I placed an order on Amazon totalling £71.97. It never arrived. The package was marked as delivered, with the tracker showing it was handed to a receptionist. My block of flats doesn’t have a reception. Amazon insisted I obtain a crime reference number and a police report into the “theft”, before it could authorise a refund or replacements. The police informed me that, as there was no evidence of a crime, they could not provide a crime reference number. They mentioned they had been receiving an increasing number of calls from Amazon customers with the same request.
Amazon, however, told me that without the report and crime number it couldn’t help. At a time when the police are under significant pressure, Amazon’s insistence on reporting missing packages is, at best, in bad taste and, at worst, contrary to consumer rights and protections.
DO, South Lanarkshire
Consumer forums report others whose consumer rights have been hobbled by this outrageous request. Under existing legislation, a customer’s contract is with the seller, not the courier. That means that, if an order fails to arrive or turns up damaged or incomplete, the seller must offer redress, then sort it out themselves with the courier. Amazon knows this, of course. A police report would seem to be a red herring to stall complaints.
Not so, says Amazon, which insists a customer service agent had misinformed you and has received further training. There seems to be a fair few “misinformed” agents, given others who report the same experience. I pointed this out and asked why an agent would come up with such a requirement off their own bat, but there was no further response.
The good news is that, with a headline prodding its backside, it has belatedly contacted you. It says: “We’re sorry that this customer experience has fallen short of the high standards that we expect, the customer has been refunded in full.”
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