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Online Order From Hell – III
May 20th, 2010
Latest update in the Amazon.com saga. Today I received this from the company which, according to their own words, is trying to become “Earth’s Most Customer-Centric Company” (…). And I quote (my comments in red):
“Greetings from Amazon.com.
Thank you for contacting us regarding this matter. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this situation may have caused. Apology accepted, but you still haven’t told me how you are actually going to change things for the better in the future…
At this time, we have requested that TRS Recovery Services, Inc. cease any further collection action for the previous order(s) placed using your bank account. That’s nice… It’s about time?! Didn’t you tell me you’d get them off my back last week??? Additionally, the hold has been removed from your Amazon.com account. I didn’t even know you had put one on in the first place. Thanks for letting me know now. You probably want me to use that $5 gift certificate, right?
Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns or if we can help you in any other way. Thank you for shopping at Amazon.com. Well, I’ve already said what I had to say, but thanks.
Sincerely,
Account Specialist
Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com”
The Online Order From Hell – II
May 18th, 2010
(Online Order From Hell Cont’d)
After one more call from “Unavailable” I had had enough and contacted Amazon customer service. I have to admit that this is quick and they are courteous. I told them I had mailed payment certified/return receipt on 5/10/10, that I wanted these people (meaning TRS) off my back, that this wasn’t a way to treat a long-time customer etc.
They promised they would take care of that, and that the practice of turning accounts over to TRS unreviewed and their calling practices would be reviewed. I was promised the fee would be waived (I wouldn’t have paid it anyway, but that was nice), and that I would not be called anymore. That worked for a couple of days.
TRS, even though they had signed for the letter on 5/17/10 – yes USPS does take their time – decided to resume calls again on 5/17/10 (yup, same day). This morning, after talking to a rude guy from Houston (OF COURSE THE COMPANY WON’T DISCLOSE THEIR CALLER ID), I called Amazon again. They have their money, and if I see any of this in any file anywhere, I will consider legal steps. Apart from the harrassment, we are STILL TALKING ABOUT $10.94, which would have been paid had I been given the chance, right then and there, and after spending hundreds of dollars with them in previous years.
So, why am I angry?
First of all their online system has proven to be on the one hand WAY too effective – you are turned over to collections by a machine, apparently – and then it’s completely inadequate, because they could have set it up with a backup payment method, like Paypal. Also, why could I not delete what I needed to delete when I was trying to delete it?
Second of all, I’m treated like a criminal by people I used to like, and aside from their phone service, the whole thing has left a bitter aftertaste that I haven’t been able to shed, and that a $5 gift certificate won’t wash away any time soon.
The bottom line is the worst rating I’ve ever left for a seller anywhere (BTW, only THEN did they react to my messages), phone harrassment that still hasn’t stopped, and the feeling that automation, after all, has gone too far. Serves me right to try and save money by ordering online. I guess I’ll be going back to my neighborhood book store.
The Online Order From Hell – I
May 18th, 2010
I admit the following is written with a certain anger. I have email proof for everything I’m writing about, so aside from the undercurrent of utter dismay, it is a faithful account of a recent online order from hell.
Amazon.com used to be one of my favorite online retailers. They have a big selection, ordering is easy, and service/shipping has always been swift (I should add, too, that in the meantime we have Amazon Prime). Accordingly, I have literally spent hundreds of dollars with them over the years, on everything from books to camera equipment. They did have some of the best deals around, and I always felt well taken care of. Until this last time.
I ordered two books, one directly through Amazon themselves, one through their market place. “Polaroid Manipulations” by Kathleen Carr. The total came to $6.94 plus $4.00 shipping. I had tried before to delete some payment methods from my account, which Amazon didn’t let me do, so not surprisingly there was an account still listed as a primary method that had been closed in the meantime. I tried to select something else, but to my horror, as soon as I had placed the order, I realized they had used just that account regardless.
So, I went back into my account and changed the payment method after the fact on the Amazon order (this time it worked), but I could not on the marketplace order. I could not cancel it, either. So I contacted the seller via the built-in messaging/email system to let them know to contact me so the payment method could be changed.
They did not, and I received the book a week later, but otherwise had no communications from either Amazon or the seller, “afordusa”. Instead, a little while later I received a friendly collection letter (YES, THIS IS STILL FOR $10.94) from a company called TRS, informing me that this had been turned over to collections, and there was now a $25 charge on top of the original amount.
I responded with an admittedly not very friendly letter, enclosing the amount originally owed, letting them know I wasn’t prepared to pay the fee, and enclosing all sorts of copies. At the same time we started receiving all kinds of automated calls from “Unavailable” at all kinds of times during the day, even early on Sunday mornings.
After contacting Amazon, at first they were trying to more or less dismiss things, as in “well, this is usually what happens, and there was a problem with the payment”. When I didn’t buy that (no pun intended), and informed them that I wasn’t buying from them at all ever again, they apologized and told me I would be given a $5 (!) gift certificate. The calls, meanwhile, continued.
Self Portrait Saturday
April 10th, 2010
There’s always time for self portraits, albeit in the oddest places. This was taken on top of the Japanese barrel bridge at the Japanese tea garden in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. It looks like I photoshopped the hell out of it, but it is really only color-corrected.
Bay Bridge in the Rain
April 7th, 2010
This Sunday the weather here was terrible, but here’s a great shot of the Bay Bridge out of the window of the trolley we were riding. Pseudo-HDR, B&W with Silver Efex Pro.
