Anyone been scammed in Amazon Marketplace before?

[jackiecanev2]

So, I ordered an 11" Macbook Air from Amazon marketplace; seller claimed it was brand new in box, received as a gift, didn't need it etc. Paid with my Amex. Promptly got a shipping number, signed for it this afternoon, left it on the couch since I wasn't feeling well, and finally opened it tonight.

There's nothing inside but a half-ream or so of blank paper, and some f'king packing peanuts.

I tried contacting Amazon through their A-Z guarantee program, but they say I have to wait some obscene number of days (14 days + expedited shipping time of 6 days) so, another 3 weeks basically - and I have to try and contact/resolve with the seller. I highly doubt the seller "forgot" to put the computer in the box and mistakenly shipped me about 1kg of blank paper instead. The seller also insured it for some ridiculous amount, paying $40 for shipping when I only paid $10 or so, so I'm sure they can try and claim it against USPS or something like that.

I'm totally furious, and probably not thinking too clearly, and so I'm not really sure how to proceed. I could always call American Express and file a chargeback, but one stipulation of the A-Z program is that you cannot have filed a chargeback... and mostly, I'm concerned that it's just going to be my word against his/hers. Right now, all I have is a $1.1k ream of paper.

Anyone have an experience or suggestions?

 

[WillEH]

Could you kindly name the seller/link to sellers profile on Amazon. Thanks.

 

[MovieCutter]

Apple has these for $850 refurbed...why on earth would you go to the Amazon Marketplace?

 

[jackiecanev2]

It's the upgraded version, not stock; it ended up around $150 off including the no-tax factor, and not a refurbished brown-box since it's a gift for my nephew when he graduates with his BS in a few weeks. I snagged one on here for myself and he's been lusting for one ever since.

I've purchased a lot of things through Amazon Marketplace and never had a problem. Until now, of course.

[Edit: Ender's game. Nice.]

Apple has these for $850 refurbed...why on earth would you go to the Amazon Marketplace?

 

[grouper]

oh man. that sucks!

 

[Macalway]

(Dug up long dead thread)

What i'm seeing now is unbelievable. Just about every Apple product has wacky Marketplace sellers.

The scam is to try to get you to buy outside of the Amazon firewall, which handles all the business. It's actually fairly safe if you stay inside this firewall, because of the A to Z thing, which I imagine works most of the time.

The very strange thing is that Amazon STRONGLY encourages you to purchase ANYTHING on their Marketplace. I've called and talked to a few 'agents' and voiced my concerns, and they assured me to go ahead and buy whatever I want as Amazon will cover my ***. Now, they handle returns, and the feeling I get is that Amazon has our backs, but you never know until you go there.

This all adds up to some pretty strange stuff. I've been dealing with the ins-and-outs of a growing Ebay for a decade, and have navigated their treacherous waters for years, but this Amazon thing is indeed very strange.

To think that Amazon encourages this wacky business model is kind of funny. They have hugely deep pockets, which is actually very comforting, but I can't see how this must not be eating away at them.

Share your scam dealings please, as I'm sure more than one member here has had to go from 'A to Z.'