I bought a pair of Knipex Lineman’s pliers from Amazon, and thought I got a great deal on them. Boy was I wrong.
Not only did they send me used pliers, the tool was severely damaged.
Here’s a closeup of the Knipex pliers jaws, with well-worn jaws and catastrophic damage. There’s a hole going through the wire cutting blade!
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I’m pretty sure what happened. An electrician or DIYer somewhere put these pliers through a lot of use, and then they cut through a live wire by mistake. Rather than taking ownership of their screwup, they ordered new pliers and sent these back in the box.
That’s pretty low of that user.
But then how did these used and broken Knipex pliers end up getting sent to me?!
I’m guessing Amazon accepted the return, and instead of inspecting the tool, they just reshelved it. My order came in, someone grabbed the first box on the shelf, and sent this one to fulfill my order.
Thanks a lot.
If you’re wondering why I bought this particular plier, there’s a short story there.
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I was looking through the list of tools that readers ordered after Prime Day, and someone ordered one of these Knipex Lineman’s pliers. I took a look, and they’re $17.62 via Amazon business.
I’m a fan of Knipex, and the price seemed too good to pass up.
I usually order personal and business-use items from my personal Amazon account, only changing between personal and business credit cards depending on the usage intent.
I have found that 99.9% of the time, the “business price,” as shown in my Amazon business account, is the same or higher than for my personal account, so I don’t really use that account. This is especially true for Prime Day.
For whatever reasons, the “business price” on these pliers is 73% lower. If I were to buy these pliers from my personal Amazon account, the price would be $64.40. If I were to buy these pliers from my business Amazon account, which I did, the price is $17.62.
This is what I’m seeing right now, browsing the product page via my personal account in one browser, and business account in another. Same tool, $47 discount.
I didn’t need another pair of Lineman’s pliers, especially not with a crimper and tape puller, but for under $20 I’d definitely find a user for it.
It wasn’t much of a deal, given this is what they sent me.
I had to take a trip to UPS, wasting some time, and locking up $20 until they process my refund, all because someone decided to defraud Amazon, and Amazon put the broken used Knipex pliers right back on the shelf.
This hasn’t been my week. I also received a tube of modeling putty that I found to be open, used, and partially cured.
I reordered the pliers and then promptly cancelled it. The world is trying to tell me something, and I decided to listen.
John H
Staples now accepts Amazon returns.
Stuart
UPS is closer.
I’d also sooner go to Kohl’s, as they have in the past given me a return receipt with a $5 coupon I could use on Hot Wheels or a small Lego set for my kids.
It doesn’t change the fact that this is a hassle that’s no fault of my own.
fred
My closest return point is Whole Foods. On recent returns they did not offer the UPS Store or Kohls as alternatives. The idea of returning to Whole Foods is good marketing – since they expect you might buy some overpriced groceries during your visit
Jim Felt
The Whole Paycheck i frequent for returns has great drop off parking and pretty good sushi to go. Nice staff too.
Armel Peel
The pliers were $70, you got them for $20 slightly used. I would hardly call that catastrophic damage as they still work fine. Cosmetic damage at most.
You want new shiny pretty pliers pay the $70 for new pliers. I don’t see the story here. That’s why they were less than half the price. You get what you pay for.
Stuart
Regardless of the price, new pliers are supposed to be new. This wasn’t a warehouse purchase or similar.
That’s not cosmetic damage.
Armel Peel
Dude the price very much matters. Why would someone buy pliers for $70 and sell them to you for $20. Why would someone literally pay you $50 and give you a pair of pliers?
Couple reasons. Either some type of sale, closeout, or some cosmetic damage. Cosmetic damage means they still work. Which is the case here.
The home depot near my house has a tool rental service. If you can’t afford or don’t want to pay for new tools, you can buy the used rented tools at a discount. Great service actually. And this is how and why you got tools for less than half price.
Those are stainless steel. Grind and sand the damage, polish it over, they will look better than new.
Stuart
Maybe it’s still unclear to you, but these are being sold as NEW directly by Amazon.
Just because Amazon has a deep discount for business account holders, that doesn’t mean it’s okay to send used and highly damaged pliers as new.
I can’t tell if you’re just trolling. When someone buys something as new, it should be new, and not used and damaged. The price is irrelevant.
CMF
$20 slightly used? Not sure we use the same dictionary. There is a hole blown through the cutter, and part of the jaws got close to a grinding wheel.
I have not 1 but many pliers that are 10 to 40 years old and look much better.
These pliers are anything but slightly used.
D3t
Cosmetic damage? Tell us you’ve never used wirecutters before without telling us you’ve never used wirecutters before.
Lyle
There’s always somebody that will defend the most absurd position. It was an item that he bought new from Amazon. He should get a new item, not some old damaged item. If it was listed as used then it would be a completely different story.
Wayne L Thomas
You cant cut stranded or Romex making them useless for Electricians.
John E
“It doesn’t change the fact that this is a hassle that’s no fault of my own.”
Have to disagree with you more than a little there Stuart. Amazon is now the 800 billion pound gorilla in the room and they no longer do or have to care what we or anyone else thinks of them. Your “inconvenience” is ultimately their gain and these type of screw-ups are baked in to their business model. You’ve been running “Prime Days” fluff pieces for weeks and weeks lately. Quit feeding the beast.
criketzchirping
Chill bro think it through. This should not be the fault of Amazon directly but of the specific seller. True Amazon should be aware of and delete a scam seller but they will with time when enough of this keeps happening. However I think that blaming Amazon directly is a little unfair. This “inconvenience” can in no way be Amazon’s gain. The best thing that can happen is for them to lose a customer which is not a good thing in this case. Oh and btw prime day articles from Stuart are not fluff at least not to me because I come here first because Stuart does half my sorting.
Matthew
I returned something for my wife through Amazon at staples and they gave me a 15% off coupon. They barely carry anything in store so I didn’t end up using it lol
Farkleberry
I ordered a set of xl box end ratchet wrenches in May. They delivered short non ratcheting wrenches. I set up a return and replacement and they resent the wrong item. They then only offered a refund. They refunded the entire purchase price and had UPS pick up both at the house.
The set went on sale for prime day and again I ordered, again same exact wrong item. When I went to the return option (that was always hidden, had to click for more options) for a UPS pickup, they wanted to charge me $8 for their mistake.
I’ve never been charged for a UPS pickup for a seller error, nor expected to return an item to a different physical location.
After a half hour on the phone with India who told me to call back in a couple days and a couple hours with 3 different people on chat customer service they (allegedly) refunded me, told me to keep the item and credited my prime membership for a couple months.
I asked if their policy had changed regarding free pickups for Amazon errors vs a one time glitch, and I got several non answers and an evasive answer about making a note to correct this.
It sounds like many people are accepting Amazon’s request to drive defective or wrong items to their return centers. I don’t understand how this fits in with E-commerce. Sure, if it’s my error or I change my mind, etc. I’m sure many people abuse the system for the above reasons, and I understand Amazon is rightfully charging them or cancelling memberships.
I’m not sure expecting to me to pay return shipping for their error is even legal, even if it’s in their contract.
I spent a few hours (though not requiring full attention) for some chump change, but with the increasing frequency of Amazon’s errors, this is not a situation I will accept.
My next step was a charge back from the CC company.
Individual boycotts have to gain mass to force a change, and having a giant bank behind you is probably more effective.
Hopefully I don’t have to find out how Amazon’s CC company values my business over their’s, but I may have some decisions not make, as errors are inevitable and seem to be increasing.
JR Ramos
I don’t recall a time where Amazon ever offered free pick-up at home for returns – I do remember when that was never even an option, though. I’ve always wondered why they can’t set themselves up for their own drivers to pick up returns but maybe the machine is too big and complex now.
It’s a hassle but in my area I always have like five options to drop off returns for free, usually with the “no box no label” easy peasy option, but some do require you to package it back up and affix the label/code they email you. That’s a surprising story about telephoning them and being asked to call back in a couple days! Geez. Sounds like a rogue call center (which really wouldn’t surprise me). I think I only had two issues where I had to press them a little via chat (food items where they initially try to deny any returns or refunds….congress probably needs to intervene on that at some point), but they did relent after a bit.
It’s not been a huge issue for me but once I was aware that Prime no longer was a guarantee of “free shipping/free returns” on every item even if sold by Amazon as seller, I always look for that on the product page header now as a matter of habit.
Farkleberry
Good point about checking for free returns, but that shouldn’t matter if they send the wrong/defective item.
This is just mind blowing to me that others have been returning erroneous items at their own expense.
Yes Amazon has convenient return options for many in urban areas. There are many situations where Amazon (or any e-commerce store) should expect customers to return to a store, etc. or pay return shipping.
For example, when items bought sight unseen won’t work. Customers often have to try things out, or change their minds, or give/receive unwanted gifts… all common and understandable situation for many small ticket or non hygienic products in any retail channel.
Taken to it’s logical extension… would you expect to pay return shipping for the wrong pre-paid pizza order? How about the wrong car delivered during the pandemic? How about the wrong lumber, concrete, shingle, etc. order if you’re a contractor? How about if Boeing delivers the wrong airplane?
Perhaps Amazon has a legal department in contact with each state’s attorney general or each customer’s credit card company determining how many customer rights they can erode?
Farkleberry
How about if Wal-Mart delivers an ice cream cake instead of the box of cereal you ordered? Are you expected to pop it in your trunk in the morning and drop it by the store on your evening commute?
How about if they deliver some really smelly, rotten fish? I’m responsible for returns?
If push comes to shove, I think informing the CC company that you were sold a defective or falsely advertised product is the appropriate response if retailer refuses to pick up their delivered product with full refund.
JR Ramos
Well, ultimately in the contract that is buyer-seller for industries that aren’t otherwise regulated by state or federal statutes (like cars), there isn’t much spelled out for consumer protection and seller policies. Upon agreement to purchase you are more or less bound by their policies. You’ve covered a wide gamut there with examples – and together it’s kind of a good representation of what Amazon is now – so I’m not sure what to say. It’s compounded by their frequent changes and pretty common “gestures” in favor of the customer once hoops are jumped through.
I’m in a very large urban metro area, and I’ve had Prime for many years now, so I really am not familiar with how things are handled in those aspects. In the world outside Amazon, shipping and returns has become much more costly than it used to be, so I’m pretty careful about making purchases where it might be a losing scenario. But, yeah, if I were shipping defective or totally wrong product, then I would expect the seller to make that right and I should not be at a loss (“made whole” in the legal world, but in these small peanut situations that’s not something to necessarily demand or pursue if policies are clear). If a business won’t do that then they won’t see me again and I’ll likely mention it to others when the opportunity comes up. A couple years ago a major tool website took care of me after a couple mistakes and we were in the neighborhood of $800 purchase with nearly $100 out of pocket trying to fix it…giant hassle and created a small problem for me outside of the deal, but eventually they really went over the top to correct the whole thing, which was nice. But ultimately I knew up front that I would probably be out a chunk of change if I needed to return this item – didn’t expect the circus that happened, though.
Restocking fees are another thing I watch out for. God that’s so archaic and I do understand somewhat because a company I worked at for years held on tightly to that right (tool biz, lots of dishonest customers in the world…), but it’s one of the worst ways to try to deal with inventory or costs of returns. These days it’s usually just the really small outfits that still do it, but I’m surprised at times where I see it pop up in policies. With any luck, sometimes they’ll waive it.
Not sure that helps, but read/ask before agreeing to purchase, and if there’s a problem then accept what those terms were and go from there, and if they extend some policy-bending happy gestures then hey, great, that’s always nice whether it’s expected or not. Save those bank/card/BBB complaints and actions for when you might really need them.
Farkleberry
I’m no lawyer, but I’m assuming the contract means that they offer a specific item, in a specific condition for sale. I accept and give them consideration (money), and seller has the capacity to fulfill the contract. If they send a different item, or one in a different condition, they have breached the contract. Rather than taking them to court, I just call the CC, functioning as intermediary or escrow agent), who may ask for evidence (receipts, photos, etc.) and refunds me.
A contract that allows them to not fulfill with “specific performance”, (i.e. send something other than what is advertised) is illegal and not a valid contract.
Any lawyers care to enlighten me?
Farkleberry
Me paying or driving across town to correct an unambiguous seller’s mistake is not happening.
Farkleberry
* for something I paid delivery for and don’t need right away
Eric
I ordered a 13gal kitchen trash can that came damaged. They quickly sent a new one but wanted me to bring it to a UPS store to send back. That’s 25 minutes away, no thanks. After a long time of arguing with their support reps, they agreed to send UPS to pick it up. UPS didn’t show up 3 days in a row, each time needing to contact support and have them re-do the return to reschedule a pickup. After that, Amazon did nothing but tell me to call UPS. Apparently Amazon never informed UPS of my address, even though a shipping label and tracking number was created. Finally their reps let me “keep” the broken trash can.
Stuart
@Eric,
Similar happened to me a few years ago. I bought 4-foot LED lights, and they arrived in their plain retail boxes. If I remember correctly, some were defective and I wanted to send them all back.
Problem: UPS wouldn’t accept them without brown box packaging, and I didn’t have a 4-foot plus long box and didn’t feel I should have to buy one.
Eventually they set up UPS pickup, or processed it as a returnless refund, I don’t recall which, but it took some back and forth to resolve.
I have also had issues with returnless refunds.
Amazon has also changed their return policy for certain items, holding onto the money for 14-30 days after receipt.
Jason M
Was this shipped and sold by Amazon? I’m an Amazon seller and aside from the ever increasing fees, fraud is the toughest part.
To make it worse, say I bought a bunch of these pliers on a closeout sale (wasn’t me) and offered them on Amazon. If they sold and were returned like this, then re-sold, even if it’s all Amazon’s fault – I as the seller could have my account suspended for selling inauthentic goods. Really wish there was a better system for punishing these buyers
Stuart
Amazon Business: “Sold by Amazon and Fulfilled by Amazon.”
Amazon Personal: “Ships from Amazon.com, Sold by Amazon.com.”
Jason M
That’s really frustrating. Assuming whoever did it added some tape to make the box look sealed?
Feels like they should start inspecting everything that gets returned.
Bonnie
They supposedly do inspect everything, but usual Amazon they overwork the people who are supposed to be doing it with impossible quotas so things get rubber stamped because actually taking the time to check items would get the checkers fired for being slow.
Tons of stories everywhere about bricks, used diapers, etc. Almost worse, due to shared binning it might not even come from the stock of the company selling it, so counterfeits and shitty used versions all get mixed together.
Matt
The shared binning has meant a lot less buying of common counterfeit items from Amazon by us. Don’t trust their stock at all
Lev
Just yell at customer service, you’ll get your money back for sure.
Stuart
I try my best to be as polite as possible. There’s no reason to yell at customer service, especially when something’s not their direct fault.
Mike
There are plenty stories on reddit of people getting returned goods. There was even one where a guy got the same used item shipped to him 3 times. My advice is to get the replacement before you return this one. Amazon absolutely doesn’t check returns or really cares, they know it won’t really affect their bottom line.
Sam dC
For me this has become quite common for Amazon in the last two years. Order an Olight, box has been opened and is missing the charge cable. Ordered Knipex pliers wrench, the mini cobra pliers are in the box. Order R134a gauges, get a refrigerant scale. Order blue sock, get grey ones. Order shoe laces, they’re torn. I returned a gift a month ago and I still haven’t received the credit to my account despite calling customer service twice. Fraud seems to get alot of blame, but Amazon doesn’t appear to be concerned with getting their basic business right. Maybe having so many options to return is the symptom of that.
Scott K
Their QA seems non-existent. I believe Amazon Warehouse is their current system which basically shifts the workload to the customer for a discount. I’ve gotten some great deals on like new products this way. My most recent order was a UE wonderboom Bluetooth speaker for almost half off. It arrived in perfect condition but missing the charging cable. Amazon gave me a $10 refund which was well worth the nominal inconvenience. I have received some incorrect products that were probably returns with some level of fraud.
JohnBCS
I’ve had that happen. Replacements are dirt easy though. They cross ship, and if you get on chat and request a pickup, they’ll do it for free.
It sucks that it happened, but you still got a killer deal on those pliers.
CA
God I can only imagine the disappointment when you opened that box. Knipex won’t like to hear about this either. I feel like they offer the best quality at a reasonable price. If I were head of marketing at Knipex USA I would say bye bye Amazon.
dale clark
Heck this may have happened to the buyers previously to you. The original buyer may have been many buyers back. LOL
Champs
Yeah, I ran into the same problem a couple weeks ago: bought identical network cables and the “certified renewed” had a slightly different jacket and was clearly not even close to the same length.
Amazon graciously processed the refund and allowed me to buy a replacement cable at full price.
Neighbor Joe
Return policy is super easy. Fill out the form on line. Print out mail form. Take the product in its original packaging to local Kohl’s. Stop any associate and they will immediately take care of the return.
Bonnie
Still shouldn’t be the responsibility of the buyer to QA the product.
James Nieto
During COVID I ordered a O Cedar Spin Mop on Amazon. They sent me a mop that had been used and was moldy and had obviously been used.
I contacted Amazon and they promptly sent me a new replacement and fully refunded the purchase price.
I expressed my outrage at their lack of oversight and they added a $50 credit to my account in. An effort to make things right.
I remain grossed out by the incident and am still baffled as to how these types of incidents continue to occur.
Robert
Regarding baffled, I think it’s the pressure to quick ship on the workers. We have several of the giant Amazon warehouses in town. I’ve gotten some items the same day I ordered. The downside is something has to give under pressure, quality control.
Scott K
They’ve created an unsustainable model in that it’s impossible to quickly AND accurately determine whether something can be resold as “new” given the volume of returns. It frustrates customers to receive mislabeled items and it creates a lot of unnecessary waste.
Bruce
I do my absolute best to avoid Amazon. It’s a total garbage dump at this point. I might as well be shopping at Temu.
Tirapop
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/amazon-sold-a-used-diaper-it-tanked-a-mom-and-pop-business/ar-BB1q0ELF
I use Amazon because it’s so convenient. But their business practices and mistreatment of sellers on their platform is horrible. You see in the reviews, damaged or used goods are really common. I’m surprised that counterfeiters will knock off relatively inexpensive products. If I can find another online source that isn’t significantly more expensive, I try to use it.
Jason
I ordered those same pliers, and Amazon sent me 2 (I ordered one). I must have gotten your good one!
Vards Uzvards
Once I ordered a Caran D’ache mechanical pencil, and Amazon sent me a box, with twelve (or twenty?) such pencils. Kept one and returned the rest.
When you initiate a return, usually there are two or three prominent options, but sometimes there is just one. But then there is a small link, something like “other options”, and when I click on that link, there is the UPS Store listed in there (which is closest to my current home; in fact, it is probably the closest place to both places where I live).
schill
I just received and returned something from Amazon. Purchased a brand new item that came with a torn “Do not accept if this seal is torn” tape seal. I didn’t even open the box so I have no idea what was actually in it (damaged return, etc.).
Joe
I have quit ordering anything from amazon because of their poor return policy having to take everything to Whole Foods which is in another city about twenty miles away and a real pain in the a** , I’ve been stuck with a few items because I didn’t get there fast enough. It seems the return window is getting shorter and shorter. If I buy anything from them I need to feel it’s such a good deal to chance it. I’m only keeping my membership with them because my wife likes their prime tv stream but I don’t watch it much.
Jim Felt
The “Return Window” I just now noticed on maybe the last 30 items ordered was on average several weeks each. Fortunately I’ve also got both Whole Foods and several UPS stores on my daily travel routes.
PKS319
No sympathy…you got a tool! I just received an Amazon a shipment of a Klein insulated screwdriver…except there was no screwdriver. Hang tag…check. Shrink-wrap package…check. Small vinyl cover Klein puts on screwdriver end
..check. Just no tool. Shipping envelope intact. I guess this is where robots go wrong.
Jack D
I was thinking this exact thing. I once ordered a master cylinder kit (used – good) as a backup, and I was shipped nothing more than the cardboard backer. I’m sure it was robots, but come on…
frampton
FYI, these are still $17.62. I received six today, and they have not been folded, spindled, or mutilated.
Jim Felt
I had no need for more of these but this has been my typical Amazon result over the (now) decades.
I wonder if different parts of the country have more or less errors on average? They can only hire people that actually apply and show up to work for them.
Travis
Amazon is definitely on a downward swing. I have had similar problems two times in the past year. They don’t seem to care much. I have definitely started leaning on HD and Acme much more over the past year or two.
Robert
Stuart, these damaged linesman pliers are not VDE, correct? I ‘m wondering if for the pliers to have that damage from a live wire, wouldn’t the worker have been injured also?
Stuart
These pliers are not insulated.
Wayne R.
I turned my first pair of Klein nines into wirestrippers when I cut both leads off a 24V battery. A bright light, some cussing but no injury.
Never did that again.
Bonnie
I did the exact same thing with a pair of old solid metal linesman’s. No injury. They actually make really nice 12ga strippers now, with that perfectly sized notch.
ITCD
VDE provides a 100% certified to be safe tool. Non-VDE doesn’t necessarily mean the original user got hurt but it does certainly increase the chance.
BigTimeTommy
Amazon is awful, too big and too rich to care so it will never get better. If a large enough group of people got together, refused to use Amazon and starved them of money Amazon would be forced to improve their services or die. Never going to happen, people love consumption too much. If you return those pliers they’re just going to be resold over and over until someone doesn’t return them.
BigTimeTommy
Didn’t mean to post this here and can’t delete it 🤷♂️
Stuart
Place a new comment, placeholder, or “here’s where I want my comment to go” and I can move it.
Copy/pasting is okay too, if the system lets you (you might get a duplicate comment warning).
WastedP
I assumed that when the person that cut the live wire returned the pliers to Amazon, they also needed to place an order for new underwear.
TomD
Amazon does absolutely zero inspection of anything that’s returned. I’ve gotten so much stuff from them that’s absolute junk. Unless the boxes completely damaged they just put it back on the shelf.
Mario RP
That is why , I dont by online . I call my tool guy , that i need this and that ? He comes to my house ?
That is better service . My friends , that is what I’ve been doing for the past 20urs . Wow , times fly by so quick .
John Stuckey
Amazon allows sellers to change your order from “new” to ‘used” after you press the buy button for “new”. I lost $1800 on a dehumidifier scam. It was a third party sale and their rules required me to pay for return shipping. Returning a 120 lb unit was not possible.
Never press the buy button without saying to yourself, “There is a chance that I will lose all of this money”.
Stuart
Amazon was the direct seller, and that’s not what happened here.
Dave
This is absolutely not true. The seller can not change it to “used” after the fact.
Steve b
I recently purchased a pair of 12 volt rv reading lights for my camper. 1st one worked fine, the second one just flashed. So I started a return, they shipped another set and I started to install the third light and it literally started smoking. The power switch was in the off position! At that point I removed both lights and started a return. They wanted me to drive it across town and took 3 weeks to return my money.
I wrote a scathing 1 start review and they actually published it. I have no problem returning items that do not meet my expectations.
Steve b
On prime day I was considering purchasing a large solar battery bank. Most of the brands I recognized were offering close to 50% off. I thought what do I have to loose, I could return it if doesn’t suit my needs. I picked on out, put it in my shopping cart and went back to take a closer look and found it was non-returnable because of lithium batteries. Looking at other similar products on Amazon they all said they were unreturnable. I guess I’ll be buying it from REI or sportsman’s warehouse.
KokoTheTalkingApe
That’s happened to me too.
It’s hard to imagine what they’re thinking. I guess they’re still making money, but if they keep doing this kind of thing, both manufacturers and customers will stop using them.
The thing is the platform itself is excellent, maybe best of its kind. It’s how they use people that really sucks, and it shows.
BigTimeTommy
It’s not hard to imagine what they’re thinking: “We’re Amazon, F the customer, what are they going to do about it?”
Jim Felt
I’ve just never had issues with the actual Amazon customer response people I’ve interacted with. They’ve always been responsive. And I’m talking at least 20 years worth.
Drew M
I recently had a problem with HD where I ordered 3x 5-packs of an item but somehow their system didn’t know it was a 5 pack and would only send three items. Literally took me months and several trips to the store to get my 15 items. I was honestly amazed when the store CS would call their double secret HD.com CS people and then the store would receive just 3 more items weeks later.
This is especially annoying since there are LOTS of items that are inexplicably online only because some bean counter decided the item shouldn’t be stocked in stores.
I’ve had similar issues where Amazon CS just doesn’t care and can’t be bothered to actually fix the problem.
Tony
It’s sad to see this happen, but I’m not surprised. I’ve ordered Knipex and Wera tools from Amazon before and received the wrong one. I made sure that the SKU was the correct one I intended to order. But Amazon sent me a different one. It’s frustrating because as you pointed out, I also have to make a special trip to a UPS store to return it. But receiving an entirely broken one like you experienced is next level!
fred
Your experience was certainly Amazon’s fault as are some of the other glitches and problems that people have described. But Amazon – like Stuart – were victims in the case of his pliers. Could Amazon have better inspected the pliers when they were returned to them? Sure, but the thief (and I use that word advisedly) – who bought the pair, used and damaged them then returned them as “new” was the one to be blamed. The ideas that a company like Amazon is so big as to not care – or that scamming them by returning merchandize that you damaged through your own negligence is OK – IS NOT OK. The same thing happens at Home Depot and other retailers – and this sort of “inventory shrinkage” impacts all of us in the form of higher prices.
Jim Felt
All too true.
Stuart
I’ve seen extremely used and worn tools on the shelves at Home Depot and maybe Lowe’s too.
At some point, workers don’t care, aren’t paid enough to care, or it’s just easier to shift responsibility to the customer.
Back in college I worked at the student dining hall part time. I worked some of the food lines, and then as a cashier.
As part of one of the different jobs, I had to take food temperatures at the self-serve hot bar. When the temps were too low – under 140°F – I’d make note of it and report it to one of the cooks who would have to reheat or replace the tray of food.
Guess who they stopped asking to take and log food temperatures.
Joe E.
Had this happen to me twice in recent years.
The first time were those red steel Craftsman socket trays from Lowe’s that come in a box. I purchased two of them, got home and they were both missing all of the 1/4” and 3/8” pegs. Someone stole them, then filled them in sloppily with all 1/2” pegs and returned them. So it was a hassle for me to return them, and on my next visit I checked and Lowe’s put them right back on the shelf even after I told them what the previous purchaser did. Zero F’s given.
More recently were the two remaining Braun 4ft LED shop lights at Harbor Freight. I drove to 3 different stores to find these as we just ran electric to the garage of my older home. The boxes appeared to have to been opened and I got return vibes, but I was in a hurry so I bought them. Get home and remove the contents… all of the hardware was missing from both boxes, so I had to run up to Home Depot and buy new hardware.
Pat
I’ve gotten the same used stuff from Amazon as people now have been scamming Amazon to get free items by using things and returning them. Another company I use for auto parts once sent me an item that was used and when I called them to complain they immediately sent me a brand new item out and told me to throw the used item in the thrash. That’s the only way it should be handled. I didn’t have to box it back up, printout out a label and drive down to UPSmto return it!
Adam
Extremely frustrating. Odd that Amazon wanted you to return the damaged product, though. Usually they don’t care and just ship the replacement.
One of the auto repair channels I follow on YouTube just ran into this problem (though not with product from Amazon). He ordered a set of wheel bearings and seals for a truck, and received used and completely destroyed ones that some thief had stuffed into the boxes and returned. Extra frustrating for him, since it meant a lift being tied up for several extra days, along with his customer not getting their vehicle back on time.
Badger12345
Home Depot is combating this problem by requiring a trip to a store to request a return on many tools. The associate will carefully inspect the return and tag it before refunding the purchase. I was told that most returns do NOT go back into inventory, but instead are returned to the vendor or sold off in wholesale lots.
Home Depot has been pretty good about matching legitimate Amazon pricing and they offer free shipping on many products too. I see no reason to purchase tools from the Amazon fleamarket.
Matt
I had this exact thing happen a few years ago with a pair of Knipex side cutters.
Although mine did come from Amazon Warehouse Deals and not a regular Amazon order. Either way it still had that wonderfully round hole that only comes from cutting through a live wire! haha
JR Ramos
I’ve had my fair share of oopses and accidents (mostly beginning during the first summer of covid) but they have always made it right, very easily, and way more often than I’d have expected they frequently have issued a replacement or refund and not required me to return the product.
In this case if it was sold as new and you’re positive that it wasn’t amazon warehouse/known-used and was sold at that price, I’d have just used the bot return process and requested “exchange for the same product” and you would have gotten that pair new at that unbelievable price. If there was a second issue then you could work through the chat bot until you got to type with someone in India and they would likely fix you up. The worst thing is the waste of time (which is the #1 reason our business would never ever use amazon as a main supplier), and worst case is that you waste time only to end up with a refund of what you initially paid. They will honor their oopses and often the customer does come out ahead. To be fair, they are a mess and there have been a lot of changes in both directions over the last 2-3 years, but chances are still high that you will come out on top.
I don’t understand people being “taken” by issues on amazon or almost any online platform. Unless you pay cash, you do have protections, so use them. Like the $1800 example above. I don’t care what the reason is with a scammy third party seller or amazon initially being resistive or what, but I’d contact my bank/card issuer and initiate a fraud claim/chargeback immediately if they didn’t take steps immediately to make it right. Use that sword cautiously but it’s there for a reason and $1800 is a really good reason (so is $20…..).
I wonder if Amazon is having some pains dealing with all the blowback from their incredibly wasteful returned items process. There were several news articles about it in recent years and under the new leadership they may be trying to mitigate some of those losses and the landfill waste by actually doing returns differently. When I return an item now there’s a list of questions that never used to be there, which I assume are attempting to choose where to route the item (the biggest probably being opened/unopened, damaged, used). But outside of all of this they really need to step back and find a way to fix the stonewalling that rears up in many areas. Usually chatting with a bot –> human rep will get around that but it’s a hassle.
A couple weeks ago I ordered a Sunex impact extension. I wasn’t aware that they had totally changed their lineup to China instead of Taiwan, so when the product arrived I almost thought it was a different brand or counterfeit, but it was genuine Sunex. Decided to return it immediately, did the online return, and to my surprise they just insta-refunded me and did not want me to return it. Only $12 but still…new usable product, just not my cup of tea. My reason for return in the checkbox was “item not as described” or whatever that says…wonder if that makes any difference now (that is a chief route for ebay and also when people dispute on PayPal for Aliexpress and similar overseas purchases). The vast majority of the time I do have to return the item and go visit my friendly UPS folks but these “freebie” no-returns have happened to me about a half dozen times now…never for something I actually want to keep though. Ha.
Stuart
There was no exchange process, just “return for refund.”
I placed a reorder and then cancelled it. This was a sign I’ve got enough pliers.
JR Ramos
I might’ve done the same thing but I’ll bet if you got on chat they would have fixed it – if that’s worth your time. I’m really not a fan of their return process and all the jazz involved but objectively I guess it’s usually rather painless. Not a fan of in-store returns either, though. But I think Walmart changed the world and ruined returns for both vendors and customers….
JR Ramos
I’ve only bought four items from Amazon Warehouse, all supposedly used-new or used-very good condition. Only one of those was a bust. It was an industrial tote at a really low price, but it arrived as a Conair hair dryer! Ha! Contacted them and they just sent me out the correct item, which I’m pretty sure was brand new stock. I did have another one where the item was loose shipped and arrived with a couple of big gouges in the plastic – they just refunded me half of the already discounted price after talking with the rep. But the option on those was still there to just return or refund. I wanted the deal I signed up for and they made it good, as they should have.
I usually offer photographs to prove my case but they have never ever taken me up on that.
Big Richard
Last year I bought a Greenworks 40v 8Ah battery from amazon. Box looked good, inside the box was a used 40v 2Ah battery dated 2016 or something. Someone most likely bought the 8Ah battery, stuck their old, probably dead, 2Ah battery in there and returned it. Boom they just got a free 8Ah battery. People are awesome.
Jared
I’ve also experienced this. It makes me wonder how it happens.
E.g. does Amazon really have a means of inspecting returns and putting them back in with new product? They must.
I thought their Amazon “Warehouse” stuff, especially the “like new” category, was for returns that appeared undamaged and resalable. Receiving a used item when I ordered new though, means there must be some process whereby returns go back into the “new” pile.
Jared
P.s. my most recent Amazon issue was ordering two Proto button-lock waterpump pliers: the J260MG 10-inch and J264MG 12-inch.
Instead, I got two identical J260MG pliers, but one had a sticker applied over the portion of the sealed plastic bag where the model number was printed – and the sticker had J264MG printed on it.
How the heck did that happen?!
Saulac
Despite the fact that it is easy to return things like this, no return should be allowed to be put back on the new shelves. Good can only leave the warehouse as new only once. Other thing to consider is safety. How about hidden failures?
Troy
Amazon NEVER inspects returns adequately.
I say that as a frequent buyer of Amazon Resale (formerly Warehouse Deals) items.
I can’t count how many times I’ve bought something in “Used – Like New” condition that was so obviously torn up and missing pieces at a glance, that the only explanation is that they base the condition on the previous customer’s word in the return form, rather than anybody actually inspecting each individual item.
Surely a bean counter did the math at some point and concluded that there was a higher margin to be made on just shipping things to customers and letting them do quality control, than paying additional staff to do the same.
That said, if you’re prepared for the hassle and have a convenient return stop on your commute, you can score some pretty great Resale deals. I’ve saved thousands over the years. You also develop a Spidey Sense for which types of used products are likely to be more problematic than others.
Mr. C
Welcome to SCAMazon.
They are a seller that you absolutely CANNOT trust to sell a non-commingled (aka a potential counterfeit) product.
I’ve bought new SOLD BY and SHIPPED BY Amazon. Not a third party.
I’ve personally been burned by counterfeit textbooks (Art of Electronics), toothbrushes (“OREL-B”), memory cards (32gb card was 2gb), and batteries (a coin cell battery was listed as an Energizer — it was very clearly not made by them).
They have no desire to purge their inventory of said fakes — probably recognizing it’d be cheaper to deal with unhappy customer returns than to go legit.
I’ve been sent USED products many times — stuff that was missing parts, broken, etc.
——
Like you, I’ve had my time and money wasted by their abysmal return policy (no more UPS dropoff labels, you have to take it to a UPS store with inconvenient hours or a Kolds Department Store — both of which are a 45+ min drive for me).
It literally is cheaper (with regards to fuel alone) to throw away the item and eat it as a loss. “Amazon opened my wallet and stole from me.” And that’s not accounting for my time.
——
Add to that how poorly they treat their workers.
Add to that how they remove features and perks of their ever-increasing subscription package — such as forcing adverts into their once advert-free video media streaming.
Add to that their marketplace is FLOODED with random six-letter ALL-CAPS (non-)brands of absolutely dubious quality.
If I can buy the item from literally any other retailer, I’d rather do that. Even if it costs me more. Home Depot, Best Buy, Walmart, B&H Photo, eBay, direct from the manufacturer’s website, etc.
I’m DONE with Amazon. Just….sigh…DONE.
jeff robbins
in the good news department, at least you did not recieve the clown who did this underwear, because for that much of the metal to be vaporized it was a massive spark and I imagine a correspondingly large stain. He/She definitely took a moment before deciding to commit fraud.
Amazon has not been/does not always look in the packages they receive back, and will often send a small business a box that has a brick/stick/pipe/ instead of the very expensive item that should be there and the small business has to eat it. A bunch of smaller boutique bike parts suppliers are moving off the platform, and back to direct sales because they have taken such a beating. It is sad to get abused instead of used. Bummer!
Jammer
TLDR: The headline is enough. We believe you?
Thanks for documenting yet another F/U by a company that doesn’t really care about us and our feelings… Oh, I think that might be a campaign slogan by someone in the news…
Matthew
Ordered four counter stools. One came broken. They sent a replacement and told me to keep the broken one. The replacement came a different size. They had me keep that one and sent out a replacement. That was the incorrect size as well. Told me to keep that one and issued me an entire refund for all of the chairs. Ended up fixing the broken one and sold the pair that were different for $120
Robin
I don’t work for Amazon but I go to a lot of their buildings as a vendor.
You have to remember that the people that work in these buildings receive ZERO training on what items are what and do not know what one tool is from another. These 18-21 year olds do not know one brand of pliers from another and have no idea what they are supposed to look like.
The pliers may have been inspected, they might not have been. The kids putting stuff back on the “shelves” will put a pair of pliers back one time, a pack of diapers the next. It all goes back on the same shelf.
Mr. C
I’m not blaming the kids. I’m not blaming any workers laboring in these buildings.
They didn’t make the policy of “not checking returned merchandise to ensure it’s actually OK”.
I’m blaming the corporate side of Amazon. The bean counters. The CEO and everyone in the decision tree.
Stephen C Williams
That’s why I like to buy my Knipex from KC tools. The price is usually in the ballpark and it’s always top rated. I don’t mind to pay a little extra because I remember the days that I spent thousands of dollars on junk. If you know what I mean. Now I spend it on tools. It’s all good
David E Munson
I love the part where I know what happened and the likely look on the face of the guy that did it.
bg100
My nearest drop-off is 130 miles away. So these kinds of screwups cost me dearly. Sometimes Amazon will refund me, most of the time it’s a partial refund or I just have to eat the mistake, since returning it is usually out of the question. Add to that a collection of mail carriers that beat the crap out of every package they touch, and Amazon is a real risk for me these days.
Rcward
You weren’t born yesterday dude. If it sounds to good to be true it most of the time isn’t . You gambled and lost. Send them back and learn a lesson.
Lyle
Amazon has really gone downhill for me here in Hawaii. I’ve been a customer since 1998 and Prime since it was available. Prime used to mean free 2-day shipping like I think it means for people living in the continental US, but now it’s rare to get anything in a week or less. Amazon uses their own aircraft to get items shipped to Hawaii and then hands it off to USPS most of the time. A postal employee told me that the tracking updates that appear in the Amazon system when you click on track my order and then click on see all updates is system generated and often times made up based on what/where the item is supposed to be. I’ve opened many reports with the post office to help me look for items that were late.
What has become most frustrating for me is that it seems like Amazon delays shipments to me on purpose. Originally I was thinking that they were doing this because they were trying to incentivize me into selecting a faster shipping option, but now it seems like for most items we don’t have ANY shipping options. Let me give an example. I saw a video YouTube where someone was talking about this cheap flashlight. Warsun T7. The form factor is like a few sticks of checking gum (thin and flat). It has a light in the front and one on the longer flat surface. Normally sells for $14.99 but sometimes has a $4 off coupon and recharges with USB-C. Seems like it was worth $11. Ships from Amazon but sold by Warsun Dawn. Ships from Amazon makes me think that it’s in an Amazon warehouse somewhere. It’s listed as in stock (which I think should mean that it is already in the Amazon warehouse). I ordered on July 4th and it said I would get it by July 19th. That kinds sucks, but they were upfront about it. I don’t know why it would take them so long to ship it to me. I still don’t have it. I’ve been following the tracking, it finally started having updates when they said it was shipped on July 10th. I don’t understand why it took them 6 days to ship it. It had a few more updates and then it stopped having updates on July 18th. On July 19th Amazon sent me an e-mail and said that it was going be be delayed because of a third-party IT issue. The e-mail said that the new expected date was July 24th.
What bugs me the most is that I pay the same amount for Prime as anybody else, but the shipping service that I receive is terrible. I understand that it is more expensive to ship items to me in Hawaii. Amazon should either raise the price for Prime in Hawaii so we can get free 2-day shipping the same as others, or discount our Prime to account for the woefully slow shipping. Heck I’d even be happy with them just shipping in stock items out the next day with slow shipping, but having them seemingly artificially delaying shipping an in stock item for 6 days and then shipping it slowly really sucks. It might be some kind of logistics glitch also because a friend who lives on a different island also here in Hawaii ordered the same flashlight after I ordered mine and received his even before July 19th. I believe Amazon cargo needs to come here first before it gets sent out to the neighbor islands so it seems really strange to me that my friend would receive his order first.
I don’t mind Amazons current returns process. In the past they would send me a label that I would need to print myself and package myself. Sometimes I’ve already thrown out the cardboard box and needed to make or find something to ship it back in. Now all I do is drive it to a UPS store (which seems like 90% of their business is handling Amazon returns). The locations are decently convenient for me, but I can see how for people living on the mainland it could be super inconvenient to have to drive a long way to make a return.