Amazon Animosity

Ever order something Online because it’s a great value, only to discover that, for all the resulting grief, you would have been better off just purchasing it in a store? That’s the experience I’m having right now. With Amazon of all places.

That’s right, Amazon.com, that great bright beacon of modern commerce has left an $1,800 TV order in complete and utter ruin. Despite every effort on my behalf to rectify the problem immediately, the company has continued to perform miserably, causing the problem to twist and contort and ultimately spiral so far out of control, that it’s hardly comprehensible.

The debacle started back on Aug. 28, the night before I moved into my new apartment. After months of deliberation I ordered a SharpAquos LC42D72U. Valued at about $2,200, Amazon’s asking price of a mere $1,700 was the best deal around; one that I was happy to take advantage of.

Now I’ll preface this part to say that the error, could have, possibly, been mine — but I don’t think that it was. You see, as I said, I was moving into a new apartment and such I had a new address, one that I had to manually enter. It wasn’t a matter of simply selecting the wrong address, because I actually punched in a completely new one. Nevertheless, it shipped to my old address in New Orleans. But that was only the start of the disaster.

As soon as I saw that it had shipped to New Orleans, I called and put into place orders that should have had the TV and the remaining items in the order redirected to to Brooklyn. Unfortunately, the next day when the rest of those items shipped, it was AGAIN to the New Orleans address. Infuriated, I called back and again received assurance that the items would be redirected appropriately. Day passed.

I finally received an email after four days saying that I’d be responsible for extra shipping fees. I called back, yelled, argued, resigned myself to a hopeless fate at the hands of the increasingly un-benevolent Amazon. I was to pay $101.60 shipping to have it redirected here. And to be nice, Amazon agreed to give me a $50 credit. It was something and I accepted it.

But then this weekend I got an email from Amazon saying that Eagle (the shipping company) had been trying to reach me at a number I haven’t had for years (who the hell knows why it’s calling that number). After calling Eagle, I discovered that my package is now in New Orleans. After two weeks of pleading and trying to resolve this with Amazon, it’s done nothing except charge me more money and still allow my package to arrive at the wrong address on the other side of the country.

Now, I’m sitting here, waiting for Amazon to call me back (I was promised that it would be no longer than 20 minutes, but it’s been nearly an hour already). I expect that I’ll receive no recompense for the lost time and money, but maybe I can steer other from a similar fate: Be wary in your dealings with Amazon. It’s friendly, customer-concerned image is all a facade. It will screw even its oldest customers just to make a buck. I’ve received better customer service from Wal-Mart and Best Buy, and that’s saying something, because neither of those companies have much anything in the way of customer service.