Review Amazon India - Feedback Thread

Somehow my experience has been better with Flipkart compared to Amazon. I know people love to bash FK and praise AZ. But at least in my experience I always had more trouble with Amazon.
It is just like the classic "WD vs Seagate" debate, it all depends on your luck. Btw, did amazon ask for return of the wrong item.
 
Currently Amazon has tighten their return/replacement policy. I beleive Amazon is still more generous than Flipkart. But Amazon has started a new step of "verification" both from their end and from customer end as well. They ask to photograph the defective item and send them the images. Upon verification from their end they proceed to the next step. But at the end I find Amazon to be more customer centric and initiate the return or replacement.
Had ordered a Cooler Master S3 fan, which was a 'secure' delivery with OTP. Since there is no open box delivery, I had to accept it and provide the OTP. Upon opening the package I found that I was delivered a 4G wifi card instead of the fan. It was worth Rs. 2800 instead of Rs. 800 for the original item I had ordered. But I had no use for it so I placed a return.

Now, I have been a regular customer of amazon for over 10 years so I was expecting a quick return. However it was not so simple. Their customer care, after transferring me from one department to another, and everyone talking in a cold tone, kept saying that they need to investigate before they can initiate a return. After a while I just gave up because it wasn't worth the time. But then one day I got reminded of it and was pissed off at their service so I called them again. They said they have completed the investigation and will initiate the refund.

If I hadn't called them then they would have done nothing and kept my money. This treatment after I place over 200 orders per year. After this I have decided to give a preference to other sites over Amazon.

Somehow my experience has been better with Flipkart compared to Amazon. I know people love to bash FK and praise AZ. But at least in my experience I always had more trouble with Amazon.

Just my 2 paise.
 
Currently Amazon has tighten their return/replacement policy. I beleive Amazon is still more generous than Flipkart. But Amazon has started a new step of "verification" both from their end and from customer end as well. They ask to photograph the defective item and send them the images. Upon verification from their end they proceed to the next step. But at the end I find Amazon to be more customer centric and initiate the return or replacement.
Yes, i ordered a psu last year in September and it came as a used one with all cables missing barring 1. Even power cable wasn't there and i opened it a days after replacement window was over. I raised complaint exactly a day after as i opened it then. They asked me for pics after discussion and it took a week only when they took the part back and refunded it.
 
I had ordered a tripod projector screen from Amazon. It was a 100 inches screen and very big. After installing it I found that the tripod stand was not good enough to take the weight of the screen. The screen itself was good but had to return it due to the poor constructed tripod stand. Now the return pickup was rescheduled for seven times as this projector screen is very heavy and is ten feet tall when packed. Inspite of letting the Amazon CS know about the dimension of the return item, the pickup person always came in a two wheeler and unable to pickup the item. They have a very poor communication with their own logistics as I have several times emphasized that they need a pickup truck to move this product. I had escalated the issue in twitter and to their social media team and after more than 45 days they refunded the amount but never took back the Projector. They just told me to discard the Projector or do whatever I want to do with it. I gave the Projector to a school nearby which was in need of it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Black_Hawk
If I hadn't called them then they would have done nothing and kept my money. This treatment after I place over 200 orders per year. After this I have decided to give a preference to other sites over Amazon.
This might sound harsh and rude but someone has to say it so here goes...
Amazon or any other big retail chain DOES NOT CARE how many orders you place with them or about the amount of money you transact with them in any amount of time.

They DO NOT and WILL NOT give you or anyone any higher preference based on those figures so DO NOT expect that behavior or "treatment" (as you say it) from them.

Every individual is just another customer to them and has to deal with the policies and go through their "system" just like everybody else.
Yeah, you may get some priority if you yell and make a fuss about things on social media but that's when you have some followers so the yelling and fuss can reach out to people.

PS: By saying "you", I'm not pointing out fingers to just an individual but that includes every individual who might think the same way.
 
It is just like the classic "WD vs Seagate" debate, it all depends on your luck. Btw, did amazon ask for return of the wrong item.
Yes, I had returned the item and it was picked up the very next day.
This might sound harsh and rude but someone has to say it so here goes...
Amazon or any other big retail chain DOES NOT CARE how many orders you place with them or about the amount of money you transact with them in any amount of time.

They DO NOT and WILL NOT give you or anyone any higher preference based on those figures so DO NOT expect that behavior or "treatment" (as you say it) from them.

Every individual is just another customer to them and has to deal with the policies and go through their "system" just like everybody else.
Yeah, you may get some priority if you yell and make a fuss about things on social media but that's when you have some followers so the yelling and fuss can reach out to people.

PS: By saying "you", I'm not pointing out fingers to just an individual but that includes every individual who might think the same way.
So.. According to you Amazon does not care about CLV, unlike other businesses?
 
Yes, I had returned the item and it was picked up the very next day.

So.. According to you Amazon does not care about CLV, unlike other businesses?
Amazon and any other online business do value CLV. I experienced the other end when I registered an account with a different number and had an altogether worse experience for simple refunds compared to ordering from my primary account.

They are especially sceptical about new accounts or those with too many returns or cancellations. But yeah, the controls in India have been tightened significantly compared to western countries due to too many frauds. They have shifted from a growth to a maturity phase now and will be less tolerant of losses resulting out of returns.
 
  • Like
Reactions: enthusiast29
According to you Amazon does not care about CLV, unlike other businesses?
As said above the system and agents identify accounts as good or bad based on the factors such as age and some good transactions (good not necessarily being high value).
After a certain point your high volume of transactions don't really matter as your account is already in the good standing. Then it's all the same for them.

Remember you're not the only one driving their business up so there's no special treatment.
 
I didn't know this thread was only for providing positive feedback or else you get condescending remarks. Anyway I have shared what I had to, so I am out of here.
 
I didn't know this thread was only for providing positive feedback or else you get condescending remarks. Anyway I have shared what I had to, so I am out of here.

There is an easy way to make returns/refunds work that I've found through trial and error: always stay in chat, never go to calls. I've recently had to return two orders in the same month (damaged products) and both times, they asked me to wait until a certain date and when I followed up one day after that, through their automated chat, I was issued a full refund both times.
 
There is an easy way to make returns/refunds work that I've found through trial and error: always stay in chat, never go to calls. I've recently had to return two orders in the same month (damaged products) and both times, they asked me to wait until a certain date and when I followed up one day after that, through their automated chat, I was issued a full refund both times.
U raised return request or did a chat with agent and then they made the return request on a replacement only item.
 
I didn't have a return option in the order details page on the mobile app even though both orders were "10 days returnable". So I went through the customer service button (last option on the menu screen), selected "chat with us", selected the item/order, then return/exchange, and proceeded from there. I wasn't assigned an actual person either time I did this, I was just told to wait about 5 days and then I went again through the same process on the 6th day and received a full refund.

Someone was supposed to come pick up the damaged product but no one showed up and instead the return was marked as received.

Not sure if it makes any difference but I restrict returns to only damaged products or missing accessories because:

I'm on my second Amazon account, my first was registered in 2002 — I had to close it in 2015 because of a messy return for something I had purchased on behalf of someone else. It took just one incident after over a decade of orders and thousands of dollars to get my account flagged. I haven't purchased anything on someone else's behalf on my second Amazon account since.

I no longer had two day shipping to any address on my account. I could not initiate calls for customer care, the option disappeared for me, only chat was available. The return button disappeared for some purchases, my reviews disappeared for both products and sellers even though they showed up on my account. After a second return a few weeks later, I lost access to my kindle account, my associates account and my AWS console. Amazon customer care said access could not be reinstated and after that conversation, I could no longer place orders even though I could still log in and check order history.

Similiar things happened years later with my second account but on Amazon India, my product reviews disappeared and I could no longer leave seller ratings. I now have kindle and AWS on seperate accounts so I don't know if they were restricted for that period. My product reviews returned after about 18 months of no returns. This suggests there's an unspecified 'cooling off period' between returns within which account restrictions could be triggered by a return.

These days, I don't pursue returns unless if there's a glaring issue (completely wrong item sent, incorrect quantities, or outright seller fraud).
 
  • Like
Reactions: rockyo27
Had ordered a Cooler Master S3 fan, which was a 'secure' delivery with OTP. Since there is no open box delivery, I had to accept it and provide the OTP. Upon opening the package I found that I was delivered a 4G wifi card instead of the fan. It was worth Rs. 2800 instead of Rs. 800 for the original item I had ordered. But I had no use for it so I placed a return.

Now, I have been a regular customer of amazon for over 10 years so I was expecting a quick return. However it was not so simple. Their customer care, after transferring me from one department to another, and everyone talking in a cold tone, kept saying that they need to investigate before they can initiate a return. After a while I just gave up because it wasn't worth the time. But then one day I got reminded of it and was pissed off at their service so I called them again. They said they have completed the investigation and will initiate the refund.

If I hadn't called them then they would have done nothing and kept my money. This treatment after I place over 200 orders per year. After this I have decided to give a preference to other sites over Amazon.

Somehow my experience has been better with Flipkart compared to Amazon. I know people love to bash FK and praise AZ. But at least in my experience I always had more trouble with Amazon.

Just my 2 paise.
atleast in amazon you can call them / request a call back in flipkart you get nothing
 
  • Like
Reactions: Black_Hawk
So, I didn't put this into the thread here...

I happened to order a Floor Wiper stick from Amazon on the 20th of April and it got delivered on the 22nd. Instead of sending a floor wiper what I received was a small duster. I went ahead and made a Refund request on the 22nd itself and the wrong item was picked up the next day (23rd of April).

The amount to be refunded was a meager Rs.234/- and I thought Amazon would refund it automatically within the next 3 days (which is what usually happens with Refunds).

And amidst other orders later I forgot about the entire thing till a couple of nights ago when I was generally browsing through my order list on Amazon and suddenly this particular order caught my eye because the Refund was still showing as pending! I clicked on the Return Tracking status and it showed that your return package might have been lost in transit and since Amazon hadn't received it the Refund hadn't gotten initiated to my account. Almost 17 days had passed at this point!

Good thing is the matter got promptly solved over a simple call to their customer care and the money got refunded. However on my order list it now shows that the return is on it's way back (the lost in transit message has vanished) and the refund will be issued.

If I hadn't noticed this and not made the call to their customer care would the refund still automatically happen after a stipulated amount of time? For 17 days it remained stuck until I did notice the issue and contacted Amazon CC so I'm wondering. Of course in this case the amount of refund is negligible but still just asking.
 
Most likely only at quarter ending or FY ending as that time all pending txns status need to be settled/cleared in account books.
Mine was picked up on April 21st and has since been lost in transit.

Another defective item was refunded within a few hours of pickup last week.
 
Mine was picked up on April 21st and has since been lost in transit.

Another defective item was refunded within a few hours of pickup last week.
Keep reminding/asking amazon customer care about that lost item & hopefully it should be sorted out before this June quarter end.
 
  • Like
Reactions: n1r0
Mine was picked up on April 21st and has since been lost in transit.

Another defective item was refunded within a few hours of pickup last week.

Just give Amazon Customer Care a call and they will issue the refund. When I called them already 16 days had elapsed from the day of pick-up and the customer care agent instantly issued the refund to my account. No questions asked.
 
  • Like
Reactions: n1r0