Taffycat
Crunchy Cat
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2006
- Messages
- 12,853
- Reaction score
- 1,071
Give me strength!! This afternoon I spent ages speaking on the phone with Amazon UK's customer services department, getting nowhere fast.
To be fair, Amazon have a really good CS reputation and they are always very helpful, but the staff I've spoken with recently, have all been extremely heavily accented and one or two are clearly struggling with English. This leads to some awful misunderstandings.
Today, I had to repeat the words "wing nuts" over and over again, to a guy who didn't appear to have a clue what I was talking about.......... Actually, there were a set missing from an item we'd ordered, which wouldn't have been so bad, if the brackets they were supposed to attach to, hadn't also been missing from the package!
The fellow kept on and on about whether I was "sure those parts should have been included in the box?" Yes, very sure. "But it doesn't mention these parts on the web page" No, it doesn't, but they are an integral part of the product. Without them, the product is unsafe and not able to be fixed - it also mentions the parts in the leaflet in the box; the one which tells you how to put the thing together.
It began to remind me of the "Fork 'andles" "Four candles" sketch by the Two Ronnies.... I began to wonder why I'd ever started the conversation.... when, for the umpteenth time, he said "...Um...If you could just repeat the last part of what you said a moment ago...." Doh! But then I remembered the cost, and the fact that we now had a large, unusable item sitting on the kitchen table, sans brackets, wing nuts and usefulness!
It should have been soooo simple. I ordered a bath board - it's a simple, heavy-duty, plastic, slatted device, which should sit securely over the bath, (using aforementioned nuts and brackets) providing hubby with a safe, sit-down option when he showers/bathes. (He has no feeling in one of his legs/feet, so this affects his balance a bit.)
After quite some time, I was told that I could return the board and get a refund... because to get a new board would mean a wait of up to 2 months! Yikes, we need the board right now! So I was told I could print out a return label and all would be well.
No, I couldn't print a return label, because each time I clicked on the button which should have taken me to another, label-making screen... I would be told that no return had been authorised. Aaaarrrghhh.......! I couldn't face yet another round of explanations and misunderstandings, so this time, hubby tried. This time, a woman answered.... but still, there was the accent problem. I felt awful for wimping-out, particularly when hubby had to keep asking her if she could speak a little more slowly.
He ended-up in a call as long as mine had been. But this time, instead of being told to print a label, he was told that the item couldn't be returned, because it was classed as "personal" and therefore not eligible. We had only "owned" it for about 2 hours - it was still unused, in it's polythene wrapping, only the outer box had been opened. We didn't have to unwrap the whole thing to see that parts were missing. But no. We could have a refund, but should keep the (useless) board... "Or," she added helpfully, "You could give it away to someone...!" No, we can't, it's not a complete item.... didn't matter. We must keep it.
Okay, so Amazon has been more than fair, in that they say the cost will be refunded to our account... but, really, it was the darned board we needed. I had so hoped they might be able to arrange to send on the missing bits, or maybe swap the board for one which had no bits missing.
And I wouldn't have minded so much, but this is the second one which has caused problems. The first, ordered before Christmas, was never delivered and I suspect the company didn't even bother to post it! I mentioned that little fiasco in another thread. What is it about bath boards, that seems to cause such big problems, for goodness sake!!!
Sorry, this is probably extremely boring to most, but I so needed to have a rant about it.
To be fair, Amazon have a really good CS reputation and they are always very helpful, but the staff I've spoken with recently, have all been extremely heavily accented and one or two are clearly struggling with English. This leads to some awful misunderstandings.
Today, I had to repeat the words "wing nuts" over and over again, to a guy who didn't appear to have a clue what I was talking about.......... Actually, there were a set missing from an item we'd ordered, which wouldn't have been so bad, if the brackets they were supposed to attach to, hadn't also been missing from the package!
The fellow kept on and on about whether I was "sure those parts should have been included in the box?" Yes, very sure. "But it doesn't mention these parts on the web page" No, it doesn't, but they are an integral part of the product. Without them, the product is unsafe and not able to be fixed - it also mentions the parts in the leaflet in the box; the one which tells you how to put the thing together.
It began to remind me of the "Fork 'andles" "Four candles" sketch by the Two Ronnies.... I began to wonder why I'd ever started the conversation.... when, for the umpteenth time, he said "...Um...If you could just repeat the last part of what you said a moment ago...." Doh! But then I remembered the cost, and the fact that we now had a large, unusable item sitting on the kitchen table, sans brackets, wing nuts and usefulness!
It should have been soooo simple. I ordered a bath board - it's a simple, heavy-duty, plastic, slatted device, which should sit securely over the bath, (using aforementioned nuts and brackets) providing hubby with a safe, sit-down option when he showers/bathes. (He has no feeling in one of his legs/feet, so this affects his balance a bit.)
After quite some time, I was told that I could return the board and get a refund... because to get a new board would mean a wait of up to 2 months! Yikes, we need the board right now! So I was told I could print out a return label and all would be well.
No, I couldn't print a return label, because each time I clicked on the button which should have taken me to another, label-making screen... I would be told that no return had been authorised. Aaaarrrghhh.......! I couldn't face yet another round of explanations and misunderstandings, so this time, hubby tried. This time, a woman answered.... but still, there was the accent problem. I felt awful for wimping-out, particularly when hubby had to keep asking her if she could speak a little more slowly.
He ended-up in a call as long as mine had been. But this time, instead of being told to print a label, he was told that the item couldn't be returned, because it was classed as "personal" and therefore not eligible. We had only "owned" it for about 2 hours - it was still unused, in it's polythene wrapping, only the outer box had been opened. We didn't have to unwrap the whole thing to see that parts were missing. But no. We could have a refund, but should keep the (useless) board... "Or," she added helpfully, "You could give it away to someone...!" No, we can't, it's not a complete item.... didn't matter. We must keep it.
Okay, so Amazon has been more than fair, in that they say the cost will be refunded to our account... but, really, it was the darned board we needed. I had so hoped they might be able to arrange to send on the missing bits, or maybe swap the board for one which had no bits missing.
And I wouldn't have minded so much, but this is the second one which has caused problems. The first, ordered before Christmas, was never delivered and I suspect the company didn't even bother to post it! I mentioned that little fiasco in another thread. What is it about bath boards, that seems to cause such big problems, for goodness sake!!!
Sorry, this is probably extremely boring to most, but I so needed to have a rant about it.
I think before ordering another, (bearing in mind the holiday weekend will delay things anyway,) it might be an idea to try contacting the manufacturer. 
)
