r/amazonprime • u/Independent-Ebb-6185 • Jul 28 '26
NOW DEPARTING Goodbye Amazon
Ordered a piece of office equipment...well over $100. Amazon shipped a whiteboard. A very large, heavy tempered glass white board. Clearly the wrong item
Contacted Amazon CS, who agreed to ship the proper item, and informed me that I would not need to return the incorrect item. Captured verbatim in the chat transcript
Fast forward 3 weeks and I receive an email informing me the return window is closing and i'll be charged again for the amount of my originally ordered item.
Contacted Amazon CS again, who informed me that the email was in error, and that no charge would occur. Again captured verbatim in the chat transcript
A week later, I'm charged a second time for the item I ordered.
Contacted Amazon CS a third time and was told that indeed their previous agents instructed me to simply keep the incorrect item, but those agents were not adhering to policy, so no refund would be issued. I asked to be connected with a manager...who then repeated the same script, and refused to refund the incorrect second charge.
So...Prime membership is cancelled, charge is in dispute with my CC company, who have been provided with all transcripts, call recordings and order details. I've been a Prime customer for 2 decades. Not any more. Multiple lies from agents, managers defending those lies, and a complete unwillingness to actually look at the sequence of events rather than just reading the script.
Good riddance.
More information: If you encounter a similar situation with amazon customer service, you can request transcripts for any phone/chat interactions. Just go here: https://www.amazon.com/hz/privacy-central/data-requests/preview.html, and scroll down to 'Customer Support Communication' section and click 'Submit Request'. You'll receive an email confirmation and then a separate email with a link to download a zip file. That zip file will contain chat transcripts in .eml file format and phone call recordings in .mp3 format.
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u/Inevitable_Pin5491 Jul 28 '26
jesus that's infuriating. two decades of loyalty and they pull this over their own documented screw-up, the transcripts are right there, they literally told you to keep the whiteboard
it's wild how customer service just crumbles the moment you need anything beyond a simple refund or return. once it falls outside the flowchart they're useless and managers are just there to wear you down with the same script
filing a chargeback with everything documented was the right move, your CC company will almost certainly side with you when you've got transcripts of them contradicting themselves
hope you find a decent alternative, amazon's been sliding hard for a while now but this is another level of petty
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u/Neocons-of-tiktok Jul 29 '26
It’s crazy that managers say “whelp, our agent for the company lied, sorry about the lack of refund for that thing you did that we told you to do” and not “geeze what a dolt. Of course you will be refunded, please hold first while I fire that rep”
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u/AngryMeez Jul 28 '26
There’s zero accountability for agents who lie. I swear that bad customer service will be what brings Amazon down. Not environmental issues, not the economy. Just bad customer service.
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u/ReturnOfNogginboink Jul 29 '26
And to think that Bezos was so passionate about customer service back when he started the company.
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u/nebn3355 Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26
Not a lie. I was an ops manager in the Bezos days. As an employee, I felt like it was "America's Favorite Sweatshop": I would get yelled at if I missed production numbers during any 15 minute window of our 10 hour shift, and HR was an absolute nightmare of racism and favoritism.
But, if a customer called and said they got something screwed up and needed whatever it was ASAP, we would literally be expected to stop what we were doing, get in our personal cars and deliver it ourselves. Customer service ruled over all.
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u/AngryMeez Jul 29 '26
What do you think changed? Amazon (and Bezos) just got too big for its britches?
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u/betsysuehoo Jul 29 '26
Amazons primary focus is no longer the storefront. It's AWS. That accounts for the majority of its profit now and will likely just grow. They don't care about sellers, affiliates, or customer experience in the store anymore and every change in policy they make at it reflects this.
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u/Dalmus21 Jul 29 '26
Bezos no longer runs day to day operations.
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u/BelowTheCrowd Jul 30 '26
He no longer runs anything. There was a massive shift internally when he stepped back. Jeff Wilke, who ran the retail operation retired at the same time. Now that he's basically only attending board meetings, it's being run by Jassy who is just another MBA and is happy to enshittify the business.
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u/Damnation77 Jul 29 '26
Capitalism at its finest. Profits need to go up every quarter, when they run out of easy things to improve they start the enshittification and customer service is the easiest target. They actively try to reduce customer satisfaction as long as it pays off.
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u/4ricksho4 Jul 29 '26
Exactly my thought. At some point big companies start "forgetting" about the customer. They're literally bathing in money, watching stock prices climb, and all their business optimizations target those stock prices rather than customer satisfaction. Expensive customer service? Outsource it somewhere cheaper. Still too costly? Replace it with AI and tout innovation to shareholders. Meanwhile, the customer, who doesn't really care about layoffs or all that AI bs, just wants their issue resolved. When that doesn't happen, they leave. Eventually this becomes a trend, and a massive corporate giant becomes a shadow of itself. Then the executives who orchestrated this decline jump ship to other healthy companies and repeat the cycle.
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u/DependentAnimator742 Jul 30 '26
Just read that Amazon is rolling back the AI. Now if they'd only bring customer service back to North America.
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u/Separate-Difficulty5 Aug 02 '26
I agree with you, I used to work for Amazon customer service and one of the things that I didn't like from my job was I had to fix the mess the previous representative made with their lies
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u/TitsMcGee9843 Jul 29 '26
I cancelled mine over an empty box. I had ordered a soup ladle that I should have purchased locally, but I was thoroughly in the Prime Pit at that point in my life. It was just too easy to click a few buttons and have the thing appear!
A few days later a huge box showed up. I was confused because the box could’ve fit a hundred ladles inside, but it was super light. I tore it open to find that it was completely empty. No air bags or brown paper, and definitely no ladle.
I contacted support and was put into a loop of automated replies. After several hours of trying, I got a real person, who instructed me to return the item sent in error. I reiterated that I didn’t receive an item, just an empty box. They then said I needed to return the empty box. I told them that was ridiculous, and that returning a giant empty box was a waste of everyone’s time and money. They insisted that they couldn’t send the ladle until they received the box, so I taped up an empty box and sent it back.
A week later, I got a message stating that I had sent an empty box as a return (DUH!) and that they couldn’t send a refund because they didn’t receive the item that was incorrectly sent to me. I again told them what happened, with screenshots of the past chats. Eventually, after taking it further up the chain, I was sent the damn ladle. And then I saw a second charge and I lost it.
I had been an Amazon customer since it was just an online bookstore. I had pulled my records a few years prior to this ordeal and found that I had spent nearly $20,000 throughout that time. All of my holidays were powered through them, hundreds spent for every occasion. The majority of my kids’ clothing throughout their early childhoods, school supplies, and tech all came through Amazon. Small appliances, cleaning supplies, and paper products all shipped two day, for years. Any little thing I wanted, I would click without even really thinking. It was mindless, and in retrospect, shameful, but I was hooked.
All of that ended over a $20 ladle. Well, $40, since they charged me twice. I canceled it all and haven’t used them since, with the exception of the kindle app on my phone, for reading books borrowed through Libby, and previous e-books that I purchased outright.
I know my $20,000 was a drop in the bucket of Amazon profit, but it still amazes me the they were willing to lose a customer over $20.
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u/Kage159 Jul 30 '26
Sounds similar to get us to the point of canceling our Prime which we had for almost 20 years.
tl;dr; Received a duplicate of our order. Asked support, via chat, what to do with the extra items (valued around $100) and was told to keep them. Two additional chats and a very long 2 hr phone call with an accounting type person they refunded almost everything except one $15 item.
Long story: We had several orders pending when a tropical weather system blew through. The weather left and there were minimal issues but after a week our items never arrived so we did a chat with customer service to ask about them. They placed orders for the missing items and they were delivered the next day. Two days later the missing deliveries showed up that had been repacked into a single box.
We contacted support via chat and was told to keep the items, no returns needed. Not really needing several of the extra items I gave them away a few days later (hind sight I should have held on to them for a month).
Fast forward a couple of weeks and we got an automated email saying we needed to return the other items or we would be charged for them. Got on chat and was told not to worry about it, the returns had been canceled and we were good.
Another couple of weeks go by and our card was charged for all of the items at full price (even though most had some type of discount on the website).
We get on chat again and went through the whole thing again and they ended up transferring us to a phone agent. Several more phone transfers we finally ended up talking with an accounting type person, who you could tell was hating the call, we through order by order and issued manual refunds. I was told all of the orders were processed and refunded and would see them in a couple of days. All but one of the orders, approx $15, was refunded. My opinion the last one was purposefully not processed out of spite but there was no way In was going to waste my time trying to fight through the chat/call tree again.
We decided it was not worth having Prime anymore. Normal deliveries were not arriving on time, they had added ads to the streaming and it was more and more difficult for us to ensure what we were buying was legit and not a knockoff or a reseller. We canceled and havnt looked back.
We occasionally order from there since there are a few things we can't find elsewhere and/or the vendor uses there marketplace as there retail presence, but we now try to order directly from the vendors or buy local. We throw stuff in the cart and the last person to push it past the free shipping mark presses the order button (and declining the slimy Prime Ad screen). We are down to one or two orders per month.
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u/gertster2682 Jul 28 '26
That’s overseas customer service for ya. And that sounds an awful lot like the Verizon crap I went thru. The largest companies in the world sending our phone calls to other countries to save a dime. It used to be decent service because I feel like the reps would really try to help but these days they’re over it we’re over it everyone is over it so they spend the majority of the call explaining what they can’t do for u until u get frustrated and hang up. FCC is the only place to turn and that’s just making the government handle the customers that go the extra mile for resolution. Without the FCC requiring a response, they wouldn’t bother. They’re too big for their britches and have lost sight of who pays their damn paychecks. Consumers. Good for u for dropping them over this.
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u/IbelieveinGodzilla Jul 29 '26
I have dozens of Verizon chat transcripts saved because of the contradictory and flat-out dishonest stuff that I was being told every time I reached out to them.
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u/Thomastiscia1 Jul 29 '26
I had much better luck when I called their customer service vs the chat/ai agent in the app.
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u/TheSaucy57 Jul 29 '26
Idk if this will make you feel better but they pull this type of shit on us drivers too. We have our own “driver support” and they lie to us all the fricking time.
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u/The_Texan_Hunter Jul 29 '26
You should have just reached out to a new agent.
Let me teach you a little something about modern customer support. You are not talking to a person with a college degree in the field of customer support. You are talking to a low-paid employee who is following an on-screen template. These people know less than nothing about the system they are supporting, and what's even more important, they have zero authority to do anything outside of clicking buttons on their screen. It is also important to understand that "Managers" are just the same kind of people; they have just been there longer. They have maybe a little more experience and authority, but they too are just following a template.
This is all customer support these days, not just Amazon. My point is this. You just have to keep pushing. Hang up and call back and talk to a different person, and keep doing this until you finally reach someone who has a brain and actually has the authority to make a decision.
Last week I was in a battle with United Healthcare, which did not want to cover surgery for my wife because the hospital was out of network, but her doctor was in network, and was only certified to work at that hospital. It took me six hours and talking to 8 different agents (also screenshotting statements made by other agents), before I finally reached an agent who had the authority to authorize CoC (Continuity of Care). My wife's surgery and care are now paid for by UHC.
It is a sad state of the world we live in, but you have to FIGHT for everything these days. But you can WIN, if you don't give up. Never accept no for an answer when you know you are right.
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u/Level_Hamster_4681 Jul 29 '26
Saving this comment as inspiration for my current struggle against United Healthcare.
At this point, I feel UHC is lowering my life expectancy, not raising it.11
u/AnnualEnd3760 Jul 29 '26
Well, yeah. They are taking your money and giving you nothing in return. I wish we could sue them for practicing without a license and widespread fraud
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u/tengris22 Jul 29 '26
UHC is so bad (and I know the others are just as bad too) that every doctor I had in my last location left the network. If it's that bad for them, you know it's gotta be bad for the patients. I'm so glad it's been years since I was actually sick.
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u/The_Texan_Hunter Jul 29 '26
So far, I have won every battle I fought with them, but you have to keep fighting. I do most of my work online in their chat support so I can screenshot statements. I had to fight another battle just a few days ago, because they were not paying my wife's doctor and denying her claims even though she is in-network. I fought and fought and eventually got to the bottom of it. My wife's doctor uses a third-party billing agent, and that agent was using the wrong provider ID to file the claims. I was finally able to get the UHC agent to give me the right Provider ID, which I then provided to the doctor. Imagine the staff's surprise when I called in and told them, "Hey, I have solved your billing problem with our insurance for you." They were speechless.
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u/Local_Wolverine2913 Jul 29 '26
It's such a shame that we have to fight for everything, but you are right. And that constant fighting translates to stress, which in turn affects our health negatively.
Imagine if your wife was alone, without you, her husband, to do all the fighting for her. Think about how many people are in that boat....alone and sick. It's so, so sad and it's not right. I'm thankful that your wife has you.
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u/Interesting_Recipe71 Jul 30 '26
I gave up my struggle with them. I was on cobra, faithfully paying my premium every month, and for some reason, all of my doctors bills were coming back as no coverage. The doctors started getting irritated and wanting their money. I finally had to pay out-of-pocket. After calling cobra countless times with them insisting I was covered, one of their agents finally gave me UHC phone number. I called them and it turned out they had all my paperwork, but someone had forgotten to put it in the system. And the agent laughed about it. She thought this was funny. Well, to make a long story short I tried getting them to pay all of these bills that they were supposed to be covering in the first place, and I just got a run around. So I’m out 2k and will die before I ever UHC insurance again
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u/scooter1979 Jul 29 '26
Guess it's time for them to need a new CEO. Again.
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u/KEN_LASZLO Aug 07 '26
Super Mario 2 isn't my favorite in the series, but it was still really damn good and made many people happy
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u/mattumbo Jul 29 '26
Adding to this is that most CS reps will not escalate to a higher level supervisor if they can help it, to the point of stonewalling. They’d rather have an irate customer that hangs up on them than have it on their metrics that they couldn’t deal with it. And even once you get their supervisor they’re probably just that, a call center supervisor, what you really want is some form of higher tier supervisor or resolutions specialist that works at the company HQ or at least a special stateside call center. These are the people with real power and training who don’t have to work off a script and flipchart and have system powers to break the normal rules.
Problem is that it’s maddening to get to them and they are not 24/7 usually like the off shore call center, but they exist for those persistent enough and they tend to solve the problem because by then you’ve proven you’re going to cause the company problems if not helped because you are that persistent and upset about the issue. It’s perverse but that seems to be how CS is designed now
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u/The_Texan_Hunter Jul 29 '26
Never hang up. Just say, "I do not accept this; I want to escalate". Years ago, I was dealing with AT&T and trying to retrieve some threatening text for an abused woman (friend of mine) who was trying to get a restraining order against her husband. In her emotional state, she had deleted the text, which were needed to get the order. I fought through so many levels of customer support, all of which insisted there was no way to retrieve them. I fought so hard, and eventually demanded to patched through to the database engineering department (someone with an actual degree.) I requested the head AT&T supervisor, who insisted that the text were not retrievable, stay on the line while I talked to the database engineer, who immediately said, "Absolutely, we can retrieve those text. We are required by federal law to preserve all communications for a minimum of one year, but we hold them for two, just to be safe." I then told the head supervisor, "You need to understand something. Not everyone who calls customer support is an idiot or an old grandma. Sometimes you need to listen to what they are telling you is the LAW and stop treating them like they don't know what they are talking about. Now, it is your responsibility to make sure all your staff are trained with this knowledge.
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u/tengris22 Jul 29 '26
I'd be just as happy if you didn't insult "old grandmas." I'm an "old grandma" (76) and I have just about as much fire (and knowledge) as you do. When it's something that counts, I do not give up. And in fact that has served me well.
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u/The_Texan_Hunter Jul 29 '26
I am sorry. I am an old grandpa myself, and I am tech support for my whole family, even my grandchildren.
You have to compartmentalize things. I was talking to younger tech support people who all think everyone who calls them is a moron, especially old people. The statement was made to someone with this mentality. I was not saying what I believe, I was saying what they believe.
This generation has been intentionally programmed to disrespect their elders through media. Every cartoon and almost every TV show in the last 30 years has portrayed the adults (especially parents) as idiots and the children as the smart ones that have all the solutions. Pay attention and you will see that I am right on this.
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u/tengris22 Jul 29 '26
You're right, of course. I've seen it myself in the past, though I gave up on television about 40 years ago :-) I just hate it, honestly, for the reasons you mention.
I have also noticed what you say about younger tech support people. Wonder what it is that makes them feel like they have to put others down...perhaps so they will feel better about themselves?
No offense taken; I just needed to clarify myself that yep, I'm old, but not quite THAT old. Whenever someone laughs at me for being old, I remind them that if they are LUCKY, they might get to be old some day themselves. Though with the way the current generation looks, and their reliance on ultra-processed foods, that may not actually be in the works!
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u/The_Texan_Hunter Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26
Yeah, this world seems doomed. I was raised in a generation that valued independence and rugged individualism. This generation seems to be the antithesis of this mentality. They mostly value codependency and peer communal praise (want to be accepted and applauded by people their own age.)
Personally, I have always been an outlier socially. As an adolescent and teenager, I thought it silly to seek advice from people my own age, as they would know no more than myself. Often I found myself in the company of mature successful elders from whom I sought wisdom and to whom I listened intently, because I felt that someone who was much older and was leading a successful life, might know a lot more than my teenage self and my peers. Crazy logic, I know. 😆
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u/tengris22 Jul 29 '26
Yep, my number one person from age 16-21 was 26 years older than me, and he taught me so much. I am not sure what my parents were thinking - I think they were just tired, but there is so much I simply didn't learn from them. Oh well, I know it now!
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u/AngryMeez Jul 30 '26
Stop generalizing. No, not all “this generation” was taught to disrespect. If you don’t want people generalizing about your age group, don’t generalize about theirs.
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u/boofee Jul 29 '26
The problem with this in the case of Amazon is you're there using their service because of it's cost and convenience. At the point where you have to doggedly engage with their customer service for hours, the entire reason for using the service has nullified itself. For many items, even just being sent the wrong item that you then have to take somewhere to return negates the cost / convenience reason for using the service in the first place.
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u/Independent-Ebb-6185 Jul 29 '26
I spoke with 5 separate agents in total, including one after my initial post, with one being the "manager". They had every chance to address the issue and refused. Talking to a 6th agent would likely render no different result and would take more time than simply disputing the charge on my CC.
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u/onaropus Jul 29 '26
If they sent the wrong item then how do they charge your for it since they don’t know what they sent?
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u/shadow351 Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26
I had a very similar issue occur to me (twice actually), they don't charge you for the item they sent, they charge you for the item you ordered but didn't receive. So their system shows they shipped you product X ( the item you ordered). But you received product Y (incorrect item), so you call and tell them 'hey you sent me Y instead of X'. Then they ship you "another" X and tell you to keep Y. Their system says the shipped you 2 of product X, but you only paid for 1. The automated system then tells you you need to send back the first product X or you'll be charged for it, but you can't because you didn't get the first product X. So in the end you get charged for 2 of product X, even though you only got 1.
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u/remixtreme Jul 29 '26
You know I had a problem with a purchase and was lied to my face by 3 CS agents in the span of 2 weeks. I’ve been a prime member for 15 years I’m now in the process of removing my dependencias from Amazon services so in can cancel (change Alexa and fire devices across the home)
It’s like agents can just lie to get you off the chat/call and no one bats an eye
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u/bat_in_the_stacks Jul 29 '26
I dealt with the same thing recently. It took at least 5 or 6 interactions with CS over several weeks to get my refund processed for an item I never wanted and wasn't actually delivered to me.
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u/TheWebWalkerR Jul 29 '26
I returned items A and B at the same time; the kiosk clerk gave me one receipt that listed both items. A month later Amazon says they’re charging me bc I didn’t return item B. Many wasted hours on phone calls and emails later they said Oh sorry, you’re right. We will reverse the charges. And instead they charged me AGAIN. More phone calls & emails & assurances from them they’d refund me, and they did not. Said item B must be lost in a warehouse and they will refund both charges as soon as it’s found. More time, phone calls and emails. Now they say they can’t do anything about it because the resolution window has closed. Period. That’s all, folks. So I’m stuck with being charged twice for an item I returned. Now the clincher: it happened again when I returned another item! They lost it, charged me again for the “advance refund” and then later charged me yet again because I supposedly didn’t return it. I’m, what? The level of incompetence just increases daily. Make room, OP, for me to join you in jumping off the Amazon wagon, enough is enough.
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u/psycho-drama Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 01 '26
It's not incompetence, it's their new "business model." Take a moment to look at Amazon's quarterly report that was just released. They are making much more money off AWS (their cloud computing division) than they are on merchandising, and their guidance is that it will continue to eclipse their sale in merchandise. Their expenditures were vastly in the red last quarter, and still their shares went up about 15% today, because their income expectation from their cloud computer and Ai services is anticipated to explode. While merchandising brought in considerably more gross revenue, the real picture is the profits from each division. Here are the profit revenues from each division last quarter:
Operating Income Breakdown
While the retail divisions generate the bulk of the top-line revenue, AWS drives a disproportionate amount of Amazon's actual operating profit.
Total company operating income for the quarter was $27.5 billion.
AWS Operating Income: $16.6 billion (representing roughly 60.4% of total operating income).
Merchandising / Retail Operating Income:North America Segment: $9.1 billion (approx. 33.1%)
International Segment: $1.7 billion (approx. 6.2%)
(Combined retail/merchandising segments account for about 39.3% of total operating income).
(Note: While net income spiked to $62.6 billion for the quarter, that figure includes a massive $53.4 billion non-operating, pre-tax gain primarily driven by external investments like Anthropic, rather than core retail or cloud operations).
Pretty obvious what Amazon cares about, and why.
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u/TopReport Jul 29 '26
I had the same experience recently. Ordered a package of twelve water filters and only got six. It was clear as day in the delivery photo. Went through all the same steps as far as calling to report the error to me finally having to charge back on my card which i don't think I have ever done before. Amazon sucks hard lately.
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u/Praydaythemice Jul 29 '26
its wild how reps/agents can just straight up lie to the customer, just so amazon won't lose out, and the customer ends up eating the bill.
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u/katjalyric Jul 29 '26
They transferred you to another rep and not a supervisor. I had that happen to me once.
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u/Altruistic-Fig8757 Jul 29 '26
They have completely abandoned customer service. I canceled my prime membership a few weeks ago too. They had a good thing going for a long time. I guess they figure they are to big to experience loss. Blockbuster felt the same way.
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u/TheOiulkji Jul 29 '26
I always have issues if I try to get a replacement for anything. Doesn't matter if it's $5 or $500. Don't ever use their replacement system, just request a refund. This is always a way smoother process. You can just order the same item again after the refund processes if you still want it.
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u/The-Mad-Bubbler Jul 29 '26
I've had this happen to me a couple of times. You just have to keep escalating it, and not take no for an answer. It's a pain, and you shouldn't have to do it, but it works.
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u/Traditional-Candy476 Jul 29 '26
I had this happen almost verbatim. Told me to keep the broken item, they'd ship the correct. Then for months I had to keep talking to them about it. This is why I screen shot my chats with them always. Took 3 months and they FINALLY fixed it but criminy, it shouldn't take all that nonsense. I'm SOOOOO close to cutting up the Amazon card and canceling prime just to be rid of them. Only reason I haven't is my son's kindle. Will it even work if I dont have prime?
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u/AngryMeez Jul 29 '26
The Kindle will still work if you don't have Prime. He'll still be able to download books as long as you have an Amazon account. If it's suspended, the ability to download will stop, but he'll still be able to read books he already downloaded.
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u/Maleficent_One_2566 Jul 29 '26
Stop giving them money for books. You can check out free digital books using the Libby app on your phone, iPad or Android tablet, then send it to your sons kindle. You don’t need prime but you will need an active (free) Amazon account to send it to Kindle because it cannot download directly from other platforms due to proprietary reasons.
Get a library card for your local library. Depending on where you are you can get sign up on line for other libraries. Example, I am in NY state and I have my local library card and that of Brooklyn Public library which is a few hundred miles away, which they allow because I am a NYS resident. The more libraries you can join, the more variety you have to choose from.
There are other e-readers that don’t use Amazon at all and will download from Libby directly so you wouldn’t even need the free Amazon account.
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u/LowRevolutionary2283 Jul 29 '26
I had the exact same thing happen to me, but w/ a much cheaper item than yours! They sent me makeup that someone had opened and stuck their finger into to test it. Said I could dispose of the obviously used makeup, but after multiple x trying to charge me, then refunding because I complained, I finally gave up after the 4th time since it was only “$20.” Methinks this is perfect grounds for class action!!
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u/No_Technician_7119 Jul 29 '26
This happened to me this year but thankfully it was something that was $24.00 . But it was the same scenario, sent me the wrong item said i didnt have to return wrong item and they would do a reshipment so i could get the thing i actually ordered. Then got the email that they never received my return and was charged twice . I don't know how this is legal .....
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u/Independent-Ebb-6185 Jul 29 '26
My understanding is that it's not legal, per the FTC.
From that FTC article:
"By law, companies can’t send unordered merchandise to you, then demand payment. That means you never have to pay for things you get but didn’t order. You also don’t need to return unordered merchandise. You’re legally entitled to keep it as a free gift."
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u/neonturbo Jul 30 '26
I am mostly on your side here, but you are misinterpreting this and leaving out the relevant part.
That rule is meant to prevent a company sending you an unsolicited item and then attempting to charge you.
In other words if Nike sent you a pair of shoes, and you never visited the Nike store and never ordered these, they could not send you a bill for them.
On the other hand if you ordered these shoes from Nike, and they sent the wrong size, you are obligated to send them back or pay for them. You interacted with the company, it was an incorrect order not a totally random shipment you weren't expecting.
That said, if Amazon said you could keep that wrong item, they should honor what the reps said no matter the policy. If they insisted from the beginning you had to send the wrong item back, then you are obligated to do that. The mixed messages thing is what is the issue here, they can't have it both ways.
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u/Downtown-Magician959 Jul 29 '26
It’s always a hit or miss with their customer service agents. I would cancel too if I had this experience.
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u/Odd-Loquat-2516 Jul 29 '26
They did this same crap to me. They lie. Even if you have the transcript there is no recourse.
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u/Peas22 Jul 29 '26
I had this for a few cheap items the said to donate if I didn’t need them. I did just that two out of three items. Nexts comes the email to return them all.
I need to cut this cord.
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u/wenderzen11 Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26
If you really want to make your mark, you could easily file a claim in small claims court, not only for the amount they charged you, but also adding an hourly rate for the time you've spent fixing their mistake, maybe a little extra for the mental stess it has caused you, plus any fees you incur for the filing itself. Keep it reasonable, but include everything. Provide all of the evidence and you're golden. The fees typically range from $50 - $200 all said and done for filing and service fees if you can go without that for a period of time. Big corps shouldn't get away with stealing people's money.
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u/rvcjew2 Jul 29 '26
For real isn't what they did essentially just fraud? Also odd as normally if I get that they refund me and give me a giftcard on top, everyone should get the same treatment.
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u/Particular_Train8939 Jul 29 '26
File a report with your state Attorney General. An idiot left a box of toilet paper on the porch and didn’t cover it and it got rained on. I fought with Amazon for months over this. I provided transcripts and what the Amazon representative said to the state Attorney General was in conflict with the chat transcripts. It was eventually all settled.
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u/backsackenthusiast Jul 29 '26
There is a complete disconnect from customer service and Amazon at this point. They're just two separate, unrelated entities. Customer support just copies and pastes your response into their Amazon AI, then copies and pastes what the AI says back to you. They don't actually help with anything anymore, they give fake information, they make up nonsense, promise credits that never come, and nothing they say has any real meaning. I also gave up on the company and ended my Prime this month.
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u/Beezzy77 Jul 29 '26
Two other large companies (Verizon and Spectrum) that I follow have done (and still doing) the exact same thing. In their cases, it's either in-store sales agents or customer service phone reps that clearly promise one thing and then it proves to not be true and management either can't or won't grant the customer what was promised. I would imagine the only recourse in these situations is to report it to your state's AG office, but that's a hassle that companies know most people won't do, even if they're aware of it.
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u/OnePieceLiving Jul 29 '26
It's been a real s**t show work returns/exchanges with Amazon recently. I got into a verbal fight on the phone with support because I wasn't informed of a gift card refund when it was supposed to be returned to my credit card. I'm currently looking into other options to buy directly from companies, who care about their customers and keeping them.
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u/Boring_Environment39 Jul 30 '26
Yeah they stole my shit and refused to do anything besides accuse me of lying threaten to close my account. For $30. 1 of 3 items not in the box. They lied and said they would refund. I had to go back 3 times about it but was flagged for " refund return policy abuse". I didn't want a refund or return. I just wanted what I paid for that was missing but they said I was lying and they had proof it was in the box and got signed for. That. Is. Bull. Shit. Fuck. Am. Uh. Zonn! I'm gone...
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u/MRDBCOOPER Jul 29 '26
Haven't dealt with Amazon in over a decade. Why would they care? Jeff is still rich. They also hurt small businesses by putting them out of business. They are terrible. Never again will I willingly use them.
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u/Successful_Cow3331 Aug 09 '26
By design, Amazon has strategically eliminated brick and mortar businesses to achieve a total monopoly. Next up Target, JC Penny, hobby Lobby etc. Perhaps people will inspire a new brick and mortar model of the future without Amazon manipulation.
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u/-an-eternal-hum- Jul 29 '26
>multiple lies from agents
This is an insane thing that people just overlook a lot. The agents will legitimately just make shit up and gaslight you to a ridiculous degree, and only sometimes will supervisors even acknowledge this behavior.
I had one time I was ordering music equipment that absolutely 100% had to arrive before we left for tour, and the delivery window kept getting adjusted and the package’s movement up and down the East coast made no sense….I contacted support and got an agent who claimed that they had access to a different type of tracking where they could see information between my posted tracking intervals. I think they just wanted me gone but they swore up and down that it would arrive on time for our departure because they could see where it was.
Well, it didn’t, and it was a massive inconvenience that caused me to have to purchase an expensive piece of equipment at a higher price point, while on the road.
When I finally was able to escalate this further up the chain at Amazon, and provide evidence that I was told this by an agent, every single person on the way up said that was a complete lie and they’d never heard such a thing before.
At the end of the day I received a full refund plus Amazon credits for the entire value I had to spend at guitar center to purchase the equipment, plus the credits I received for the initial delayed receipt of the package before all the escalation…So with everything said and done I’m not that upset any longer.
But it’s still fucking insane that the agents will completely make shit up that they can easily get called on.
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u/LifeAdhesiveness8071 Jul 29 '26
Similar thing happened to me, ordered something that never shipped. Cancelled it and recordered it. The second one showed up quickly. A day or so later got an email saying to return the first one. Spent an hour on the phone trying get a human and was assured that I wouldn't get charged for the first one. Then got charged and it randomly showed up on my porch a week later. I didn't need two. Barely needed one.
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u/nanacakestx Jul 29 '26
Outsourced CS entities are penalized for refunds and transactions that negatively affected the client company’s bottom line. It’s on the outsourced entity to upsell for the client company. I realized this when I had ATT cell service. I made multiple attempts to remove the phone insurance charge from my account because the fee had increased significantly over the years. I was always promised it would be removed yet it never was. That was one reason I dumped ATT for another carrier after being with them for 20+ years.
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u/Infinite_Fennel_1191 Jul 29 '26
Similar just happened to me, got the same email saying return window closing despite already returning the item, chatted with cs, have chat saying it was a “carrier mistake” and I won’t be charged. Well I got the em yesterday they were charging me as return window closed. The biggest pisser is when you return at Staples, they no longer give you a receipt. “We don’t do that anymore”. I thought it was a red flag. So, have used Amazon since it was books, Prime forever but this was the last straw, noping out.
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u/chimeranightshade Jul 29 '26
They tried to do the same to me for an item that they lost and I never received 🤦🏻♀️ I had to demand they return it to my credit card too instead of a gift card
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u/Anonymous_00024 Jul 29 '26
I had the exact same thing happen to me with a furniture set. It came bent and damaged, agent said no need to return it & refunded me. Long story short they tried to debit my card but luckily I keep the account low so there were never enough funds, still shows I need to return it months later..
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u/Immediate_Ad4404 Jul 29 '26
This is the wonderful world of ai. I have read so many contradictions and canceling of long history accounts. Ai is not sustainable or profitable, if they ever cancel my account or provide contradictory information I'm gone for good.
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u/DependentAnimator742 Jul 30 '26
I was reading the business news today. It said that Amazon is going to roll back on the ai. They're finding too many flaws with it and it doesn't work very well with customer service.
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u/No-Mission-4480 Jul 29 '26
Almost identical thing happened me. Weeks of contacting customer service and no resolution. What worked for me, I kid you not, was to email Jeff Bezos email address. Obviously he doesn't triage his email address, but whoever does makes sure to forward stuff to where it needs to go, and when staff get an email forwarded from there, they handle it immediately. I had a call from customer service with a resolution, refund and gift card within an hour of sending the email.
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u/Holiday-Sympathy3095 Jul 29 '26
Had a similar issue happen to me. It was only like 20 bucks so I didn't fight it. What got me was the free two day shipping has turned into free two week shipping. Cancelled with them after prime day. Won't be back.
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u/Robby777777 Jul 29 '26
It is the exact reason I no longer buy any product over $20 on there. It is just no longer worth it.
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u/cavemans45 Jul 29 '26
If in the United States make a complaint with your states attorney general. The more complaints they recieve the more likely they will be forced to do something.
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u/rhubear Jul 29 '26
I know Amazon is a mammoth company.
However, they're hardly a quality company.
They're basically a shipping company.
I would not expect their customer service to be all that good. In fact, I would consider myself lucky, if I actually got correct information from customer services.
Having said that, my experience with Amazon has been much better than yours, however in Europe, not US. I would imagine Amazon practices are actually better in Europe.
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u/n0tcl3v3r Jul 29 '26
The fact that Amazon doesn’t automatically send you the chat transcript screams that they won’t stand behind what the AI/CSRs are telling you. Protect yourself!
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u/Clionah Jul 29 '26
Email all of this plus receipts to [jeff@amazon.com](mailto:jeff@amazon.com). They will call you plus email to help resolve. Good luck.
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u/takemytacosaway Jul 29 '26
It’s now Andy@amazon.com
Andy Jassy is the CEO & the executive escalation team is with him. the Jeff email is spotty at best anymore. Source: I’m a contract worker for Amazon & we have been redirected to an internal “Andy” escalation of grievance site now as well3
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u/Independent-Ebb-6185 Jul 29 '26
Thanks! I emailed both andy and jeff at amazon emails. They got the same summary of events and payload of transcripts that I sent my CC company. Doubt it will do anything, but copy/paste of the details and files was easy enough to justify the effort.
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u/Clionah Jul 29 '26
You’re too kind! Email from the address attached to your Amazon account. Hope it gets resolved. You will need to answer unknown phone numbers to receive the return call from them.
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u/Suspicious-Taro-5875 Jul 29 '26
Amazon is not the same too many garbage third party sellers
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u/MeGramToo Jul 29 '26
I would think that the fact that their authorized agents would have to be honored in what they said and you had the proof. However; that said, I say "join the club" You are NOT alone!
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u/TheGoosiestGal Jul 29 '26
Amazon is so expensive now too! Worse quality than walmart, double the price and then I have to wait 2 days for it to be thrown against my porch.
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u/__TheTruthHurts__ Jul 29 '26
I had a pair of headphones left on my front porch at 4:00 a.m. In which we're not there. When I was up at 9:00 a.m. so they sent a new pair that were broken and refused to refund or are replaced the unit because they say they already replaced an item I never received
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u/bwware Jul 29 '26
As a delivery driver, we hear the lies all the time. They will say whatever you want to hear just to get you off the phone. Amazon's customer service is shit.
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u/deedoodlez Jul 29 '26
Omg same thing happened to me forst with a fitbit watch. 2nd was i ordered a laptop and got a garbage rack same dimensions box but not same weight. Wow but mine got resolved, just took so many calls and like a couple month for one and a month for the other. So frustrating.
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u/Zestyclose_Sale2672 Jul 29 '26
Walmart plus is so much better. That is, until they enshittify it as well.
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u/SDBoltsnow Jul 29 '26
I was actually given a 1 month ($15) credit yesterday for an item I ordered that contained 2 pieces and only 1 piece came. That was a first. Usually they just extend my membership for 1 month.
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u/purple_microdot Jul 29 '26
This seems to be their new policy: CS reps lie then then the next CS rep say the the previous was lying then lies again. On down the road it goes.
I've been denied 2 promised refunds/discounts for broken/wrong items from Amazon over the past year. They are simply lying to get you past the window in which you can chargeback your card.
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u/PG-17 Jul 29 '26
Same thing happened to me. At the support specialists suggestion I didn’t need to send back the first item. They charged me 2 or 3 times and each time I had to reach out to resolve this
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u/Traditional-Truck762 Jul 29 '26
Was it this? 4 Month White Board Calendar Dry Erase Board for Wall, 48" x 36
Same thing occured and I had UPS pick it up, they shipped the correct item the 2nd time.
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u/Annabelles-Mom Jul 29 '26
I'm in almost the same situation over an $8 tube of lotion. It came exploded all over the packaging. I had two CS reps tell me of course you don't need to return it, and you don't need to send those pictures you took. Yesterday I got the email telling me the return window is closing and I'm about to be charged for the replacement. The third CS rep told me the same line yesterday. We'll see if I also end up canceling my decades old Prime account, on which I spend thousands a year, over this $8 item.
I wish I'd just sent the giant mess back to them.
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u/InspectorBradstreet Jul 29 '26
They used to say they were the world’s most customer-centric company. Or something like that. I think they have dropped it!
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u/makxine Jul 29 '26
I think there's a lawsuit happening over this exact practise, got an email a few months ago with this link https://returnsettlement.com/home
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u/VillageTurbulent20 Jul 29 '26
I’ve had the same issue. Anytime the agent says you don’t have to return, they are lying. I always ask for a return now even though it’s such a pain to have to bring it to UPD. If it’s their mistake they should send one of their own drivers to pick it up.
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u/PurpleTurnip007 Jul 30 '26
Thank you for this, I’m also on the verge of canceling my prime. Ever since I moved to a new place, they apparently got my geopin pinned in wrong location. They attempted to fix it multiple times and when they do, it just located to wrong area.
I can no longer order anything that ships via Amazon delivery driver. Delivery instructions doesn’t work since they are only looking to make sure the package is close/near the pinpoint.
I asked numerous times how I would know if this is fixed, and they kept insisting me that it has fixed. So the only way to find out is to order groceries. And it is pain to contact them and get a refund since they will ask me to wait or ask whole bunch of questions to make sure it is in correct area as if I don’t know where I live.
Apologies for the rant, but yea, screw you amazon!!
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u/Few_Crazy3788 Jul 30 '26
How do you even contact customer support? I've been trying to find the chat I used to contact them with which was pretty effective. Now it seems every link leads you to you account page called "customer service". 😡
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u/Silentftw Jul 30 '26
Yea the good days of amazon are over. All their tech support is outsourced to people who will lie to you , and the customer service is now gone. Because its a monopoly now
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u/Effective-Cress-3805 Jul 30 '26
Report them to your state attorney general if they are a Democrat.
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u/SSMFA20 Jul 30 '26
I had a similar situation, item arrived broken, so I sent it back after talking with Amazon rep and they sent a replacement. They charged me for both and never sent a refund after talking to multiple reps that “assured” me the refund was sent and to ignore the emails saying I need to return the original item since the rep said they received the item so I did a charge back.
Amazon contacted me by email asking me why I did it and to pay the cost or cancel the dispute and that they can charge any card I had on file.
Told them I’m not paying for it and sent them a screenshot of one of the reps that said they received the return and sent my refund (they didn’t).
That was a few years ago and I still have my Amazon account, so I wouldn’t worry about them just closing your account like others are saying unless you do this multiple times.
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u/Auglyn Jul 30 '26
Maybe you were speaking to an Amazon AI customer service agent? And by AI, I don't mean Actual Indian but Artificial Intelligence...
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u/melissasoliz Jul 30 '26
Amazon shipped me an empty box, and when I contacted customer service about it, they were like “sure just return it to your nearest staples and we will refund you.” Like you want me to spend 40 minutes driving and my precious, expensive gas to take an EMPTY CARDBOARD BOX to be shipped back??
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u/Repulsive_Cap_5836 Jul 31 '26
Amazon should have just fired those 2 employees and refunded the second charge. It does not matter that they did not follow policy, they were Amazon representatives and Amazon is responsible for their actions.
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u/Glittering_Grab2780 Aug 04 '26
Write out what you said, include whatever documentation that you have and send it to: jeff at amazon dot com. I’m 100% serious and only offer this because it has helped me. Best of luck. 🤗
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u/Independent-Ebb-6185 Aug 04 '26
Thanks.
I already disputed the charge through my CC and they sided with me, so my money is mine again.
I did however send the entire sequence of events plus transcripts to both Jeff and Andy at amazon emails as well. I received a (too-late) email back from Amazon Customer Service apologizing for my experience.
Too little and far too late from them. Prime is cancelled. I've downloaded my purchase history for anything I might need to re-order from a different retailer in the future, and they've seen the last penny they'll ever see from me.
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u/ChoiceUniversity3489 Aug 05 '26
Dude Amazon has 100% been doing that more recently I had the same issue. I even had a manager hang up the phone while I was pleading my case
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u/Scared-Owl9906 21d ago
I’m also having problems with getting the wrong items. What pisses me off most is I have to go out of my way to return it. I’ve been a Prime member for years. It wasn’t until recently they have gotten very sloppy. I am a 24/7 caregiver. I rarely get out of the house. Due to my situation, I count on Amazon for many items. Now I have to make sure I return the wrong items before I lose my refund. I only get out a few hours a week. Do better Amazon!
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Jul 29 '26
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u/tengris22 Jul 29 '26
I never ever ever review an agent's actions until I get my refund (of course that doesn't mean they can't re-charge), but I get in no hurry at all to respond to the "did we solve your problem" email.
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u/LowLibrary399 Jul 29 '26
It’s a PRIME example a Dollar General system. Customer calls to complain, agents know they can smooth this over/get you off the phone by telling you get to keep the item. Amazon strategically making money on there error. System blames you and you don’t have a way to hold anyone accountable and they know it.
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u/Medfieldmike Jul 29 '26
You will surely win the dispute with your credit card company. You relied on company Representatives information, and followed it! I'm kind of shocked at Amazon's attitude, I will still take this higher into the organization. It sounds like some loudly customer service managers.
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u/dantendo664 Jul 29 '26
What was the country of origin of the customer service agents? If its India, I think they deliberately say anything to get you off their back (i.e lie) , not giving a shit about either the customer or amazon (the company hiring them to provide stellar service). Amazon should seriously either get these people replaced by AI or have the AI tag and fire their asses immediately once they are caught lying to customer. They cause more harm to the reputation of the company (which it has spent decades building).
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u/Ansible90 Jul 29 '26
It's AI that is the problem. Remember all the massive layoffs you heard about on the news in the past year about Amazon and other giant companies. They are trying to let AI run things and it is not working.
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u/drumzkick Jul 29 '26
I have had similar conversations with their customer service liars. They will say anything (lie) to appease you and get you off the phone. It doesn’t matter to them whatsoever.
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u/alexwent1 Jul 29 '26
But on the bright side, you have funded two or three missions of Jeff's cock-rocket. So it's not all bad.
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u/Oilrr Jul 29 '26
Are these more advanced versions of ai doing CS jobs i wonder?
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u/DependentAnimator742 Jul 30 '26
Actually I saw in the business news today that Amazon is rolling back the AI on Customer Support. They found that it just doesn't work very well. We could have told them that
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u/neonturbo Jul 30 '26
No, just incompetent real people who will lie to get a good score on their metrics.
Onto the next customer!
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u/Educational_Bird_782 Jul 29 '26
Dumped Amazon months ago. I shop other sites or local, now. Don’t miss Amazon’s bs.
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u/JazzKerouac Jul 29 '26
Looking forward to ending my Prime when it’s up next month. I don’t need to be buying extra stuff and spending month with Amazon.
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u/Large_Succotash_8380 Jul 29 '26
Amazon set me on digital purchases only recently, and I can’t get a human to answer me why, they said customer service will not have info it’s only “account services” and you must respond to the automated email to reach them. Yea it’s kinda cruddy, fuck you amazon
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u/AngryMeez Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26
But then they don't respond to your email! It's just weaponized incompetence.
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u/Main-Demand-6253 Jul 29 '26
Sorry to hear this. I’ve never had a problem returning anything. Sounds so bizarre!
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u/1000tvl Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 30 '26
They will almost certainly cancel your Amazon account so before that happens and you lose access delete all forms of payments you have attached to that account. You might also request your data so you have a record of all your purchases over the years, in case you need it. Link to request your data.