Amazon customer service

[Nerf Herder]

This is very random
I'm writing a paper ... long story ... looking for anecdotal experience re Amazon or ebay if needed.

Have you used either AMAZON US or AU or ebay

What was your experience (rate it 1 to 10, 1 being shite, 10 being exceptional) ... what was your expecations ??? did they meet your expecations ... if something went wrong and now focusing on customer service ??? does your rating change ? (please rate the expectation before and after the problem

eg my expectations are purely for the lowest price and fastest delivery
I got exactly what I wanted and didnt need customer service ... rating 9 (I never give 10s)
eg 2
I had a problem ... delivery was super fast, price was awesome ... but I got the wrong thing ... it then took 7 days to get to somebody that cared.

So in this example my expectations were 9 prior to the problem ... but layer in customer service and problem resolution it goes to 1.

In short ... these business can still be customer centric ... but they are focused on veru specific service delivery ie price and speed/dependability of delivery ... if things fall outside of these then things change

My paper is about customer centric businesses.

Thanks in advance

 

[Nambra]

Used all three on many occasaions (eBay more than Amazon), the main driver being lowest price, or in the case of Amazon US, access to products that you just can't get locally or even via eBay. I've fortunately not had any bad experiences where things have got lost, turned up damaged or not as advertised. Waiting many weeks for stuff from China can be frustrating but it's the trade off for the cheap pricing.

I think I see where you're going here - are they really customer centric businesses when they rely so heavily on ecommerce technology to get things right, but are below average when things don't go right? Is this partly because our expectations are unreasonably high to begin with? Perhaps they're really just logistics businesses? I haven't thought that through a lot - just thought bubbles.

As a side note, if I want shit service or have nothing better to do and want to wait on the phone for hours, I'll call Centrelink, any other insourced/outsourced government department, or an airline.

 

[Haakon]

Ebay rapes it’s sellers to keep the customers happy.

 

[indica]

I'm writing a paper

You're writing on paper?
WTF dude?????

 

[mas2]

Perfect timing as I just had an ebay issue today.
I hate when parts I need quick are listed as being in Australia with an Australian address but actually aren't in Australia and take a lot longer to get here.
Had a gearknob specified for my car but clearly didn't fit.
Had an OBD2 bluetooth reader to suit mobile devices that shipped with instructions saying it doesnt work with anything Apple.
Both cases contacted seller asking for refund and return address.
Sellers ask for photos and to test it out more.
Replied and both sellers offered only part of my money back.
I opened dispute with ebay, get full refund straight away and seller doesn't want product back because it would cost too much to post it.
Left neutral feedback and was told how dissapointed they were that I didnt give them a chance to resolve this. Asked if I would change my review based if they gave me a full refund (even though ebay already approved it).

 

[safreek]

Ebay rapes it’s sellers to keep the customers happy.

Darn right, bastard try to charge you commission even when buyer does not pay for a product. Opened a dispute and it achieved nothing, they don't care.
To top it off they sold the 40$ so called debt to, I think collection house. Now I have a blemish on my credit record. Fuck eBay for selling anything

 

[Plankosaurus]

I use eBay regularly for buying, resting easy knowing I'm always in the right regardless of how much of a twatsack I am as a buyer.


eBay can eat a big smelly bag of dicks though from a seller's point of view. Long rant...

I sold a laptop through eBay, advertised perfectly, including all details, age, solid description etc.

Had a buyer beg me to end the auction early and beg me to post (I stated no postage) as he needed it for his sons birthday, he wasn't the only bidder but I'm a sucker for kids needing toys so I ended the auction on his bid.

Buyer then took over a week to pay, made me wonder a bit about his sons birthday. Buy whatever, money is money.

Packed and sent, arrived in good health with some extras because I had a week to put extra games on it and dig up an old gaming mouse I had.

A week later I get a message saying the laptop battery only lasts 30-40min while gaming. I pointed out that gaming sucks battery life and they're designed to be plugged in when gaming, then linked a couple of articles to explain it. If my much newer laptop could do 30min at gaming speed I'd be stoked!

Another week later he gets in touch and tells me the charger won't work and that he wants a refund. I tried to get him to do some troubleshooting, but explained that it was a private sale of a used laptop and I couldn't possibly offer a warranty on it.
I got no response to the troubleshooting and he just opened a case.

He got a return shipping label from eBay and sent it back at my cost. I receive it back, packed like shit, box barely intact, covered in sticky fingerprints and crumbs, but working perfectly still.

I took photos, and video and screenshots proving the condition and raised an appeal with eBay within the appeal timeframe according to their policy. Appeal was rejected off hand because the item had arrived and been signed for, they didn't even look into it!

I spent hours chatting to eBay from here in, arguing points and clarifying every step and showing my communication with eBay and with the buyer. Eventually they agreed to refund me my seller fees. More chats, more arguing, more showing documentation and I got my postage refunded. More chats and all the same shit again, and I got my return postage back too. Apparently they are unable to reverse the red mark against my account, I don't care because I won't sell again, but by Christ I wasted their time making it clear this wasn't ok.

They thought I'd be happy to spend over $100 on sellers fees and postage to loan a laptop to some fucker for a few weeks and have it returned in lesser condition. Nope, I took up as much of their time as I could and wore them down with persistence till I got my money back.


Tldr - fuck eBay

Sent from my G8441 using Tapatalk

 

[Haakon]

I lost my paypal account when a seller disputed the tickets to an event I had didn’t reach him in time. I had a long line of emails telling him it was marginal and did he want express post etc but he didn’t. I said are you really sure I can’t guarantee they’ll get there in time and it’s a $700 purchase he was making!! nope he says. Ok...

Of course PayPal refunds him straight up without even checking with me. Even when I send them the emails they still side with him automatically. Fuck I was lucky PayPal was tied to my visa debit card that had nothing on it. Cancel card, tell PayPal to fuck off, get on with life and never sell on eBay again.

 

[Haakon]

Kirsty is selling a lot of clothes on eBay ( she is a clothes junky and always manages to find amazing high quality stuff on sale and then it never wears out, so there is after a couple of decades something of a collection that’s still worth money).

The effort she goes to with photos and descriptions and dealing with fuckwits who don’t pay or don’t read descriptions is painful... It’s only borderline “just” worth the effort for what she gets after eBay takes it’s very hefty cut.

 

[Mr Crudley]

Kirsty is selling a lot of clothes on eBay ( she is a clothes junky and always manages to find amazing high quality stuff on sale and then it never wears out, so there is after a couple of decades something of a collection that’s still worth money).

The effort she goes to with photos and descriptions and dealing with fuckwits who don’t pay or don’t read descriptions is painful... It’s only borderline “just” worth the effort for what she gets after eBay takes it’s very hefty cut.

Gee, Mrs Crudley is exactly the same.

She used to sell a lot on Ebay but after a few headaches from buyers plus EBay's way of changing the policies that exposes the seller further then we gave up. Ebay are looking to have larger corporates instead of Mum and Dad sellers. They are a PITA to deal with and PayPal aren't a bunch of fun to endure either.

It is much easier to sell her stuff at one of the markets at the right time of year - like early spring seems to have a good hit rate. For one day, you are done and don't have to chain yourself to babysitting an Ebay shop.

 

[Dales Cannon]

Amazon US:

Expectations: to buy parts that were not offered here
Experience: good service, choice of suppliers and for once decent shipping price. Arrived in a reasonable time. 9/10

Amazon AUS:

Expectations: to buy things for a cheaper price
Experience: ok service, delivery wasn't as prompt as expected. 7/10

Ebay (various overseas versions, US, UK, EU)

Expectations: to buy parts that were not offered here
Experience: good service, choice of suppliers and reasonable shipping. Generally delivery was pretty average. Out of Canada was stupid slow. 7/10

Ebay AUS:

Bought lots of stuff...

Expectations: to buy things for a cheaper price
Experience: generally good service, choice of suppliers and decent shipping. Arrived in a reasonable time. Overall 8/10

As a seller my experience was ok with the usual fucktards and morons responding to the ads but again overall 8/10.

However, this one time, at band camp...

Bought an item which was advertised to perform two different functions. Item did not do the second function at all. Communicated politely with the seller and was given some fair responses while they investigated. Offered to refund part of the purchase etc. Nothing happened. I managed to break a part (Chinesium) and they agreed to send a replacement. Kept following up politely and was each time promised the part is on its way. One day after the PayPal cut off they told me no! PayPal were very good but out of their hands. Started a dispute with eBay. Seller filed a bunch of lies and eBay found in their favour (were told I had modified the item!). I kept punching it back and finally rang and spoke to a real person. First couple kept reciting that it was resolved and no further action could be taken. Finally argued enough to get through to someone who could comprehend the whole sage. They immediately refunded the whole purchase and told me to keep the item. EBay then adjusted the seller's profile and lowered their ratings so the seller's costs went up...

This was my first and so far only experience with the dispute process. Frustrating and time consuming and less than satisfactory and I wasted way more time than a $100 purchase warranted but it was still a good outcome though if I hadn't pushed it I would have been left with a damaged item and the seller would continue to advertise fraudulently. I made a replacement part on my lathe and all is good.

 

[Nerf Herder]

I think I see where you're going here - are they really customer centric businesses when they rely so heavily on ecommerce technology to get things right, but are below average when things don't go right? Is this partly because our expectations are unreasonably high to begin with? Perhaps they're really just logistics businesses? I haven't thought that through a lot - just thought bubbles.

You are fairly close to where I’m headed.
customer centric can be very narrow in focus, and still hit what the business thinks is a customer focused experience.
But similarly, it can be miles away in terms of customer expectations for customers that don’t fit the business’ target customer. So all customers are not always right ... but my ideal customer is always right and I’ll build everything around that ideal customer, even if it’s a small % of the population.

so for Amazon ... it focused on price, diversity of product offering and speed/dependability of delivery ... it then morphed it’s business from an online bookstore to eventually being a logistics company and well on the way to becoming a transport Co all because of those identified customer experience requirements (price, diversity, speed).

however, customer service via problem resolution isn’t actually their focus so if something goes wrong ... things fall apart. Alternatively, they know customer service is hard so they over invest to make sure they don’t fuck up and need customer facing steps.

Amazon or eBay is not actually in my preso... it’s just the concept of where things can go wrong with poor planning. Or where you can overcome service weakness and become customer centric by knowing your customer and process to hit the targeted experience.

Anywho ... thanks got it clearer in my head

 

[Staunch]

Dealing with Amazon US - Customer service 10/10

I bought a laptop that sat just under the $1000 AUD mark before the import tax laws changed. I needed it right away so I paid an extra $70 AUD for express shipping to Australia. The laptop didn't arrive in the quoted time, and even though it was the shipping company's (DHL?) fault, Amazon gave me a full refund of the express shipping cost when I inquired about it, plus an extra $10 voucher.

 

[born-again-biker]

I have bought hundreds, if not thousands, of things through eBay AUS.
Rarely had a problem as a buyer.
I had a motorcycle component (that did not fit as described) returned/refunded without too much dicking around.
The funny games sellers play about their shipping location shits me to tears.
....and I remember years ago when eBay was full of listings from regular folks selling stuff they didn't need (like Scumtree is now). But now it's difficult to find any second hand listings- it's all "eBay stores" and bigger companies. Pricks.

I have successfully sold things too.
One sale was problematic - an old AV receiver a couple of years ago. Price was low because it had a minor intermittent problem. Seller came back to me politely and asked what could be done about it. Long story, short; We figured it out without getting nasty & no head office involvement.
I refunded him half the sale price and he was happy.

Maybe it's just me...but I have almost never found an item on Amazon that was anywhere near the price of eBay/Scumtree/Online store...?
Anything I look for is listed higher than AUS prices and then there's usually hefty shipping...

 

[born-again-biker]

He got a return shipping label from eBay and sent it back at my cost. I receive it back, packed like shit, box barely intact, covered in sticky fingerprints and crumbs, but working perfectly still.

That's bullshit @Plankosaurus! I wiped those fingerprints off you lying bastard.