Amazon is broken

There are services like Fakespot that try to weed out fake reviews to give you a better idea of what the genuine reviews say, but you're correct that the system is broken and only exists to exploit consumers.

I'm done with it I hate the mountain of Chinese crap pushed by the algorithms

Exactly. All these “brands” that don’t actually exist outside of Amazon.

I stopped ordering from Amazon in 2021.

We are DROWNING in cheap shit that none of us needs and that isn't built to last -- hence the need to keep buying even more shit. It's a vicious cycle.

Last week Amazon sent me an open box of cat litter. The tab had been pushed in and the packing box was filled with litter. The week before that I opened a box and an army of ants ran out. WTF.

When eBay allowed itself to be captured by its sellers, it almost collapsed. Now they have to guarantee everything they sell to lure back buyers.

I'm back to shopping in person at my favorite local stores where I can see and handle what I am buying. I share all the reasons you guys mentioned plus I got tired of all the boxes and packing. Now I don't have to break down boxes or make special trips to the country dump. Plus fuck China.

I think Amazon has found ways to make their shopping experience very addictive.

I have family members who have fallen prey. My dad, in his retirement, constantly buys crap from the website. He was never a big shopper before. I have a friend who's the same way. Amazon feeds the need for immediate gratification in a way shopping in brick-and-mortar stores never could. And because they sell so much cheap crap, they create endless opportunities to order more crap.

Search for *Namebrand product *, get 600 results, none of which are that name brand. look at the filter options for brand name and while it has 20 brand names they're all 'cosjeueubdrommzz, xuljduwiwna, sdjd8wiwjwj10p' etc brands. look to filter by features and, for example, if it's a clothing item get feature options like gluten free, made of cast iron and bpa free. finally filter by color, maybe white and get 7000 orange items.

All with a 32 day shipping /delivery date.

Leave any platform that has built up a critical user mass. It's destined to enshittify.

[quote] Amazon feeds the need for immediate gratification in a way shopping in brick-and-mortar stores never could

Whah?

The only thing more obnoxious than amazon when trying to get a specific item is fucking etsy.

r11 you can buy anything you ever wanted on Amazon, all without leaving your chair. In a brick-and-mortar store, you are limited by the selection, and it also takes more of an effort to shop. Also, shopping in person removes the "thrill" of having a package delivered and the anticipation of opening it. The whole process of Amazon is addictive.

after the whole Washington Post thing, I am putting Amazon at the bottom of the list. We have Walmart Plus and have been very happy with it. Product mix and prices between Amazon vs Walmart, is about the same (Walmart may be a bit cheaper). Knowing I am not contributing to Bezos $ gazillions is a satisfying comfort.

Listen to r10!

I consider “instant gratification “ to be the delivery, not the purchase. Amazon is impressive on getting your crap to you quickly, but at a brick and mortar you usually get it immediately.

r16 the anticipation is a big part of the Amazon "experience. "

I have Prime and delivery has gotten slower and slower. I just received an order I placed a week ago.

Fuck the anticipation. I want it NOW!

Anyway over the course of this thread I’ve decided I don’t need what I was about to buy, so thanks for that. Almost pulled the trigger, but for a pesky extra inch .

Amazon no longer has any vetting process standards for their vendors or their products. Years back items I would buy from Amazon were of decent quality and reliable. Now they sell a lot of low quality garbage you can find anywhere including your local dollar store.

75 percent of the crap on there is the exact same crap you can get on aliexpress or shein for a third of the price. No it's not aliexpress copying legitimate vendors/designs, it's the exact same vendors.

Now our building has an Amazon Key on our front door entry system. Amazon drivers can let themselves into the vestibule if and only if they have a verified delivery that day to a resident in our building. Meanwhile, FedEx and UPS throw our packages on the front steps next to a busy city sidewalk (in a sketchy area). I hate that we had to do this but it makes Amazon deliveries worry free.

True. But if there’s a problem, Amazon will give you a refund.

I try to shop in my local drug stores but the shelves look like Soviet Russia. I can’t find unbleached qtips, or the hand soap I like, a variety of brands of vitamins to choose from—and I used to.

I use Amazon mostly for cheap batteries (I have a lot of LED candles in my home), hair product and the occasional book. I belong to a FB group that highlights super cheap deals with coupon codes. I've scored some great deals on contact lens solution and other random stuff.

R24. Everywhere gives refunds. Have you been using Amazon so much that you forgot.

How much of the stuff you order do you even need?

I have bought 1 think on Amazon in the past 5 years. That’s it. And I could have bought that through Ulta but did not know at the time.

People make so many excuses for using Amazon but you don’t actually need it. It could be that you are just morally lacking and also lazy.

No offense but I’ve noticed that you can almost predict how much someone uses Amazon by how overweight they are. There is a correlation.

I feel bad for people with health struggles but sitting in the house ordering everything seems like a bad idea.

I’ve never shopped on those Chinese shopping sites. Not sure I trust them on refunds.

Quit buying all that crap. You bunch of hoarders.

That’s why everything is so expensive because people are compulsive hoarders.

I don't order from them that often, but my partner does, especially for his business. We really don't have a lot of problems with them. And their customer service is very good.

I guess YMMV.

R31 your money is going to the vault of a billionaire who used that money to buy up WaPo and stick his nose in it.

I prefer being able to sleep at night.

No wonder so many comfortable people went along with the holocaust. “Not my problem”

What R9 says.

I hate the fake Chinese non-brands

Fuck Jeff Bezos.

Amazon and google are similar in that you really need to know how to navigate the search results.

I had a delivery left on the sidewalk by my building entrance. Who the fuck do these delivery companies think they are?

Companies can only get away with what consumers will allow.

[quote]I have bought 1 think on Amazon in the past 5 years. That’s it

It shows...

Here's a new twist. The last 2 things I bought on Amazon were delivered to my local Post Office and the last mile was handled by them. Thing is, we live with a ghetto PO and we get mail twice a week and even though they have a key to enter our vestibule, they throw the packages at the front door feet from a busy sidewalk. What's going on with this fresh hell?

At this point, Jeff Bezos deserves to have Temu make him irrelevant.

I ordered a box of copy paper during the last Prime Day and was sent 13 zip up Kinder-care logo hoodies. You can't make this stuff up. After the WaPo fiasco I'm completely rethinking my relationship with Amazon. We're in a rural area so it's difficult to buy local.

I enjoy Kindle.

What got me addicted to Amazon was the free return shipping.

Also, if you have any problem whatsoever, Amazon is quick to refund you.

I detest what Bezos with the holding the Kamala endorsement so will try any other program that will mimic Amazon

Also, here's something many do not know about. Someone who is a higher volume purchaser from Amazon will get a better price on an item than another person who doesn't buy much from them. I found that out by accident when ordering something for a friend who was home recuperating from major surgery. I first found the item using my account and when he decided that's what he wanted I logged onto Amazon using his account and his price was higher. I then called Amazon and spoke with a rep to ask why and she point blank told me that people who buy more get better prices.

FUCK AMAZON AND JEFF BEZOS.

[quote] I then called Amazon and spoke with a rep to ask why and she point blank told me that people who buy more get better prices.

SERIOUSLY???

^^^Serious as a tornado in a trailer park.

Grocery stores don’t stock non food items like they used to because of Amazon. I was looking for shoe laces, Gold Bond body powder and a couple of other things you used to be able to find, no problem. As someone already said, the shelves are practically bare.

[quote] I use Amazon mostly for cheap batteries

Why not buy rechargeable batteries? A little more up-front cost, but then you don't have to think about it for a while. Plus, better for the environment.

I don't see that much wrong with offering a frequent buyer a lower price.

R10 paywalled.

In the past couple of years I had to cancel several orders which were, in retrospect, scammy. Basically, shady affiliated sellers who would sell stuff you were never going to get, creating bogus tracking numbers, etc. Their vetting process is shit and the buyers' reviews are not very helpful either.

I want to shop local, I really do. But so often they don't have my (absolutely average) size, or the store offers me to "order it for me". So many times I try local, ending up empty-handed. Waiting for the bus, you open the Amazon app, find what you're looking for, and it will be delivered tomorrow if not tonight.

[quote] she point blank told me that people who buy more get better prices

Well, duh. Everybody tells you that.

I'm confused. I get it that Amazon is not preferred. But is the alternative really Walmart+ now? Assuming that 'local shops' is not a viable option for 20% of my purchases, which online retailer can you recommend?

R54, if I want to buy something, I will usually go straight to the source website and compare prices with Amazon. If the source has reasonable price, return policy, and shipping , then I buy from the source. That way you can hopefully avoid counterfeit and expired stuff.

Also, if it’s a small business, then amazon is not taking a cut.

[quote] I first found the item using my account and when he decided that's what he wanted I logged onto Amazon using his account and his price was higher. I then called Amazon and spoke with a rep to ask why and she point blank told me that people who buy more get better prices.

Pricing on Amazon is dynamic, but we haven't reached the yield-management stage... yet. They have different accounts business vs, consumer accounts, and they do offer volume discounts, most of which are stated up front. However, the one thing I can tell you definitively is that Amazon support is a joke. They don't train their agents; they have scripts that are activated by keywords, so when you asked about whether pricing is better for frequent purchasers, that was the answer the agent was given by the algorithm. Yes, it's all based on an algorithm, with voice recognition and the words the agent searches their knowledge base on.

You have to remember that about 60% of what's sold on Amazon is third party merchants. not Amazon itself. Amazon does the shipping, which allows them to present specific offers to you based on your location (why they want you to log in to even search, and they really frown on and block VPNs because they have to know your location in order to know what to present to you that can ship the most cost-effectively to you among competing offers). The pricing, however, is set by the merchant under controls that Amazon is now being challenged over at the FTC and they are facing some massive problems, fines, and exposure of wrongdoing on a scale that will significantly impact the stock price.

Frankly, if anything, Bezos pulled the WaPo endorsement of Kamala not because of some grandiose belief in objective journalism bur rather getting rid of Lina Kahn would solve a huge problem for Amazon and even though he no longer runs it, he is still its largest individual shareholder.

amazon is selling self cleaning litterboxes that are killing peoples cats closing on their necks

You have to look closely at the seller's name before you place an order. Many fraudulent Chinese sellers will hijack a reputable brand/listing so find the seller's name on the page then click on it for customer reviews. Many will be one-star reviews stating they never received the item, or it will say Just Launched which means it's a newly created account and probably bogus.

I've noticed since Bezos stepped down the new CEO seems to excel in cost-cutting and pissing off formerly loyal customers such as myself. He upped the annual PRIME fee significantly when he took over then he began cutting PRIME FEATURES. Why am I paying for PRIME when I'm now expected to pay a separate $9.99 fee each month for "free" grocery delivery. Why am I watching "free" PRIME films with ads interspersed? They'll remove the ads for the small fee of just $2.99 per month. Why am I paying for PRIME Free two-day delivery when they no longer guarantee two-day delivery? This new guy is an asshole, and he has completely changed the tone of the company and not for the better.

I don’t know where else to go to buy DVDs and I love listening to commentary tracks and having the physical disc. It seems to me that streaming sources are really missing a bet when they don’t offer the special features and commentaries for a small nominal fee.

I know we all hate Walmart stores and work hard to never have to go into one, but they do maintain an online ordering portal just like Amazon. Their prices are almost always the same as Amazon, some times even cheaper. They store and ship a lot of merchandise for their affiliated sellers and you have the luxury easy returns if there's something wrong. You don't have to send it back, you can just take it to the nearest Walmart store and return it there and get your refund processed immediately. If an affiliated seller maintains their own inventory and does the shipping Walmart still is responsible for handling the order and if you should have a problem with a 3rd party seller Walmart will help you get the problem resolved. I just make sure anything I order is shipped by Walmart to alleviate the need to deal with a 3rd party.

This was my local drugstore the other day:

I ordered dog food from AMAZON the other day, because the prices were competitive with my local chain pet supply stores (PetSmart, Petco, and Pet Supplies Plus) and the convenience - I don't have to lug a big bag of dog food up the outside stairs to my door. Those pet stores do not offer free shipping on a bag of dog food.

When I went to order the food, I checked my account and sure enough the item I wanted was in my 'buy again' list - as I buy from them every six weeks or so. I clicked on it to put into my cart and another brand of dog food showed up. I removed it, went back to 'buy again' and the same thing happened - only this time it was a brand I never heard of which went into my cart (at a cheaper price). I logged out of my account, and then logged in the next morning to try and purchase the dog food I've been buying for the past 20+ years - only to have yet another brand put into my cart. At the point, I decided to go to Petco on my way home from work - which is on my way.

Not sure why it kept happening over and over.

Shut up, OP, OR I SHALL DESTROY YOU.

[quote] What got me addicted to Amazon was the free return shipping

I bought a pair of shoes on QVC per a friend’s suggestion, and they were too big. It was 6.95 shipping and 11.00 to return.

I found the same shoe cheaper on Amazon and purchased a smaller size. It didn’t quite fit either. To return it, I drove 5 mins. to their drop off place and that was it.

I don’t try to purchase everything on Amazon, but if it’s something I’m iffy about, I will because of their return policy.

It's all cheap Chinese knockoffs now. The names for some brands are a hilarious alphabet soup.

O Fank U. My Amazon needs fixded.

[quote] It's all cheap Chinese knockoffs now. The names for some brands are a hilarious alphabet soup.

That bothers me a lot more on Etsy. It pisses me off that they have exactly the same 'artisan' items that I can also find on Temu for half the price. On AMZ I know that I need to be careful. On Etsy it feels like fraud on their proposition.

Buy locally or from the manufacturer's site. It's not just reviews that are mixed up. They literally mix their own stock from manufacturers in with the "fulfilled by Amazon" stock they receive from sellers. As long as the barcode and dimensions and such are the same, they put it in the same group. IOW, you can buy directly from Amazon and receive fake goods because of their greedy, shitty system. Avoid.

And even if all the above weren’t true - fuck Jeff Bezos.

R82 for pet food, one word: Chewy

R70 Chewy is now owned by Amazon. They want an order of $49 or more for free shipping - my dog food is $44. I'm not going to pay for shipping on a 12 pound bag of food.

[quote]Chewy is now owned by Amazon

Sorry R71, that's not true. Chewy is owned by the same VC that owns PetsMart (PetsMart bought Chewy, then spun it off in an IPO and the VC, BC Partners, owns 80% of Chewy and all of PetsMart).

With regard to the buy again issues you're having on Amazon, it's likely due to someone manipulating Amazon's system. AMZ is a cutthroat system in which nefarious sellers can game the listings through a variety of technical means. Your description sounds like the classic ASIN (Amazon Specific Identification Number is what it stands for, I think) being hijacked by another brand/seller and all of the details changed. Unscrupulous sellers do this to acquire the history and reviews of popular items, then swap them for cheaper and less popular items, knowing that buyers will rely on Amazon to be doing their jobs (which they do a piss poor one of in situations like this) and blithely purchase the item. It makes no difference to the buyer since returns are ridiculously easy; in this case, if you received the incorrect item, they'll credit you and likely won't make you send it back and tell you to dispose of the food as you see fit. The seller who gamed the system will probably have already been paid and then disappeared. Eventually, Amazon will close or correct the listing, but not before making the legitimate sellers (including the brand) go through hell getting it corrected.

Amazon has some real problems when it comes to catalog maintenance. They don't want to pay employees to run it well. They rely on contributions from all of the sellers on the listing, and fix problems (poorly) after the fact; it allows for bad sellers to step in, sell a bunch of bad/wrong/counterfeit product, and abscond with the proceeds before Amazon even knows what's going on.

Amazon posted $15 Billion in [italic]profit[/italic] (not sales) last [italic]quarter.[/italic] and will not spend the money to provide catalog maintenance, vet sellers, provide competent customer and seller support, or maintaining a marketplace free from poor quality cheap knockoffs and counterfeits. And Temu scares the living hell out of them because one of the last things Bezos did before "retiring" was open the platform to Chinese sellers, and promised preferential treatment of them to the Chinese government in order to fuel growth. Chinese sellers don't have to comply with the same rules and regulations that US-based sellers do, and it is causing tremendous problems on the platform.

Meanwhile Temu games the system by bringing their cheap slave-made products in through Mexico avoiding US customs and tariffs and/or shipping directly from China at rates lower than you or I can access through the Post Office due to poor negotiations and favorable Chinese treatment by Trump's postmaster general Louis deJoy (whom Biden has been unable to fire due to a legislative gimmick governing the USPS).

FYI - Chewy only uses FedEx Ground which is the 7th Circle of Hell for just dumping packages by front doors and not even ringing the doorbell.

The thing is the stores don’t have what I’m looking for. I’ve tried to shop locally and I’m always disappointed. They just don’t have it or There’s just one item. Months ago, I went to target looking for potholders and white ceramic Pots for my house plants. Target had one style of potholder, a gray one and the white pots were plastic. I I found what I was looking on Amazon.

I like Anazon for my grocery delivery, cleaning supplies, and odds and ends like a new fan or small lamp. I occasionally have a problem that is promptly taken care of, so no complaints. I shop ebay too

I actually like the cheap Chinese knockoff. I can get the exact piece of crap for much cheaper

[quote] That bothers me a lot more on Etsy. It pisses me off that they have exactly the same 'artisan' items that I can also find on Temu for half the price

There’s an Etsy subreddit about this type of issue. Some of the artists’ work is being ripped off and sold on SHEIN and Temu and Etsy is not helping with false advertising on Etsy itself.

Before Etsy became corporate it was great.

We are all just mindless CONSUMERS now. Just buy, buy, buy. Don't question it. Just buy no matter how cheap it is, disposable it will become, or where it came from. Complaining we can't find our necessary unbleached Q-tips, specialty dog food, and white ceramic pots for our house plants in local stores. We must be the most pretentious people to have ever existed.

R74 that’s exactly my experience with retail vs Amazon for at least the last five years

[quote] I actually like the cheap Chinese knockoff. I can get the exact piece of crap for much cheaper

I'm guessing you're also fond of all the chemicals and invasive plastics found in cheap Chinese crap.

[quote] We are all just mindless CONSUMERS now

[quote]necessary unbleached Q-tips

I’m actually being mindful. Unbleached is better than bleached for the environment and without plastic.

Some people on DL have real issues much deeper than ignorance on how to shop effectively online.

Thank you for your concern

Oh, bother you r78! I’m not a mindless consumer. I don’t buy for the thrill of buying.

I wonder how much of this crap that people really believe they need but don’t need at all.

I seem to get by just fine without Amazon.

[quote]I think Amazon has found ways to make their shopping experience very addictive.

It *used* to be super easy to impulse buy on Amazon because their checkout process was so fast and easy, making it easy to buy shit without much thought or effort. That's gone now. Their checkout process has become a fucking gauntlet full of booby traps. First I have to get past a screen begging me to join Prime. Then I have to look through 10 fucking lines of charges to try and spot which ones are bullshit charges they snuck in there unnecessarily (like charging me an extra $6.99 for next-day shipping when I don't fucking want that). I used to buy mad shit on Amazon back in the day when there were actual deals on there, but those days are long gone.

Everything is a money grab now. I love my Kindle and own several different models. I was wavering on buying the new color version ColorSoft, but there are more bad reviews than good about how grainy, dim and bad the new technology is. There is also a yellow stripe issue is so bad many are returning the unit.

This seems like they pushed the entire thing to be ready for the holidays rather than make something worthwhile.

I was also horrified to discover almost all black plastic kitchen utensils are made from recycled computer hardware, loaded with toxins that can leach into food from heat and acidity, and that Amazon doesn’t have any way of assuring us those utensils are free from these chemicals.

I ordered some lens wipes and their system says they have shipped, but package tracking shows they have not. Because the system says they shipped, it will not allow me to cancel. The package was due three days ago.

Customer service refuses to cancel the order because it is in “advanced shipping stage” which I believe means “out of stock” though they deny this, saying there is a “technical problem.” They can’t say when the product will ship. All they can do is “put in a cancellation ticket” and I will hear from them in 24-48 hours.

I spent 30 minutes chatting with Venumadhav who claims to have involved a supervisor. I told him I was going to order a replacement and return the original order if it ever arrives which seems pretty wasteful. He said 🤷🏻‍♂️

I might add that the package tracking part of their system does have a button “Cancel this order” but pressing it just takes you back to the page that says the order has shipped.

So I ordered the same product again This time with free delivery in a few hours. They claim I “saved $9.99” in delivery with Prime which is ridiculous because never in a million years would I pay $10 to have $5 lens wipes delivered to my door in a few hours. Not to mention the fact that Prime isn’t free

It occurs to me that Amazon knows I’m never going to bother to return the second delivery. I had not looked at the price before contacting them and assumed the product cost about $20 since it’s a large quantity. No wonder they wouldn’t let me talk to a supervisor.

I'm more concerned about who is shipping what I order. If it's not shipped by Amazon I don't order. I learned the hard way to never order from sellers who do the shipping themselves. If Amazon stocks and ships their products I'll consider ordering from them, if I can't find the same item being sold directly by Amazon. And most times if I look well I can find the same item, or something very close to it, sold/shipped by Amazon, and many times at a lower price.

Time was it was easy to actually get a human, and an American one at that, on the phone at Amazon. Now you have to speak to your congressman first and hope for the best. Their customer service has become shit just like everywhere else. If you do finally get someone on the phone it's someone working from home with their baby squalling in the background, or in one case I heard chickens crowing very nearby during the call.

I can no longer talk to a human at my bank. Seriously considering switching to a local bank.

I was ordering all my household junk on amazon in the past... very regularly. They've gone so down hill, quality wise...Lots of seller scams, fake reviews and pure junk. The result is all those lines you see at the UPS store with returns. The other day I popped into a store in my neighborhood called "Rainbow" (upper east side)... they have EVERYTHING... and you can touch/feel before you buy. I am cutting amazon out as much as I can now... I am back to brick and mortar!

I depend on Amazon for some deliveries, but then I'm pretty good at spotting scams and would not purchase pure junk. Snagged some great Christmas deals on Prime Day.

You can find a lot of the exact same Chinese made crap on places like Temu for a lot, lot less.

[quote] Seriously considering switching a local bank.

You should dump traditional banks altogether, and never go back. Find a good credit union. You'll always talk to a human, and an American one at that. The benefits of CUs over traditional banks are innumerable. CUs are not for profits and every hear in mid December I get a big fat deposit in my checking account that is my part of the profits the bank earned that year.

[quote] I was ordering all my household junk on amazon

What's "household junk"? Why are you buying junk?

I buy pet supplies and hard-to-find grocery items on Amazon. I buy a particular kitty litter that is rarely in stores, plus I buy in bulk so it’s heavy. I also am sick of going to Home Depot and spending time searching for exactly what I need only to find out they don’t have it. Amazon is much easier.

I’ve seen Amazon delivery vans in the driveways of remote, rural houses and wondered if that meant those people were now able to cook dishes that called for, say, balsamic vinegar, or to read good books, or receive whatever convenient benefit they had wanted without having to travel many long miles.

Possibly. But it’s not worth arguing over, so I don’t say it to my friends, who are urban lefties who think Bezos is the Devil.

I'm not a huge consumer of new goods. I buy my share of secondhand goods in the way of art and antiques and used books, even used household goods. There´s very little in my house that isn't old or custom made: clothing; bedding; towels; a few pieces of furniture; some kitchen goods but I'm very spare with domestic electronics and gadgets and kitchen clutter, and maybe a third of the stuff is old.

Aside from groceries, the new things I buy are cleaning supplies, bathroom goods, TVs, mobiles, laptops, lightbulbs, printer cartidges and paper about once a year, the occasional household tool I don't have already, the occasional new book (from a proper bookstore if I can´t find it secondhand.)

For the very few things I do buy, I try to buy from Amazon only when it will save me a fool's errand of running around looking for some strange, cheap thing (a screwdriver for taking the back off a Macbook, for example), oir a can of spray lubricant for creaky doors, or cheap printing cartidges. It's has definietly become a fucking pain in the ass to order from them simply for the time and care that must be taken to order something that isn't some Chinese brand I have never heard of and never will again, often with complicated delivery times, or hidden costs. Amazon has become teh reverse of what is once was - a `place where it was easier to order someting online and have it a day or twio rather than fuck around forever trying to find at a higher price locally. I really use it only as a last resort for peculiar things I caqn find only there, and then I resent the time wasted trying to find the best, relatively cheaper, and honest product.

The delivery schedule is messy now where it used to be accurate: Tuesday may be Wednesday now, without notice. They used to have a pop-up to show that your order was in the neighborhod, 11 stops away, 8 stops away, etc. Now they have removed that and expanded to hours of delivery, from 08.00 to 22.00, and sometimes later. And try to consolidate four small things in order and arrange for their delivery together, impossible now where once it was easy to schedule.

Amazon, never a favorite, has turned to shit in many ways.

[quote] I’ve seen Amazon delivery vans in the driveways of remote, rural houses and wondered if that meant those people were now able to cook dishes that called for, say, balsamic vinegar, or to read good books, or receive whatever convenient benefit they had wanted without having to travel many long miles.

That's a very positive way to look at it. I've lived in the boondocks and Amazon really helped me to obtain stuff that I couldn't get otherwise. (Cooking ingredients, etc.)

Whenever I chat with customer service it sounds like I've been transferred to Bangladesh. They keep telling me problems have been resolved and they haven't.

R92 Really? It was only 4 or 5 years ago that I used them a lot and I was always impressed with their customer service on the phone. They always made everything right super fast.

That used to be true, r104. Now you chat very slowly with someone in a third world service center. I don’t think calling is even an option anymore.

I once had someone spend an hour with me on the phone looking into my delivery issues and she actually hacked their system to make sure that the Amazon delivery (which was new at the time and used independent contractors who lied) was the last resort for my deliveries rather than the first.

[quote] They always made everything right super fast.

Trust me, them days are long gone. Their service reps are now all 3rd worlders.

I accidentally ordered Swiffer Wet Cloths mopping cloths which are mean for a product called Swiffer Dry & Wet when I wanted Swiffer WetJet mopping pads.

Amazon first lost the package for a few days. Then after telling me the package appeared to be lost, they refused to let me cancel the order. They appeared to offer me that option (by clicking a yellow “Cancel Order” button), but it was one of their “fake outs” where they make you fill out a form only then to surprise you at the end with “We can’t do that” with no explanation.

Same experience when I tried to set up a return. Filing out the return forms until, at the end a “this product cannot be returned “ message with no explanation. The buttons for help just set me on course to fill out the same forms again. Pass.

Ultimately I chatted with customer service and they refunded my purchase price and told me to keep the product.

Why they didn’t do that when I tried to return it in the first place? 🤷🏻‍♂️

On FreeVee (owned by Amazon) they run commercials claiming they ban AI-written reviews but I see them all the time.

Amazon is dead to me. I needed a few things I couldn't find in local stores on Saturday. I checked the Walmart website and found all 4 items and ordered them. Received a notice 3 hours later that they had shipped and they are out for delivery by FedEx by the end of the day today.

Home Depot has a website. You can choose your local store to shop and choose in-stock items as part of your search. The site tells you exactly where in the store to find the item. My issue with my local Home Depot is that all of the checkouts are self service. I go to the customer service desk and they ring up my purchase without batting an eye.

“Out for delivery” covers a lot of sins. My package was “out for delivery” Saturday and Sunday before they told me it appeared to be lost, then delivered it on Monday. This happens often enough that if we still had a government, I think Amazon might be in trouble for false advertising about delivery times.

But of course we don’t have a government for the next four years (at least).

Amazon is not broken

You can shop elsewhere

You can shop elsewhere, but if you are a Prime member, you have paid in advance for shipping, so you are going to want to shop there. It’s a clever strategy.

No, Amazon isn't broken. It's simply gotten so big and powerful that the emphasis they used to have on customer service has suffered dramatically. They also seem to think "we're so big that we do what we want and anyone who doesn't like it can piss off".

Fuck Bezos! Fuck Amazon!

Amazon Review:

Five stars.

“I got this for my neice (sic). I hope they like it.”

Warning:

I purchased an “American” brand gift from Amazon overseas while visiting friends.

A few months later I noticed my credit card had a small Prime Membership charge. I’d not signed up for Prime so called the card company and disputed it. The charge was removed, but another surfaced 3 months later.

Called card company again and asked them to block charge. They promised to do. Charge reappeared again.

Finally, card company said Amazon claims I’d agreed to the charges. The only cure is to cancel with Amazon directly. They gave me Amazon’s HQ customer service number.

Forty minutes later Amazon says they can’t cancel it because the Prime was initiated by their Luxembourg affiliate (I’ve never been to Luxembourg) and, no, they don’t have contact information for Luxembourg customer service. (Then added: “How else can we provide you with excellent service ?)

I’m disabled and don’t drive any longer because I don’t want to kill people if I have a seizure while driving.

Amazon literally makes it possible for me to have a nice life in spite of multiple health challenges.

As a Canadian, I don't feel compelled to give my money to someone who went to kiss Trump's ring. I've replaced Kindle with Kobo and I only use Amazon's site to look up products, which I then order from elsewhere. Sure, I'll pay a bit more or have to go a physical store (living in Toronto, you can find most of those things locally anyway) but I don't want to give that fascist bootlicker any more money. Unfortunately, last time I renewed my Prime membership it was for a whole year, so I'll still watch stuff until it expires but no more shopping with Bezos. Also, I've read that somewhere in the Eastern Canada (Newfoundland? wider?) they stopped delivering to a number of rural locations since they dissolved a shipping center in Quebec, where their workers tried to unionize. Fuck Amazon.

Not broken? Among the first five reviews for the Swiffer Dry & Wet is one titled “Pledge is an excellent brand” (this is not a Pledge product) and one that says “Just as good as the name brand.” (Swiffer is the “name brand.”)

I've seen tons of reviews on Amazon that were clearly not for the item the review showed up on.

Years back Amazon had some sort of vetting process when it came to sellers and their products. Now they can have unvetted sellers with shitty products, and many of those have unrealistic and even fabricated claims. Their rating system is obviously trumped up to show customer satisfaction.

Right there with you, r118.

Vendors (now mostly Chinese) have to pay per ASIN number. Most of them are resellers not original producers so when they sell out of a product, they reuse the ASIN number. That’s why you read reviews for completely different items on one page. Sometimes they do the opposite, list an item, but each color has a different product page. Then after a while, they combine them all on one page, delete the bad reviews and keep the good ones.

Reminds me of google. Remember when the first thing that came up when you searched was usually what you were looking for? now you have to scroll through AI a lot of garbage to get to what you were googling.

[quote]Reminds me of google. Remember when the first thing that came up when you searched was usually what you were looking for? now you have to scroll through AI a lot of garbage to get to what you were googling.

As soon as the first thing that came up in a search was something "sponsored", I immediately scrolled at least to the next thing and often beyond. I don't give AI even a glance.

I recently ordered and received a Miele cordless vac from them since I couldn't find one around where I live and have no complaints. It arrived at the specified time.

Won’t Trump’s China tariffs hurt Amazon?

They'll hurt everyone.

I never even read 5 start reviews, those are all bots. 3 or 4 reviews are closer to the truth

I typically start reading the 1 and 2 star reviews to see what the potential negatives may be.

Busted

[quote] However, reading some of these reviews made me question if we've been using SSDs wrong all this time. A review on one of the remarkably cheap portable SSD listings declared the product to be "a very colorful throw, but thinner" than expected. Another reported that the drive proved "very soft and perfect" for their 6-year-old. One review pointed to the SSD being a "beautiful portrait" that looks great in the kitchen, while another five-star review pointed to the high microphone and video quality.

From link at r132

I recently redecorated my apartment. Since it’s a rental, I kept it simple but wanted it organized. Amazon made it easy. I’ve bought storage solutions, cleaning supplies, small appliances, tools, lighting, vases, picture frames, and basics like t-shirts and socks. I don’t usually buy nicer clothes there, but returns are so easy that I don’t mind taking a chance. I return about 40 percent of what I order. When choosing blackout curtains, I ordered a few, tested them, and sent the rest back. Way better than dealing with a department store. With a Whole Foods nearby, dropping off returns takes minutes.

Customer service has been solid. If something is lost, damaged, or not what I expected, I chat with support and always get a refund or replacement with no hassle.

What really stands out is how well Amazon predicts what I need. My apartment has old, hard-to-clean windows, and one day, Amazon suggested repair parts. I didn’t even know what they were called, but there they were. The algorithm isn’t just smart—it’s actually useful.

R134 is either a paid shill or an unpaid idiot.

Only once have I been let down by an item. I ordered a mat for the back of my SUV and the description said it would lie totally flat. However, when it arrived it had upraised curved edges, not completely flat. It's good quality and I'll keep it. One dissatisfaction in decades is minor for me.

Oh, and it has velcro on the bottom so it won't move which was not in the description. Score!

Amazon is no different than any other retailer. You have to watch very closely what you buy from them. All retailers make sure that for every item they sell at a low price there are other items positioned to make up for those losses. You also can not rely on the reviews just from Amazon customers. If it's an item sold elsewhere take a look at any available reviews on other sites.

These days where your money is concerned trust no one.