I used to enjoy shopping at Amazon.com, and told friends and family about the great values and quick shipping; however, my sentiments have soured.
I was given an Amazon.com gift certificate for the holidays, and was going to use it for a bread maker at Amazon.com. Unfortunately, during the holiday season, the price of the bread maker went up three times - until Amazon.com was asking 150% of what the manufacturer was charging through its own web-store. I contacted Amazon.com customer service several times over two weeks, to complain about the pricing, and to complain that my money was tied up in the gift certificate, which precluded me from shopping somewhere with competitive prices.
Twice I was told to wait for a response from the "Marketing" department. That response did not come. Two weeks ago, a customer service agent reviewed my notes, and told me that I would receive a check for the balance of my gift certificate, because the pricing could not be adjusted. Having noticed that the gift certificate was not cleared from my account, I called last week, and was told to wait for a response.
The response I got by email was that the gift certificate department did not understand my concern. The only means of contacting the Gift Certificate department was through Customer Service. I contacted customer service again, and was told that another email would be sent to the Gift Certificate department, but I asked to speak to a supervisor.
The "Team Lead" told me that there is no way I could have been promised a check, and that there were no notes on the account about the gift certificate issue. No notes on the account after at least 5 contacts. The Team Lead initially suggested that I was never told I would receive a check, and then she acknowledged that it appeared that the agents had not taken sufficient notes.
Plainly, Amazon.com did not care to address my issue. I did not want to spend money there, when their pricing kept going up, higher than the market value
of the Oster bread maker I wanted. Amazon.com was simply happy to sit on the gift certificate money, and to keep telling me to wait another 48 hours and maybe someone would address my concerns.
When I got impatient, and refused to wait another 48 hours, I was told that I was simply out of luck. The good folks in Asia who are handling Amazon.com's customer service do not have the authority to resolve consumer satisfaction issues such as mine. This results in a horrible retail experience.
As I have waited for Amazon.com to issue my check (which I now know is not and never was coming), holiday sales have ended, the price on the product went up at the manufacturer's web store (Oster), and my money is still tied up at Amazon.com.
The only suggestion that had was that I could gift the certificate to someone else (who might not be as informed a shopper)... Or I could have the gift certificate refunded to the sender. However, Amazon.com's incompetence in customer service wasted my time, until I could no longer purchase the product I wanted for a fair price.
I think that they simply do not care about their customers at all. I am glad that I learned this now, and can shop elsewhere.
I advise everyone against asking for gift certificates for Amazon.com and DO NOT BUT AMAZON.com GIFT CERTIFICATES as a gift for others. The company did not care about wasting my time, and money.
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