I recently attempted to place my first order at Amazon.com. I tried to buy Pax Romana and a book called Departures. Last friday I was informed that my credit card was declined. I figured that maybe I entered the wrong number, and tried to re enter the number. I come to find that I had NOT entered the wrong number, and in fact the first charge they had made had been approved. After they made their first charge they attempted to charge the same amount not once not twice not three times but five diffrent times. I learned that Amazon uses a screwy system of billing that places a hold for the amount of the order, and then does the actual charge when the item ships, in fact denying you twice the amount of the order even though the first charge drops off. This posed a problem for my bank beacuase they do NOT allow duplicate charges to my bank account. Further compounding the issue, they insist that the charges made to my account were ALL DECLINED.  
This is NOT true. They put 28 dollars of MY MONEY on HOLD. They continue to hold this amount, insisting that the charge they made was declined.  
 
I have e mailed customer service and called their customer service number multiple times and each time I have dealt with rude, uncaring and unhelpful staff. They refuse to call my bank or transfer me to the billing department. They refuse to complete my order and they refuse to compromise. I will NEVER deal with Amazon again and I suggest that anyone who reads this thinks twice about dealing with them, especially those people with checking cards.  
 
Thanks a lot Amazon, you really know how to make a customer feel welcome.  
 
UPDATE: After imputting a different credit card (yes I did have to activate a credit card JUST FOR AMAZON) I finally got my order processed. I was upgraded to second day air and I recieved my order shortly after that. Amazon still insists that all charges were declined on the first card.  
 
All and all a lot of things Amazon could have done better, however they did try to make things right... I am confident enough in Amazon at this point to place another order with them (This one for Toxic Spell Dump (a book), Civ 3 Conquests and Temple of Elemental Evil (2 games) at obsenely low prices)  
 
So I suppose if I am a repeat customer I cant really hold the last order against them... Can I?

This review was modified by its author, Drazzil, on 12/22/03 5:35 PM.

Ordered a Canon NB-5H NiMH Battery Pack (5-Pack)from Amazon web page. The order was through OfficeTech (OfficeDepot). OfficeTech sent a receipt for one battery not the 5-pack. They confirmed I was being shipped only one battery. I called Amazon customer service, they told me to call OfficeTech, they told me to call Amazon. After several emails and phone calls (several hours) I was told to refuse the order, which I did. No one from Amazon or OfficeDepot was sorry.

Ordered a book on a Saturday, arrived the next Saturday. Excellent condition, no problems. Amazon's site was a big help in picking between the books I was thinking about.  
 
I'm amazed that they have such a low rating because I've ordered from them several times in the past and never had a problem. I'll definitely buy from them again.

Once upon a time I believed Amazon.com to be a great company. Their prices and service were absolutely great. Recently I have had cause to reconsider my opinion.  
 
For the past two years Amazon.com has seen fit to botch my Christmastime order. Last year I ordered around 10 items totaling several hundred dollars in merchandise, all of which was guaranteed to be delivered by Christmas. Apparently there was a problem with one item, so Amazon saw fit to delay my entire order until that one item arrived. So instead of a guaranteed Christmas delivery I received all my Christmas presents in January. All the time this was going on my order sat in limbo, unable to be canceled because it was being filled. The point to this is that Amazon.com violated two FTC laws regarding catalog and internet sales. You cannot hold someones order for over a month without nofifying them of a problem. Secondly you MUST give your customer the option to cancel the order if you delay the order for a month. They did neither of these things, and now I am regreting the fact that I didn't file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.  
 
Now comes this Christmas. I ordered a DVD/VCR combo player on October 31st. The player was listed as in stock shipping in 1-2 days. When I purchased the player I used a $30 gift certificate that I had received with my Amazon.com credit card. So two weeks go by and the player has not been shipped. I get an email from Amazon stating that there has been a problem in obtaining the DVD player and I need to approve a delay in my order. I went to the Amazon.com page for the DVD player and sure enough the status of the player had gone from "in stock ships in 1-2 days" to "out of stock, more in soon." Now obviously they never had the player in stock in the first place. If I don't want to suffer the delay I have the option of canceling the order, but then I would lose my $30 gift certificate. So I approve the delay, and after another two weeks my delivery estimate has now gone to January of next year. This is no good for a Christmas Present.  
 
SOOO, I email their customer service department and request that they change my order from the DVD player I ordered to another one that was IN STOCK. They refused to do so. I have to cancel my current order, and replace it for another DVD player. BUT since they have jerked me around for a month the $30 gift certificate I used in the original order has since expired and cannot be reused in my new order.  
 
Now what do you think of a company that treats their customers this. They could have shipped part of my order instead of sitting on the whole thing last year. They could have obeyed the laws of The United States of America. They could have had their stock listed correctly. They could have admitted that they had made a mistake and corrected it. Instead, each and every time, Amazon.com chose to screw me over as a customer. I say to you beware, sooner or later this will happen to you.

Whenever I buy items stocked by Amazon itself:  
Web site is pretty accurate as to merchandise availability.  
Free shipping takes at least 3 business days to process before shipping out.  
Items arrive well packaged and in the stated condition (usually brand-new).  
Support staff has been improving; you give them your phone number, and they call you back pretty quickly.  
 
Whenever I buy items stocked by other merchants, listed through Amazon's web site:  
No free shipping, ever.  
Product availability is anyone's guess, had serious problems getting order shipped.  
Amazon is of no help when you have questions or want to return anything.  
 
In either case, Amazon will spam you even if you say you want no spam messages when you sign up.  

This review was modified by its author, towwang, on 1/22/10 4:48 PM.

Lied about shipping information. BUYER BEWARE! Shipping info is FALSE. I ordered two day shipping, and my order will not be here until the 1st of DEC!!!!!!! 5 days after shipping!  
 
RIPOFF!!!!!!

Just bought a Canon CanoScan 5000F Scanner,best price around, shipping and handling excellent, strongly recommend this company to buy goodies by internet meanings. I really am a very satisfied costumer !!!!!!!!!!!!  
 
 

This review was modified by its author, nestorgonzalez, on 12/15/03 3:41 PM.

Hi,  
I have been buying from amazon.com for more than 3 years now. Fortunately, I did not have to use their customer service much. A year back, I found some problem with the system (my order was being shipped separately and the sum was higher than the initial amount shown when I placed the order). They corrected it the next day after an email.  
Now, Iam having a problem with one of their promotional codes (if you buy certain items for $50, you get $10 back) -- I bought some items like that and they send me the code and I find that I am unable to use one of the codes for "$10". The system says "This offer has been redeemed". I have not used that offer and that promotional amount has not been applied to my order. I placed the order and did not see the promotion in the final order.  
I email the customer service and after 5 hours, I get a reply that is totally useless and they tell me that I need not enter the offer code multiple times. I had clearly stated the problem in my email to them and it seems to me that either they do not want to resolve the problem or have a bot replying emails with string matching. It appears that their customer service has gone down hill. I am not sure if they will resolve this issue.  
So everybody out there, watch out for these amazon promotions, they may send you code that would not work and in the end you may just get tired resolving it or the timeline to use that would expire before you resolve it and the net result would be that you have lost that money.  
 

This review was modified by its author, TheWiseOne, on 11/25/03 6:37 PM.

Was here to check rating of eCost.com (6.76 last 6 months--yuk!) and thought I would take a peek at Amazon.com's rating since I do a lot of business there--was shocked to see Amazon with a 5.4 rating!! I must be one lucky online shopper, because I've bought a ton of stuff from Amazon over the past 2 1/2 years and have never had what I consider a problem. (On one order in 10/03--Lord of the Rings Two Towers DVD--the delivery time was several days later than originally promised, BUT Amazon sent me an email to let me know. With their excellent prices and free shipping on many products, I don't mind being a little patient to get that video. I saw complaints here about customer service--I've written Amazon on about 4 occasions with questions about a product before ordering and got prompt replies. On the one occasion I emailed them after placing an order they replied promptly. I saw complaints here about their "third party" suppliers. The only one I've ordered from is Office Depot, and the experience was just fine. You have to read the details of these "partner" offers; many times I pass them up but I don't blame Amazon for these 3rd party issues. Shipping complaints? I've been consistently amazed that shipments have arrived ahead of promised delivery date. I shop a LOT and come back to Amazon about 90% of the time to get the best deal online.

This review was modified by its author, Broeux, on 11/25/03 7:05 PM.

I placed the order on Nov 10 , and it was shipped the next Nov 11.  
 
ver very fast !!!!!.

I ordered a 19" CRT monitor by Samsung on the 19th, and received it two days later - about 5 days earlier than their estimated time of delivery. I was skeptical at first due to the ratings on the net, but shopping with Amazon turned out to be super smooth. I would do business with them again.

I ordered a JVC XV-N44SL, DVD player.Got it in 13 days. Free shipping and no tax. Unit works great,plays SVCD and DVD slide shows burned with nero6,(my two other dvd players could not do this).This is my fourth order from Amazon, no problems, great order tracking, etc.

I have ordered many things from Amazon and have alway's been pleased. The products are great and thay have super fast shipping. I order all my Christmas and Birthday gifts from them and never have to walk into a crowded store. It can't get any easier than this.  
 
One more thing I wanted to add  
I got email from Amazon and was told that I was overcharged on my shipping and my tax and I would get credit back on my card. One week later I had the credit!!!!  
It can't get any better that this.  
I also ordered a gift for my wife on 12-11-03 and their email said it would arrive on the 23rd or 24th. I got it today 12-15-03. This is GREAT!!!!  
Thanks again Amazon!

This review was modified by its author, mikege, on 12/15/03 6:23 PM.

NOT PAYING ATTENTION TO TIGER DIRECT's FRAUD.  
Classic "Bait and Switch." I go to Amazon and find a "pen scanner" that looks good--the "Iris Pen II." Latest tech and software, better ratings than prior models. So I order one, and get redirected to TIGER DIRECT. They charge me for newest model AND SHIP ME OLDER MODEL. Turns out, they do not even have the newer model I ordered. They refuse to cooperate with the return of their mistaken product. FRAUD.

This review was modified by its author, counsel4pay, on 11/1/05 10:11 PM.

This was another great purchase from Amazon.com. I have used them in the past on several occasions, and they have always offered me a great product at a low price with fast, free shipping. Couldn't be happier.