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This thread reminded me that a used book my wife ordered from England on February 24th, that was supposed to arrive no later than March 27th, still hasn't arrived. I was being patient because I know that (what amounts to "Media Mail" from England can sometimes get delayed) but it's now over two weeks past the "expected by" date – and that was the "outside" (latest) date.
So I go to Amazon. Click on Tracking and get the message "Your package was probably delivered, as we expected it to arrive by now." When I click "Get help with order," I get this message "
Have you checked:
Front Porch?
Back door?
Under your door mat?
With your household members and neighbours?
When I click "Still can't find it," I get two options, "Ask seller for a replacement," or "Ask seller for a refund." Apparently, at this point, Amazon is completely out of the loop – so much for Amazon's "A-to-z Marketplace Guarantee." I'm not mad at the seller (because I know stuff gets lost in the mail), and I did request a replacement but, had we bought on eBay, eBay would have remained in the loop. If we bought with PayPal (the standard with eBay) they would have us contact the seller, like Amazon, but if the seller had been unresponsive in a certain amount of time, we could file a claim and – until the claim was solved – the funds would be put in escrow. So the much maligned eBay actually has a system to protect their buyers. Next time my wife is in the market for a specialty medical book (she's a doula / birth educator) I'll suggest she goes to eBay instead of Amazon. I doubt she even realized the book was coming from England.
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