Family says Amazon shipped fake product, refuses refund until 'correct' item returned
CBC
When Matthew Legault graduated from high school in June, his parents figured they'd recognize his hard work by buying the parts he needed to build his own personal computer.
They placed an order with Amazon and it arrived at their Calgary home quickly.
But when Matthew opened the graphics card — a $690 part — he discovered the plastic casing had been hollowed out and filled with a putty-like substance to give it weight.
"It was actually a bit of a shock," he said. "Everything looked pretty official up to the point where I pulled it out and took a second look."
The real shock came, though, when Matthew's father tried to get a refund.
François Legault followed Amazon's return instructions and sent the item back, expecting a refund.
Instead, Amazon said in an email there would be no refund until the "correct" item was shipped back.
On top of that, the Amazon rep said the returned, fake item had been thrown out, to protect other employees.
"It was absurd," said François. "It's just a piece of plastic so I doubt there's any danger to their employees. And secondly … now they've destroyed the piece of evidence."
Amazon repeatedly claimed it had shipped the correct item.
Legault repeatedly explained he had received and returned "a complete fake" and attached photos to prove it.
Telling customers the item they've returned has been disposed of is a great way for Amazon to "end the conversation," said marketing specialist Marc Gordon, who coaches both small companies and big-name multinationals on interacting with customers.
But "that's impacting the quality of service they provide."
Service, Gordon says, may be affected as customers who flocked to the online retailer during the pandemic return to brick-and-mortar stores, forcing Amazon to re-organize.
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