Community Chat

[Ibby114]

I bought a pair of boots from Amazon Prime- great price and guaranteed free returns. I figured they wanted to compete with the Zappos and Shoebuy market.

The boots didn't work for me, so I sent them back. I just got an email confirming my return details- yep, no shipping charged. But a $15 RESTOCKING FEE was! The order didn't say anything about a restocking fee- the website promo doesn't mention it either. I even talked to several reps when placing the order and no one said a thing! So much for thinking Amazon Prime is the best!!!

It's so sleazy to call it something other than it is- return shipping fee? restocking fee? It's the same beast when it comes down to it! I just emailed them and asked for a one time exception. I may be back to ordering college textbooks only from them.

[Topaz Gem]

I don't know if they can legally charge you a $15.00 restocking fee if they don't tell you upfront. Once you let them know that you were not informed of this restocking fee, they may indeed refund it back to you. That's pretty sleazy, IMO.

Good luck!

[pinkskates4]

I hope Amazon isn't slipping. I have so enjoyed their Customer Service and the Amazon Prime account.

But I had a poor experience a couple of days ago with the CS - my first ever with them.

We were trying to watch a movie and it loaded fine and ran for about 5 minutes, then stopped then reloaded ran for about 10 minutes, stopped and tried to reload again and then a message came on the screen - Can't reload, call Amazon.

So I did and explained what I just said. The woman told me that probably my device was not compatible. I said we'd been watching movies for over a year on this device. She told me again it was probably not compatible - but that she would check for me and asked for the model number - which I gave her four times and she kept transposing the letters. Finally, I put my DH on the phone with her and he gave her the number a total of 3 times before she got it. After a long wait she came back and said the device was compatible after all. Then she told me that I was probably using the wrong account. I said I only had one account. After being on the phone with her for almost 30 minutes, she finally suggested we reboot - which you guessed it - fixed the problem.

I would have done that in the first place if I hadn't gotten the message to call Amazon on the screen. I thought there was something wrong with the account.

When I got a follow up email from Amazon asking me about the service, I complained - as I have here. I have heard nothing in response.

[adelle38]

First of all, was the seller Amazon or was it another seller going through Amazon? Amazon doesn't control policies of independent sellers but I am sure if you contact Amazon directly they will refund your $15 and correct the situation with the seller. Your one bad ordering experience, doesn't counteract the millions of good experiences others have had.

[toodles11]

I would call them up and ask them where it mentioned anything about a restocking fee. If you didn't notice it, maybe it needs to be more prominent. Tell them that you are not too happy with this surprise and see if they do anything about it.

[adelle38]

On 1/23/2014 Dagna said:

I hope Amazon isn't slipping. I have so enjoyed their Customer Service and the Amazon Prime account.

But I had a poor experience a couple of days ago with the CS - my first ever with them.

We were trying to watch a movie and it loaded fine and ran for about 5 minutes, then stopped then reloaded ran for about 10 minutes, stopped and tried to reload again and then a message came on the screen - Can't reload, call Amazon.

So I did and explained what I just said. The woman told me that probably my device was not compatible. I said we'd been watching movies for over a year on this device. She told me again it was probably not compatible - but that she would check for me and asked for the model number - which I gave her four times and she kept transposing the letters. Finally, I put my DH on the phone with her and he gave her the number a total of 3 times before she got it. After a long wait she came back and said the device was compatible after all. Then she told me that I was probably using the wrong account. I said I only had one account. After being on the phone with her for almost 30 minutes, she finally suggested we reboot - which you guessed it - fixed the problem.

I would have done that in the first place if I hadn't gotten the message to call Amazon on the screen. I thought there was something wrong with the account.

When I got a follow up email from Amazon asking me about the service, I complained - as I have here. I have heard nothing in response.

Anytime you have a streaming problem, the first thing to try is rebooting. It doesn't matter whether it's Amazon, Netflix, Hulu or whoever. Perhaps the rep assumed you had already done it.

[Ibby114]

On 1/23/2014 adelle38 said:

First of all, was the seller Amazon or was it another seller going through Amazon? Amazon doesn't control policies of independent sellers but I am sure if you contact Amazon directly they will refund your $15 and correct the situation with the seller. Your one bad ordering experience, doesn't counteract the millions of good experiences others have had.

The seller was Amazon. I rarely go through other sellers - and even fewer times go outside of Prime. I was stunned to see something so sleazy (can't think of a better word for it!) than to sneak in a $15 restocking fee in lieu of a return shipping fee! Out in the b&m world that's called bait and switch!

[Clover29]

Amazon isn't QVC, who will take returns like boots even if you've worn them for a month. If you return used DVDs, books that have obviously been read, or shoes than have been worn, there is a restocking fee:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=help_search_1-2?ie=UTF8&nodeId=901926&qid=1...

============
Partial refunds/Restocking Fees

+ Any unopened media item or non-media item in original condition that is returned more than 30 days after delivery: 80% of item's price.
+ Any book that has obvious signs of use: 50% of item's price.
Any CD, DVD, VHS tape, software, video game, cassette tape, or vinyl record that has been opened (taken out of its plastic wrap): 50% of item's price.
+ Any item that is not in its original condition, is damaged, or is missing parts for reasons not due to our error: up to 50% of item's price

[KYToby]

I seriously doubt Amazon is trying to compete with Zappos -- since they own Zappos!

[Ibby114]

On 1/23/2014 Clover29 said:

Amazon isn't QVC, who will take returns like boots even if you've worn them for a month. If you return used DVDs, books that have obviously been read, or shoes than have been worn, there is a restocking fee:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=help_search_1-2?ie=UTF8&nodeId=901926&qid=1...

============
Partial refunds/Restocking Fees

+ Any unopened media item or non-media item in original condition that is returned more than 30 days after delivery: 80% of item's price.
+ Any book that has obvious signs of use: 50% of item's price.
Any CD, DVD, VHS tape, software, video game, cassette tape, or vinyl record that has been opened (taken out of its plastic wrap): 50% of item's price.
+ Any item that is not in its original condition, is damaged, or is missing parts for reasons not due to our error: up to 50% of item's price

The boots were tried on and put back in the box. Never worn! It was shipped back in the same box Amazon sent to me- all stuffing materials included!!

Amazon heard me- I already got the restocking fee refunded.