This week I ordered a new Apple Watch 10 from Amazon. It arrived (and I signed for it) on Monday. The Amazon packaging was intact, however, the watch packaging had been tampered with, and the watch itself was missing.
I called Amazon, who initially told me to file a police report. When I pushed back and insisted on speaking with a supervisor, I was told they would process a refund.
Three days later and no refund in sight, I called again and was told that my refund had been canceled, and that I had to file a police report and submit the report to them before they would consider processing a refund.
I again spoke to a supervisor, who told me that because of a rash of this type of theft, their policy has changed. Anything over $100 they will not refund without a police report.
Needless to say, I wonât be ordering anything like this from Amazon again.
I did go yesterday to file a police report. It remains to be seen if they will actually process the refund or if I will have to file a chargeback on my credit card. Either way, itâs been a frustrating experience.
Just letting you all know in case youâre an Amazon shopper like my (former) self.
Someone I worked with ordered the iPhone 16 Pro for Launch day. It arrived from Apple in the standard packaging and was all in tact (both the outside box and the product box) but when he opened it, there was a diary inside rather than a phone.
That suggests that the swap was made within the factory somewhere.
He contacted Apple to (effectively) be told that he was a liar. In the end he had to do a claim through his credit card.
I was listening to the most recent episode of ATP this morning and they were talking about the tedious and unreliable process that Apple has introduced to let you merge accounts. John Siracusa went on about how with Amazon you can be sure they will handle things (returns, multiple shipping addresses, etc.) a certain way and you can expect it to be taken care of (mostly). He also said that Apple handles things differently and you really donât know what you will get if you call when there is an issue. Interesting that is seems to be Apple products that Amazon is having a hard time with.
What weight does the shipping information list for the package? Does it indicate the weight of the empty package or a full package? I know watches are not very heavy, but if it is clear that the watch could not have ever been in the box based on weight, that might be helpful. Although, I donât know how to prove that to Amazon. Maybe if that info in included in the police report?? That is, if the police would even be willing to confirm and/or record that. Presumably that is why @geoffaireâs workmate received a diary rather than an empty box; it was intended to mask the weight issue.
That really sucks and Iâm sorry it happened and for your hassle.
And
Iâm also sympathetic to the businesses on this one. What are they supposed to do if people order stuff and claim it wasnât in the box. If there was a blanket policy to just take the customer at their word, it would enable the biggest scam in retail. Sucky people ruin it for all of us. Requiring a police report on an expensive item theft seems like a pretty reasonable compromise.
Well, I ordered a pair of jeans about two years ago. When I opened the package; no jeans inside. Only paper.
I contacted the seller (a big German company). They did not care. They told me to contact DHL and blamed them: maybe DHL would be willing to replace the damage. Well, they werenât willing to do so, either, because I truefully had mentioned that I received the package intact. So, DHL said: we are not liable for a sender sending an empty package.
Luckily I had paid via Paypal. So, I opened a case and claimed potential fraud by the seller. It took two hours and I had my money back and an email from an excited seller telling me that I should not have claimed a potential fraud case with Paypal. They offered an excuse because of my experience.
IMHO a seller should reimburse the customer in cases like this, at least if it is happening the first time, especially if it is a long-standing customer. If this does not work that way, there is no way to shop online and being safe doing so.
Sorry to hear that and thanks for the heads up. I try to make sure the âsold byâ party listed for an Amazon.com item is indeed Amazon.com rather than a third-party seller, especially for expensive items such as electronics, with the notion that potential returns are more likely to be feasible, and that the goods are more likely to be legitimate. (Admittedly, my rationale might be somewhat wishful.) In this case, was the seller Amazon.com?
Every iPhone has a serial number. Doesnât that mean Apple could actually check where the missing phone is and deal with it appropriately? If the iPhone you ordered is being used in Bolivia, that might be a big hint that you never received it.
Personally I think that there needs to be better legal requirements on delivery companies. In the UK every man and his dog are delivering parcels from the back of their car and they are leaving them in bins and throwing fragile items over the garden fence in the rain, etc.
I have started the practice of videoing the arrival of an item and its opening as evidence.
When it comes to high price items putting them through an xray machine or some other tech as they leave the factory to ensure the product is there would be a simple safeguard.
That would be a massive cost for a company shipping literally millions of items over a few weeks.
You would think that weighing the box as it moves into a packing zone with a small tolerance would be easier.
But yeah, with the serial numbers youâd think it would be easy to investigate. Youâd also think that people doing this would be doing it more than once, so patterns would be traceable.
I donât think the package insert includes the weight, but Iâll check.
Me, too. The problem with requiring me to get a police report is that the theft didnât occur here, but rather somewhere in Amazonâs supply chain. Shouldnât they be the ones to file a police report?
Yes, it was. I rarely buy anything thatâs not sold and shipped by Amazon.
Amazon told us they do weigh the boxes, but with something as small as a watch, and with the variety of packing materials that may or may not be included (paper, plastic bubble wrap, etc) Iâm not sure how accurate that is going to be.
Given the story of the missing iPhone 16, Iâm not sure buying in store is any better. One could just as easily walk into an Apple store and walk out with an un-tampered with box containing a diary instead of a phone.
For me, going forward, Iâll be buying expensive electronics in store and opening them on the premises. Maybe thatâs overkill, but it seems like the supply chains cannot be trusted, and the merchants are increasingly unlikely to cover the cost of missing goods.
Just FYI - if you pursue a chargeback against Amazon, they are known to close peopleâs accounts, which would mean losing access to anything you have purchased on Kindle, Audible, and other services which require an Amazon account.
If youâre really never going to use Amazon again, that may not be a concern, but for most people, itâs probably an effective deterrent.
Thanks for the heads up! This is my husbandâs concern as well. Luckily, itâs his account. My account is where all the Kindle content, Prime membership, and Audible is.
I recently purchased a fly reel and two extra spools from Danielsson, the Swedish fly reel maker. When I received them, there was only one extra spool. I notified Danielsson, their reply⌠Sorry for the error, weâll ship another spool right away, which they did.
Great company, Danielsson.
For me, itâs obvious that a police report is needed, especially when it comes to such expensive items. Just imagine how many false reports would come in otherwise (and probably do anyway)âŚ
Itâs the same with insurance cases as well. There has to be some kind of âspeed bumpâ to stop all the fraud.
I donât have a problem getting a police report. Itâs annoying, since the theft didnât occur on my watch (no pun intended) but rather on theirs. But I do understand there is a process to follow.
We did get the police report, and have submitted it to Amazon, only to be told that itâs our problem. No refund. File a claim with our insurance which, obviously, Iâm not going to do.
DHL has greatly disappointed me. They managed to lose my valid US Passport going to a US Consulate for renewal. Eventually, they admitted the loss and then hid behind US law to deny me reparation. The entire event cost me thousands and they paid the âmaximumâ my insurance waiver (which was also the highest level available) would cover ($400 US). I would never have used them but they are the only carrier the US consulate in Curaçao would accept so I had no choice. Needless to say they will never be a carrier for me or my company again regardless of government agreement. (Which I am sure wasnât a âfreeâ transaction between the consulate(s) and the company.)
As for Apple, they have been impeccable through the decades. I have to say Amazon has also mad right any issue I have brought to their attention (and there havenât been many) over thirty plus years. Neither company is perfect but both put customers first to my eyes. (I have been in the tech and retail worlds for many decades and these are two organizations which make most wish for such high levels of customer satisfaction.)
