Amazon mishap

[Dan Lautner]

I ordered a 30 clamp Bessey set from Amazon for $ 208 with free shipping. A week later I received a box with 15 clamps that were packaged adequately. I called to see if another box was on its way. They told me there was a problem with supply and they could charge me half of the price for the 15 or I could wait a month for the other 15 clamps. In this case I kept the clamps but I would be very upset if this was something I needed and got that excuse from them. If Amazon wants to sell stuff at a discount to clear stock that is great but to not have the merchandise and give a lame excuse a week later is not acceptable. This is my first bad dealing with them in 5 purchases. Have others had this sort of problem with Amazon?

Dan

[Andrew Williams]

My most recent order from Amazon was also negative. I ordered three items which all stated "in stock and ships today". I chose "super saver shipping" and then after placing the order saw that my order was not to arrive for another 45 days! All three items still read "in stock" even after one day. Impatient, I changed the order to "standard shipping", to find out that two of the three items would ship that day, and the third one was now downgraded to "4-6 weeks", from "in stock". Had they been up front about this in the first place, I would not have placed the order for the third item and still taken advantage of super saver shipping. As it stands, I paid for shipping on two items and cancelled the third. I probably should have cancelled the entire order and am now reticent to place orders with them, knowing that they can change the status of an item after you buy it. Reading some other recent negatives is also not reassuring.

I know a lot of people sing the praises of Amazon on this board, but to me, they are just another enormous corporate entity who try to give "customer service" but who are simply too large to really address any specific issues, unless their computerized solutions are in place to deal with them as contingencies. I will most likely downgrade Amazon to a place to buy books and CDs, but not tools or bicycle parts or anything I really need.

I challenge some living human being from Amazon to take the time to read this board and put up a presence here. Other suppliers do that, and it shows that they care, and the result is usually increased business and positive perception.

[Bruce Page]

All of my dealings with Amazon have been positive.

Stuff happens but overall I think they do a good job.

[David DeCristoforo]

Amazon really has little control over stock because they don't stock anything. Everything you order from Amazon is drop shipped from a vendor. Most of the glitches in Amazon's stock reporting has to do with the failure of the vendor to keep this information updated. Even, so I know how frustrating this can be. We ordered a commercial wheat grass juicer for our cafe from an online kitchen supply "clearing house". We were charged for the item and the shipping estimate was a week or so. After four weeks passed we contacted the seller and were told that the manufacturer was backordered. After another several weeks has passed, we contacted the manufacturer to inquire as to the ETA. We were told that they were waiting for parts to come back from "the plater". When I asked for "something a bit more in the nature of a date", the guy told me that if I could promise him that he would get his parts from the plater by Wednesday, he could promise me that he could ship our juicer by the end of the week. That's almost an exact quote. Well, obviously, I could make no such promise so I continued to wait. That was two weeks ago and still no juicer!

[Dave Sweeney]

I read, reread and reread again you post and I can't see where the "problem" is. Companies run out of inventory all the time, it's a fact of life. I thought that their offer to credit you half your money back was an honorable alternative to having you wait a month for the backorder and not a lame excuse at all.

[Bruce Benjamin]

My most recent order from Amazon was also negative. I ordered three items which all stated "in stock and ships today". I chose "super saver shipping" and then after placing the order saw that my order was not to arrive for another 45 days! All three items still read "in stock" even after one day. Impatient, I changed the order to "standard shipping", to find out that two of the three items would ship that day, and the third one was now downgraded to "4-6 weeks", from "in stock". Had they been up front about this in the first place, I would not have placed the order for the third item and still taken advantage of super saver shipping. As it stands, I paid for shipping on two items and cancelled the third. I probably should have cancelled the entire order and am now reticent to place orders with them, knowing that they can change the status of an item after you buy it. Reading some other recent negatives is also not reassuring.

While Amazon did screw up in not updating their website, why didn't you just call them or email them before changing your shipping preference? You were so impatient that you didn't have time for an email or phone call? Then you could've at least had the benefit of dealing with a real person. They probably would've resolved the shipping issue with you then. It doesn't sound like you even gave them a chance to solve the problem.


I know a lot of people sing the praises of Amazon on this board, but to me, they are just another enormous corporate entity who try to give "customer service" but who are simply too large to really address any specific issues, unless their computerized solutions are in place to deal with them as contingencies. I will most likely downgrade Amazon to a place to buy books and CDs, but not tools or bicycle parts or anything I really need.

Your use of the word, "Any" is wrong. Absolutely, positively false. Amazon has dealt with countless problems on a specific level. I've had 2 or 3 problems with them myself and the person on the phone, (and once via email) bent over backwards everytime to do what it took to make me happy. Once, in a similar situation to yours, they not only shipped the item via Next Day Air as soon as it came in but they refunded about half of my money too. And instead of coming in 4 or 5 weeks later it came in about a week later. I figure I got it at least as fast as the Super Saver shipping and handling would've got it to me. You really should've called them instead of changing your shipping method in such a hurry.

I've heard of positive stories many times from other people on various forums too. They're not perfect all of the time but there are very few Amazon screwups posted compared to the number or success stories. You aren't going to have any company manage an online inventory as huge as Amazon's with the sales volume that they have and have a 100% success rate. Name any other company that has the volume and consistently low prices that Amazon does that provides better customer service. In fact there aren't many smaller companies that so happily take back merchandise and offer free shipping on so many products while providing very low prices, frequently the lowest prices.

I challenge some living human being from Amazon to take the time to read this board and put up a presence here. Other suppliers do that, and it shows that they care, and the result is usually increased business and positive perception.

How many other companies do what you are saying? You can probably count them on only one hand. Does Wood Craft monitor this site? I've had outstanding CS from them. How 'bout Rockler? Again, premium CS. Hartville Tool? No, I think they only monitor that other WW forum and even then I don't think it's constant. But they still provide fantastic CS. Another company that really treated me right in the past was Woodworker's Supply. They don't monitor this forum either. Amazon has provided me with equally good CS. But just because they don't have a person monitoring a relatively obscure woodworking forum doesn't mean they don't care. You do understand that the revenue spent by the members of this forum at Amazon probably amounts to a very small drop in the bucket, right? There's a reason they have an email address and phone number. It's so you can contact them when a problem like yours arises. And to be honest, it sounds to me like part of the problem was your fault. Changing shipping methods without first contacting them to find out the problem probably wasn't the best choice. Is it too late to change the shipping back to Super Saver?

One difference I see when dealing with a smaller company versus a giant like Amazon is in how they deal with problems. With the smaller companies there are fewer people handling the phones, in some cases only one or two. With the giants there could be a hundred or more, who knows? This can be good or bad depending on the problem. Call a mom and pop store and they may not handle the problem to your satisfaction. What are you going to do? Call back and disguise your voice? You're talking to the same person! Call Amazon and the likelihood of talking to the same person is less so you may get a better result. Yet, if you need to you can probably ask to speak with the person you spoke to before. Another related offshoot to this is that if you get a CS rep at Amazon who either doesn't know what they are talking about or refuses to be reasonable you can't blame the company as a whole. It's hard to have a huge staff and have them all be gems all the time. But if you get a jerk at a small company the odds are the company either knows about it and doesn't care or that is the company policy.

It was just a few short steps with Jointech from the lady who answered the phone, to one or two techs, to the owner/inventor of the company. The first few were just difficult to deal with because they were rather dense, (or maybe just numb from working for the owner). The owner ended up providing me with the absolute worst customer service experience of my life or anyone else's I've ever heard of. This was over a period of time that included numerous phone calls and an exchange/attempted repair of a product. The end result was that I just gave up, realizing that my only other recourse was legal action. It wasn't worth it to me. But the point being, I'd come to realize that the whole company is rotten to the core because I'd dealt with them all. Amazon has so many people that you can always talk to someone else and you might get a better result. By the way, if anyone is interested in the Jointech fiasco, PM me and I'll send you a link to the detailed review I did when it happened

Bruce

[Bruce Benjamin]

Amazon really has little control over stock because they don't stock anything. Everything you order from Amazon is drop shipped from a vendor. Most of the glitches in Amazon's stock reporting has to do with the failure of the vendor to keep this information updated.

I don't think that any of this is true. I think they do have warehouses, in fact I'm nearly sure of it. Therefore the glitches are their fault and you can't blame the vendors. With the volume of orders they have, can you imagine how bad things would be if they had to rely on other companies for every one of their orders shipping out? No, sorry but you're wrong on this one.

Bruce

[Kim Spence]

I read, reread and reread again you post and I can't see where the "problem" is. Companies run out of inventory all the time, it's a fact of life. I thought that their offer to credit you half your money back was an honorable alternative to having you wait a month for the backorder and not a lame excuse at all.

In my view, the "problem" was that Amazon didn't bother to notify Mr. Lautner that there was a change in status of his order. He only found out the real story by calling them himself. They should have called or emailed him as soon as they discovered the problem so he could make an informed decision on whether to cancle the order BEFORE he received half of the order.

[David DeCristoforo]

"...I think they do have warehouses, in fact I'm nearly sure of it. Therefore the glitches are their fault..."

I have never ordered anything from Amazon that was not shipped from another vendor. And I never said it was not "their fault", just that they have limited control over the vendors stock. My own personal experience with Amazon has been all over the map. Sometimes I get stuff right away and sometimes it gets snarled up. My big problem is that I hate shopping so if I need something, I'd rather order it on line and have it delivered than have to go somewhere to get it. My "pet peeve" is when you pay extra for "expedited shipping" and they don't actually ship the item for a week but still charge you the extra because it is "expedited" from the date of shipping, not the date of the order.

[Robert Conner]

I have two very positive recent experiences with Amazon. The items I ordered ( a Delta Cast Iron Extension Table and a Brett Guard) were free shipping with estimated arrival of 5-7 days. Both items were shipped within One Day. The prices were far cheaper then other vendors including a Well Known Delta seller who I am still waiting for a refund from for a POOR quality "Delta Extension Table" that I returned at his suggestion.
I would have No Problem ordering from Amazon again.
Robert

[Gary Keedwell]

Amazon has done good by me.

Gary K.

[Eugene A. Manzo III]

I have only had positive experiences with them. I have dealt with them for a few years and think they do great.

[Dan Lautner]

"I read, reread and reread again you post and I can't see where the "problem" is. Companies run out of inventory all the time, it's a fact of life. I thought that their offer to credit you half your money back was an honorable alternative to having you wait a month for the backorder and not a lame excuse at all."

The problem is that they told me "in stock" when I hit the buy button. To me in stock means if I buy it, they have it ready to ship out. When I buy from Lee Valley I never worry about getting the item. They tell you flat out if they have the item before you buy. Lee Valley should be the Holy grail for other net vendors to follow. I love the deals you can get from Amazon, but if I must have something I will now tend to look at big box or local retailers more often. One last thing about Lee Valley, They have the best CS I have ever seen from any company and that means a lot to me when plunking down hard earned cash.

Dan

[Tim Marks]

There's a reason they have an email address and phone number.

I swear that Amazon has a "dirty word" autoreplier on their email. Only after replying to each email to about 4-5 emails deep does a human actually read your email and reply. So don't feel frustrated when the email response just doesn't catch the gist of your problem. Bounce it back a few more times and a human will intervene. Possibly better then staying on hold for an extended period of time, but if you need an answer in a hurry, pick up the phone and call them in India...

That being said, once you make it past the "electronic shield", Amazon CS seems to go above and beyond the call of duty... Dewalt 735 that I purchased for $399 with another $25 off got dropped in shipping... since it was a few days before christmas the sent one OVERNIGHT without my asking (it wasn't a present) without even waiting for the damaged one to come back... overnight shiping on 100# has gotta cost at least $100.

[Rob Bodenschatz]

Amazon really has little control over stock because they don't stock anything. Everything you order from Amazon is drop shipped from a vendor.

Wow. People: Don't believe everything you read on the internet. Statements like that make me pause to wonder why I visit boards like this.

Here's an article in Business Week about one of Amazon's fulfillment centers:
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/05...gn_id=rss_tech