Amazon Sent Back A Return I Didn't Make

[Mac'nCheese]

Yesterday, I opened a box from amazon to find a samsung tablet and a printout from Amazon saying my return was not accepted since they couldn't find my OEM (I think it was, can't remember for sure) number. Only thing is, I never bought a samsung tablet from Amazon so this isn't my return. How does a mistake like this happen? I have not contacted amazon yet as I forgot to bring the box in to work with me today.

 

[bigjnyc]

with hundreds of thousands of returns and orders being shipped out every day I'm sure this happens every once in a while. perhaps just a mislabel on the package. Just call them up and they'll tell you what to do with it. I would say you are lucky if they tell you to keep it but being that its a samsung tablet... not so much.

 

[Mac'nCheese]

Just chatted with amazon, they said to keep it. That was nice of them.

 

[Banglazed]

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0181-unordered-merchandise

If you didn’t order it but you received it, you can keep it and you can inform seller at your discretion.

 

[RootBeerMan]

Quite a few years ago Amazon sent us someone else's order by mistake. It was addressed to us but it was obviously not ours, (even though my son would have loved to have kept it!). It a was a very hard to come by Lego chess set. I called them up and sent it back, not wanting to have someone else's holiday's ruined. I would not be keeping that tablet, if it were me. Someone, somewhere is getting shafted by their system. I'd demand a label and return it. It is someone else's property and really isn't Amazon's to give away.

 

[hwojtek]

It is - as mentioned above.
And don't worry, they will send another one to the actual customer.

 

[Mac'nCheese]

Quite a few years ago Amazon sent us someone else's order by mistake. It was addressed to us but it was obviously not ours, (even though my son would have loved to have kept it!). It a was a very hard to come by Lego chess set. I called them up and sent it back, not wanting to have someone else's holiday's ruined. I would not be keeping that tablet, if it were me. Someone, somewhere is getting shafted by their system. I'd demand a label and return it. It is someone else's property and really isn't Amazon's to give away.

No, they noted in the system and the person will get credit for the return. You really thought Amazon would do that to another customer? Oh too bad, we just gave it to someone else.

 

[0388631]

I don't think that's happened to us. Or it has and I can't remember quite well. In any case, Amazon or any other retailer won't accept the product back. You could try escalating to a manager by dropping them an email aimed at Bezos, but they'll probably tell you to keep it, too.

 

[LizKat]

I don't think that's happened to us. Or it has and I can't remember quite well. In any case, Amazon or any other retailer won't accept the product back. You could try escalating to a manager by dropping them an email aimed at Bezos, but they'll probably tell you to keep it, too.

So this is why they charge 4c more for some mundane item like a can of beans than say Walmart? Covering little errors like sending a TABLET to the wrong person who gets to keep it? Good to know... I guess...

 

[willmtaylor]

I ordered several Xmas gifts for friends and family from LLBean. While my father-in-law’s shirt was omitted from the box, a nice pair of black gloves were included but not on the invoice.

Customer service apologized and immediately rectified the shirt omission. I did, however, divulge their accidental inclusion to which they were completely oblivious.

They kindly asked me to return them with the pre-printed return label. I was happy to oblige.

 

[Thomas Veil]

So this is why they charge 4c more for some mundane item like a can of beans than say Walmart? Covering little errors like sending a TABLET to the wrong person who gets to keep it? Good to know... I guess...

Pretty much.

I know someone who ordered one of those electric fireplaces from Amazon, the kind big enough to sit a TV on top of. It arrived with a damaged mantle. They called to complain and Amazon sent them another one and told them to keep the first one.

 

[LizKat]

^^ Wow. It starts to sound like it's more costly to process certain kinds of returns than it's worth to get them back and either vet and repackage them for resale or arrange with the manufacturer to ditch/recycle them. But as I indicated in the other post, none of this can possibly be without cost to the retailer. They must try to spread around some of their anticipated "recovery costs" in their general pricing algorithms.

 

[Mac'nCheese]

^^ Wow. It starts to sound like it's more costly to process certain kinds of returns than it's worth to get them back and either vet and repackage them for resale or arrange with the manufacturer to ditch/recycle them. But as I indicated in the other post, none of this can possibly be without cost to the retailer. They must try to spread around some of their anticipated "recovery costs" in their general pricing algorithms.

I do remember trying to return something once that was pretty inexpensive. They refunded my money and just said to keep it. I guess the postage back and work needed to return it to the shelves wasn't worth it to them. I also have heard that some people are banned from Amazon because they returned too much stuff.

 

[0388631]

Depends on the item, Liz. Larger and or bulky items often get picked up from your home and they affix the label they have or they tape what you printed out at home. Smaller items seem to be up to the customer. That said, 4c in price difference for canned goods seems to be in-line with most retailers. Just compare Krogers and their various brands across the states to Von's or even Costco when you breakdown a case of them into cost per can. It'd be wiser to compare Walmart's online price to Amazon. That said, you should still shop around when you're buying stuff because sometimes Amazon doesn't have the upper hand. I wouldn't care about a few cans, but if I were ordering 100 cans or more, then I'd care. However, even with a $4 difference I'm still inclined to go with Amazon merely because they're easier to deal with.
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I do remember trying to return something once that was pretty inexpensive. They refunded my money and just said to keep it. I guess the postage back and work needed to return it to the shelves wasn't worth it to them. I also have heard that some people are banned from Amazon because they returned too much stuff.

Yeah those people were blatantly defrauding Amazon. It's a bit like getting a Costco membership, buying hardware and returning it every so often for years. Costco keeps a record of all your purchases even if you cancel your membership and go back to them years down the line.

In all of my life, I've probably returned items less than a dozen times. Maybe 15 at most. I always make sure I know what I'm purchasing and double-check. If it's online, I chat or speak to a rep to confirm what I'm ordering is what I want. I'll do research to make sure items match up. Easier at a regular store, obviously. People who complain about being banned are usually holding out on other information. If it were as common as they make it out to be, we'd be hearing more than the occasional story or two each year.

 

[Mac'nCheese]

Depends on the item, Liz. Larger and or bulky items often get picked up from your home and they affix the label they have or they tape what you printed out at home. Smaller items seem to be up to the customer. That said, 4c in price difference for canned goods seems to be in-line with most retailers. Just compare Krogers and their various brands across the states to Von's or even Costco when you breakdown a case of them into cost per can. It'd be wiser to compare Walmart's online price to Amazon. That said, you should still shop around when you're buying stuff because sometimes Amazon doesn't have the upper hand. I wouldn't care about a few cans, but if I were ordering 100 cans or more, then I'd care. However, even with a $4 difference I'm still inclined to go with Amazon merely because they're easier to deal with.
[doublepost=1546825950][/doublepost]
Yeah those people were blatantly defrauding Amazon. It's a bit like getting a Costco membership, buying hardware and returning it every so often for years. Costco keeps a record of all your purchases even if you cancel your membership and go back to them years down the line.

In all of my life, I've probably returned items less than a dozen times. Maybe 15 at most. I always make sure I know what I'm purchasing and double-check. If it's online, I chat or speak to a rep to confirm what I'm ordering is what I want. I'll do research to make sure items match up. Easier at a regular store, obviously. People who complain about being banned are usually holding out on other information. If it were as common as they make it out to be, we'd be hearing more than the occasional story or two each year.

So I needed a part for my shower head for my brother in law to fix but he wasn't sure which model I had. I was at his house at the time, so I just ordered both of them from amazon, planning to return the one that was wrong. I kind of felt that it was ok because I would have no problem doing that at a store like home depot. I wasn't going to open the wrong one and I knew that I would have a good chance in having to pay the return shipping cost since it was through a third party seller. Turned out they were both wrong when he came over today to fix it for me so I returned both of them. Had to pay the return postage on both and then pay for the correct one (turns out there were three to choose from). I do see how if I did that all the time buying directly from Amazon and them not charging me a return fee, how they would finally be like enough is enough, shop somewhere else, jerk.

 

[0388631]

So I needed a part for my shower head for my brother in law to fix but he wasn't sure which model I had. I was at his house at the time, so I just ordered both of them from amazon, planning to return the one that was wrong. I kind of felt that it was ok because I would have no problem doing that at a store like home depot. I wasn't going to open the wrong one and I knew that I would have a good chance in having to pay the return shipping cost since it was through a third party seller. Turned out they were both wrong when he came over today to fix it for me so I returned both of them. Had to pay the return postage on both and then pay for the correct one (turns out there were three to choose from). I do see how if I did that all the time buying directly from Amazon and them not charging me a return fee, how they would finally be like enough is enough, shop somewhere else, jerk.

Yeah, that's a good point. For items like that, I prefer shopping from a regular store. While most piping is standardized now, it wasn't always. And sometimes you need to buy a bunch and return what didn't work.

 

[LizKat]

I've never had to return anything to Amazon... so far. I ordered the wrong case for an iPad once and realized it would fit the one I'd just handed off to a neighbor so I just threw that into the mix for him and felt good about it because he was on the go with the thing and I had used that iPad only in my studio so it didn't even have so much as a smart cover on it.

I do like shopping for hardware items in local stores because I can often take either a couple photos or the actual thing I'm trying to replace in there with me, and get best advice on what to buy to solve my problem. Left to my own devices on that stuff I'd be buying the wrong things and probably would have been banned from Amazon years ago.

 

[0388631]

I do like shopping for hardware items in local stores because I can often take either a couple photos or the actual thing I'm trying to replace in there with me, and get best advice on what to buy to solve my problem. Left to my own devices on that stuff I'd be buying the wrong things and probably would have been banned from Amazon years ago.

Given the propensity of companies to never have a unified way of measuring products they offer for sale, I agree with you. Almost as if people never went to school.

 

[Apple fanboy]

When you sell on Amazon, there is a couple of ways you can set up your account. With or without returns.
If there are no returns, Amazon have to dispose of damaged goods or customer returns.
If they don’t think they are saleable they won’t want to have the hassle of collecting them.
If you have returns they will collect customer goods so they can return them to the supplier.
Of course Amazon charge the seller more to have no returns etc.
But Amazon always pass the costs in to the supplier!

 

[44267547]

If they don’t think they are saleable they won’t want to have the hassle of collecting them.

Not exactly. I can attest that ordering certain workout supplement powders (Which are considered ‘consumables/goods’), Have been defective in the past, and Amazon does want those back, because they are costly, and they do want them returned before refunding the customer. Certain consumables I can understand they may not want back, but it’s more variable than anything pending the product that is ‘consumable’.

 

[mollyc]

I have made actual returns to amazon, sending stuff back. I have originated returns and amazon refunded me but told me to keep the items.

I had a $160 order over Christmas arrive on time, and was actually handed to my husband at the door. But it must have been a new delivery driver because a day or two later, the packages were marked as lost in transit; I assume he forgot the destination scan. Then I received an email from Amazon stating they had credited my account for the missing items. They were never missing!! I did a chat with them but they had already processed my refund and could not rebill me for the items. Any time I’ve had a package actually get lost you have to wait several days to make sure stuff doesn’t show up anyway. This was all in the matter of about 48 hours.

 

[smirking]

It starts to sound like it's more costly to process certain kinds of returns than it's worth to get them back and either vet and repackage them for resale or arrange with the manufacturer to ditch/recycle them.

From what I've heard, Amazon doesn't resell ANY of their returns as normal merchandise. They all get shipped off to liquidation houses to be auctioned off as bundles of mostly vaguely described items being bid on by people who are making guesses about the actual items and condition of the items that they're bidding on.

 

[Huntn]

Just chatted with amazon, they said to keep it. That was nice of them.

This maybe a serious issue for them. I had a stroller cover that I did not order with my name and mailing address on the package, but inside the invoice had a different name and address. When I called them up to get a mailing label to return the item, I was told they have no mechanism to accept such a return and to just keep it.

 

[0388631]

I have made actual returns to amazon, sending stuff back. I have originated returns and amazon refunded me but told me to keep the items.

I had a $160 order over Christmas arrive on time, and was actually handed to my husband at the door. But it must have been a new delivery driver because a day or two later, the packages were marked as lost in transit; I assume he forgot the destination scan. Then I received an email from Amazon stating they had credited my account for the missing items. They were never missing!! I did a chat with them but they had already processed my refund and could not rebill me for the items. Any time I’ve had a package actually get lost you have to wait several days to make sure stuff doesn’t show up anyway. This was all in the matter of about 48 hours.

I've heard Amazon bills the shipper/USPS for those kinds of errors. I'd hate to be that young man who likely got a massive earful. Amazon used to be able to bill you for that and would inform you as to why they're billing you, but they probably found the easier method to recoup lost profit.
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From what I've heard, Amazon doesn't resell ANY of their returns as normal merchandise. They all get shipped off to liquidation houses to be auctioned off as bundles of mostly vaguely described items being bid on by people who are making guesses about the actual items and condition of the items that they're bidding on.

Not quite. Amazon sells it on their Amazon Warehouse site. Certain items that come into contact with food may be destroyed and some are 'refurbished' in the sense a blender will get a new vessel but the motor body will remain. Plenty of items are shipped off to be destroyed because of state laws and federal laws overseeing consumer products.

You can even purchase customer return pallets. I have no idea who does this or even buys the refurbished stuff, but I imagine some YouTube channels do to keep costs down.

 

[mollyc]

I've heard Amazon bills the shipper/USPS for those kinds of errors. I'd hate to be that young man who likely got a massive earful. Amazon used to be able to bill you for that and would inform you as to why they're billing you, but they probably found the easier method to recoup lost profit.

We have Amazon labeled delivery trucks here. Some stuff ships UPS or USPS but a lot of stuff here through actual Amazon carriers.