WTF Amazon?!

[hekke]

So I will try to make the long story short.

It was December 11. I thought as me and my writer have done a GREAT few months since he started I would send a computer to upgrade from his current $90 computer. I found a great Asus laptop that many of my "computer interested" friends said was good. It costed me $350, not a big deal considering that my writer had already saved me loads of time as well as made money for me (the journey site I barely did any off-page SEO work to had a ROI of over 2000%).

I tried to send his to his address but the mail was never delivered and I managed to get a refund on it from Amazon. I then sent it to a nearby post office (TNT) so that he could pick it up. Just their shipping cost costed me $350 as well, I found this a bit strange but didn't really mind due to that he have turned me a great ROI already. A month later, they say that they sent it to Kenya and forwards me to a Kenyan forwarder.

Now I have been dealing with them and TODAY I finally get a concrete answer to what the problem was. Let me include the relevant part of their email.

"We did forward the item to his address after he paid for shipping. Unfortunately, per TNT shipment was considered as restricted due to Lithium Batteries and the destination country rejected the goods. Customer contacted us Feb 11th asking if this could be returned. Unfortunately this was too late as item has been already abandoned/destroyed (due to the time passed). We are sorry for what has happened but there's nothing else we can do."

This email pretty much tells me that I bought a item from Amazon.com operating in US sells items that are restricted in the US? This is the most stupid thing I've ever heard. Why the fuck would they sell something that is restricted in the country they sell in (mostly)?

Any thoughts how I should go about this? It is $700 we are talking about that they just really destroyed. I mean, I cannot be bothered to take legal actions or go through fire to fix it, just find it REALLY weird and unprofessional from both Amazon and shipping company (TNT + Viabox). Should I explain the situation to Amazon, do a bank chargeback? Any tips are appreciated!

 

[Floopa75]

This post is way too confusing. Does your writer live in Kenya or the US? If they operate out of US then why are they sending it to Kenya? Cause he lives there?

 

[archon10]

lol abandoned/destroyed = kenya officials stole it

 

[IMdave]

If amazon doesnt help then just do a charge back with your cc company. Like floopa said..which one of you lives in kenya? Cause from how i read it, you sent it from kenya to the usa.

 

[hekke]

This post is way too confusing. Does your writer live in Kenya or the US? If they operate out of US then why are they sending it to Kenya? Cause he lives there?

None of us lives there, my writer lives in US. I live in Sweden.

 

[CSSteelHard]

None of us lives there, my writer lives in US. I live in Sweden.

Go full rambo on them and demand everything back or charge lawsuit


PS: What does "Pita" mean?

 

[hekke]

Go full rambo on them and demand everything back or charge lawsuit


PS: What does "Pita" mean?

Lawsuit for $700? I doubt so, lawyers costs a few hundred per hour and that would lead to me being able to pay one for a few hours and that won't cut it.

All I can think about when I hear pita is Pita bread

 

[CSSteelHard]

Lawsuit for $700? I doubt so, lawyers costs a few hundred per hour and that would lead to me being able to pay one for a few hours and that won't cut it.

All I can think about when I hear pita is Pita bread

I meant to threaten to do it if they refuse to refund it's not like you'll lose anything by threatening ofc you won't actually charge lawsuit

oh and meant fitta i think idk

 

[neverquitting]

Wait, you're in Sweden, your writer is in the US, so how did Kenya get involved at all? My bet is that you purchased from a third party seller and not Amazon itself, and that seller scammed the shit outta you. Did you actually talk to Amazon support directly?

Or maybe your writer isn't actually in the US as you had assumed?

 

[Typlo]

Lawsuit for $700? I doubt so, lawyers costs a few hundred per hour and that would lead to me being able to pay one for a few hours and that won't cut it.

All I can think about when I hear pita is Pita bread

Steps I'd try:

1) Contact them, explain the situation, if they continue to refuse to refund, mention you will be filing a chargeback.

2) That doesn't work, file a chargeback.

3) Or you could get a lawyer to write a letter and have it sent to their legal department, sometimes receiving a letter from a lawyer is enough to get things resolved without any court costs.

Edit: Although I imagine option 2 and 3 would result in Amazon closing your account.

 

[archon10]

Wait, you're in Sweden, your writer is in the US, so how did Kenya get involved at all? My bet is that you purchased from a third party seller and not Amazon itself, and that seller scammed the shit outta you. Did you actually talk to Amazon support directly?

Or maybe your writer isn't actually in the US as you had assumed?

We should just admit that stereotyping and bigotry would have saved the OP $700.

 

[Reaver]

I'm not understanding how Kenya got involved if you're in Sweden and your writer is in the U.S.

Anyway, I googled reviews for both TNT and Viabox and both companies have ridiculously negative ratings. I found this especially enlightening: http://viabox.pissedconsumer.com/

Here's the page on TNT: http://tnt-express.pissedconsumer.com/

Looks like you aren't the only one they pulled that on OP.

Pissed Consumer can help you out - possibly. I'm not sure. You can always leave a review, explain your case and see what happens.

At this point it sounds like Amazon is blaming the shipping company. Amazon in the US doesn't use either of those companies for shipping. I get my stuff through UPS when I order from Amazon. So yeah, you got screwed. There's no reason to pay $350 in shipping for a laptop if you bought it off the US Amazon site. In fact, shipping should have been free, as anything over $35 is shipped free from Amazon in the US. I never paid shipping on any electronics I bought from Amazon, and I live in the Midwest.

This leads me to believe you used a third party vendor, and those people can set up their own shipping policies.

You got screwed man.

 

[SocialPusher]

Why does a lawsuit scare you all that much ? The losing party will pay all the costs, so you`ll get the lawyer money back along with everything else At least this is the legislation in my country

 

[tony_d]

Why does a lawsuit scare you all that much ? The losing party will pay all the costs, so you`ll get the lawyer money back along with everything else At least this is the legislation in my country

Not sure what country you're in, or whether you've had any actually experience in this - but, from first hand personal experience, I can tell you that the losing party doesn't generally pay 'all' the costs. In reality, they end up paying somewhere around 60-70% of the costs. So a 'win' is not a win, financially speaking.

 

[Nicheblogger]

lol abandoned/destroyed = kenya officials stole it

At this moment there is a Kenyan govt. worker fapping to pornhub on your ASUS. Interracial porn would be my guess.

 

[Zaxx212]

WTf is this ... ahahahaha ...

 

[Galleta]

Not sure what country you're in, or whether you've had any actually experience in this - but, from first hand personal experience, I can tell you that the losing party doesn't generally pay 'all' the costs. In reality, they end up paying somewhere around 60-70% of the costs. So a 'win' is not a win, financially speaking.

I think in every country it is like mrgoe said. If you win a lawsuit for a certain case, you have a proven 100% chance civil demand against the loosing party, so they have to pay all costs involved, even, for example, your taxi costs to go to the lawyer and back or in certain cases the "disability to earn money" (if somehow they kept you from doing so, for example by getting you to hospital in extrem case, or by blocking your business, damaging it etc). It may be that in the first trial the loosing party won't have to pay all, but you have a valid demand that every judge would basically automatically accept after winning that trial. In fact it is enough to send the other party the bill and they will pay it (if they have money), as their lawyer would tell them the same what I just said (100%).

At least in my country it is like that.

About general topic:
How got kenya involved?
You are from sweden, so I think your law is quite similar to mine, as explained above. But it won't ever come to a trial in this case, as you are fully within your rights. Also I think, depending on the payment method u used, you can just make a chargeback, even of bank transaction it should be possible in Sweden.

regards

 

[tony_d]

I think in every country it is like mrgoe said. If you win a lawsuit for a certain case, you have a proven 100% chance civil demand against the loosing party, so they have to pay all costs involved, even, for example, your taxi costs to go to the lawyer and back or in certain cases the "disability to earn money" (if somehow they kept you from doing so, for example by getting you to hospital in extrem case, or by blocking your business, damaging it etc). It may be that in the first trial the loosing party won't have to pay all, but you have a valid demand that every judge would basically automatically accept after winning that trial. In fact it is enough to send the other party the bill and they will pay it (if they have money), as their lawyer would tell them the same what I just said (100%).

At least in my country it is like that.

Either you watch too many movies and don't spend enough time living life, or, you live in a very strange country, far removed from the western world.