Amazon: Customer Service Purgatory

Well, while I was still busy struggling with the Iomega Customer Service morons, I turned my attention to approaching Amazon. Since Amazon sold me the hard drive and Jordan from Iomega kept telling me I needed to contact the reseller, I figured it was worth a shot.

Here’s what I wrote to them on 6 November:

Hi, a year and a half ago I ordered an Iomega hard drive from Amazon. The power supply has now stopped working. Apparently this happens rather often with the particular model in question. Iomega told me that I need to contact you to have it replaced.

The drive’s serial number is xxxxxxxxxx (it’s still under warranty). The power supply’s model number is ACU057A-0512.

Please put me in touch with the appropriate department to have the power supply replaced.

Presently I heard from a fellow named Yasreeb (at least I can assume that’s his real name!):

Hello,

I’m sorry to hear your ” Iomega UltraMax Hard Drive, FireWire 800/FireWire 400/USB 2.0, 1TB (2HD x 500GB) – 33720 ” didn’t work out. Because more than 30 days have passed since you received this item, we can no longer accept a return. Our return policy states that within 30 days of delivery of your order, you may return any merchandise in new condition, with the original packaging and accessories, or any defective merchandise, for a full refund.

I’d recommend consulting your owner’s manual and contacting the manufacturer(Iomega) to see if the problem in question is covered by the manufacturer’s warranty.

Most manufacturers list contact information on the product packaging. If you can’t find the information there, you might want to try doing a web search to find their phone number or website.

If you’ve contacted the manufacturer and they can’t help, please send us a summary of that correspondence and we’ll work on another solution.

Please visit the following link to provide the information we requested:

http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-mi?c=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

We hope to see you again soon.

Please let us know if this e-mail resolved your question:

If yes, click here:

http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-y?c=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

If not, click here:
http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-n?c= xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Please note: this e-mail was sent from an address that cannot accept incoming e-mail.

To contact us about an unrelated issue, please visit the Help section of our web site.

Best regards,

Yasreeb M
Amazon.com
We’re Building Earth’s Most Customer-Centric Company

http://www.amazon.com/your-account

That was a pretty dumb answer, but I was excited that Yasreeb had answered me so promptly, so I shot back with:

Hi, I did contact the manufacturer and they can’t help. Here is what they told me in the most recent communication: “I advise you to return to the reseller for further assistance on this matter.”

Then I heard from Andre. He completely misunderstood what we were discussing:

Hello,

I’ve reviewed our previous correspondence about your “Iomega UltraMax Hard Drive”. I understand you’re concerned about having it replaced.

Because more than 30 days have passed since you received the Hard Drive, we can’t replace it. Our return policy states that within 30 days of delivery of your order, you may return any merchandise in new condition, with the original packaging and accessories, or any defective merchandise, for a full refund.

I’m sorry that the manufacturer couldn’t assist with replacing it for you.

If you’re interested in returning the “Iomega UltraMax Hard Drive” for a partial refund, visit our Online Returns Center for more information:

http://www.amazon.com/returns

We hope to see you again soon.

Please let us know if this e-mail resolved your question:

If yes, click here:

http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-y?c=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

If not, click here:

http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-n?c=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Please note: this e-mail was sent from an address that cannot accept incoming e-mail.

To contact us about an unrelated issue, please visit the Help section of our web site.

Best regards,

Andre S
Amazon.com
We’re Building Earth’s Most Customer-Centric Company

http://www.amazon.com/your-account

After Andre failed to do his job, I got kind of annoyed and wrote this email to Amazon:

I am extremely unsatisfied with the customer service I’ve received from Amazon. In particular, “Andre S” has sent me one of the more useless and boneheaded answers I’ve ever seen a customer support representative send (and since I worked two years myself in online customer support for internet companies, I’ve seen countless stupid replies). He completely failed to address the issue and foolishly thought I wanted to replace my hard drive. I want to replace the hard drive’s POWER SUPPLY, which is defective.

Please transfer this message to a supervisor / manager / someone authorized to make decisions instead of copying and pasting a template response.

A year and a half ago I ordered an Iomega hard drive from Amazon. It is still under warranty. The power supply for it has broken. The model number, ACU057A, is notorious for breaking and needing to be replaced. Go figure, mine has now broken and needs to be replaced.

I have communicated with Iomega endlessly and they insist that it’s Amazon’s responsibility, as the reseller, to replace the power supply.

I don’t give a damn that Amazon’s policy is to accept returns of merchandise only in new condition and within 30 days. Even if my power supply had broken within 30 days, it would not have been in new condition, and therefore you seem to be telling me that you wouldn’t replace a broken power supply UNDER ANY CONDITIONS. Obviously, such a policy seems designed for books, but not for electronics – which, due to faulty manufacture, occasionally break while still under warranty and need to be replaced.

Please confirm that Amazon will replace the defective power supply!

Next I heard from Luke:

Thank you for writing back to us at Amazon.com.

We regret that we have not been able to address your concerns to your satisfaction, or take further action regarding your Apr 2009 order for the Iomega Hard Drive.

However, as my colleagues have stated, the return policy posted on our website states that within 30 days of receipt of your order, you may return any merchandise in new condition, with the original packaging and accessories, for a full refund or replacement.

Unfortunately, as it has been more than 30 days since you received this item, we are not able to accept its return.

I realize that this may be disappointing to hear, but we stand firm in our returns policy.

If an item is found to be defective after the 30-day time frame, we do suggest contacting the manufacturer about the problem, as that is
the reason they provide warranties for their products.

http://www.iomega.com/

Product Information (North America): 1-888-516-8467 M-F 9am – 10pm EST
Rebates and Promotions (North America): 1-800-792-9107
Tech Support (North America): https://iomega-na-en.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/iomega_na_en.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.p…

I apologize for any frustration and disappointment this policy may cause. However, I hope you can understand our position on this matter. We do post our company policies online for our customers’ reference.

It is our absolute commitment to provide you the best possible customer service. Should you need any further assistance with this order, please click the link below to tell us when and where to get in touch with you, and a dedicated customer service representative will contact you by phone to provide resolution.

http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-n?c=fvrahadh3223858230&q=sn

Best regards,

Luke B.
Amazon.com
We’re Building Earth’s Most Customer-Centric Company

http://www.amazon.com/your-account

I still haven’t come up with a satisfactory reply for Luke. Any suggestions?