We are both quite patient people but we really think we’re at the end of the line with our patience and not sure which way to go now.
At the beginning of October we ordered a SABRENT USB Hub Powered, 10 Port Docking Station from Amazon.fr - it was being shipped from Amazon.com. The item arrived and it is just what we are looking for except … it has a US power plug, not the French/European one advertised on the website. So we contacted Amazon chat and were told we must return the item and re-order another one. We said the item itself is good, it’s just the power plug that is wrong and anyway, how could we be sure that the same wouldn’t happen again. They did not answer this but just kept repeating we must return the item.
So we got on to Chat GPT (we call him 'arry - as in Ask 'arry) who told us we must not return the item and over the past several days we have contacted Amazon chat again and again with promises from them to get back to us with an answer by email. They have not got back to us and yesterday one of the supervisors gave us an email address to write to with our complaint (cs-reply@amazon.fr.) which turns out to be an invalid email address. 'arry advised us to send an email (again) through the Customer Service portal. We got an acknowledgement that they have received the email and would ‘reply typically within 6 hours’. That was 18 hours ago and we haven’t had any reply.
I cannot find any address on the web of a person or address we can email with our complaint. What annoys us most is that on no occasion has any of the Chat Agents answered our questions. They only give the stock replies that they know how frustrated we must feel but these are their rules. We’ve always had satisfaction when contacting Amazon Chat but this time, they’ve let us down considerably.
This?
As said by Spardo, change the plug. Not worth the effort to pursue a claim any further. Easier to replace a plug on a lead rather than return parcels, get further deliveries, etc.
And leave negative feedback to warn others. Sod’s Law says they will then ship a correct unit!
If you buy an electrical item from Amazon.com, Amazon.Au, Amazon.co.uk, and other Amazon sites outside Europe, then you are very likely it will come with the plug of the country in which the Amazon site is located, no matter what it says in the product description.
There are sometimes a few exceptions, but I would be very wary.
I’ve had really good service from Amazon recently. I had to return an insulated jug (I was so pleased I’d found a German-manufactured one) because it was damaged in the post. Madame took it to La Poste, with the label I’d printed. La Poste packaged it and sent it off, and a replacement was on its way to us within a couple of hours.
I’ve also had success with chat, as long as I persevere past the AI part and get a real person. But it often feels rather chancy.
If it is, then you need a new “wall wart” rather than just a plug, because the transformer and plug are a single item, and the plug at the adapter end needs to be centre-positive (if I read the label correctly) and deliver the correct voltage and current. It will cost around 10€.
My preference would be to have another go on the Chat, or even a simple return. If you don’t want the bother, then this is the sort of thing you need: Amazon.fr
Here’s another shout out for Amazon.fr, some may remember my failure to be able to return the Lenovo laptop recently, and they simply said ‘don’t bother, do what you like with it and here’s the full refund’.
And now, as related in Good News, I’ve got it going again. Can’t wait 'till bedtime, it is in there already, waiting for when at last I can read again before sleep.
Call them on the phone (01 74 18 10 38) - you’ll get a REAL person on the line, and who knows, they might tell you to keep the item and give you a refund. People work better than AI
Thank you all for your replies - and in no particular order :
@Franglais : This is exactly what we’ve got – the American plug. But the picture on the Amazon.fr listing definitely shows a French/European plug – that’s why we bought it! And yes, we will leave negative feedback about Amazon Chat, not the product which appears to be perfect and just what we want. And we’ve checked the output and it is 240v on the adapter with 12v output.
@P4PSB : we understand what you’re saying about buying from other Amazon sites but we bought the hub in good faith believing it had the European plug – after all, our address to send was in France.
@billybutcher : We didn’t think about the disclaimer regarding the fittings but we will make sure for definite next time we buy something from Amazon.fr where the item comes from another country. In fact, we’ve bought from Amazon.co.uk recently and the item came supplied with a European adapter.
@Corona : The transformer/adapter is definitely 240v.
@Porridge : As we said in our original posting, we have previously had excellent service from Amazon chat and goodness me did we persevere with this. We must have spent several hours on this and we were really disappointed that no-one has had the courtesy to reply to our emails. And your Ledmo item is just what we want.
@Juliet: unfortunately neither of us are very good on the phone for one reason or another. I know they would probably speak English but our brains don’t work fast enough to give an answer straight away to questions. That’s why we prefer the email/chat route.
@David_Spardo: we also have had Amazon say to us keep the item and we’ll send you another FOC. But one time, we got an invoice to say ‘pay for the item’ and we had to quote them the chat message which said keep the item, we’ll send another.
So we will contact Amazon chat again and say to them that they can put the whole thing to bed if they give us a gift voucher for 15€ to pay for the item that Porridge highlighted. I think that’s fair and is no less than we deserve for all our precious time we have wasted.
No help to you now, but since you ask, I would have used one of the many ‘figure of 8’ leads I have in a drawer. I rarely throw anything away.
The thing about Amazon’s procedures is that they are very rigid, but they work extremely well in my experience. It’s just a minor nuisance to have to go to La Poste or Spar. Both are handy for me, but not thesame for everyone, I realise.
Good luck with the €15 refund, they are available for €4.50 on Amazon .fr. But of course they might send you an American one.
Basically processes these days are straight-thru forward motion only. Businesses worked out that it costs less to avoid all forms of rework. They’d rather re-do the transaction, than mend.
Unfortunately that also means you have to redo the order. And send the whole product back and order a whole new product the same. Even if a change of a tiny part of it would be simpler. But that’s how it works.
Anything else is just going to stress you. By all means contact them / the seller proactively as soon as you place the replacement order, to add a note to avoid a repeat of same issue.
When I contact Amz Cust Services I either want to get it done quickly on Chat… Or if it’s at all complicated I click the “Call me now” option and they call me straight away. You can ask to be transferred to an English speaker (who often will turn out to be more skilled/senior). even if you ordered on a different country website.
No in some ways this is not the most sensible. But having bashed my head against this type of brick wall many times it is what works and above all doing it the way their process works causes you less stress.
If you checked the voltage and it works with a plug adapter - and you are happy it works fine- change the plug and keep it. After you change the plug amazon wont take it back.
If you are unhappy in any way just send it back without changing the plug. Very easy if its within 30 days of receipt. Then order new one.
I would avoid the stress and hassle of multiple engagements with amazon customer service for the cost of a plug. Life is too short!
