Amazon Scam / Business Purchase / iPhone

[vdn]

Bought a new iPhone from Amazon. Something I have done many times before... on this occasion they sent a refurbished phone instead of a new one which was bizarre in the first place. Of course I requested the return and used their label to return the phone. They say that they have received the package, but there is a different item inside the package, which is most certainly not the case. It seems someone on the Amazon returns team has taken the phone and is now pretending that I did not put the correct item inside the package.

A word of warning... avoid buying high value items from Amazon! I'm now without the phone and I'm £1.5k down. Amazon live chat / support didn't want to know. Next stop, bank.

[chrisch77]

iPhone theft ‘in transit’ seems to be a regular occurrence now unfortunately. I posted recently in another thread about the new phone delivered from Apple that turned out to be a resealed empty iPhone box. Suspicion there fell on the courier (DPD).

[vdn]

Did you get your money back?

I'm shocked at how little interest Amazon have in this, as I've shopped with Amazon (and bought numerous high end items including iPhones, in the past) for many many years. They can see I'm not a scammer from my purchase history and overall standing. It's shocking. They are saying that the package arrived but with something other than an iPhone inside.

[chrisch77]

vdn said:

Did you get your money

Yes, but not before a bit of a protracted fight with Apple!

[Chrisgr31]

Year or two ago I cracked a screen on my iphone. Was insured so insurance company arranged for DPD to collect it. It was never seen again. It was agreed it was collected by DPD, and apparently vanished.

Seems unlikely it would be the driver as they couldnt do it often!

[vdn]

Seems iPhones and any kind of post / returns / warehouses, don't mix!

[MitchT]

I want a new iPhone. My 8 is not supported anymore and the battery is down to 84% with a service warning. Amazon are £50 cheaper than the Apple Store for the one I want and it'll come tomorrow. Question is, do I risk it?

[Quattr04.]

MitchT said:

I want a new iPhone. My 8 is not supported anymore and the battery is down to 84% with a service warning. Amazon are £50 cheaper than the Apple Store for the one I want and it'll come tomorrow. Question is, do I risk it?

No.

It’s not worth it, there’s loads of other re sellers like music magpie or even Apple refurbished that won’t cause you a issue

Or just get it from John Lewis, you’ll get 2 years guarantee

[MitchT]

I want a brand new one.

[Quattr04.]

MitchT said:

I want a brand new one.

Buy it from John Lewis

£50 is insignificant when you’re spending £800 on a phone

[wyson]

MitchT said:

I want a new iPhone. My 8 is not supported anymore and the battery is down to 84% with a service warning. Amazon are £50 cheaper than the Apple Store for the one I want and it'll come tomorrow. Question is, do I risk it?

Apple also look more favourably on Apple Store purchases should there be problems and have known to go above and beyond. I would always buy directly from Apple. The differences in price vs buying externally isn’t worth it.

I would look at their certified refurbished if saving money was important.

[MitchT]

Quattr04. said:

Buy it from John Lewis

£50 is insignificant when you’re spending £800 on a phone

The one I want is the same price on JL as Amazon anyway, but how can you be sure that JL's delivery poeple won't pull the same stunt?

[mikef]

MitchT said:

Quattr04. said:

Buy it from John Lewis

£50 is insignificant when you’re spending £800 on a phone

The one I want is the same price on JL as Amazon anyway, but how can you be sure that JL's delivery poeple won't pull the same stunt?

Pick it up from your local Waitrose

[MitchT]

mikef said:

Pick it up from your local Waitrose

It'd be quicker to get to my nearest JL than my "local" Waitrose!

Anyway, I was just trying to gauge the risk of ordering from Amazon. I did get my MacBook Pro from there without any issues about 18 months ago. I wonder if they could mitigate these thefts by putting an iPhone into a box, the size of which is completely at odds with the contents, like they do with just about everything else you order form them.

[vdn]

Argos / Curry's et al are usually the same
Price and you can pick up in store. That what I'll be doing in future. Amazon have a real issue with scams / delivery people and on top of that, they are ignoring the issue.

[Chuffedmonkey]

I had similar with a phone purchase about 5 or 6 years ago. It was not an Apple product but the phone was reasonably priced and didn't cause any alarm bells. Anyway it was used with no mention in the advert and I had to jump through some small hoops at the time to get a refund.

As the OP mentions above, I wont buy any high cost electrical items from Amazon anymore and If it was a phone with only £50-100 difference id buy direct from the high street.

[vdn]

As it stands, I'm £1549 out of pocket. Amazon support have written to me to say that they will not call me and they will no longer respond to my emails regarding this matter. It's utterly, utterly, bizarre. I've been robbed, literally. Bank fraud team onto Amazon now. Could take weeks.

I've bought iPhones and other high value goods umpteen times before, from Amazon and never had to return them. I've never made a claim. They can see I'm an honest customer... even letting them know once that something HAD turned up when the driver had left it somewhere and I thought it hadn't been delivered. I let them know that I'd found it and that the refund they had issued me, I was happy to pay again as I now had the item. I believe they can see all of that... but it matters not a jot. Crazy.