Fucking Amazon

[terry.330]

I ordered Blade Runner and Predator on 4k UHD from Amazon, not from a 3rd party seller. Both arrived in non factory shrink-wrap that look like it was done at home with a hair dryer. Under the crappy shrink-wrap there were still pieces of the factory cellophane stuck to the spine and corners. The cases all beat to shit and wavy from heat damage, (I assume from someone re-shrinking them with a heat gun) inserts all dinged up and discs floating around and the case on BR was cracked to shit. It took a fucking month to get a replacement for Blade Runner and it still looked suspect as hell. I just got Predator today and it's just as bad. I'm also pretty sure they were supposed to come with cardboard slip cases.

They are definitely recycling returned items and selling them as new. I looked around and there doesn't seem to be much talk about this but it's happening for sure.

Shady as fuck.

 

[@M]

Sometimes the cases have cracks in them, and discs come loose inside during transit (especially when they ship in an envelope instead of a box), but, I've never experienced shrink wrap reapplied like you're describing on any DVDs or CDs I've gotten from Amazon or elsewhere. I did buy a different "like new" returned item on Amazon recently, with a damaged, taped up box, but, that condition was noted in the listing, so, I knew about it going in and was okay with that in exchange for the big discount on it.

 

[mjmjr25]

I've had this a lot lately. A lot being like 8-10% of items. Higher % on electronics / media / sports equipment and much less / none on things like food stuffs, office type supplies, etc.

2-3 day deliver is non-existent even w/prime. They used to offer return and even refund in some cases, now they just tell you to come back in 48 hours after it's past due and then offer a digital credit or return. On returns it's hit and miss - sometimes they cover shipping, sometimes they cover if you return it to a UPS hub (40 minutes away), and in a few cases they haven't covered return shipping. Customer service is really changing as our their policies. I'm some abused their good policies and prompted the change. As a non-abuser, it's poor and i'm using them much less.

My dad's big gift was a HD projector. Sent to him in Texas, direct from Amazon. He opened it on a zoom on Christmas day....it was so obviously a used / returned item. He called the next day and they actually tried to have him try it before accepting a return. Long story short we did eventually get a return on it, but a huge bummer.

 

[Syn]

I recently ordered a Sega Genesis mini 2 and the shipping box was damaged to the point you could see the mini

 

[StevenK]

They fucked with the standard version of prime music to the point it became unusable

 

[terry.330]

I know discs can come loose in shipping, that's not uncommon but this is something else. The damage to the cases is not just from shipping to me and the re-sealing is flea market level DIY shit. I wouldn't be surprised if they have people at their return centers repacking things that look "acceptable" and sending them back to their warehouses.

I'd say out of the last year maybe 15-20% of my stuff has been messed up in one way or another but these two were so obvious and it happening back to back that it really pissed me off.

Also I know they have been selling EU region video games as US a lot lately. I've heard multiple people complaining about that irl and online.

 

[Syn]

Yeah, Amazon doesn't mention the region certain movies are. There were people who bought the Gamera Showa Era collection not knowing it was PAL. Most of us can tell by the movie's case what region it's for but I don't expect the average yahoo to know.

 

[@M]

The only "problem" I had with Amazon recently is that they sent me an item with the shipping labels just slapped onto the retail box, no outer box or envelope. It arrived in good condition despite that laziness, and the box is going in recycling anyway, so, no biggie.

 

[StevenK]

Another gripe I've had with amazon recently is the alexa thing has a shopping feature and will ask me, unprompted, if I want to reorder something I ordered before. It doesn't give a shit who hears and then says yes to this, so my kids think it's funny as fuck to say yes everytime and now I have about 400 rolls of packing tape.

 

[Hattori Hanzo]

They mix their stock with 3rd party stock. You shouldn't buy perfume for that reason. I once returned a movie twice because they're idiots. Also stopped ordering records from them unless it's a price bug.

 

[terry.330]

I just inspected the copy of Predator that came today more closely and it still has pieces of the factory cellophane stuck to the spine under the shrink-wrap as well.

 

[Ralfakick]

I don’t have prime so I end up ordering whatever to meet the $25 min usually. I had to order something recently so I threw on the Pacman Collection for PS4 which was like $14 or something. The orders were through Amazon and not a third party and whatever else I ordered and this when I opened the box this is what they sent me “new”. Again this was new unopened and I had not “opened” it yet this is what it looked like out of the box



And there weren’t blue pieces in the box, so this is how someone picked it and sent it to me it wasn’t damaged in route.

 

[Lagduf]

Prime is a garbage service now. Won’t be renewing this year.

Though I’ve been lucky to not get any used items/fakes/etc.

 

[@M]

They offer a free month of Prime, every now-and-then, which is great to take advantage of, otherwise, I just buy $25 worth of stuff to get free shipping like you do, Ralfakick.

 

[@M]

A guy I know told me that if you spend a lot on Amazon, eventually, they'll give you a free lifetime Prime membership as a thank you, but, I don't know if that's true or not, or how much you have to spend.

 

[fake]

2-3 day deliver is non-existent even w/prime. They used to offer return and even refund in some cases, now they just tell you to come back in 48 hours after it's past due and then offer a digital credit or return.

OK, glad to know I'm not crazy. I could've sworn that was the selling point of prime, but for the past six months or so, the shipping options have been for the following week in most cases.

TBH, quality has dropped so much on Amazon that it could become a differentiator for Best Buy and the like. "Buy from us and you'll get a new, undamaged item that didn't come from Bubba's yard sale."

 

[Lagduf]

Yeah the increased shipping times killed it,

I’m sure the entire model was unsustainable and this was always the plan. (Ie hook a user base and then fuck them.)

But if it’s going to take a week+ I’ll just order elsewhere.

I still do buy books on Amazon as I have for almost two decades. Are their even any bookstores left?

 

[wataru330]

The only "problem" I had with Amazon recently is that they sent me an item with the shipping labels just slapped onto the retail box, no outer box or envelope. It arrived in good condition despite that laziness, and the box is going in recycling anyway, so, no biggie.

They did this to me, with my son’s big Xmas present this year. It was so shitty. Gift arrived 2 days before Xmas eve-I spent a good portion of one of those days teasing the label off w/ heat and goo-gone.

Not only that; it was some sort of Best Buy/Target/Walmart return. Half the inserts gone, box beat to shit.

I’m ready to quit Prime over it.

Total bait and switch.

 

[terry.330]

If this is a new item then I'm Denzel Washington.

 

[theMot]

I ordered a couple of switch games for one of my kids for Christmas on Amazon, one wasn’t in the shrink wrap. It still looked othewise new so I didn’t send it back but it was obviously a return.

The only thing i buy semi regularly on Amazon is records but i have noticed they are no longer always the cheapest and I recently had a warning because i return too many because a lot of records are defective.

 

[Lagduf]

Intermingling of product inventory from multiple sellers is apparently a huge issues with fakes and/or garbage like Terry received. It's a crapshoot whether you get the real deal from Amazon or some piece of shit from a reseller since they're all in the same bin at the warehouse (allegedly.)

Though sounds like Amazon is up to nonsense too these days.

Have you guys read much about how Amazon creates its "Basics" line to undercut the competition?

As an example in the clothing space: Amazon has data access to everything that sells on their site. They know what the trends are. Better yet, they know why certain items are returned and for what reason. They can literally look at the top best three selling items of, say, a Men's dress shirt (or whatever) and copy the best aspects of all three. Maybe the best selling shirt gets occasional returns because of slight fit issues, while the second best selling shirt from a competing line doesn't - they know this and just have their product engineers copy the best aspects of all the shirts.

Shit I think amazon has it's own line of power tools now.

I'd avoid Amazon Basics for most things.

Is this what peak capitalism is?

 

[100proof]

Yeah, I straight up stopped buying shit from Amazon during the pandemic because their customer service and quality has gone right in the shitter. There's a local warehouse so I don't even need Prime (everything ships in a day or two regardless) but I refuse to buy anything from them that can be purchased elsewhere for a competitive price.

 

[Syn]

We have a Amazon warehouse about a mile & 1/2 away and rarely do I receive orders sooner because of it.

Side note, at least they bought the land the old Silverdome was on. Depressing to see the land sit for so long because the city was being a bitch about selling it.

 

[@M]

Amazon is probably short-staffed too. I still peruse the local daily help wanted ads on Google and I see Amazon warehouse openings pretty frequently.

 

[Lagduf]

I'm certain there are warehouses near me in CA (generally speaking) but I'm still getting week wait times even on single items like books.

I have, several times, seen "Spend $25 to get 2-day shipping" through Prime...though it doesn't seem to be on all items at all times? I ordered some tools awhile back and it was still a week+ wait time.