[condor]

For items purchased on Ebay India - if item is cancelled before shipment, how easy is refund ?

[sohail99]

Originally Posted by shajufx

I too placed an order for Echo through invite, waiting to get it delivered. Any additional attachment to be bought ? I have 3 high speed networks for home, are we supposed to link the Echo to the full time ON network or it switches to whichever is ON ? I am very new to this AI interface devices. Kids are super excited about this as they saw couple of reviews with me on Youtube ! They feel a living encyclopedia is joining our family which can do everything for them. They are asking "will it do their homeworks"

You can add multiple wireless networks using the Alexa app or Alexa.amazon.com and then echo can switch between networks.

And yes, it should be on a network which is ON all the time as Alexa is a cloud based AI and it is always listening for the wake word.

You can, in the meantime watch tutorials on Alexa.amazon.com.

To be honest, if this tech was around when I was growing up it would've been mind blowing!! It will certainly help with homework!(math calculations science queries, history questions and info etc.)
Lucky kids!

[fordday]

Originally Posted by hserus

http://www.placeoforigin.in specializes in getting you food, sweets, pickles, snack items etc ordered from various famous shops in different cities.

Out of curiosity I visited the portal and ordered two types of biscuits Royal Nankhatai and Shrewsbury, from Pradeep Bakery, Pune.

Nankhatai were overdosed with scent (vanilla, maybe). It didn't leave a good taste.

Shrewsbury biscuits were very good. With butter added liberally, these tasted very good.

And now comes the pain part.

I received the parcel in a cardboard carton, almost double the size of its contents.

Out of four containers, one was missing. Only its lid was in the carton. The contents were all lying broken in the floor of the carton.

Here are the pics. 1
2
3

I was horrified to see a ready to eat item arrived in this manner. Even a set of Stanley wrench came in much better hygienic packaging.

Wrote back to their customer support email id with these pictures. They were quick to acknowledge the email and reverted that they will get back in 24 hours.

After two days when reminded of their promise they again reverted to come back in 24 hours.

Meanwhile they sent me a survey link for feedback about my purchase. I gave the same opinion in the survey.

Now they refunded me a 50 rupees mentioning the reason for refund as "As this delay has crossed our committed timeline, we are constrained to cancel this part of your order and accordingly have processed the refund of Rs.50 on 10th Oct 2017"

Can't believe how these businesses work and who handles their quality control.

They seriously need some customer etiquette.

[ritz3645]

Originally Posted by condor

For items purchased on Ebay India - if item is cancelled before shipment, how easy is refund ?

At Ebay, only cancellation of an order is a pain point. Option for Buyer is to request seller to cancel the order.
Some sellers are OK with cancellation request and some may be not.

Post formal cancellation refund should not be a issue, also as Flipkart systems are in place now at ebay.in

[DCEite]

Is there any way I can know the cumulative cost of all my purchases in Amazon?

[aravind.anand]

Originally Posted by DCEite

Is there any way I can know the cumulative cost of all my purchases in Amazon?

All the previous orders are listed under the 'My Orders' tab. However as a total value, we still have to manually calculate. At least, I have not come across this option.

[jaaz]

This is about Flipkart. Off late, my friend faced an issue with an Order and found that Flipkart has discontinued email service. The Call centre executive confirmed that there is no email of Flipkart now. So, the only way to communicate is through Telephone and as expected the results are very bad.

The commitment for resolution over phone is Zero. So, Flipkart has gone regressive. Any purchases through Flipkart are now at your own risk, since you can't communicate and If you do over phone, there is no guarantee for any kind of resolution.

[DCEite]

Originally Posted by jaaz

This is about Flipkart. Off late, my friend faced an issue with an Order and found that Flipkart has discontinued email service. The Call centre executive confirmed that there is no email of Flipkart now. So, the only way to communicate is through Telephone and as expected the results are very bad.

The commitment for resolution over phone is Zero. So, Flipkart has gone regressive. Any purchases through Flipkart are now at your own risk, since you can't communicate and If you do over phone, there is no guarantee for any kind of resolution.

That's shocking.

Lack of email facility = no proof of communication. Unless you record every telephonic conversation with them.

[Thad E Ginathom]

After a month, I got delivery of my Ergotron monitor arm from Amazon.in Global store.

It's not the month that I mind, although, these days, a couple of weeks is enough for the post office, it is the unhelpfulness and lack of communication from Aramex as couriers. They seemed to have had the item, in India for two weeks or more, and couldn't seem to decide whether they had KYC documents or not. on-line tracking was misleading, telephone support was unfriendly and unhelpful, and Amazon's response to email was not much good either.

But it arrived. And now I've gone and ordered another Global-Store item and the courier is... Aramex. Oh well, I'll just breathe normally this time and wait it out.

Very stupid of Flipkart to stop taking emails. Here is one very good reason why they should do so: not everybody has good hearing. Mine is poor enough that I will always use any other alternative before talking to strangers on the phone.

There is no particular reason that Flipkart lost me and that I now on-line shop almost entirely Amazon. How could Flipkart get me, and others like me, back? Pile on the customer service. It would not be that hard to surpass Amazon.in. But it looks like they're not bothered.

By the way, back to Amazon... Is there any accountability for this Import Fees Deposit thing? I have had refunds, but it seems somewhat random.

[Sankar]

There is no guarantee for amazon's guaranteed delivery. So if you make some plans/arrangements based on amazon "guaranteed delivery" then you may have to make alternative arrangements at the last minute.

I bought some engine oil and it was guaranteed to be delivered yesterday. The item even reached my city yesterday 5.30AM in the morning and i was pretty sure that it would be delivered by the end of the day. Based on that I make arrangements to get the oil changed today morning.

Latest update: Tuesday, 24 Oct
5:25 AM Package arrived at a courier facility
Trivandrum, Kerala, IN

But guess what it was not even out for delivery the whole day.

Exec 1: So soon after 4PM I contact amazon over chat (helps to keep record) the executive promises that since it is "amazon guaranteed delivery" it will be delivered that day itself for sure!

Exec 2: Again after 1 hour I see no change in delivery status and I again contact amazon over chat. This time I get another executive who says the package is delayed, but he has raised a complaint to the concerned team and they will make arrangements to deliver it the same day. When i asked the 8PM delivery window is almost going to get over so how will they deliver. He lied (explained later) to me that the courier team operates till 10PM and i need not worry. I asked him for the complain reference number to which he said I will get complaint confirmation email.

But i never received that email.

Exec 3: Now its almost 9PM and I see no change in status (as expected) so I again contact amazon over chat. I told me to give real information and that "I can handle the truth" (Jack Nicholson lol) regarding the delivery. This time i think a supervisor/floor manager attended to me because she was saying she will take some action (previous 2 executives) for giving false info and that package will not be delivered that day. She offered to extend my prime by one month as a compensation which i declined. Then she goes on saying:

"I have checked your past orders too.
However, all the orders are delivered in the promised time.
08:46 PM IST: Some times mistakes may happen.
And we will not do that wantedly.
I have seen the order where most of the times the orders will be delivered even before estimated delivery date."

To that i had to say: " and to answer to what you said above. I am paying for it. so i am not obliged to you or amazon for early or Prompt deliveries. hope you got that."

I know that mistakes happen and delayed delivery by one or two days is no big deal. But if Exec 1 told me that package would not be delivered that day I still had time to reschedule my appointment. Instead he chooses to keep me in the dark and even said: "04:20 PM IST: I totally understand that you have taken appointment and we respect your time and money. You will receive it today."

One thing that i asked all three of them is this "is there no guarantee for amazon guaranteed delivery?" No one gave me an answer to this question instead chose to circle around it. Lack of response to this was expected.

This is no life or death matter, its just couple of cans of oil. But what gets my goat is that I have made an appointment based on their guarantee and now I can't make it because they chose to sit on my item when they had it from 5.30am that day.

Originally Posted by jaaz

This is about Flipkart. Off late, my friend faced an issue with an Order and found that Flipkart has discontinued email service.

Thank you for this information. Its time take flipkart OFF from list of options for me. No chat/email=No trust=No buy.

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by DCEite

Is there any way I can know the cumulative cost of all my purchases in Amazon?

As far as I am aware, no. It will probably be a useful commercial 'secret' and I don't think any website has it openly displayed.

Alternatives are to manually total up from the 'All Orders' or use some tool in your email inbox that can search for keywords possibly automate the totalling.

I am also interested so if you find a way, do let me know!

[binand]

Originally Posted by DCEite

Is there any way I can know the cumulative cost of all my purchases in Amazon?

On .com, there is a page called "Order History Reports":

https://www.amazon.com/gp/b2b/reports

From here one could download a CSV of one's orders/returns/refunds etc.

I can find the same page on .in, but it is throwing an error on me when the form is submitted:

https://www.amazon.in/gp/b2b/reports

Maybe if you report it to their customer service they will fix the problem and then you can download the report.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Sankar

There is no guarantee for amazon's guaranteed delivery. ...

That's ridiculous. As you say, you are paying for it. It may well be that we are actually not that much fussed when stuff actually arrives, and that, regularly, Amazon delivers earlier than forecast, but then we'd only pay for guarantee when we need a guarantee.

There's probably some "best endeavours" thing in the small print. And it is them that gets to define "best."

On the whole, my Amazon delivery experience is not bad, and nor is my experience with other couriers. A lot changed when our street turned from being an unknown lane to being a road which probably now houses quite a few online shoppers. We have even had Amazon couriers hang around when we are out in the evening, while our maid goes to the house. Which is beyond the call of duty for courier... and maid!

It would be very interesting to have an order-reporting function or add-in. I might be up to the task if the emails were stored in plain text, but have no idea how to dip my fingers into the Thunderbird database. Long ago, my wife suggested that I keep a spreadsheet to record orders, deliver, awaiting, and costs. I'm too lazy.

edit to add...

Originally Posted by binand

On .com, there is a page called "Order History Reports": ... ... ... I can find the same page on .in, but it is throwing an error on me when the form is submitted:
Maybe if you report it to their customer service they will fix the problem and then you can download the report.

I've sent them a mail. Will cross fingers but not hold breath!

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

That's ridiculous. As you say, you are paying for it. It may well be that we are actually not that much fussed when stuff actually arrives, and that, regularly, Amazon delivers earlier than forecast, but then we'd only pay for guarantee when we need a guarantee.

There's probably some "best endeavours" thing in the small print. And it is them that gets to define "best."

On the whole, my Amazon delivery experience is not bad, and nor is my experience with other couriers. A lot changed when our street turned from being an unknown lane to being a road which probably now houses quite a few online shoppers. We have even had Amazon couriers hang around when we are out in the evening, while our maid goes to the house. Which is beyond the call of duty for courier... and maid!

It would be very interesting to have an order-reporting function or add-in. I might be up to the task if the emails were stored in plain text, but have no idea how to dip my fingers into the Thunderbird database. Long ago, my wife suggested that I keep a spreadsheet to record orders, deliver, awaiting, and costs. I'm too lazy.

The latest update on this is that I cancelled the order just a few minutes ago. I waited till this evening to see if there is any change in order delivery status and it was not even out for delivery even after 30+ hours since the item landed in my city.

Since I had made arrangements to get the oil changed today once this came (yesterday) I was unhappy that it did not come yesterday and did not even move today.

Amazon usually delivers on time or before, but when they say amazon guaranteed delivery date on so and so date and I make plans hoping to get it delivered on time and then they decide to sit on it for 36hours after tracking shows its in my city its hard not to be pissed.

There is a regular courier person who delivers smaller items on two wheeler and this person is very courteous and helpful and leaves the package next door if im not here. No complaints with the delivery person. But my problem is with backend operations, it failed miserably this time.

I chatted today with their escalation team thrice.

"02:26 PM IST: We certainly did not expect this to happen.
I’m glad you contacted us today so that we can take care of this right away .
02:26 PM IST me: I've been contacting you since yesterday evening
02:27 PM IST: I can understand you're prime customer and it was guaranteed delivery date but we couldn't deliver to you .
Please accept our apology .
As i can see we've given multiple request to deliver your package but the package has not reached to station yet,hope you understand .
02:27 PM IST me: what could be the problem?
02:28 PM IST me: if your delivery team is not responding to your requests it is not a good sign
02:29 PM IST: They are responding but the main problem is package is still in transit other wise today itself we would've delivered to you .
02:30 PM IST me: it is in trivandrum, or is the package not in trivandrum and the update given is false?
02:30 PM IST: Package is in your city no doubt but not reached to delivery station from where package goes out for delivery .
02:32 PM IST me: trivandrum is a small city not even a metro, and so i wonder why it is taking so long to transit. on a busy day it will take 1 hour to 1.5 hour to get from one end of the city to the other. now it has been more than 25 hours since it landed here
02:33 PM IST: I totally agree to you even i'm wondering how it is possible .
02:33 PM IST me: 33 hours since the pack landed here in trivandrum
02:33 PM IST: That's why I've dropped email to my transport team to check what exactly went this doesn't happen with amazon .
02:34 PM IST: know this has been a disappointing experience for you, therefore, I have forwarded all your comments to the attention of our appropriate department in our company to let them know about your experiences and to review your complain and I'll make sure the appropriate people will take necessary action so that this will not happen again in your future orders
As our valued customer, your satisfaction is our top priority and we certainly do not intend to cause inconvenience to you. Please be assured that we are here to make things easier for you and prevent you from bearing any loss.
02:35 PM IST me: can i expect this to be delivered today?
02:35 PM IST: Yes you can because I'm coordinating with my team even i would be very happy if you get your product today ."

Anyway there was no change in delivery status even after 4PM and so i had the order cancelled. What i learned was that I can't trust amazon's guaranteed delivery and make plans based on it. There is no guarantee that it will reach on time and if it doesn't then amazon doesn't owe you anything in return except apologies. I also learnt that delivery/logistics/transport team doesn't care two hoots about the email sent from escalation team.

PS:After i placed the order i saw that amazon increased the price of this by Rs.300. So in my case there would be total Rs.600 difference as i bought two cans.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Sankar

The latest update on this is that I cancelled the order just a few minutes ago.

... ... ...

PS:After i placed the order i saw that amazon increased the price of this by Rs.300. So in my case there would be total Rs.600 difference as i bought two cans.

Not a happy story. And the cow-excrement "customer support" really only rubs salt in the wound.

By the way... Plainly, if you are due for an oil change, you need your oil. What will you do now Amazon have failed to deliver?