My horrible amazon.co.uk camera buying experience.

frackingishell

Hi folks- just want to give a quick (as possible but long) run down of my amazon.co.uk experience, with some advice tacked on at the end.

So i ordered a DSLR camera worth about 1400 euro form amazon , mid July on Monday 11th July. The camera hadnt showed up by the following Monday, so i checked online and it was stuck in Portlaoise according to the amazon website. So i ring the post office for two days straight, as i REALLY needed this camera for a low paying, yet very important job. I find out eventually that apparently the container the camera was in had another package burst and curry sauce or something destroyed all the packages- according to the post office, the labels were unreadable (probably bullsh*t, but whatever).


So i ring amazon up and im sent through to the phillipines, and South africa, and India etc....i explain to them what happened, i give them the name of the contact in ANPOST who can verify the story for their phone recordings. I repeatedly let amazon know how urgently i need this camera. They say they'll send me out a replacementas soon as they verify the story.

The saga continues until Friday, and im getting pretty angry now, but remaining patient. Ive done the investigation, the package is in their clonshaugh depot from the previous Friday, everypiece of info needed is on file. I'm REPEATEDLY told ill get sent out a replacement ASAP. I'm also lied to about 6 times when they say they'll ring me and keep me informed (they didnt).

So WEDNESDAY the next week (17 days after original order and 8 days since they knew all of the details of what happened, and I had given them AN POST contacts), i get an email saying i've been issued a refund,and it would hit my account in ten days. Needless to say i was mighty pissed off.

• I had REPEATEDLY told them i didnt have the money to buy another one in the meantime
• and that i'd need a replacement ASAP as i didnt have the time (commitment-wise) to wait for a refund to hit my account.
• They ASSURED me, repeatedly, i would be issued a replacement with priority post as soon as they get their managers in gear.

SO, in the end, i ended up having to get someone else to look after the job i had, I lost face because i had stupidly believed what they'd said, and i waited 8 days more for the mney to hit my account. ONE WHOLE MONTH or so after i had ordered it, and nearly three whole weeks from when i had made them aware of the issues.

I spoke to their customer service, and resolution department managers for he UK (based in Cork) repeatedly, and they told me, basically, i could go and take a running jump. They were rude, and not interested.They didnt even give me a voucher, or any compensation, despite the ADMITTING they had f*cked up repeatedly, and me sending them emails showing what ive outlined above.

Moral of the story- i brought the invoice into two Dublin camera shops. The first one was owned by some idiot that was angry i had the 'temerity' to ask him if he could match the price somewhat- this guy hadnt heard of the recession obviously- noone in his shop anyway and his prices where ridiculous on alot of gear.
I then brought it into another camera shop, and he said he couldnt match the price, but he drop his, and throw in some gear, AND he'd be there if something happened to the camera, unlike Amazon.

So to finish this long (yet i believe important) story- from now on ill be ringing up Irish retailers and asking them if they can match the amazon price on everything. ive spent ( i checked my account) over three grand on my amazon account over the years (not including the camera), and i can safely say they won't be getting anything off me anymore if i can get the price in Ireland. Ill deliberately go out of my way to ring about 5 irish shops before ordering anything off them again (i have to buy as cheap as possible, as im smashed, so i may be forced to use them again). I gavethem so many chances to help me, and the repeatedly just took a sh*t on me. And i asked why theyre not even sending out a voucher or something to apologise to a loyal customer. They said , repeatedly, they do not offer any compensation, even when they f*ck up. I probably have a legal case in the small claims court, but they know and i know that im not going to go two years down that route, and lose days of my life. Amazon are scum, plain and simple.

SO SHOP AROUND IN IRELAND FOLKS. AMAZON DONT GIVE A SH*T ABOUT YOU.

(and before any smartarses say i shouldnt buy a camera off amazon- i dont care. I hadnt enoguh to pay Irish prices, but ive learned my lesson now)

wmpdd3

Hey, buddy if I had to deal with you in that camera shop, you'd have crashed boards with the resulting post.

I have ordered 3 cameras from Amazon in the past 3 years. A little Fuji film compact, a Nikon F60 and a Fuji S1000. All arrived by courier, no issues. I ordered a buggy that was lost, I had a replacement within 10 days of initial order.

Was the order fulfilled buy Amazon?, mine all were. The delivery cost keeps me away from Amazon's partners.

You have no 'small claims case' Amazon supply to consumers.

All card refunds take 10 / 14 days to complete, only the banks know why.

jamescd

I recently bought a Canon EOS 7D (body only) from ebay which set me back around €1,200 for my dad. Thankfully everything went alright and it arrived within 2 days. Have a look on ebay if you can't get em cheap enough from Irish retailers.

Paparazzo

Out of interest, how did they know it was your package that was unreadable?

ongarite

Were Amazon the seller of the item or was it a item sold by a third party through the Marketplace?
Do you have a link to the camera you purchased?

frackingishell

wmpdd3 wrote: »

Hey, buddy if I had to deal with you in that camera shop, you'd have crashed boards with the resulting post.

I have ordered 3 cameras from Amazon in the past 3 years. A little Fuji film compact, a Nikon F60 and a Fuji S1000. All arrived by courier, no issues. I ordered a buggy that was lost, I had a replacement within 10 days of initial order.

Was the order fulfilled buy Amazon?, mine all were. The delivery cost keeps me away from Amazon's partners.

You have no 'small claims case' Amazon supply to consumers.

All card refunds take 10 / 14 days to complete, only the banks know why.

im not your buddy, i said i dont give a sh*t about a claim, and my only issues are them saying id get a replacement,(and me believing them) and then refunding me OUT OF NOWHERE , and therefore making me look stupid to people i'd assured id have the camera to help them out. They were repeatedly told i needed the camera, i repeatedly confirmed whether they would send me a replacement on priority shipping...and they didnt after saying they would- knowing it would take time for me to get the money in my account. and what really bites my ass is- i can accept all manner of f*ck ups, but then they dont even send me a voucher and say 'sorry pal, we appreciate the 3 or 4 grand youve spent with us over the years though, so heres a voucher as a gesture of goodwill'. Theyre scum.

i also never took issue with the ten days to hit the account. the issue is with them saying i would get a replacement ASAP, then issueing me a refund 4 days after i was due to be sent out a replacement. Can you read? Do you have anything relevant to add?

Either you cant read, or you just love a moan. I dont really care if you got 100 cameras through them no problem- i dont care at all actually. And it's irrelevant here, because it was ANPOST who caused the damage, and i accepted that shi*t happens.

So, youve nothing relevant here at all to say have you? No.

frackingishell

Paparazzo wrote: »

Out of interest, how did they know it was your package that was unreadable?

hi paparrazzo- there was a number of parcels in the shipment container that were unreadable- as mine couldnt be located anywhere by anpost, they assumed mine was one that was sent back to the amazon depot in clonshaugh, and it was one of them. Its a pity an post didnt just make a list of the names, because curry sauce or not ill bet there was readable stuff on them.But thats privatisation for you i spose.

The problem is AMazons customer service is shi*, and they havent a clue whats going on. Even when i had laid it all out and go contacts for them. They f*cked up AFTER the incident, and let me down majorly, fter assuring me they would give me a replacement as soon as possible.

frackingishell

ongarite wrote: »

Were Amazon the seller of the item or was it a item sold by a third party through the Marketplace?
Do you have a link to the camera you purchased?

amazon were the seller. it was an expensive dslr as described. Not being smart, but why do you need the link?

frackingishell

jamescd wrote: »

I recently bought a Canon EOS 7D (body only) from ebay which set me back around €1,200 for my dad. Thankfully everything went alright and it arrived within 2 days. Have a look on ebay if you can't get em cheap enough from Irish retailers.

cheers james, ebay will defo be an option then- anything in future to avoid amazon's 'i dont care HOW we inconenienced you, we're a huge multinational corporation that sh*ts on the little guy at will' attitude :-)

just to clarify something else folks- i had back and forth emails with a very senior manager in Cork (non native- not that that matters). He said he understood everything, had reviewed the call tapes, and agreed with everything i said, and that he'd be working on their systems in future...and he was sorry, but thats it. I said 'thats no good to me etc etc'. I can't believe youre not even giving me a voucher as asign of good faith- you've caused me alot of hassle, and completely admitted to telling me one thing, and then doing another, even when you knew the implications, and i had mentioned i was a business purchase etc etc...

It was just shocking how much they just didn't give a flying f*ck. Im 24 right now- Ill be slating them till im 80 at this point. Im gonna devote 5 minutes a week to costing amazon money on every consumer forum in Europe. If i manage to send ONe person per country away from the bastards, it'll be worth it. Thank the lord for Google translate. :-)

And im talking even a TENNER voucher, would have been sufficient to be honest. Just SOME recognition of the hassle they caused me directly and appreciation of my custom..

Badgermonkey

frackingishell wrote: »

im not your buddy, i said i dont give a sh*t about a claim.....Theyre scum...So, youve nothing relevant here at all to say have you? No.

frackingishell wrote: »

Im gonna devote 5 minutes a week to costing amazon money on every consumer forum in Europe

Jeez, calm down dear.

If your hot-headed replies on this thread are indicative of how you possibly engaged with Amazon customer services, that may go some way to explaining why they didn't go out of their way to offer recompense.

Your experience, though obviously frustrating was atypical, as many folks have found Amazon to be a great company for quickly and professionally correcting issues and anomalies that pop up from time to time.

frackingishell

Badgermonkey wrote: »

Jeez, calm down dear.

If your hot-headed replies on this thread are indicative of how you possibly engaged with Amazon customer services, that may go some way to explaining why they didn't go out of their way to offer recompense.

Your experience, though obviously frustrating was atypical, as many folks have found Amazon to be a great company for quickly and professionally correcting issues and anomalies that pop up from time to time.

Go to hell Badgermonkey.

I was courteous,and extremely patient- it doesnt really pay to be an ass-hole to people when you're depending on them for something does it?

Your response demonstrates you have a problem with assuming things, when you don't have a CLUE what you're on about.

I've no time for nitpicking halfwits like yourself (theres loads of you on boards) that want to chime in with irrelevant twaddle so they can have their crap read. Usually people like yourself take the opposite view (amazon are great blah blah blah) for the sake of it. Unless you're an amazon rep, what have you possibly got to add that's relevant here? So f**king what if you've had good experiences with them- i have too- i mentioned ive spend thousands with them. So Whats your point? Oh , yeah sorry, you don't have one. What does the typical experience have to do with MY experience?? Nothing, so stop talking irrelevant rubbish for the sake of it.

Atypical experience or not- the fact is their systems are normally good, but when it came down to a situation with a customer that was unique, they shat all over me.

The purpose of this thread is to inform Irish consumers of how i was treated horribly. If you've nothing to add but typical rubbish that so many fools like yourself put up here, then pipe down.

RasTa

This moan won't put me off Amazon anyway, I'll continue to shop their since they have the best customer service I've ever dealt with.

What exactly is the point of this thread? It's a discussion board, you are going to get people defending Amazon's CS. Stop throwing your toys out of the pram

frackingishell

Rasta, i really couldn't care less what you do. The point of the thread ( i thought it was fairly obvious, but maybe you're special, so i'll elaborate) is to inform anyone that wants to listen that they can get similar prices and better service from Irish retailers if they ask for it, and that Amazon don't give two sh*tes if they ruin your plans and cause you ALOT of hassle due to their actions- plans that were made based on something they told you repeatedly.

And they're my toys, bought from amazon- i'll do what i like with them.

jor el

frackingishell, get a blog. This is not a personal rant forum for you to go off at other posters.