Amazon Whinge

Vern1961

Vern1961

Vern1961

Soldato
Joined
29 Mar 2007
Posts
4,723
Location
Swindon UK
Long story short. Ordered a pair of waterproof over trousers for the bike from Amazon week before last. Noted not on Prime and independent seller but seemed genuine. Proposed delivery date (week past Monday) came and went despite very steep £4.95 shipping charge. By Thursday totally fed up and got a refund from Amazon for goods not received.

Fast forward to yesterday and card arrives through the door from the PO advising they are holding a parcel as there is a £11.65 charge to pay - £3.65 + £8.00 PO handling charge. Well at least that explains where the parcel got to. Refused and told to RTS. Turns out on a bit of digging the seller is actually based in Jersey. Farcical to say the least, that Amazon UK, taking payment in GBP£ sterling and (one hopes) UK VAT paid, then produces an item which is actually imported and falls into the lap of Customs.

Salty note sent to seller and Amazon that this is a rather sneaky practice - if I order from the UK site I expect business to be done on basis of item sold within the UK, unless stated otherwise. Not the first time this has happened mind and have had stuff turn up from Hong Kong or China before now, albeit without the Customs grip.

Moral of story (I guess) is look very closely where item is coming from if not fulfilled by Amazon or on Prime, as you may end up with a long wait, an unexpected bill or both!
 
You think that's bad? I ordered a new TV from Amazon UK the other day, it turned up and it was actually made in China! The sheer audacity of some sellers! :(
 
You ordered something from a marketplace seller, not Amazon themselves, who, I assume, you hadn't used before and you didn't do any basic checks on who the seller was? Can normally see on the sellers profile page where they are located at least.
 
Vern1961 said:
Noted not on Prime and independent seller but seemed genuine.

that Amazon UK, taking payment in GBP£ sterling and (one hopes) UK VAT paid, then produces an item which is actually imported and falls into the lap of Customs.

Sal!
Click to expand...

so not Amazon, a third party seller.
Amazon refunded you with no hassle, what more do you want.
 
Even items sold on Amazon often come from China, it's upto you to check the items selling page for its origin.
 
Delvis said:
Even items sold on Amazon often come from China, it's upto you to check the items selling page for its origin.
Click to expand...

i've bought a few things direct from China and they have all been delivered promptly. While obliviously cheap work as intended so I'm happy with how much they cost. The manuals are often quite funny though, full of broken english but you get the gist.
 
God forbid we should criticise a big company as we all know they only have our best interests at heart, where customer service is paramount and making money and paying little tax is secondary.
 
I'm with @Vern1961 on this one, especially if you order from the app or mobile site, it isn't always clear that the marketplace sellers base and shipping location are out of EU tarrif zone or if customs will apply. You also get less easily accessible info on the seller via the aforementioned compared to pc desktop mode.

Some sellers are offshore but still ship from a UK base (prob drop shipping to a single uk location then onward).

However, I only buy from marketplace sellers that are fulfilled by Amazon and Prime to avoid the agro.
 
Scrutinize said:
I'm with @Vern1961 on this one, especially if you order from the app or mobile site, it isn't always clear that the marketplace sellers base and shipping location are out of EU tarrif zone or if customs will apply. You also get less easily accessible info on the seller via the aforementioned compared to pc desktop mode.

Some sellers are offshore but still ship from a UK base (prob drop shipping to a single uk location then onward).

However, I only buy from marketplace sellers that are fulfilled by Amazon and Prime to avoid the agro.
Click to expand...
lol.
for a start he was well aware it was a third party seller, then blames amazon.
secondly, it is not hard or hidden in the app at all.
amazon cant make sure everyone follows rules. so if a seller says they are located in the UK, then ship from elsewhere its upto you to report them. If amazon then did nothing you could blame them.
 
kinobestew123 said:
Are there filters to hide items that arn't fulfilled by Amazon? And even better, filters to hide items that arn't being sold by amazon directly? I haven't been able to find these.

I know that there is a filter for Prime.
Click to expand...
scroll to the bottom of the filters and you can select seller, select amazon.co.uk (you need to select a category to get these options)
 
Ouch. Plenty of tough love in some of those responses.

The short answer, there was nothing obvious on the seller's listing for the item that the item was from outside the UK, even if only Jersey. It was only after delving a little further I spotted where they were based. The point being you are buying from a UK site, paying in GBP and UK VAT so don't expect the item to end up attracting Customs charges, Marketplace or not. If I order from Amazon US or another overseas company, fair game and I would expect to stump up for the duty.

In any event I have had profuse apologies from both the seller and Amazon with an admission something went wrong and to refuse the package, which I've already done.

And off at a slight tangent, IMHO the biggest villains in this are the Post Office, charging an £8 fee for collecting £3.65!

Oh and if anyone has a suggestion where to source a pair of cheap waterproof cycle over-trousers, I'd be glad to hear it. :)
 
I ordered something on Amazon UK from a UK retailer that was fulfilled by Amazon.co.uk. Despite the actual retailer having a shop about 50 miles away from me the delivery date I was given was three weeks and the parcel was shipped to Germany first where it sat for over a week. No extra charges mind, just bloody annoying.
 
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