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Well, if there was any doubt before, there is none now; I have officially joined the ranks of 'grumpy old women'. I was on the verge of buying a Kindle today in Car Phone Warehouse, but the last one they had was in a box that had obviously been opened. As it was for me, I didn't care too much about the state of the box, but was of course worried that the reason the box had been interfered with was that someone had brought it back due to a fault. I was humming and hawing, then said 'well, presumably if there is a problem with it, I can just bring it back and you will sort it out'. At this point, I was not only told enthusiastically by the young woman serving me, but also by the guy beside her who happily diverted himself from the customer he was serving to join in with the party line, that if anything went wrong, it was absolutely nothing to do with Car Phone Warehouse. Redress could only be had from Amazon, who were solely responsible for sorting out all and any problems.
I tried to explain to them that it would be their responsibility - 'no, our guys can't fix them, they have to go back to Amazon' - 'That's fine, but you then have to send it back to Amazon' - 'No, we're not allowed to send them back to Amazon, that's what we've been told' - 'But you're the retailer, people have statutory rights' -'Do you work for trading standards or something?' - 'No, but if I bought this and there was a problem and I bought it back, and you told me what you just have, I would certainly be reporting it to Trading Standards'. I assured them that I wasn't blaming them, as they were clearly only passing on what they had been told from on high, but asked them to pass on to those on high that if this policy is their idea of customer care, I wouldn't be buying from them. And off I self righteously stomped, with highly embarrassed grandson.
Now, my understanding is that Amazon customer care is pretty good. My points are two; firstly, Amazon in tandem with their chosen megacorp retailers cannot rewrite consumer rights in this country - I didn't vote for them; secondly, there are still people who have never bought an item online and have little or no idea of what or who Amazon is. I live with one such. It might have been my last phone call to Virgin (ISP) and waiting on an 0845 number for the 50th option that tipped me over the edge...or just a culmination of years of the same from the provider of every 'service' I have to deal with. Or just being old enough to remember a time when you phoned places and people who had some idea what they were doing answered the phone. Who knows? But right now I am very grumpy indeed. (If you've ever tried to park in Merry Hell shopping center, you'll know that being grumpy before you even reach a shop is guaranteed).
The powers that be may feel free to move this to the special thread for whining which has already thoughtfully been set up in the lounge.
I tried to explain to them that it would be their responsibility - 'no, our guys can't fix them, they have to go back to Amazon' - 'That's fine, but you then have to send it back to Amazon' - 'No, we're not allowed to send them back to Amazon, that's what we've been told' - 'But you're the retailer, people have statutory rights' -'Do you work for trading standards or something?' - 'No, but if I bought this and there was a problem and I bought it back, and you told me what you just have, I would certainly be reporting it to Trading Standards'. I assured them that I wasn't blaming them, as they were clearly only passing on what they had been told from on high, but asked them to pass on to those on high that if this policy is their idea of customer care, I wouldn't be buying from them. And off I self righteously stomped, with highly embarrassed grandson.
Now, my understanding is that Amazon customer care is pretty good. My points are two; firstly, Amazon in tandem with their chosen megacorp retailers cannot rewrite consumer rights in this country - I didn't vote for them; secondly, there are still people who have never bought an item online and have little or no idea of what or who Amazon is. I live with one such. It might have been my last phone call to Virgin (ISP) and waiting on an 0845 number for the 50th option that tipped me over the edge...or just a culmination of years of the same from the provider of every 'service' I have to deal with. Or just being old enough to remember a time when you phoned places and people who had some idea what they were doing answered the phone. Who knows? But right now I am very grumpy indeed. (If you've ever tried to park in Merry Hell shopping center, you'll know that being grumpy before you even reach a shop is guaranteed).
The powers that be may feel free to move this to the special thread for whining which has already thoughtfully been set up in the lounge.