Amazon.ca Transformers Sightings and discussion

[Mishap]

Why don't we just take our complaints to Hasbro? Tell them we would love to give them our money, but Amazon can't get their act together on exclusives. Meanwhile, there are two chains here (EB & TRU) that usually do a pretty good job getting Hasbro products to us. Note I said usually. They have issues too, but dealing with Amazon has been a bit much lately.

[RNSrobot]

Originally Posted by Mumps

So.. After going through the same hell that all of you went through, having Amazon customer service resend the item... My first one got unlost and arrived at my door. My second, free one, arrived as well. So, I'm gonna find a local person who got screwed to sell it to. (I'll post here if I can't find local through other means please don't PM me)

My first box arrived with just a shipping label on it. My second one arrived in a box! So, the one I sell doesn't have to have my name and address stickered onto the box.. XD

I legit hope all of you get as lucky as I did.

I know for sure two guys in Edmonton who had their "delivery was refused" crap happen to theirs.

This whole thread is depressing.

[The Nemesis]

It's weird that some people are getting their conehead orders cancelled and others aren't. Mine still lists as an active order. I have received no communication from Amazon about it other than a "we're still trying to get it for you" e-mail and on my orders page it makes no indications that I won't be getting it if/when it shows up in stock.

Originally Posted by Goaliebot

I can't imagine these Halton Hills shenanigans could possibly be limited to this one product, or even just to TFs and toys. In which case Halton Hills metrics should be setting off all sorts of alarms at amazon corporate.

The order that they lost of mine wasn't just a Transformer. It had a book in the box too. So at the very least it's not that orders only consisting of Transformers products are vanishing/getting returned/whatever. Though the lost box was part of an order of 3 things and the 3rd item (another book) shipped separately and did make it to my door... with the box crushed and beat up beyond belief even though the book inside was OK

I would wager that it is a wider issue than just our stuff and it's simply that since this is a TF forum of course the orders we're going to talk about and care about here are Transformers related.

As a quasi-test case I have 2 more Amazon orders that are supposed to be dispatched for delivery this week. One is a pair of non-TF items and one is an ER Arcee and a non-TF item. We'll see how it goes with them.




EDIT: Both packages I'm expecting shipped out today and are scheduled for Thursday delivery. Both are being delivered by Amazon themselves and not Intelcom. So this'll be interesting to see the results from.

[Sun Swipe Prime]

Originally Posted by Mishap

Why don't we just take our complaints to Hasbro? Tell them we would love to give them our money, but Amazon can't get their act together on exclusives. Meanwhile, there are two chains here (EB & TRU) that usually do a pretty good job getting Hasbro products to us. Note I said usually. They have issues too, but dealing with Amazon has been a bit much lately.

Maybe I'm just jaded, but imagine the conversation would go something like this.

Hasbro: Hello, your satisfaction is important to us. Please state the nature of your problem.

Consumer: Amazon is having distribution problems with your exclusive products, and it's pissing off a lot of customers. Packages are being lost, stolen, and delayed for extended periods.

Hasbro: I'm sorry. I can't hear you over the laughter and through this wall of money. Could you repeat?

Consumer: Amazon is having distribution problems with your exclusive products, and it's pissing off a lot of customers. Packages are being lost, stolen, and delayed for extended periods.

Hasbro: If you're unsatisfied with your product, please send it back to us for a replacement of a similarly valued product. We still have all these shelfwarmers we need to get rid of.

Consumer: I don't want another product. I just want-

Hasbro: Those are your options. If you'll excuse me I have to put more things on Hasbro Pulse and start a kickstarter. Thank you for your feedback. Your satisfaction is important to us. *click*

[Super_Megatron]

The only Amazon order I have ever had go missing was my Star Wars Black Series Han Solo in carbonite.

[Goaliebot]

Originally Posted by Mishap

Why don't we just take our complaints to Hasbro? Tell them we would love to give them our money, but Amazon can't get their act together on exclusives. Meanwhile, there are two chains here (EB & TRU) that usually do a pretty good job getting Hasbro products to us. Note I said usually. They have issues too, but dealing with Amazon has been a bit much lately.

All companies of medium to large size have layers upon layers of non-decision makers buffering the decision makers from the customers. And there is almost never any functioning mechanism in place to get even a roll-up summary of customer issues to the decision makers.

You will only ever reach non-decision makers when you contact a company.

This is why some here who talk to Amazon gets vague excuses, runaround, or just placated (“we’ll send another, here’s a coupon”). Because not only can you never speak to anyone who can make decisions that influence anything (for example, decide to launch an investigation into a facility’s excess damaged package returns), but those you can reach are not given a way to pass even aggregate customer feedback up the chain to the actual decision makers.

Same for Hasbro, or WalMart, or Ford, or Apple... only a handful of companies have small mechanisms to allow one to reach a team that can influence change in the company. The rest have perfected the giant stone walls between them and ever hearing what customers think or hate about the company.

Also, the customer for a company is often not the actual customers. Hasbro’s customers are the retailers. Amazon’s customers are the data and statistics their system captures. Ford’s customers are the dealerships. Samsung’s customers are the cell phone carrier companies.

You could think of it as: to amazon we are simple transactions: item received or payment refunded. That’s it. Those are the only 2 outcomes. When you call in, the people you speak to can only really work toward one of those states, and maybe offer a coupon. Then they close your call ticket and the only thing management may look at pertaining to your call is a set of statistics: call wait time, call completion time, coupons issued, refunds issued.

This is not to say not to call, because getting the item delivered or refunded and maybe a coupon for the hassle is worth it. But unless you end up sitting on a plane next to an Amazon or Hasbro executive and tell them your bad experience, you simply can almost never get your feedback to anyone who has the authority to do anything serious about it.

With this Halton Hills thing, my hope is that the stats end up rolled up to someone with authority. That’s how this will get fixed eventually.

[miasboytoy]

So I sadly got the same notification as most of us did. Your package is damaged and will be returned to sender! My order came from Kent Washington. This was for the medic 2pack.

I asked if I could intercept the package before it will be returned. I said I will gladly drive to the facility and make a determination myself if the package is damaged or not. I said I also wanted to verify if they actually sent me the toy or an empty box or a different product inside that's easily damaged! They declined my offer. They are probably destroying their evidence as we speak by shredding it like the cbc report showed!

The agent I spoke with even said there's something fishy going on! I gave her the cybertron.Ca website with the amazon thread!

I got transfered 2 times! One agent suggested something helpful, that I obtain every order number of everyone who had their order mysteriously damaged and returned to sender! I think this may actually be a valid feedback. I also brought up Halton! Anyone who wishes to pm me only their order #, will have it forwarded to the feedback form I will be sent from Amazon. Ca. I will give this a week or two to see how many order #s I will receive.
********I have Recieved a few order numbers already. Those who wish to add to my list, please feel free to do so.*******

In the end after 1.5hrs on the phone. I got a $5 credit and an assurance they will send me one if they come back into stock. Which we all know will mysterious be damaged yet again! I hate Amazon and the shady practices.

[Ransak The Elder]

Amazon workers go on strike because of terrible working conditions.

Amazon workers are severely underpaid and overworked.

Amazon in trouble for predatory behavior and facing anti-trust lawsuits.

The list can go on and on but the point is no one really cared when all these things were going on. Now that we not getting transformers you seem to think this company is suddenly going to care? It doesnt even care about its own employees.

[Outtsyder]

Originally Posted by Ransak The Elder

The list can go on and on but the point is no one really cared when all these things were going on. Now that we not getting transformers you seem to think this company is suddenly going to care? It doesnt even care about its own employees.

I can't speak for anyone else, but when I looked up my own orders listed on my Amazon account, I had only placed four orders with them this year, and three of them were for Amazon-exclusive items since they weren't readily available anywhere else (Ironhide & Prowl, Conehead Seekers, Autobot Medics). The fourth order was for the TF Manga Vol. 3 book, and that was only to use up some gift card value I got back after cancelling my Ironhide & Prowl set - I had to buy the gift card value because Amazon was no longer accepting my virtual debit card as a payment method, even though my contact info all checked out. I shortly cancelled my order on the book and went with Chapters instead; they actually delivered. As far as buying TFs along with the usual essentials were concerned, pretty much everything I picked up was all from physical stores in the area (A3U, TRU, Walmart, Chapters, etc.), while still avoiding contact with people as much as I could. (I swear, do people not know how to follow the direction of a damn simple arrow taped to the floor in front of them?!)
Looking at past years, turns out I hadn't ordered that much either, and it was just for stuff I couldn't find anywhere local (e.g. out-of-print DVDs, a limited-edition book, etc.). Guess I used Amazon as an end-of-line resort (if not last resort) without realizing it.

But yeah, Jeff Bezos can suck it until it blows up. And I mean a grenade.

[kirbenvost]

Originally Posted by Goaliebot

You could think of it as: to amazon we are simple transactions: item received or payment refunded. That’s it. Those are the only 2 outcomes. When you call in, the people you speak to can only really work toward one of those states, and maybe offer a coupon. Then they close your call ticket and the only thing management may look at pertaining to your call is a set of statistics: call wait time, call completion time, coupons issued, refunds issued.

Exactly. They don't care about customers or employees at all, only making numbers look good, which translates into profits for shareholders, government kickbacks and maybe management bonuses. The only thing that may change this situation is if there's enough public outcry about the way they treat their employees that the government forces them to treat them better.