Amazon's system marked an item I returned a year ago as not received and charged me for this return, but the chat bot already knew they had received it.

They ALWAYS try that shit. They never don't. I keep receipts and photos.

I had an ISP do the same when I moved out of an apartment in 2016. I still get calls from a collection agency. The number is blocked but if I check my "blocked calls" log it's been nearly every weekday for 8 years.

Was it Crapcast? I bet it was Crapcast, it sounds like a Crapcast thing to do lol

Hah! I just recently got to switch off Comcast to a newer local fiber company. Comcast emailed and texted me for weeks telling me to return their equipment that I never had, but even their website showed I had nothing to return so I ignored it. Eventually the emails changed to "you've been charged", so I called to complain. They assured me that I wasn't actually charged, and then realized they owed me a prorated refund since I cancelled in the middle of a billing cycle. They absolutely weren't going to give that back unless I called.

You just reminded me I've got to mail my modem back. Thanks!

Our previous ISP kept after us for a few years to return their modem/router. Only problem was we were a BYO account - we never had a need for their device, nor was it ever on our account or any invoices. A few years later, and every few months afterward (typically after I've had to contact them to solve the hell that was constant dropouts - reconnecting 2-4 times a minute) the missing BUDii would pop up again and they'd demand we return or pay for it.

Each time I got snarkier and snarkier, treading the line of being polite and sounding like I wanted to chew their face off. Then I got Betty (fake name) who asked for a moment while she read the correspondence on our account. She commiserated with the troubles we'd been having, clarified notes on our account and then solved what a dozen others couldn't figure out, and we never heard about the BUDii ever again.

Once had an order arrive on-time, but the tracking information never got updated and kept telling me the package was "running late" and pushing back the expected delivery date, and then after like a week of that they just said "sorry, it's been delayed indefinitely" and gave me a refund. For an order I'd already received. And I mean, I wasn't gonna be the one to tell 'em they were wrong.

It was probably cheaper for them to just refund you instead of processing a broken item and disposing of it themselves.

CS agents have to work a minimum of 17 tickets per hour. Their quality is assessed by How's My Driving responses from customers, and the HMD have to meet a certain level.

This incentives the agent to wrap the ticket up as quickly as possible, to the best outcome for the customer, in the hopes they leave 5* HMD responses.

CS agent actions cost the company money? Who cares.

CS agents actions were good for the environment? Who cares.

Speed and High HMD is the only two things on a CS agents mind.

I ordered something like shampoo. It opened in the box and got everywhere. Amazon wanted me to return it for a refund. The box was soaked. No way I could have returned it.

Amazon will often just let you keep items, even if they refund it. It's generally not worth the cost of shipping back, so they just eat the loss.

Yep, I doubt the chatbot has direct access to the inventory.

People who spend a lot on Amazon have great experiences on Amazon, people who don't spend a lot on amazon have poorer experiences

I suspect when you contact them there is a dashboard that tells the customer service operator how much effort they should put in to retain you as a customer.

You probably need to stay within a certain ratio of returns vs keeping stuff, and as long as your score is good, they'll honour returns without asking too much questions. We definitely return a lot of stuff without having any trouble, but we only return like less than 1% compared to what we buy.

the replies would be filled with people bots claiming it is the best customer service

There are no women people on the internet.

I always take it to my UPS store down the road instead of boxing it up and sending it out. You don't package the item up at all. They scan the barcode on my phone and take the item. Done, return processed. If they steal it afterwards, not my problem since the code was scanned and you get a notification/receipt. They have a lot of strange locations you can take it to, including random big box stores.

It probably depends on your account. If they don't think you are trying to game their system and you are a deep pocket consumer, they probably won't put up too much of a fight, they'd rather keep you hooked.

Prior to saying it was propane I thought it had a lithium battery. I think those are hard to accept as refunds due to shipping regulations, but maybe it's similar.

I'm sorry, but I do want to point out, that even if they post the refund immediately, between their bank, and your bank, is generally why the 3-5 business days is in there, because they know there will be some delay between all of the involved parties.

3-5 business days is the time it takes your bank to return your money to you, per your cardholder agreement.

They often do the whole “we’ll refund immediately as a courtesy but you need to return it by x or you’ll be charged” thing— in this case for whatever (infuriating) reason they charged me even though it’s clear their own system (their chat bot) knew the item had been marked as received on their end. I dropped it off at a brick and mortar store too!

Its not dead but it does have cancer and lots of bloat and fluid build up

They seriously hide that shit and move it around so that you can't find it. Also it gets worse every year.

Yeah it’s always annoying to find it:(

In the app search bar I was able to get the chatbot just by typing the question “how do I chat with customer service?” For future reference.

Make sure you remove your credit card from the account, or check your statement each month to make sure they didn't sign you back up.

I don’t think companies understand that the words “we will make a one time exception for you as a courtesy” is the magic incantation to ensure that customer never returns.

I got that from Staples last week because they did me a real solid by refunding my online order they cancelled instead of going to a store with ID and the invoice and original credit card. Who the fuck goes to a physical store to get a refund on an online order the company themselves cancelled?!