Amazon Question

[kaneohe]

Amazon has an interesting feedback/review system that I have just recently come to appreciate. If you write a review but it is about the service, not the product, they will reject it as a product review but then lead you to writing it up as a service review except they strongly encourage you to contact the vendor w/ them (Amazon) as the middleman to see if you can resolve the problem before you write that review. I guess that helps the customer to have Amazon deliver the message since the vendor knows that Big Brother is hovering in the wings.

Recently I ordered 2 printer cartridges. Both don't work, although the old one that they were supposed to replace, works fine after the two newer ones did not. The vendor had a note in the package to contact them directly if there were problems, saying that would avoid delays. Anyone had experience w/ something like this where you bypass Amazon........does it work better as promised or is it a ploy to give the vendor what they think is more time.
They will get 48 hrs from me which is what AMZN promises and no more.

 

[donheff]

I guess that helps the customer to have Amazon deliver the message since the vendor knows that Big Brother is hovering in the wings.

I think they do this to support vendors. Insuring that the customer gives the vendor a chance to respond avoids negative reviews that might otherwise go up in the heat of the initial reaction.

 

[FIREmenow]

I have had one good experience with exactly this - dealing with a refund from a 3rd party vender with Amazon's "assistance". All went very well, with the 3rd party responding with, "We appreciate you letting us make it right."

 

[RetiredGypsy]

It's a good thing. It prevents the product itself from falsely getting rated lower or higher due to the great or horrible seller.

I've used Amazon's arbitration with success. I've also gone straight to the vendor, because you can still leave reviews the vendor's Amazon page. There's incentive both ways of making the customer happy.

 

[CaptTom]

The same product can have multiple sellers on Amazon. So it makes sense to separate out the product reviews from the service reviews.

But this brings up another point. If the same product from multiple sellers is "fulfilled by Amazon," it's very possible that Amazon com-mingles the products from different sellers into the same "bin" (or whatever they call it.) So you might order from one seller and get a product that a different seller provided to Amazon.

Normally, not a problem. But if one is real and the other counterfeit, that wouldn't be good. I've only heard of this, never experienced it. Presumably both Amazon and it's honest sellers are highly motivated to avoid this, so it's probably very rare.

Sort of the opposite is the same product with different names. Like plastic items that clearly came from the same mold, often from China, with stickers that have different manufacturer's names on them. Surprisingly, the different listings can have very different reviews, not to mention different prices, for what's obviously the same thing.

Buying from Amazon is great; I have six things being delivered today. But there is a lot of subtlety that you need to understand.

 

[Bir48die]

There are two main ways to get products from Amazon: direct from their distribution centers or direct from the manufacturer. Since Amazon cannot warehouse every item that is sold on their site they are basically a sales agent for many companies.

When you receive a product shipped from another vendor Amazon would like you to deal with them directly. I have had this happen several times. Some are great and work with you professionally. Some are flakes. That's why it's great to read the service ratings that are included with the product ratings.

When I did have an issue with the vendor, I called Amazon directly and gave them my purchase information and complained about the vendor. They gave me my money back and I'm sure they deducted the cost from future invoices. If they get enough complaints they will stop using that vendor in the future.

 

[Aerides]

You can review a seller: Seller Feedback.
You can review an item: Product Review.

They are separate so you don't slam a seller because you didn't like a book, for example. Seller feedback should be about service, shipping, etc. It works both ways - if you leave a review about a book you didn't like under seller service, they can ask that it be removed.

If, however, you have a reasonable service issue with the product, most good 3rd party sellers will be MORE than happy to resolve it for you. Bad ones don't last long, good ones will try to wow you. Just start out with being reasonable and you'll usually get the same in return.