Comments on: Buying and Returning Heavy, Expensive Products on Amazon

By: Richard

Richard — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 15:06:01 +0000

I also signed up for amazon prime, next day shipping for $4 is incredible. I ran into a problem when trying to cancel a return.

There is no way to do this, even on UPS without having a UPS shipping account and I felt so bad for the UPS guy coming to my house 3 times – I was out when he came. You’d think a billion dollar company could add a little “cancel this return” button to the returns section!!!

By: Clever Dude

Clever Dude — Thu, 01 May 2008 13:33:43 +0000

@Jonathan: I used UPS to return the item. If I wanted to ship through another carrier, I would have to pay for the shipping. Amazon let me choose a UPS pickup, UPS dropoff or other carrier.

As for the efficiency vs window units, I can’t speak on it really. Perhaps since the unit isn’t sitting exposed to the hot sun (in our case), it would cool the air around it more effectively. Also, we wouldn’t have as large of a gap in the window, and we could just take out the window fitting quickly if we wanted. The portability was the main draw for us.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Thu, 01 May 2008 05:35:11 +0000

Has Amazon always paid for return shipping? I could have sworn I had to pay my own shipping the last time I had to return something. Good call on the Amazon Prime.

I may need to buy a portable A/C unit for the house as well. Are window units more or less efficient than these portable ones?

By: Jerry

Jerry — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:26:31 +0000

I was actually thinking of buying Delonghi portable A/C so I really apprecited the article. When I buy bulky items, Amazon is my first destination for price check and if the price is competitive, I usually end up buying there. Amazon has one of best customer service and return policies, as you had noted. I had purchased two Delonghi heater from Amazon a couple of years ago and when I got them, they were both banged up from shipping. One was in working condition and the other would not warm up so contacted Amazon customer service to resolve the issue. I was offered replacement for one that did not work, and for the second, option of replacement or half my money back. Since the unit was in working condition, I told them I wanted money back and returned the second, non-working unit at Amazon’s expense. I got the replacement within 3-4 days and fund credited for the unit I decided to keep.

Another great feature Amazon has is price matching. If you ever buy something from Amazon and if they lower price on that item within time period (I think it is 30 days), they will refund the price difference if you contact them. I purchased gazebo last summer and the following week, they had that exact gazego for their Friday sale at 30% off. Luckily, I noticed it and got Amazon to refund the difference.

By: Richard @ StudentScrooge

Richard @ StudentScrooge — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:09:32 +0000

Sorry to hear about the hassle. The idea of something like your situation was exactly what gave us pause from ordering a large television from Amazon not too long ago. Ultimately, after looking at their return policy carefully we decided to go for it and luckily haven’t had problems yet — but its good to hear that they make it fairly straightforward.

I imagine this is one of the larger challenges Amazon.com faces in getting people to purchase large, heavy items online.