A commination against Amazon

My wife likes to make quilts. Recently she made an order for some quilting material on Amazon. You must understand that for the purposes of quilting the material has to be of uniform quality and cut very precisely to a standard size. When the material arrived some of it was shoddy and not all was of the same size. Send it back I hear you say. But that means a journey into town (a bus every two hours) and standing in a queue with nowhere to sit down (she is 76). So she tried to contact them online; you know what that is like. Press zero to speak with an associate. So she pressed zero. You have dialled a wrong number . She tried again. This time it was Press six to speak to an associate but the outcome was just the same. She tried a third time.

It is clear to me that this is a scam. So long as organizations can hide from human-to-human contact, with websites that are circumlocution offices, they can rip the public off with impunity, knowing that it is more trouble to report errors than accept a small loss.

What is to be done about it?

It is possible to get the item to be returned collected from you.

My wife has found an email address for the supplier, and has explained the situation to them. It will be interesting to see what happens. Amazon does offer the means for clients to complain, it should be pointed out. It may be that it is not Amazon who is at fault. When so much is subcontracted it is hard to track where responsibilities lie.

It is clear to me that this is a scam.

I have Amazon Prime, gives free postage (for now, France keeps trying to break it to prop up their bookshops that largely missed the internet boom) and a selection of videos.

When looking for something to buy, I filter for Prime Delivery. This means Amazon sends it rather than some third party. It also means if it is crap or broken in some way, it is Amazon’s responsibility to sort it out. This usually involves printing out a return postage slip. I then take the parcel to the local post office and hand it over. This is because they stamp the receipt. I guess these days one could hand it directly to the postie, but I’m always at work when she passes by.

If you buy on Amazon but not shipped by them, it can be a nightmare and sending anything back will usually be at your expense and some unscrupulous sellers may make false claims about your return and refuse to refund. Hasn’t happened to me, but you don’t need to look far for stories.

The only things I get non Prime are less important things sent from China, which is pretty infrequently.

It may be that it is not Amazon who is at fault.

They will tell you that. It’s bullshit. You paid them therefore your contractual agreement ought to be with them.

My wife has found an email address for the supplier

Bad bad bad bad bad bad bad bad bad bad.

What I don’t get is why something was ordered on Amazon, which implies online ordering, yet you now seem to be doing everything in your power to not deal with this online through Amazon.
Why?

I can’t give exact words since I’m translating from the French app (the website is similar). Sign in. Go to your orders.
Choose the relevant order.
Scroll down. There should be some options after the description that says something like:
Do you need help with this item?

• Contact the seller
• Demand a reimbursement

(if bought with Prime, it’ll instead say “Return this item” with a date limit for returning)

If you need to contact the seller, only ever do it through Amazon, never ever externally. Not only does Amazon obscure your email address (double check that your software didn’t helpfully include it when quoting the original message!), but it also gives them a full communication history in the case of a dispute.

So, never ever contact/phone/pay anything outside of Amazon (and if you’re asked, report it immediately).
Also report if you’re offered something in return for a 5* review. Sadly it happens, a lot.

If you can’t find anything useful, go to customer service (app/website) and jump through a lot of annoying hoops.

I’ve found Amazon to be quite responsive, once you’ve shaken the runes correctly to get past the virtual assistant. I think, while that may be infuriating if you have a real problem, it’s designed to filter out people wasting time with non-issues.
However it’s usually simpler to jump through the hoops on the website and get them to call you back (they will, in seconds) rather than doing it directly by phone.

Seriously, Amazon is a website. That’s where you should look for help in the first instance, not everywhere else!

they can rip the public off with impunity

I’ve not actually had that much trouble with Amazon. I stick to my Prime rule and, except for the odd triviality, any problems I have are their problems to resolve.
Like when my catering pack of hot chocolate was pierced, or Bird’s custard arrived broken (it was a horrible mess). I spoke to somebody in an online chat, offered photos (that were declined), and was told to throw out the product, not consume it (duh!) and a replacement order was made then and there.

Plus, all my crap turns up quickly. Tuesday evening I ordered an outside tilt/turn surveillance camera (a cheap little thing). It came lunchtime today, I spent the evening installing it tucked under the roof by the gutter. It’s not perfect and the app is quirky, but it’s better than I was expecting for the €30 I paid.

What is to be done about it?

She ordered it through Amazon’s web site. She should return it through Amazon’s web site.

I just opened the Amazon web site. Near the top right is a button “Returns & Orders”. Note that it begins with “Returns”.