/sarcasm
First of all, I'll still continue to shop at Amazon.com, but I am rather irritated about my recent dealing with their Customer Service about a return I had filed not 10 minutes prior to contacting them.
So, about a week ago, I purchased a Plantronics Gamecom 367 headset. Reviews suggested that it was worth the price that was offered. Well, I get it in the mail and try it out. The headset was not what the reviewers described it to be. It was uncomfortable, hot, and muffled. Granted it is closed-ear, but some reviewers suggest that I "break them in" by using them for a bit to improve the audio by letting them run for a couple of hours with audio running through them. That didn't help at all.
I go to the point that I'm just going to return them. I fill out the information at Amazon.com, and I see the option of an Instant Amazon.com gift card, which allowed me to get the refund instantly prior to the return being processed (but I still had to return the item within 30 days or they'd charge me for the gift card). I choose it, and finish the submission....
An error occurs.
I did not panic. I checked the section where my recent return was placed, and I saw that the headset I was returning was listed, having both the ability to print the label and track the package (once it does get sent out). Figured maybe it went through. I try to print out the label, and all of a sudden my browser locks up, and I had to restart it. Things were not going well for me at this point. I try again, but this time, it seemed to go through. Next, I go to check my Gift Card balance.
$0.00
Now, I started to fidget a little, because when they say "Instant" with no other description of how long it would take for the gift card refund to register, I expected instant. Waited 10 minutes. Still no change to my balance. I decide to call up Amazon.com myself about the situation. A soft-spoken woman answers, and I tell her the situation. She looks over the information, and she says something that I did not want to hear.
"This is the first time I've ever dealt with this problem before."
Great. Just great. She must either have been new, or such an error never came up and I was the first customer to report it. I'm put on hold while she goes over the steps in dealing with the situation (probably through a guide book). 5 minutes later, she responds.
"I don't see how you got that option for a refund."
At this point, she may have heard me sounding just fine, but on my side of the line, I was not. My ears were getting as hot as when I had the headset on for a couple of minutes, minus the headset. We continued to talk about it, and I go step by step on how the error occurred, including how I chose the option for the instant gift card refund. She puts me back on hold for another 5 or so minutes while she reports this problem to the supervisor. I'm told the supervisor went over my steps, and was getting errors as well. Was I so unlucky that my first return with Amazon had to involve this problem? They asked that I try setting up the return from start to finish once again to hopefully overwrite the prior problematic return. I did, but it changed nothing. In the end, I decided to change my refund option to by-mail (which validated just fine), which means I have to wait for a couple of weeks to get the refund instead of immediately using it towards a better headset.
I spent almost 38 minutes talking with the representative and being on hold only to find out that nothing atm could be done due to a possible website problem. It was not a wonderful experience. Because today is Sunday, I have to wait until tomorrow till I can go and send my return on its way. Gonna try re-establishing the refund again for the Instant Gift Card option, and maybe if I'm lucky, it'll actually go through.
First of all, I'll still continue to shop at Amazon.com, but I am rather irritated about my recent dealing with their Customer Service about a return I had filed not 10 minutes prior to contacting them.
So, about a week ago, I purchased a Plantronics Gamecom 367 headset. Reviews suggested that it was worth the price that was offered. Well, I get it in the mail and try it out. The headset was not what the reviewers described it to be. It was uncomfortable, hot, and muffled. Granted it is closed-ear, but some reviewers suggest that I "break them in" by using them for a bit to improve the audio by letting them run for a couple of hours with audio running through them. That didn't help at all.
I go to the point that I'm just going to return them. I fill out the information at Amazon.com, and I see the option of an Instant Amazon.com gift card, which allowed me to get the refund instantly prior to the return being processed (but I still had to return the item within 30 days or they'd charge me for the gift card). I choose it, and finish the submission....
An error occurs.
I did not panic. I checked the section where my recent return was placed, and I saw that the headset I was returning was listed, having both the ability to print the label and track the package (once it does get sent out). Figured maybe it went through. I try to print out the label, and all of a sudden my browser locks up, and I had to restart it. Things were not going well for me at this point. I try again, but this time, it seemed to go through. Next, I go to check my Gift Card balance.
$0.00
Now, I started to fidget a little, because when they say "Instant" with no other description of how long it would take for the gift card refund to register, I expected instant. Waited 10 minutes. Still no change to my balance. I decide to call up Amazon.com myself about the situation. A soft-spoken woman answers, and I tell her the situation. She looks over the information, and she says something that I did not want to hear.
"This is the first time I've ever dealt with this problem before."
Great. Just great. She must either have been new, or such an error never came up and I was the first customer to report it. I'm put on hold while she goes over the steps in dealing with the situation (probably through a guide book). 5 minutes later, she responds.
"I don't see how you got that option for a refund."
At this point, she may have heard me sounding just fine, but on my side of the line, I was not. My ears were getting as hot as when I had the headset on for a couple of minutes, minus the headset. We continued to talk about it, and I go step by step on how the error occurred, including how I chose the option for the instant gift card refund. She puts me back on hold for another 5 or so minutes while she reports this problem to the supervisor. I'm told the supervisor went over my steps, and was getting errors as well. Was I so unlucky that my first return with Amazon had to involve this problem? They asked that I try setting up the return from start to finish once again to hopefully overwrite the prior problematic return. I did, but it changed nothing. In the end, I decided to change my refund option to by-mail (which validated just fine), which means I have to wait for a couple of weeks to get the refund instead of immediately using it towards a better headset.
I spent almost 38 minutes talking with the representative and being on hold only to find out that nothing atm could be done due to a possible website problem. It was not a wonderful experience. Because today is Sunday, I have to wait until tomorrow till I can go and send my return on its way. Gonna try re-establishing the refund again for the Instant Gift Card option, and maybe if I'm lucky, it'll actually go through.
[flush] [walks in without washing my hands] Hi guys 