Amazon’s A-to-z guarantee
I’m giddy; this rocks.
On January 25th I placed an order on Amazon with one of their resellers for ~$100 of running gear. I never have time for my runs during the day, I can only run early in the morning. Mornings which are cold in Seattle making running in shorts less enjoyable. Thus, I ordered running tights; the price was right. The next day, I received an email from the reseller: sorry, your item is out of stock; btw, here’s a discount on your next purchase with us.
Uh… that sucks… Isn’t inventory control a solved problem by now? Oh well… I’ll order something else later. It was only three days later that the thought fluttered across my mind. It lingered long enough for me to confirm. When you order on Amazon from a reseller, Amazon handles the billing. They immediately charge your credit card. The charge of $99.90 hadn’t been reversed. Reversing, I learned, is a reseller duty. Since they don’t have the goods, it’s their responsibility to cancel the sale. The instructions from Amazon were clear: step one, contact the seller. And so I did.
You can guess what happened: reseller promptly replies, apologizes for the screw up, promises to reverse the charge within 24hrs and reminds me to use my discount with them for my purchase. By the way, the discount is only valid for a few weeks. Don’t delay. Smells like a bait and switch.
Last night at midnight I filed a reimbursement claim - step two - under Amazon’s A-to-z guarantee. It took 5 minutes. This morning, my bank account shows that the charge has been removed. Score one more for online shopping.
February 6th, 2006 at 4:09 pm
Hmm, this does sound a lot like a bait-n-switch scam. I’m pleased Amazon was so good about handling your request for a refund, though. I’ve been put off buying things from some of Amazon’s storefronts for less-reputable sellers, precisely for this reason. (And some horror stories about damaged goods being delivered). It sounds like if you order something from Amazon, no matter who actually ends up selling you the item and shipping it, Amazon stands behind their guarantee? Will they step in and refund your money if you get shipped damaged goods and the seller refuses to collect or ship a new item to you?…
PS: A lot of the cheap camera stores online use this exact strategy. Offer cameras for sale at a great price, only to say they’re out of stock and then bump you up to a more expensive model. Or they try to strongarm you into buying a lot of expensive extras… Ah well, caveat emptor!
February 7th, 2006 at 9:07 am
Mhhh… Isn’t a disclaimer in order for this post, due to some close personal interests in some of the (wonderful and fantastic) entities mentionned in the post?
Just a suggestions…
Cheers!
February 7th, 2006 at 10:35 am
Ah… lawyers.
That’s a valid point. For the sake of disclosure, we’ll mention it. However, no, she didn’t play a role in getting me my reimbursement.