I'm scared, frustrated, don't know who to go to anymore

[ApK]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I've even seen people here at MR recommend to someone that they buy three bookreaders, try them out, and return the two that they didn't like!

I see nothing inherently wrong with that. I've had vendors tell me to do the same thing. That's the only way mail order companies can get you buy stuff sight unseen. Certainly Amazon has calculated the costs into their policy, knowing that for everyone who might buy and return 2 of 3 ereaders, there are far more who were induced to shop because of the lenient return policy but will never return anything.

I can see if someone overused, Amazon might be reasonable in cutting that user off from free returns, but I cannot see how it would be fair in any way for Amazon to cut them off from all their legitimate purchases and also not explain why,

What's the alternative to buying and returning? Surely you don't recommend using the overhead and customer services resources of brick and mortar store to do your comparison shopping, when you plan to buy online at Amazon? That would be just as big an abuse of the B&M store.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by ApK

I see nothing inherently wrong with that. I've had vendors tell me to do the same thing. That's the only way mail order companies can get you buy stuff sight unseen. Certainly Amazon has calculated the costs into their policy, knowing that for everyone who might buy and return 2 of 3 ereaders, there are far more who were induced to shop because of the lenient return policy but will never return anything.

I think personally that buying items KNOWING that you're going to return them is absolutely appalling. It's blatant abuse of the retailer.

[RolandD]

Originally Posted by ApK

I see nothing inherently wrong with that. ...

What's the alternative to buying and returning? Surely you don't recommend using the overhead and customer services resources of brick and mortar store to do your comparison shopping, when you plan to buy online at Amazon? That would be just as big an abuse of the B&M store.

I see a lot wrong with that way of thinking. We have a culture where many people are either too lazy and/or too stupid to make informed buying decisions. The cost of returns and restocking items for a mail order business are substantially more than for a brick and mortar business. People impulse buy items they have no knowledge about and then return them when they realize they don't understand how to use them or when they suffer buyers remorse.

In a brick and mortar store, that display unit is going to be sitting there whether or not someone goes in and uses it to comparison shop for items they plan to buy online. So, no, it isn't just as big of an abuse.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I think personally that buying items KNOWING that you're going to return them is absolutely appalling. It's blatant abuse of the retailer.

I don't see how that can be when the retailer themselves has advised me to do just that.

Doing it routinely, as your normal shopping model would be abuse, but doing it occasionally, when it's the best shopping model for the particular item, is not abuse. It's use. It's abuse of my patronage for a company to offer me a service then punish me for availing myself of it.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by RolandD

I see a lot wrong with that way of thinking. We have a culture where many people are either too lazy and/or too stupid to make informed buying decisions. The cost of returns and restocking items for a mail order business are substantially more than for a brick and mortar business. People impulse buy items they have no knowledge about and then return them when they realize they don't understand how to use them or when they suffer buyers remorse.

In a brick and mortar store, that display unit is going to be sitting there whether or not someone goes in and uses it to comparison shop for items they plan to buy online. So, no, it isn't just as big of an abuse.

The showroom is there so people will buy stuff. If people only look and buy elsewhere, the showroom will go out of business. The stuff isn't "just there." The company is paying (a lot) each day for it to be there.

The Amazon return policy is there so that people know they can take a chance and return stuff if they are unhappy with it. If people only do that, then Amazon will go out of business, too. The costs they incur are their costs of doing business.

Yet, Amazon appears to be growing, while many full service showrooms are fighting to survive. Where's the bigger abuse again?

[hard-boiled pat]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I think personally that buying items KNOWING that you're going to return them is absolutely appalling. It's blatant abuse of the retailer.

people who abuse the policy in that way ruin it for the rest of us.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by hard-boiled pat

people who abuse the policy in that way ruin it for the rest of us.

Again, I don't see how that can be abuse when the retailer themselves has advised me to do just that. Maybe you can explain it.

[Shopaholic]

Originally Posted by ApK

Again, I don't see how that can be abuse when the retailer themselves has advised me to do just that. Maybe you can explain it.

Define retailer. The CEO of the company? The manager of the store? or some minimum wage peon on the sales floor? [no offence, I'm just a peon where I work too. I don't make the rules.] There IS a big difference. CEO's & even store managers can't control what individual employees say or don't say at all times to all customers. I strongly doubt the store manager would say sure, bring it home, play with it for 2 weeks & bring it back if you don't like it. He/she knows darn well how much of a loss they're incurring. The peon on the floor wouldn't.

Stores having an easy return policy do it for convenience sake for people that have a legitimate need to return something. The return policy is not there for you to play with the item before you decide to keep it or not. Only car dealerships offer test drives and even then it's for minutes not hours or days. Retail stores don't.

Returns costs retailers money whether it's a brick & mortar or online store. It costs money. Who's going to buy that reader that you used & played with & decided wasn't for you? Nobody. The store can't put it back on the floor. It ultimately has to go to the manufacturer who takes a loss on it.

Too many losses & policies change. Walmart is one example as was discussed in this thread. I'll give you another one. Sephora. It's a high end cosmetics store. Returns were easy peasy, no problem. No questions asked. If they sold the item in their store or online, you could return it for store credit. Too many people did that & things changed. Bring in the bill to get the refund to the payment method. No bill? Hand over ID & get a store credit for the value of the item. They no longer sell that shade of lipstick? Too bad, so sad. You're out of luck.

Another thing that frequently happens with stores with extremely liberal return policies is people returning items that were never bought there in the first place. I don't mean location a and location z. I mean it was never bought at that vendor period. Stores will know because they know they bought 100 of item XYZ yet the numbers don't add up. They count sold, in stock & returns. It should add up to 100. When it adds up to anything else, it means they're taking fraudulent returns. It's a form of stealing. It's abuse and policies change. That's why even Walmart wants ID when you don't have a bill and they limit the number of no-receipt returns you can do as well as the dollar value. It's a way to minimize the loss.

[jrw93]

Hello All --

Sorry for the late response, college work has been getting most of my time.

I just noticed that the Consumerist actually published my story! Here is the link:

http://consumerist.com/2012/02/amazo...n-origins.html

I just received more e-mails from editors of websites such as Techcrunch, gizmodo and engadget that also want to publish my story.

I hope this helps me in changing their firm decision.

[DiapDealer]

Congrats on your newfound popularity. I hope it helps you accomplish everything you're trying to accomplish.

[jrw93]

Yeah I hope so as well. I filed a claim with the BBB, but have not received a response from them yet. I actually am not too sure how the policy for BBB complaints work, but we'll see going forward.

[hard-boiled pat]

hmmmm:






Nobody can say "Teehee" with a straight face

February 21, 2012 5:28 PM




Sounds like he probably did what I did in college - Open a new account each year to get the free year of Amazon Prime that only comes from signing up as a student. I don't even know if they still offer that, though.

Would explain the breach of policies and the multiple accounts.

[geoffwood]

Originally Posted by Shopaholic

Who's going to buy that reader that you used & played with & decided wasn't for you? Nobody. The store can't put it back on the floor. It ultimately has to go to the manufacturer who takes a loss on it.

I picked up a "repackaged" Kindle Touch at Target for $69 a few weeks ago, so stores can put them back on the floor, and people do buy them.

[Shopaholic]

Originally Posted by geoffwood

I picked up a "repackaged" Kindle Touch at Target for $69 a few weeks ago, so stores can put them back on the floor, and people do buy them.

Some stores do that yes but that's their discretion and we don't know the particulars of the return or if it was a return. They could have received a damaged package and marked it down because nobody wanted it. I've seen people ask the cashier for a discount because the CD case was cracked. And they get it. This dress/shirt/pants etc has a stain or a ripped seam can I get it reduced a bit in price? I've seen that too. Some people are fine with that and some people won't touch an imperfect item.

Some stores will reduce the sales price to mitigate an entire loss and sometimes they may have to if the manufacturer charges them too high a fee to return the item to them. Something in the retailer's pocket is better than nothing or being in the negative.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by hard-boiled pat

hmmmm:

Sounds like he probably did what I did in college - Open a new account each year to get the free year of Amazon Prime that only comes from signing up as a student. I don't even know if they still offer that, though.

Would explain the breach of policies and the multiple accounts.

They do still offer it but I believe it's 6 months now. My husband has an student account with free prime that we will pay for in June to continue.

So does Amazon allow a household to have more than one account? My husband has a student prime and I have the main account. The Address is the same on both accounts and the payments method are both the same card which is in his name.

Are student prime accounts restricted in any way? We only had the second account since January. I've order a few items from it and used the free shipping option.

So I guess this thread has me thinking what Amazon thinks of having more then one account?