Posted 9 October 2023

Amazon warehouse

I have bought a few things from amazon warehouse in the past and I choose "as new" condition and they all have been as new. However, I got a bike lock today, which was described as "as new with undamaged original box". This was not the case, the box was torn and worst still the blooming lock was faulty so you couldn't lock it without fiddling about for several minutes and pulling the key in a certain way

I initiated a return and it asked the reason, which I selected as "faulty" and described the fault. Amazon then sent me an email with QR code so I could return via post office, which I had chosen.

My question is, why would they want the lock back when it is faulty as it would cost them quite a bit of money to pay for return postage as the lock weighed 1.2kg and they can't really sell it on. And to be frank, it shouldn't have been sold in the first place as I have had to waste time going to the post office to return the lock, and wasted my time in the process.
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  1. harlzter's avatar
    I bought a car pedal lock via warehouse and it had completely the wrong keys, they should have been wafer type but instead got some standard euro cylinder keys.
    mutley1's avatar
    Author
    I have read some reviews that said they didn't even get the keys I thought it must be a rare mistake but I don't think they actually test stuff they sell on warehouse. Their blurb says they test before selling on

    "We thoroughly test the functional and physical condition of each item and give the product a specific grade before selling it." - This is obviously a lie

    amazon.co.uk/Ama…031
  2. kos1c's avatar
    It's your word as "faulty" they have to rely on.

    Also it's an automatic response to the refund process.
    mutley1's avatar
    Author
    Do you think they will actually test it when they get it back? I would hate them to just relist it and send it to another sucker
  3. Willy_Wonka's avatar
    Welcome to Amazon Warehouse.

    You pay your money you take your chance.

    (and just to state there are many happy buyers but there are just as many or more who are not)

    And it is not even that cheap most of the time.
  4. newbie68's avatar
    I'd say at times its stubbornness. They know many folk report such occurrences hoping to get told to keep the item for free. They are probably sick of it and intend on taking the hit and binning the item. I would do the same
    mutley1's avatar
    Author
    I understand that they can't trust me saying it is faulty without testing it but this one is clearly faulty so that was why it was returned, and they obviously didn't test it and just relisted it.
  5. CatsWithThumbs's avatar
    Swings and roundabouts I guess... sometimes you benefit from things not being checked and sometimes not. I was fortunate enough to benefit twice - I bought separately a digital piano and stand, both described as having significant damage/marks. Both however turned up absolutely pristine and I had saved something like 25% on each.
    mutley1's avatar
    Author
    i do wonder if when the warehouse pick the item, they don't actually pick the right one to match the description. there was two items on sale, one said "used as new, box is damaged" and one said "used as new, box undamaged". i chose the one with the undamaged box, but the item i got was the one with the damaged box, so i do wonder if they just pick anything on the shelf and don't actually pick the one described.

    i noticed that once you make the order, the description is not confirmed in the order, so you have no proof of the product description that you chose.
  6. uni's avatar
    someone could have returned it as "undamaged" and when it came back it just went back for sale, when the person returning had damaged it or it was damaged when they got it. they probably don't check, which is why they will take your return. so if it was damaged when someone returned as fine and the next person gets it, they will either keep or return it, and thats probably more efficient than them checking it. if the thing looked obviously broke then a different story, but if the looked look at a glance ok they probably wouldn't check it
    mutley1's avatar
    Author
    the lock looks unused despite the box looking very used. however, as soon as i put the key in, i could not turn it and struggled several minutes to eventually find a particular position for the key to be in, which is a very weird position as you have to effectively pull the key towards you while holding the D part and the padlock part together really tight yourself! before turning the key

    it was a miracle i actually manage to find such a position as it isn't an obvious position to hold the lock when you are locking it! and then that only worked some of the time and not all the time.

    yes, the other person may have returned without flagging up that it was faulty, but i can't imagine anyone can break the lock themselves and worry they wouldn't get a refund.
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