Utterly pathetic
by chesshire_cat - Written: Aug 05 '03
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After several weeks of consideration, I decided to purchase a Kitchen Aid mixer. A quick search online showed Amazon had one on "clearance" at a reasonable discount. Still, with a price of 299.00 it's not a inexpensive purchase. I completed the order, and my CC was charged at once. At the time of order, the lead time was shown to be 2-3 days... sounded reasonable... Even better, they offered "super saver" shipping. I could handle the added 10 days wait for the savings.
After 14 days, and well past their "estimated" shipping date I still had received no confirmation of any shipment... I read page, upon page of FAQ, no real idea of the delay there, I sent an email for what passes for customer service. Their reply was a generic "read the faq" letter, obviously a pre-generated form letter, and answering none of my questions.
more clicking, and web run-around re-ask where it may be, and for a real VALID time estimate.
nothing helpful, just an instruction to change my order to 2-day shipping if I wanted it faster (come on, it's well over 3 weeks now). It would appear that if I wanted to ever see it this decade I needed to skip the "super saver" and pay my 40.00$ for shipping!
Another letter to "customer disservice" department, all of which take more than 24 hours to get a reply...
another day of wondering.
Another letter back, this one stating it would be nearly a month (25 days) more before they were "in stock" (why did they call it a "clearance"?) In the mean time, a local dept store has put that same model on sale for a mere 19.00 more than Amazon's "clearance". Even better, I get my choice of colours!
In short, an order that takes 5 days short of 2 months (1/6th of a year!!!) to deliver a mixer, when it was advertised at 2-3 days is nothing but a blatant lie to the customers.
The more I tried to get a reasonable answer, or any sort of help from customer service, the lower my expectations became... they soon hit bottom... then started to dig.
Amazon's customer service person offered to "upgrade" my order to "2 day" shipping once the item came in from the vendor... in a month (estimated... it could, and likely would, be longer. After all, their previous estimates had been little more than total lies)
It is quite obvious that Amazon is floating their inventory cost on the backs of the customers. "super saver" shipping means that your $ are paid instantly, but you are the last to get any product. Orders are not handled on a first come-first serve basis.
Order canceled, and 3 days later the credit hasn't been issued to my CC...
The mixer? Love it... even better, I kept my $ in my local economy, and have a retailer that will back it.
But that is another review.
No more amazon for me! what ever was I thinking trying to deal with them??????
What could they have done better? Easy, Send a simple email stating that they were out of stock before their estimated shipping time had elapsed. They could have not charged my CC until they had an item to ship! It's not the customer's job to float their inventory cost! Pay interest on $ for 2 months until they send it? Not for anyone with a half a wit about them! Just to add insult to injury they sent some "form letter" telling me to read the FAQ. I am not a complete moron, treating me as much, really shows complete contempt for me as a customer.
Recommended:
No
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Kitchenaid 6 qt professional mixer
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