Amazon has been the cornerstone of convenience for many consumers who’d rather click an order button than scour store shelves. However, some shoppers are calling out the e-commerce titan for punishing customers over Amazon’s mistakes.
Natasha Palma (@comradebearpants) posted a TikTok on Sept. 21 about her disappointing experience with Amazon’s customer service when part of her order had been delayed. The post has garnered over 129,000 views at the time of publication.
Where did the items go?
At the top of the video, Palma explains that she ordered with Amazon because the items she needed were not sold locally. However, when three of the five items in her order went missing, she turned to customer service.
She says that, while on the app, she was directed to reach out to Amazon for a refund since her items did not arrive on the day they were expected.
Customer service mayhem
Palma joined Amazon’s customer service chat line where a representative told her to wait until Oct. 1 to see whether her items would arrive. Palma refused to “wait another 10 days to see if her items would show up” after already waiting 14 days from when she placed the order. She asked for a refund, to which the representative said no.
After being transferred to a manager, Palma says she was prompted to complete an incident report to receive a refund. Palma comments that it “sounds suspicious” since she’s “never heard of this incident report,” but she filled it out anyway.
Palma sent the report back via email, answering questions about the order number, the day’s date, the missing items, whether her order had been lost before, and how many times she’d experienced lost shipments.
“Yeah, it’s happened before,” she says, “I don’t know how many times. I actually lost count. In fact, I canceled my Prime membership and stopped ordering from Amazon because it happened so many times.”
However, when Palma received a response to her report from Amazon, she was told her answers were incorrect so the refund could not be completed.
“Who the f*ck are you to tell me that my experience with you has been incorrect?” Palma argues. “So now I guess I have to call them every day to get my money back.”
Several TikTok users commented on Palma’s video with similar frustrations.
One user wrote, “I only had Prime because of the superior customer service, but now that’s gone, what’s the point of Amazon?”
Another commenter said, “They hoping you gonna forget or give up,” to which Palma replied, “I am only petty when it comes to battling capitalism.”
A third user wrote about their own customer service experience: “They sent me the wrong toothbrush & argued with me over sending the $4 toothbrush back before they’d send me the right one. It was their mistake and wanted me to pay for return shipping too.”
@comradebearpants bezos [allegedly] isn’t happy unless he’s fucking absolutely everyone he can – customers and employees alike
Why is Amazon getting strict on refunds?
A possible explanation for Amazon’s crackdown on refunds and returns is its troubles with fraud schemes, or groups of individuals who exploit relaxed refund policies to steal from companies. CNBC reported earlier in 2024 on Amazon’s own experiences with fraud schemeswhich led the company to file multiple lawsuits against dozens of people.
Regardless of Palma and other TikTok users’ complaints, Amazon leads the online retail sector in customer service. According to Statista.coma data and research website, the company’s 2024 customer satisfaction rating ranks at 83 out of 100 on the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI).
Palma is not alone in her Amazon return complaints. Several other online shoppers have taken to TikTok in the last month to call out the retailer’s return policy. One customer reported that Amazon released an updated agreement regarding returns, which states that buyers could be charged a restocking fee, or receive a partial refund, or none at all, if they choose to send an item back.
This change comes amid some shoppers’ attempts to take advantage of Amazon’s return policy—such as one buyer who claimed to get a free PS5 through a return policy “loophole.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Palma via email and TikTok direct message, and Amazon via email.
