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Friday, June 17, 2011

Amazon is Purposefully Pushing My Buttons

A while ago I blogged about the fact that someone complained to me that I spend too much time complaining about me.  I hope this doesn't violate any rules.

I've mentioned before that I bought a new laptop.  I actually went to the store and purchased the laptop.

It's a big laptop, but, in general, the purpose of a laptop is that they are easily transportable.  I like transporting laptops in backpacks so I began looking for a backpack which would hold a 17.3 inch G73SW ASUS laptop.

The first one I tried, I bought because one of the reviewers said, "Even though this backpack says 17, I put my 17.3 laptop in there with room to spare!"  I thought, "Excellent!  This will do fine!"

Swiss Gear Ibex 17-Inch Notebook BackpackSo, I ordered it and it didn't.  I had to call the folks that sent it to me and see about getting a refund or exchange.  They wouldn't exchange it so I was forced to get a refund.  A $75 backpack costs $12 to ship back.  It was turning into an expensive task.  For the curious, I ordered the backpack from DataVision, but via Amazon.  I still haven't actually received my refund.  They said it may take 10 days so that they can maximize the profits via interest rates on my money.

Targus XL Backpack Designed for 17 Inch Notebooks TXL617 (Black with Blue Accents)Anyway, I decided to be more specific and look for a backpack where someone actually claims that the G73SW (specifically) would fit in the darn thing.  And I found it.  At Amazon.  So, I ordered it.  This one was a bit cheaper and one of the reviewers actually wrote, "It's like this backpack was made for my G73SW!"  I figured I couldn't go wrong.

Four days after I ordered it, Amazon finally shipped it from Mesquite.  For those of you who don't know where Mesquite is, it's in East Dallas.  I live in Northwest Dallas.  I was already irritated because I had basically waited 5 days for a bag that could have shipped on day one from a site that was within 40 miles.

I ordered on June 8th.  On June 14th, I get a "post-it" from UPS saying that the sender shipped an empty box so they had refused it on my behalf.  UPS has never done me wrong so I tend to trust them.  Of course, I supposed someone could have crushed the box and the backpack could have slipped out.  Or someone at UPS was in need of just such a pack and took it.

Next day I get an email from Amazon saying they would like to "apologize on behalf of UPS for damaging my package during transit".  No indication of what would happen next.  Just an apology.  It's like, "We know you just spent $60 on a bag, but we're claiming UPS lost it and we are offering our condolences on their behalf, but you are shit out of luck."

Of course, this completely overloaded my low dose of blood pressure medication so I fired off an email calling people stupid and moronic and various other expletives without actually cussing.  I wanted to make sure it got past all the email filters.

I checked my order status periodically during the day, thinking to myself that Amazon would do the right thing and ship me a replacement overnight.  They didn't.  Eventually, the status of the order was updated to indicate that "the customer refused the order and the purchase amount was refunded."  So, I got pissed off again and called their 800 number.

I friendly man answered the phone and was immediately sympathetic to my plight (he probably had access to the email I wrote earlier predicting he'd be a moron).  He said he couldn't just ship me the order since the money had already been "refunded", but I could order it again and he'd insure that I could get upgraded shipping for free.  "Very good," I say, "Thanks for your help."  I ordered the backpack again with upgraded shipping.

This all happened two days ago and Amazon still has not shipped the backpack.  I got upgraded shipping but it apparently still takes them a week to not put the backpack into a box.  Oh, and I got an email today indicating that my "order that I refused had been refunded, but it'd take up to 10 days to credit my account while they maximize interest rate profits off of their mistake".

I've always been 90% satisfied with Amazon.  But this is causing me to rethink my ways.  Now I want to return my kindle and buy a nook instead.  Damn Amazonians.

2 comments:

  1. Why don't you just go to Fry's?

    And maybe think of finding a different hobby than constantly buying and returning things. This can't be good for your health.

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  2. That would require me getting off my lazy ass and going to the store. Of course, the boxing stuff up and sending it back does not exactly lend itself to my lackadaisical attitude.

    Upon looking at the Fry's website, they do seem to have the exact backpack I ordered. It's $17 more and I'd have to pay taxes, but at this point; think of all the stress I would have saved.

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