Amazon

I can remember when Amazon was a genuinely good company that trusted and believed in their customers. Just like Nordstrom's department store and many others like them, consumers have exploited them with false returns and lies about shipping mishaps and quality control. Sellers have responded by raising prices and adding exorbitant shipping costs to deter returns and make the process as unappealing and difficult as possible. They make false promises about guarantees and easy returns, no questions asked. They know they walk a fine line with us. So, they over-promise and under-deliver, hoping we'll get used to being treated so poorly.

It's a tough task to persuade customers to try you out for the first time and even more difficult to get them to stay when there are so many sites to choose from online. We turn to the worst possible resources for reassurance...other people. We rely heavily on reviews. Amazon is infamous for posting fake reviews claiming they had no idea it wasn't real. You have to question every aspect of the shopping experience, and reviews are the hardest. You are left to wonder if they're true or if they're just trying to tarnish the company's reputation because they are the competition?

Once again, Amazon plays the game well. It's a perfect example of this anomaly. They have lost control of their sellers' marketplace, and the sellers are running amok! Their products are junk, and their prices are high. The part that bothers me the most is the false advertising and the tricky wording they use to pull you in and fool you into buying their product. They put a picture of the high-end merchandise and the price of the low-end merchandise. So when you look at the picture, you think you're getting that for this price that they have listed. Then when you click on it, it's a whole different scenario. This used to only happen with sellers who used Amazon as a platform. Now it's happening more and more with Amazon itself. Amazon is using the same tricky marketing strategies as their lazy sellers. They have stooped to new lows, and I wish I had more options for places to find everything I need or want. I shopped eBay for years before I found Amazon. Now, I'm beginning to venture out to Temu, since most of the Temu sellers also sell on Amazon for twice the price for the same product.

People who shop on Amazon are willing to pay a little bit more for the convenience Amazon offers. The prime membership includes free shipping and most of the time you receive your order within three days. Temu, on the other hand, can take weeks to receive. Your order will usually come in several different shipments. Returns on Temu are horrible. I returned several items that were beyond bad for whatever reason, and I have yet to receive any money back. It's been months. Instead, they want to dangle a bunch of coupons, saying you have credit towards your next purchase. In reality, I've never seen that credit either! I get the same discounted price whether I returned something or not.

I've only been using the site for a couple of months now, and it's tricky. There are lots of crafty sellers who have learned and mastered the art of retail deception. The hardest part about shopping with Amazon or other websites like Temu and even eBay is that when something goes wrong, the consumer is always the one left paying for it. It used to be the company taking the hit and chalking it up to the cost of doing business. Not anymore! They make returning a product so miserable and complicated that you give up on trying to ensure the return of your money (NOT AS CREDIT!) by looking at bank statements and cross-referencing the website that sold you the bad merchandise. It is time-consuming and most of the time an ineffective effort. Websites like Amazon don't keep their information current to real-time, so we can't confirm receipt or process your return since you sent it. Rarely does it say it's complete!

It's almost always just hanging there open, waiting for a concerned consumer to bring it to their attention and demand their money back. This is a way for Amazon to hold onto your money as long as possible, hoping you'll get too distracted or busy with your life and forget about it altogether. We have become lazy, and they make it more energy-consuming. If the price is not worth it, we just throw the item away and hence, the money we spent on it gets tossed into the vast pit of wasted money and bad decisions, never to be seen, reclaimed, or used again.

We read reviews, but they don't work as we had hoped. Moody humans with all their motives can rarely be considered accurate or applicable as intended. Often, we are faced with lies as they are usually bribed by the company, offering the consumer free merchandise if only they post a rave review complete with pictures. We have YouTube to thank for much of this manipulation. Where is this all heading? I have no idea!

All I know is that I spend too much for products that are not worth it. Quality is a thing of the past unless you are buying authenticated luxury products. And even they are starting to get tainted. I feel terrible most of the time I shop now when before it made me feel excited about receiving my order. Now, it's a necessary evil that I'm forced to buy three of the same type of item to find one that works. Then I get to return the other two items and wait for my money to be accessible to me once again. This can take days, maybe weeks to happen if at all.

We are all messed up. I suggest making it, growing it, and using the barter system to put our unique talents to practical use. Unfortunately, most people are subject to lethargy, being too lazy to put in the required effort needed to do anything for themselves that is of high enough quality to be proud to share with others. So where does that leave us all? Dependent. Angry. We have to face the fact we are reliant and forced to trust others (people, companies, AI, and websites) with our money based on their word, which in reality is unreliable, knowing they refuse to trust us.

We must do as they want us to, even though it may not always be the right choice. But we must trust them. It's truly a dilemma for me, and I know I'm not alone. I don't know if it can be fixed. As a consumer in the prime of her money-spending life, I have stopped dead in my tracks to evaluate and renegotiate the terms. I need to understand what I'm up against before I can move past it in any victorious way. I'd like to have some products and devices that show where my money went at least. Right now, I have very little to show for the money I've spent. It's confusing if I actually ordered something or just put it in a basket somewhere, never to return to complete the purchase. Or sometimes, I order the same thing twice from different websites! I have become the queen of returns, and stores hate me.

Too bad, I say! Do they look at my returns to spending ratio? Because if they did, they would be better at customer service solutions and offer a smile knowing I have choices. I am being forced to comply and to accept whatever sub-standard products they are selling or go without. I must change the way I buy, since they have changed the way they sell. AI is our customer service representative so the company can stay out of any bad light their products cast. They hide from us behind websites, chats, and outrageous hold times and language barriers we can't wait to experience. It can take literally hours on a customer service call, that could yield a couple of hundred bucks if you are lucky, and then allow them to just credit your account with them since it's faster for you to see some money back in your control. Well, kind of. Money they already received just gets reused.

And so it turns. With awareness reaching new levels, I can detect now what was never before there to detect in most sales environments beyond the used car lot. We battle the bait and switch, tricky wording, and we now must out-master the sellers and companies in the art of deception and false promises. Over-promising and under-delivering doesn't work for me anymore. Resources are becoming less while the wants and needs are increasing. Something has to change, and it has to be the consumers who drive the change. We need to get our act together, be on the same page, and take a stand! I hope this website will encourage that.

This is my very first post, and it feels good to get this off my chest!

I ordered an item that was to be delivered on Monday. When Monday came and went with no package delivery, I reached out to Amazon.

Oh, they were sorry. I heard that a lot, but no one could tell me why they hadn't received my order. I was assured that it would be delivered on Tuesday. On Tuesday, I received an email stating that there were issues with my order.

I reached out to Amazon via chat and was told that the item was scheduled for delivery on Thursday. When I told them that this was unacceptable, they 'expedited' my order and assured me that it would be delivered today. By 2 p.m., I saw that there was still no movement on the package. It still showed to be in transit.

I reached out to Amazon again, and once again, they assured me that it was going to be delivered today by the end of the day. I asked them for their definition of 'end of day.' I didn't know if they were talking about midnight or what. They assured me that end of day for them was 8 p.m. By 6:30 p.m., I called again because there still wasn't any movement on the order.

Once again, I was assured that the package would be delivered by the end of the day. I was told that the carrier had it in their possession but didn't update anything, and that was why it still showed in transit. I was assured again that the package would arrive by the end of the day. 8 p.m.

came and went with no delivery. I called back and demanded that they cancel the order and refund my money. I was informed that they can't cancel an order that is still in transit status. Never mind the fact that I was told repeatedly that it was en route to me.

Now they can't deliver the package, they can't cancel the order, and they can't refund the money. This is Amazon! This simple task of delivering a package is literally the basis of what this business was built on. Now they have shown that because there is zero accountability, they can lie to the customers and tell them whatever they want to hear.

I called back and spoke to the billing department for a refund and was told again that it is in transit status and that he didn't know why they would tell me that it would be delivered today. This wasn't told to me by one person. This was told to me by five different people.

Now, me being the customer, am out the money for an item that they can't deliver on time, can't tell me why it is late, and makes promises that they have no clue about. Amazon has gone way downhill, but continues to bill me the prime membership fee on time every time...

When explaining that this has happened three other times, and three weeks ago I called on the same matter which you checked, it showed I returned on the 12th at Amazon Fresh. But because this happened two other times, and now being charged on this last one, we need to see why this is happening and resolve this problem.

I am a disabled woman. I have never been late on a payment, and I've always returned anything that I have gotten. But for some reason, three times this has happened. Three weeks ago, we resolved this problem on the same item; it showed I returned it to Amazon Fresh on that date, and now for them to charge my account on something that was resolved three weeks ago is unacceptable.

The young man that I was talking to hung up the phone on me right in the middle of our conversation. That is very unacceptable for one thing, to be hung up on while you're explaining and asking for help and resolving this problem or to look into it. For me to be a disabled woman and asking for your company's help and to be totally ignored and hung up on is unacceptable. I had to recall; we went through this whole thing.

I had to send in a questionnaire on the four questions and had to go through all this over again. I hope that you do find out and resolve this issue on why this is going on with my account. But you need to speak to the young man that treated me with disrespect because what he did was unacceptable, especially explaining and going through all that and the time taken, to be hung up on in the middle of me even talking. If you go back and listen to the tapes, you'll see that I didn't get angry.

I didn't yell. Nothing. So, none of it is acceptable. Thank you.

Please get back to me on this because I'd like to know what happened to that young man because he should not be working with this company and cutting his customers off like that on an issue that is important like this when somebody's account is being charged for no reason at all. To look for a resolution and find out what was going on and why it was happening and to be cut off, because obviously he didn't want to deal with it, is unacceptable!

(my "live" chat)

"I added special delivery instructions, asking the delivery person to bring the parcels up one flight of stairs because I'm handicapped. That didn't happen.

Three boxes were left downstairs, two of them are so large a small child could fit inside. Both are heavy. I had to PAY someone $10 to bring them up for me. This is not the first time my packages have been left downstairs.

Are the delivery people told to ignore special instructions, or is it they just don't care about anything other than racing to their next delivery? You have no idea what it means to be handicapped, and then to be disregarded because of it makes my situation more unbearable."

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There is no good-business reason I can think of that would keep a delivery person from not honoring the special delivery requests.

My experience with this company was horrible. They sent me Dollar store screw guns in lieu of quality DeWalt Milwaukee and Ryobi tools.

Then tried to lowball me at 15% of my money back and I can keep the little toys they sent me that I wouldn't even let my kids play with. After fighting with them for about 9 hours straight I was told I would receive my goods. Got a whole new tracking number and the game started all over again. I was assured my Amazon I remember I said this assured that my package showed up that it was delivered to my house.

I have a gravel driveway there was no marks in my driveway except for our vehicle tracks. But remember I was assured that my package was delivered one pallet with 30 quality tools on it. But not one mark in my driveway no tire tracks no marks from pallet no footprints nobody's vehicle backing up to a pallet. But yet I was assured it was delivered.

Two days later they had to backpedal and tell me sorry sir your package got lost in delivery. The tracking company that was responsible for watching my package can be manipulated by the shipper they can put in the information they want ie saying that it was delivered. I've looked up the information on the internet and it talks all about how you can scam through this company. Which is exactly what I think these guys tried.

And now once again they are trying to pull the same crap and lowball me at 40% of my money back which I am not going to accept my card issuer will be notified by me first thing tomorrow to start the process to get my money back. Unfortunately this isn't the first time I've ordered something off Amazon or that was Amazon promoted and got screwed. I tried to buy a bike through them and the same thing happened. The tracking companies computer said the bike was delivered which I guarantee it never was.

My card issuer already got me that money back. I'm happy for that I thank them very much. Of course it's no different I would have liked my product instead of my money back. But that's what my only option is with these guys unfortunately.

I would really much rather have my tools I was promised after being screwed , lied to, promised things , and don't forget assured that they were delivered. So as for this company Amazon be prepared I'm coming for my money.

As for everybody else be smart your money in your pocket it's much safer there. You won't have to put up with all crap I did.

I attempted to cancel my Amazon Prime account before my free trial ended but couldn't find a way to do it. I attempted going through the Amazon app and pressed the 'cancel subscription' button several times, but it never actually cancelled my subscription.

I tried deleting my Amazon account from my Google Pay to see if I could avoid being charged that way, with worse luck, because then I couldn't even access my Amazon account from Google Pay because I removed it. I tried removing my bank's debit card from my Google Pay wallet, but I was forced to put a different card in, so I put my Cash App card in place of my bank's debit card, and that made things even worse because Amazon not only charged me for the subscription renewal that I was unable to avoid because I couldn't find a way to cancel it, but Amazon Prime charged both of my debit cards for the subscription renewal fee! I couldn't find any customer service phone number online for Amazon Prime but did finally find a website that connected me to a customer service representative, but after waiting on hold and then spending another 10 minutes explaining my problem to the customer service representative, the phone disconnected somehow, and the representative never tried calling me back. So, out of frustration and exhaustion, I gave up to wait and try again another day.

I've disputed the transaction on Cash App because my bank account was charged for the subscription, so my Cash App account should not also have been charged.

I am frustrated with this because I didn't even want the subscription in the first place but couldn't find a user-friendly way to cancel the subscription before the free trial ended, and now I've been charged twice for a subscription I didn't even want. An improvement would be to make canceling subscriptions more user-friendly, to have an actual customer service phone number available from any Google Internet search, and to please require your customer service representatives to at least attempt to call back when calls are disconnected, because no one wants to have to keep calling back and repeating the same thing over and over again to new customer service representatives!