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[br3wnor]

Part of it is you not having Prime but the other part of it I think is that Amazon has taken it on the chin for YEARS bending over backwards to accomidate stuff that no other internet retailer does. There have been times in the past where they'd refund me and not even make me return the actual item, it was crazy. So yes, they built this great reputation but it definitely negatively impacted their bottom line. Maybe they've hit Prime membership numbers that satisfy them enough where they want to start tightening up the bottom line and acting like every other internet retailer.

It's still the best place to shop generally online (granted I have Prime) and for the vast majority of things they offer the best prices. Getting a reign on their old bend over backwards habits isn't going to change that and they probably run internal numbers that prove it's better to just be a normal retailer then have godly customer service.

 

[Madness]

The subscription model as well as barely making any profits despite their high revenues. Unless you are a Prime member you are now a pleb. They purposely hold your packages despite the ability to ship, they have outsourced almost all customer service to Bangladesh or India etc. In addition to looser seller restrictions allowing a shit ton of scams and counterfeits. I shop there far less than I used to. Other sites have caught up to how they sell online. Not to mention Amazon keeps raising free shipping as well, making more items add on items etc.

 

[Fixed2BeBroken]

It's still the best place to shop generally online (granted I have Prime) and for the vast majority of things they offer the best prices. Getting a reign on their old bend over backwards habits isn't going to change that and they probably run internal numbers that prove it's better to just be a normal retailer then have godly customer service.

yea i will say, i was a amazon promoter forever just because their customer service was amazing. They were the one bright light in retail hell. I did almost all my shopping on Amazon exclusively. Past few years though, I've been shopping alot more at best buy.

 

[H.Protagonist]

Wow. I actually had really good Amazon customer service recently as well as elsewhere. Can't believe they were like that on the phone, too. Yikes. Sorry, OP. And here I was telling people that it seemed like good customer service was making a comeback.

It kinda seems to me like the OP and first reply are both examples of problems with third-parties (in the OP, the bank, and in the first reply, XSeed).

Tsk tsk. -100 points to Stumpendor!

 

[spindashing]

Damn, boss. Sorry about that shitty experience. I can only speak for myself that Amazon has been almost literally kissing my feet when shit goes the wrong way.

 

[E92 M3]

They treat me VERY WELL, but I've had Prime since inception.

 

[Koriandrr]

I've never had any issues with Amazon Support, always stellar, BUT I am a Prime member. If that accounts for it, then that's truly sad.

 

[ccbfan]

Wow I didn't know non-Prime members get treated like crap.

Prime member here and probably spend over 5 thousand a year at amazon. (I pretty much buys all my non-food and clothes here) They're always super nice.

1. When I buy an item that goes on sale later, they always give me a credit even after I receive it.
2. Never charge me for return shipping.
3. Frequently refund my money and let me keep the item if something is wrong.

 

[Mammoth Jones]

Social media. Not even kidding. Start bitching on twitter.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

I'm a prime member for some time now and they've always been fantastic with me. They've even let me return expensive electronics easily when it's just as big of a pain in the ass for them.

Hell they're even well aware that I have like my entire immediate family using my same account with like 10 different addresses and like 20 credit/debit cards in the account and they give zero fucks (though not sure if it's just the status quo to not care)

 

[SumptuousLemur]

Yeah its been weird, Amazon's customer service has been taking a nosedive, while Wal-Mart who has aggressively been turning their online storefront into something that can tackle Amazon with a Prime type service, third party sellers and more, has had customer service quality skyrocket.

I was surprised to have so many issues with Amazon over the holiday spending season and have Wal-Mart be much easier to work with.

 

[forrest]

Being Prime or non Prime has zero effect on how your call is handled. This also applies to whether or not you order a hundred things per year vs. ten. The protocols don't change.

Pro-tip: two day shipping is calculated from the date your order/item ships and not from the date you place the order. Depending on carrier, weekend/holidays can also affect your 2 day shipping estimate.

 

[dorikyasu]

Wow I didn't know non-Prime members get treated like crap.

Prime member here and probably spend over 5 thousand a year at amazon. (I pretty much buys all my non-food and clothes here) They're always super nice.

1. When I buy an item that goes on sale later, they always give me a credit even after I receive it.
2. Never charge me for return shipping.
3. Frequently refund my money and let me keep the item if something is wrong.

That's directly contradictory to response Darklor01 received (which I had similar experience with recently and I am Prime member).

We work hard to find the best prices out there and match them for all customers every day. Our prices do change over time. With the exception of TVs, Amazon.com doesn't offer post-purchase adjustments.

When was the last time you received credit back for the item that went down in price? Wonder if Amazon's policy changed recently.

 

[Persona7]

Ordered something very large yesterday, late night (1/4) on Prime.

Options for delivery were:
1. Next day (1/6) for $27 shipping or
2. Prime 2 day which would get to me on 1/10.

I called Cust service and said that 6 days was not 2 day shipping and that they had the ability to get it to me on 1/6. They changed the shipping to 1/6 and waived all shipping charges.

I don't think Sat/Sun delivery options were available because of the size and who was shipping it.

That's pretty damn good customer service.

Edit: Reread the OP. Get Prime or you are a plebe to them.

I was told that depending on the shipping service that weekends might not count because two day shipping only applies on actual business days.

 

[Futureman]

why even shop at Amazon anymore? Most places will price match.

 

[Jag]

I was told that depending on the shipping service that weekends might not count because two day shipping only applies on actual business days.

They told me that at first, but I was persistent but polite until they switching the shipping for me.

 

[Kaladin]

Even with Prime I experienced delays around the holidays. Without Prime....good luck.

 

[digitalrelic]

Yeah, Amazon support has gone down the shitter for me as well. I always thought they were the best in the past.

Just last week I had a chat support rep literally just end the chat on me when I asked (very nicely & gently, I might add) if I could speak with his supervisor.

 

[Darklor01]

That's directly contradictory to response Darklor01 received (which I had similar experience with recently and I am Prime member).

When was the last time you received credit back for the item that went down in price? Wonder if Amazon's policy changed recently.

It has. They said managemt at upper levels changed it with a zero exception rule even for Prime members.

Edit: and yes, each experience I had was while being a Prime Member and the Ended Chat abruptly during the final two experiences I had.

 

[family_guy]

They are pretty great, but of course there's variance in the reps occasionally. I shipped my graphics card to my parents house over Christmas break. It ended up being defective so they sent me a replacement card. Well the replacement card went to my parents house as well. Problem is I live in a different state than my parents. Rather than having to pay for shipping to have the delivered item sent to my home address, Amazon sent me a second replacement to my home address as well as a paid shipping label for my parents to return the other one.

 

[ElNino]

pretty sure in the op i said i called my bank twice, why are you responding without reading

You said you called them, but it doesn't look like you got a good answer as to why it was declined.

If your card was actually charged (not just a hold before shipping), then it would be in your transaction history now. Can you see the charge and/or reversal? If not, then it likely was declined or just a hold and never went through.

 

[C.Mongler]

Am I the only one who's never been charged for an Amazon order until it actually ships? Maybe it's my bank, or maybe I've been paying very little attention.

But yeah, as a Prime member for the most part Amazon's customer service has been mostly peachy to me. Right before Christmas I ordered a vinyl record for my sister and a pair of 10 lb dumbbells for my SO; the dips at the warehouse sent them all in one package with literally no protective packaging. No bubble wrap, air pillows, or even some of that brown crinkly paper. Obviously the dumbbells smashed the shit out of the box and the vinyl record, so I had to order a replacement copy. Unfortunately I had ordered third party the first time and the second time Amazon was the only one who had it in stock, for $10 more than the third party seller. I chatted with a rep and explained the situation, and after admitting that it was totally their screw up (duh), I was refunded $10 on my replacement order. Neato!

 

[eot]

Shopping on Amazon in 2017 without Prime?

Not everyone buys tons of shit from amazon all the time you know

 

[Megawarrior]

That's directly contradictory to response Darklor01 received (which I had similar experience with recently and I am Prime member).

When was the last time you received credit back for the item that went down in price? Wonder if Amazon's policy changed recently.

Word of advice, don't wait for them to send an email. Call or chat while the price drop is still active. 3 items I bought at the same time (a pull up bar and weights) dropped in price literally an hour after I bought them.

They said it was case by case and since the price drop was still active they would make an exception for me (like what). So yeah they have definitely changed it.

 

[ElNino]

Not everyone buys tons of shit from amazon all the time you know

And even if you do, some people (me) still get the vast majority of the things they buy within two days with free shipping options.

 

[psynergylover]

I've only needed to use their customer service 3 times and all three times have been very good.....¯\_(&#12484_/¯

 

[dragonyeuw]

Oh yes, this reminds me of the issue I had with them a month ago. I ordered a laptop on Dec 4th at $799, two days later it drops to $599. It was at that time I learned that the price guarantee policy only applied to TVs because, and I quote after pushing the issue, TV's are 'large appliances'. So I asked, does that apply to things like washers and dryers? What about a small 20" TV? That's not a large appliance, so does the policy apply to that as well? After 5 minutes of silence, the CSA replied....'No. Sorry but I have no further answer for you'. And proceeded to end the chat. No 'thanks for contacting amazon' or 'is there anything else I can assist you with?'

I spoke to 3 other reps, including a manager, and they all sounded like fucking robots, regurgitating the same canned responses. I can't even count how much money I've spent at amazon since 2003. Fuck em....I would probably never buy a big ticket item from them again.

 

[Darklor01]

Word of advice, don't wait for them to send an email. Call or chat while the price drop is still active. 3 items I bought at the same time (a pull up bar and weights) dropped in price literally an hour after I bought them.

They said it was case by case and since the price drop was still active they would make an exception for me (like what). So yeah they have definitely changed it.

Just FYI, I did this for about five different games while I was still a Prime member when the price dropped on those which were sold and shipped by Amazon.com LLC. It made zeor difference. I was told "We don't price match with exception of Televisions." over and over and over.

As a note, I used to be a HUGE champion of Amazon.com and their customer service. They would credit on price drop for items bought and sold by Amazon.com LLC and do whatever they could to help me. The issue here is, they have put in place zero tolerance policy restrictions for pricing related things which prevent them from crediting differences on price drop even on items bought and sold by Amazon.com LLC with exception to televisions.

They are still great when it comes to shipping related issues, damage related issues..etc.

 

[Persona7]

why even shop at Amazon anymore? Most places will price match.

Why waste gas and time price matching when I can order on amazon? For example, price matching at Target requires me to get an item and then take it to the customer service desk and wait in line. After that they look the price up and over ride the register. Now imagine I am price matching a video game. That requires me to go to the back of the store wait in line if there is one and then ask a employee to get a game out of the case so I can go stand in line at the customer service desk and price match it.


Why do this when I can order something online and in most cases get it the next day due to my close proximity to a amazon warehouse. Amazon's prices and selection is superior to any store.

 

[Darryl M R]

Amazon Prime has been amazing for me. No bad experience so far. My time is valuable so I rather not waste traveling to a store for items. It's easier to predict when you will need an item and just buy it.

Plus if I have any issue it is a free return plus they will send me out a replacement before I even send my item back.

Prime pays for itself especially when factoring in gas/travel.

 

[golem]

I feel like Amazon's customer service and overall experience has declined a bit (price matching even their own sales seems to be a huge hassle now), but my last few interactions with customer service during the holiday season have been really excellent. A few packages went missing and they replaced them without question and over live chat, easy and quick

 

[Lasthope106]

I had to spend about 8-10 hours once dealing with a $10 credit that was not applied properly to my order. I got passed around 9 people, the majority based out of India. When I did finally speak to an American, it was no help.

That's probably the worst case of customer service I've faced in my life. I was so pissed off I e-mailed Jeff Bezos. A day later I got a "we are sorry" e-mail and a $20 credit.

Last year alone I had more issues with orders than in the past 15 years that I had been a customer. They can afford to be shitty now since their pretty much bigger than Wal-Mart.

 

[kraspkibble]

never had a problem with amazon customer service and i have never signed up for prime. only times i've used it is when customer service gave me it for a month.

 

[Lan_97]

Amazon customer service is about the long game. In general, they will bend over backwards for you, but sometimes they will be stubborn and your best course of action is to settle for a less than satisfactory resolution, even if you are right.

Some things to keep in mind:
1. Email is your best bet if you just want to get things for your trouble
2. They don't handle complicated scenarios or logic very well
3. If you run into 'we cannot comment on this further,' you've pushed as far as you can go.

 

[SummitAve]

Based on the threads I see on gaf and the amount of time people are willing to spend jumping through customer service hoops for not getting exactly what they want, I have to imagine their customer service is mostly flooded by people receiving an item a day or two later than what was guaranteed, and wanting credit or a free month.

 

[davidwhangchoi]

Let me tell you about the Zero Time Dilemma disaster, OP.

LOL oh man.... my cracked watch

 

[hayejin]

For me, it was about five in a month where price drops occurred for items bought and sold by Amazon LLC within a return period. They refused to honor the reduction calling it a price match every time. They told me to return the item(s) at cost to myself and re-order it at the new price every time. That's just ridiculous.

This so much. Now they won't even do it when item is still in preparing shipping stage. They tell me to just refuse package and reorder.
It used to be I'd point out just how many orders I have on Amazon on daily basis and argue that any money saved is going back to a new Amazon order and they'd honor the price difference.
Now nothing.

 

[Sir Alemeth]

I've stopped shopping at amazon for a while now because of their customer service decline. Plus I can get the same stuff at walmart for cheaper nowadays.

 

[SapphiCine]

In my experience, it's a tossup if they will be incredibly unhelpful or bend over backwards for you. I think it's a matter of whether you are taking to the first tier of customer support, which is typically outsourced.

 

[Istaerion]

This so much. Now they won't even do it when item is still in preparing shipping stage. They tell me to just refuse package and reorder.
It used to be I'd point out just how many orders I have on Amazon on daily basis and argue that any money saved is going back to a new Amazon order and they'd honor the price difference.
Now nothing.

Pretty much what I've experienced as mentioned on the first page regarding a purchase of mine.

Ever since, I've made most of my purchases via retail locations since Amazon charges me tax and now offers less price security than Best Buy, Walmart, and etc. I mostly use Amazon now for items I can't normally find at aforementioned stores or that would be an inconvenience to purchase elsewhere.

They're still pretty good when it comes to support regarding lost and damaged packages, however, it's starting to occur more and more frequently with my orders which doesn't exactly keep me all that satisfied in the end.

 

[Darklor01]

In my experience, it's a tossup if they will be incredibly unhelpful or bend over backwards for you. I think it's a matter of whether you are taking to the first tier of customer support, which is typically outsourced.

Is emailing Jeff Bezos directly not talking to the first tier?

 

[katsubento]

I have Prime and never have issues. But I have friends who don't have Prime who also have had superb and above and beyond customer service, so maybe you just got unlucky OP.

 

[Wildschwein]

Over the holidays I bought a PS4 slim as a gift. I originally purchased from best buy, but I returned it after a deal popped up on Amazon for $250 with a year of PS+ (give or take a $50 value).

The note on the promotion said that you'd get an email with it two days after shipping. It had been a few days, so I checked in to check up since it was a gift and all.

I spent three days being told to prove the promotion existed (I couldn't provide anything but but a screenshot of the page from cheapassgamer with a note about the promo and my word that it was damn well there). Every time a new sale (first a gift card version of the promo, and then a price drop) popped up, I chimed in for a match because they'd done this sort of thing before. There's plenty of mention of how they handle price matching now, so that was obviously a no go.

So, CS insisted that the promotion never existed across four different people that were each shorter with me than the one before.

Three days later? I got an email with the PS+ code because they were either A) Full of it or B) trying to appease me because I left some scathing "how was your CS experience" notes.

Absolutely my last purchase like that from them. At least around the holidays. If it weren't the week before Christmas I would have just returned it and bought it again.

Every experience for the past decade had been wonderful. Just last year they price matched their own black Friday deal for a laptop for me, but this year they were just rude.

 

[OdysseusVA]

I dropped Amazon once they began sitting on items for a week before shipping them out. Ain't no one got time for that.

Its mostly been Newegg and trusted eBay sellers. With them I receive shipping info within 24hrs.

 

[Kill3r7]

Prime member here. Don't even talk to me about their customer service.

To be fair, customer service has been going down the shitter just about everywhere but Costco, where they still treat you like a king. I buy enough stuff from Amazon to warrant keeping Prime but I just can't deal with their customer service anymore. The runaround is absurd even over chat. How many times does an individual need to be transferred before he or she reaches someone who has the power to do something to address their issue?

 

[Eye for an Eye]

Why waste gas and time price matching when I can order on amazon? For example, price matching at Target requires me to get an item and then take it to the customer service desk and wait in line. After that they look the price up and over ride the register. Now imagine I am price matching a video game. That requires me to go to the back of the store wait in line if there is one and then ask a employee to get a game out of the case so I can go stand in line at the customer service desk and price match it.


Why do this when I can order something online and in most cases get it the next day due to my close proximity to a amazon warehouse. Amazon's prices and selection is superior to any store.

Most stores do it at a register. No need for customer service lines to price match. I'd rather have the item in my hand after 20 minutes than wait two days for it in the mail. I haven't come across a brick and mortar store that doesn't price match.

 

[Eye for an Eye]

Last year alone I had more issues with orders than in the past 15 years that I had been a customer. They can afford to be shitty now since their pretty much bigger than Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart is still on top. Amazon is like number 8 out of the top ten companies in revenue.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/laureng...l-2000-worlds-largest-retailers/#48cee5f329a9

 

[NoblesseOblige]

Man I'm glad I have patience because this whole thing sounds like a nonissue to me.

 

[rjinaz]

Based on the threads I see on gaf and the amount of time people are willing to spend jumping through customer service hoops for not getting exactly what they want, I have to imagine their customer service is mostly flooded by people receiving an item a day or two later than what was guaranteed, and wanting credit or a free month.

Well to be fair, they do guarantee it and you do pay for that service. And if you don't contact them, they won't give a damn. I receive packages late by them all the time. I have never contacted them. I have never been awarded with credits or anything else. Contacting them is a requirement if you want to hold them to their guarantee.

 

[GameAddict411]

My experience has always been wonderful with Amazon, but I am also a prime member. That could make a huge difference. In fact I just ordered a replacement for a $1700 laptop and they shipped it the next day. They even told me to keep the old laptop for 30 days to copy my stuff from it and it only took less than 5 mins to get all that.