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Amazon do you really want to buy from them?

Posted: 31 Mar 2016, 1:17pm
by mercalia
Banned by Amazon for returning faulty goods & you lose any any gift balance....no refund

This isn't particularly about bikes but I have bought a few bike parts thru them.

not any more I think

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/mar/18/banned-by-amazon-returning-faulty-goods-blocked-credit-balance

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?462013-Banned-by-Amazon-for-returning-faulty-goods&p=4882099#post4882099

Re: Amazon do you really want to buy from them?

Posted: 31 Mar 2016, 1:29pm
by Psamathe
mercalia wrote:Banned by Amazon for returning faulty goods & you lose any any gift balance....no refund...

Not sure if it is the same case but reported a few weeks ago somebody who had purchased a Kindle and when banned, whilst they can keep the Kindle books they had already purchased, they could not purchase any more. So the initial outlay on the device meant those books "already purchased" became very very expensive.

And, apparently, when you get banned they will sometimes also ban anybody at the same address.

Nice people to do business with ?

Ian

Re: Amazon do you really want to buy from them?

Posted: 31 Mar 2016, 2:40pm
by kylecycler
The only problem I've had with Amazon was when I went to purchase a Cyclo dropout alignment gauge for an unfeasibly small amount of money (I should have known there was something not quite right) and received instead a spoke threading tool (didn't even know what it was!).
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cyclo-Spoke-Thr ... ling+tools
I contacted the seller, BuySend Limited, attaching a screenshot of the delivery email and almost immediately got a very nice email back from the seller explaining that although they stocked Cyclo products they'd never stocked the dropout alignment gauge and that Amazon had somehow got the order code wrong or mixed up - it evidently wasn't the seller's fault, and I'd no reason to doubt them.

They cancelled the order, refunded the money, and although I'd asked how I would go about returning the spoke threading tool, they insisted I keep it as a goodwill gesture f.o.c. and asked that I didn't give them a negative review, which of course I didn't - I said I would certainly order from them again if I ever needed anything they stocked but I never have yet. Haven't found a use for the spoke threading tool (now that I know what it is!), and probably never will, but you never know...

That was all down to the seller, though - you couldn't fault them - Amazon wasn't really involved.

Re: Amazon do you really want to buy from them?

Posted: 31 Mar 2016, 3:35pm
by irc
They should refund any gift card balances. Apart from that I can see their point. One customer in the linked article returned 30 out of 112 items bought. I'm not convinced all those items were faulty. Sounds more like buyer's remorse. I've been buying from Amazon for years and have only needed to return 3 or 4 at the most.

Lucky Marks and Spencer don't have a limit on clothes returns or Mrs IRC would have been banned years ago.

Re: Amazon do you really want to buy from them?

Posted: 31 Mar 2016, 3:46pm
by Merry_Wanderer
I won't buy from them on principle because they don't pay their fair share of tax in the UK. I would rather buy from a supplier that does pay their fair share because otherwise the rest of us end up paying more.

I recently gave an order to Guardian books (for books not bike parts) and they were cheaper than Amazon and pay tax in the UK. For bike parts I use Spa Cycles mainly

Re: Amazon do you really want to buy from them?

Posted: 31 Mar 2016, 4:03pm
by al_yrpal
I have ruminated on the tax issue quite a bit and decided to continue to buy from them. I reason that if they arent paying tax, the neither am I. And the less tax I pay the better I feel about it. Over the years I have returned goods three times to Amazon. The last time I broke a liquidiser bowl and found spare bowls were not available. I thought this was a good reason to reject the goods and on each occasion I got a full refund. Obviously there is more to the story in the OPs post than meets the eye, otherwise why barr someone? Amazon are obviously being coy about the reason to protect themselves. Whether this is just or unjust is hard to fathom?

Al

Re: Amazon do you really want to buy from them?

Posted: 31 Mar 2016, 4:08pm
by kylecycler
irc wrote:Lucky Marks and Spencer don't have a limit on clothes returns or Mrs IRC would have been banned years ago.

A cautionary tale...

I once - just the once - went shopping in M&S for a cardigan for my mother. She was elderly by then, and she told me she was a size 16. I'd never shopped for women's clothing (I'll have you know...), didn't know nothing about sizes, and it was too big. Quite a lot too big, actually. I took it back and swapped it for a size 14. Back home - still too big. Back to M&S - size 12 - back home - still too big.

Every time I went back (it was on the same day), there was the same young lady browsing around the clothes, ostensibly shopping. By the time I was swapping the size 14 for a size 12 it was painfully obvious that she was the store detective, and it was equally obvious that she was on my case.

She kept dodging in and out of the aisles, shadowing me and kidding herself on that I hadn't seen her. This wasn't helped by the fact that I kept pretending I hadn't - I didn't want to blow her cover, although I was dying to go up to her and say, "You're the store detective, aren't you?!" Eventually I finished up with a size 10, although it might even have been a size 8, paid for it, legged it out of the store and kept running till I was out of sight. I felt guilty even though I'd done nothing wrong and I've never shopped for women's clothing since.

Re: Amazon do you really want to buy from them?

Posted: 31 Mar 2016, 4:23pm
by mercalia
kylecycler wrote:
irc wrote:Lucky Marks and Spencer don't have a limit on clothes returns or Mrs IRC would have been banned years ago.

A cautionary tale...

I once - just the once - went shopping in M&S for a cardigan for my mother. She was elderly by then, and she told me she was a size 16. I'd never shopped for women's clothing (I'll have you know...), didn't know nothing about sizes, and it was too big. Quite a lot too big, actually. I took it back and swapped it for a size 14. Back home - still too big. Back to M&S - size 12 - back home - still too big.

Every time I went back (it was on the same day), there was the same young lady browsing around the clothes, ostensibly shopping. By the time I was swapping the size 14 for a size 12 it was painfully obvious that she was the store detective, and it was equally obvious that she was on my case.

She kept dodging in and out of the aisles, shadowing me and kidding herself on that I hadn't seen her. This wasn't helped by the fact that I kept pretending I hadn't - I didn't want to blow her cover, although I was dying to go up to her and say, "You're the store detective, aren't you?!" Eventually I finished up with a size 10, although it might even have been a size 8, paid for it, legged it out of the store and kept running till I was out of sight. I felt guilty even though I'd done nothing wrong and I've never shopped for women's clothing since.


just be thankful it wasnt a bra :lol:

Re: Amazon do you really want to buy from them?

Posted: 31 Mar 2016, 4:57pm
by recumbentpanda
@ aly_rpal. As roads are paid for mainly out of general taxation, and you appear to think that it's ok to dodge tax if Amazon do, then, I claim the right to shout 'You don't pay road tax!' :twisted:

Re: Amazon do you really want to buy from them?

Posted: 31 Mar 2016, 5:24pm
by ChrisF
recumbentpanda wrote:@ aly_rpal. As roads are paid for mainly out of general taxation, and you appear to think that it's ok to dodge tax if Amazon do, then, I claim the right to shout 'You don't pay road tax!' :twisted:

+1
al_yrpal wrote: I reason that if they arent paying tax, the neither am I. And the less tax I pay the better I feel about it. Al

You'll be paying VAT on your Amazon purchases (unless they're from the Channel Islands or similar, but that's a different story). And probably income tax on your earnings.
I stopped buying from Amazon when the whole tax thing surfaced. Someone has to pay taxes, e.g. the smaller stores that Amazon are forcing out of business

Re: Amazon do you really want to buy from them?

Posted: 31 Mar 2016, 5:28pm
by Psamathe
irc wrote:...Lucky Marks and Spencer don't have a limit on clothes returns or Mrs IRC would have been banned years ago.

I think that clothing web sites have to accept a higher level of returns than other sites as there are far more "variables" with cloths (medium from one company can be a very different size as medium from a different company, plus web colours are often not 100% plus far harder to give an accurate impression with a few photos, etc.).

That said I've returned a few "high tech" products to Amazon as they turned out to be "bleeding edge" rather than "leading edge" (basically did not work even close to advertised spec.).

I do however think that Amazon should be giving people returning too much stuff that they have "concerns" (e.g. just an e-mail along the lines of "you seem to be making a large number of returns and this represents a cost to us so in future we can only honour our legal distance selling obligations rather than our more normal more generous returns policy" (sort of "shot across the bows" giving people at least some warning of concerns).

Ian

Re: Amazon do you really want to buy from them?

Posted: 31 Mar 2016, 5:35pm
by Psamathe
I, like others, am not happy about Amazon's tax arrangements. But I do still purchase from them when appropriate (e.g. they have what I want at the best price/arrangements). To pay over the odds for something because of the sellers legal tax arrangements is a bit like cutting off your nose to spite your face. And in some respects you may as well just give the difference direct to HMRC.

And we happen to have found out about Amazon but how many others are there out there doing the same thing who we do buy from ... or even ones we do know about (e.g. I use a Mac and have an iPhone). The tax issue is no so much one for companies using them but for the government who after years and year have hardly even made a token gesture to close those loopholes (and "I wonder why").

What I actually find more distasteful about Amazon is how they treat their staff (as reported over the last year or so). Not only the zero hours contracts but horrendous pressure, etc. (you can Google the reports). Again though seems completely legal. And no doubt things will get worse should we leave the EU and Westminster gets released from its obligations under EU regulations....

Ian

Re: Amazon do you really want to buy from them?

Posted: 31 Mar 2016, 5:58pm
by DavidT
I rarely use Amazon these days. A combination of issues have overwhelmed the preference I once had for them. Namely; tax issues, treatment of staff, use of the "Market Place" to apparently sell absolutely everything from absolutely anyone - and thus losing control of their Quality Control, their repeated trick to get you to accidently order the fast delivery service with a huge, almost default green "Go" button alongside a tiny "No thanks" icon. Not to mention a self realisation that whilst my Amazon packages were being delivered I was lamenting the demise of the nearby High Street(s). I've also realised it is not so essential that I get a book or a DVD within the next 3 days or whatever. I can go to Town at the weekend, or next weekend.

I guess many other employers may be just as bad with respect to some of the above, but I have just lost interest in Amazon. Many companies try to stress Corporate Responsibility these days. I am somewhat cynical of that whole exercise, but Amazon does seem particularly weak in that respect?

I'm happier paying a few pence more and ordering things from, or for delivery to, the High St.

As for cycling stuff, I've discovered that my LBS can order most things I want from their suppliers. I just need to be slightly insistent, rather than let them sell me what they have in stock. Again I pay a bit more perhaps (although CTC discount is given) but at least the shop is still there and can help (FOC) as I weep at my hopeless inability to remove a pedal....(for example..)

Happy cycling

Re: Amazon do you really want to buy from them?

Posted: 31 Mar 2016, 7:35pm
by al_yrpal
quilkin wrote:
recumbentpanda wrote:@ aly_rpal. As roads are paid for mainly out of general taxation, and you appear to think that it's ok to dodge tax if Amazon do, then, I claim the right to shout 'You don't pay road tax!' :twisted:

+1
al_yrpal wrote: I reason that if they arent paying tax, the neither am I. And the less tax I pay the better I feel about it. Al

You'll be paying VAT on your Amazon purchases (unless they're from the Channel Islands or similar, but that's a different story). And probably income tax on your earnings.
I stopped buying from Amazon when the whole tax thing surfaced. Someone has to pay taxes, e.g. the smaller stores that Amazon are forcing out of business


I understand perfectly about VAT, what Amazon and others avoid is paying large amounts of corporation tax. This is a tax on your nett profit, around 20%?. Well Amazon have never made a profit anywhere at any time so they pay none of this tax. They concentrate everything into building their business and making it even bigger. There was a time when they were shipping from the Channel Islands thus avoiding VAT but the Tories largely stopped that. I already pay 30% of my pension out in various taxes. Anything I can do to pay less tax I do, and I dont apolgise for that. I always try to buy from John Lewis if I can but they often cannot beat Amazons prices. They pay their corporation tax.

Al

Re: Amazon do you really want to buy from them?

Posted: 31 Mar 2016, 8:17pm
by pete75
al_yrpal wrote:
Well Amazon have never made a profit anywhere at any time

Al

As the Duke of Wellington said 'If you believe that Sir, you'll believe anything'