, it goes without saying you get your money back doesn't it?

Not really. After dealing with the likes of BT etc. getting money back when a mistake has been made is normally a lot, lot harder.

Best plan is not to give Amazon any money in the first place. All of it's going offshore as we now know. Rather support British businesses who pay their fair share of taxes.

I don't care how cheap something is on Amazon. Until the company starts to pay fair taxes they won't be getting a single penny out of me.

Your choice but when I shop at Amazon I use an affiliate link for my supported charity, they get the affiliate payment. Plus voting with my feet isn't going to change anything. Lobbying the government to close the tax loopholes in the first place is the way forward.

It would take tens of thousands of shoppers with the same mindset as you to make even the tiniest dent in their profits so it aint going to work really...

 

[SillyJokes]

You act like this refund was something only Amazon would ever do but I did it myself only this morning, before I saw the thread.

My courier has misdirected a parcel so its delayed and I refunded the express charge, and this even though I won't get a refund from the courier.

 

[Optegris]

Like I said, my experience with larger retailers and companies such as BT etc. is normally one of an uphill battle to get money back where it is owed. I'm not saying Amazon would be the only ones to do this at all...

 

[360interactive]

Like I said, my experience with larger retailers and companies such as BT etc. is normally one of an uphill battle to get money back where it is owed. I'm not saying Amazon would be the only ones to do this at all...

Don't you just wish you'd kept your mouth shut now?

 

[Optegris]

I've often wished my brain would precede my gob

 

[Esk247]

Like I said, my experience with larger retailers and companies such as BT etc. is normally one of an uphill battle to get money back where it is owed. I'm not saying Amazon would be the only ones to do this at all...

Well as stated by SillyJokes we also refund without quibble for any delayed postage and sometimes offer other incentives such as money off vouchers for customers who have had problems ordering from us. Which you acknowledge too

however, you mention 'larger retailers' were these products ordered from Amazon themselves? or did you just use the Amazon website? in which case you could have ordered from someone on UKBF or a shop in Newcastle who sell on Amazon, so it is they who will be refunding you

Also, to those saying 'boycott Amazon' well..please don't..Amazon make up 50% of our turnover and we've used them for years. I have a good moan that they charge us 20% in fees but still, boycott them and you're boycotting us and we really don't mind offering refunds if customers are upset about late deliveries, lost parcels, damaged products etc.

 

[Rasta Pickles]

Amazon use Yodel

Hmmm, an £89.99 Tefal Actifry ("they're healthy" bleats my wife) delivered today and left in the porch.

Despatched Monday via 24hr signed for service so Yodel got both bits wrong. I wonder if the driver forged my signature?

Now if I was dishonest I could claim the thing never arrived.

 

[10032012]

Amazon are awful... good prices but for me generally things take an AGE to be dispatched let alone delivery times. The first time I ordered.. I got next day guaranteed delivery... which took a week. (from Amazon themselves)

They use a poor courier... (who were pretty much fully to blame) Amazon are generally good with after-sales, they refunded me the extra costs for delivery within a day, were easy to get hold of and were genuinely apologetic about it... however, that is not the point! The delivery would have been free anyhow... and I wanted it next day.

Others have echoed the same as me on online forums and review sites... seems Amazon wants to stick to some pretty awful courier companies which damaging their reputation...

 

[Optegris]

Well I can live with 48 hours instead of 24 for this order especially as I got the money back.

Generally though I can only recall one occasion when delivery took ages but that was down to the fact the UK was under eight feet of snow and ice...

 

[Optegris]

however, you mention 'larger retailers' were these products ordered from Amazon themselves? or did you just use the Amazon website? in which case you could have ordered from someone on UKBF or a shop in Newcastle who sell on Amazon, so it is they who will be refunding you

No these were direct items from Amazon as opposed to a third party. I have shopped using third party sellers a lot in the past though.

 

[Charlie B ACS]

Best plan is not to give Amazon any money in the first place. All of it's going offshore as we now know. Rather support British businesses who pay their fair share of taxes.

I don't care how cheap something is on Amazon. Until the company starts to pay fair taxes they won't be getting a single penny out of me.

I agree on the Corporation Tax Loopholes, but Amazon do generate a fair chunk for the Exchequer. VAT, Business Rates, Employers NI, not to mention the TAX & NI paid by their employees.

But then again when have newspaper headlines mentioned this. Much better to say they pay NO TAX.

 

[GradwellDotCom]

It's good to see a straightforward transaction where a company takes responsibility for their errors. While this doesn't seem like much to ask, for a lot of companies it's an uphill struggle to draw money out of them.

You learn a lot more from a company by how they deal with things going wrong than you do by everything running smoothly (although - of course - not running into problems is always preferred )

 

[kulture]

I agree on the Corporation Tax Loopholes, but Amazon do generate a fair chunk for the Exchequer. VAT, Business Rates, Employers NI, not to mention the TAX & NI paid by their employees.

But then again when have newspaper headlines mentioned this. Much better to say they pay NO TAX.

The newspapers also contently forget to mention that Amazon's profits are well down and are due to make a loss (don't ask me how) so they would not pay taxes on these non profits anyway.

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

I actually ordered an item from MyProtein (a health supplement website) with next day delivery which they ended up missing. However, before I even realised, they sent me an e-mail informing me that they would be sending a full refund of the delivery cost. It then appeared in my Paypal account a few hours later. I didn't even have to ask!

It's not particularly impressive to receive a refund for something like this as it's fairly straightforward. You paid for next day delivery, they didn't give you next day delivery, so they supplied a refund for something which you purchased but didn't receive. It's an open and shut case.

Most couriers tend to offer a refund guarantee anyway to remain competitive, so companies like Amazon aren't phased by it.

 

[Optegris]

It's not particularly impressive to receive a refund for something like this as it's fairly straightforward. You paid for next day delivery, they didn't give you next day delivery, so they supplied a refund for something which you purchased but didn't receive. It's an open and shut case.

Like I said... more than once...

Like I said, my experience with larger retailers and companies such as BT etc. is normally one of an uphill battle to get money back where it is owed.

Of course it's an open and shut case, my point was that it was settled quickly without fuss

 

[Rasta Pickles]

But then again when have newspaper headlines mentioned this. Much better to say they pay NO TAX.

The Government sits back and quite happily lets Shell, BP et al take the flak for high fuel prices whilst conveniently not revealing that the end pump price is comprised thus:

raw price per litre: 53.78p
fuel duty per litre: 60.97p
VAT per litre: 22.95p

Ergo, your typical pump price of 137.7p per litre is comprised of 83.92p tax (60.94%).

As a tax % of the original price (53.78p), it's actually 156.04%

I'd love the oil companies to pull the plugs on the supply to the UK and say "we're sick of being pilloried by the UK Government, we're not prepared to supply them any more".

We'd be a third world nation within about four days.