Amazon dispute - counterfeit product & complete customer service failure. Synology DS923+ NAS
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- Опубліковано 6 вер 2024
- I purchased a Synology DS923+ NAS but what I received was a DS923+ case with 5-year-old DS918+ components inside. When I discovered the fraud, I contacted Amazon Customer Service. After a lengthy discussion, since they did not have any replacements, I was instructed to buy one from a 3rd party vendor on Amazon for $180 more. I was assured, in writing, that if I did so, once I received the new unit, I could simply call back and they would refund the $180 difference. When I called back, they reneged and said the best they could do was give me a $100 customer appreciation credit. I declined stating I wanted the $180 I was promised and the eventually hung up on me without refunding anything!
To make matters worse, once I returned the original unit, they charged me a $93 restocking fee! How can they charge me to restock a counterfeit product????
UPDATE: After sending letters to top executives at Amazon, I received a response from a representative for their chief counsel. Typical boiler plate response of "sorry we screwed up" and "thank you for taking the time to bring this to our attention". THEN, he said: "The best I can offer you for this problem you had is $25 promotional certificate". REALLY? $25? I turned down $50, $75 & $100 and now they offer $25? Quite frankly, I think this response was actually mocking me and making light of something that I deem very important!
The next day, I received a response from a representative for the CEO. She again apologized and thanked me, then did math to calculate the difference between the 2 items, plus the restocking fee and came up with a number of $273.68. She then deducted the $25 that was given to me the previous day and said she would issue a refund on my credit card for the remaining balance of $248.68.
The really funny thing is that within an hour I received a notification on my phone that Amazon had completed my refund of $100. Then moments later I received notification that my refund of $150 had been completed. The crazy part is that these refunds were issued on two completed unrelated items that I had recently purchased! I hope I don't need to return those items!!!
UPDATE: After sending letters to top executives at Amazon, I received a response from a representative for their chief counsel. Typical boiler plate response of "sorry we screwed up" and "thank you for taking the time to bring this to our attention". THEN, he said: "The best I can offer you for this problem you had is $25 promotional certificate". REALLY? $25? I turned down $50, $75 & $100 and now they offer $25? Quite frankly, I think this response was actually mocking me and making light of something that I deem very important!
The next day, I received a response from a representative for the CEO. She again apologized and thanked me, then did math to calculate the difference between the 2 items, plus the restocking fee and came up with a number of $273.68. She then deducted the $25 that was given to me the previous day and said she would issue a refund on my credit card for the remaining balance of $248.68.
The really funny thing is that within an hour I received a notification on my phone that Amazon had completed my refund of $100. Then moments later I received notification that my refund of $150 had been completed. The crazy part is that these refunds were issued on two completed unrelated items that I had recently purchased! I hope I don't need to return those items!!!
For the refund, I'd just do a chargeback with my bank, and not even return the unit. I'd ask them to come pick it up themselves because I'm not mailing counterfeit products.
@ignisfreak, thank you for your comment! The chargeback idea is interesting, I had never thought of that! I did already send the counterfeit unit back, but I wish I could have destroyed it! I taped a large note to the unit stating that reselling the unit would be violation of federal law and the unit may be evidence in a federal investigation, but it would not surprise me if they put it back on the shelf and sold it to someone else! I did not return the original packaging at least!
@@wodzilla33 Just remember it's standard practice for a company to permanently ban any customer that does a chargeback.
@@wodzilla33 I would have used a permanent silver felt pen to write "Counterfeit" across the top before returning it. I leave similar markings on any defective, incomplete, or counterfeit item so that they can't restock it, along with a taped-on printed note describing exactly what is wrong and how to quickly diagose it. The chap in the returns department is not going to be an expert on all of the company's products nor will they know about all of your customer service dealings.
@@Solkre82 Interesting, I did not know that!
@@mytech6779 That is a brilliant idea! I wish I had thought of that because I simply taped the note on there so they probably pulled off the note, tossed it in the trash and put the unit back on the shelf! :-( Thanks for the great feedback, I will keep that in mind in the future!!!
I’m sorry that happened to you. One thing I personally do is return item of high value within the return period. I ordered my DS1821+ with eight drives all from Amazon and did the setup and configuration before the return period was over just in case something went wrong with the equipment. Thanks for sharing and standing on principle.
@myoozikismylife, thank you for your reply! That is critically important to verify things during the return window and fully make sure they work! This was challenging since I could not see that the insides were different, and while using the device it appeared to work perfectly fine! I couldn't tell that it had a different motherboard and processor or that it was 5 years old! If I had paid closer attention though I could have noticed that the back plate was missing the expansion port! Live and learn! I assure you I will pay very close attention on day 1 from now on!!!
I feel your pain. I would have returned the fake one on the first interaction with Pat, purchased the legit one and forget about the price difference. Our time is more valuable.
@rsucre, thank you for your response! LOL, I have to tell you that is pretty much the response I get from all "normal" people! I get it, the whole "time is money" thing and the cost of getting so stressed out about something! My Dad was an old Irishman that would never let anything like this go and fought against many perceived "wrongs" his entire life. For good or bad, much of his blood flows through my veins too and apparently it has a pretty low boiling point LOL! As a result, I just can't let something like this go and I have to fight just on principal. Fortunately, my wife is the same way so she supported me all along...even when I was ranting and venting! And I just posted an update that after writing letters to top execs at Amazon, they finally refunded me $25 (insulting), then the next day refunded $250 to cover the exact amount of my dispute. Of course with the time I wasted on the phone, writing letters and making a UA-cam video, that probably works out to about 50 cents per hour, but again...it is the principal!!! ;-)
Amazon issues aside, im impressed the ds918 and ds923 chassis are the same, since the motherboards are custom and not exactly standard mini itx... Besides finding out the specs were wrong, did any of the hard slots or usb ports not work? I believe those are seperate daughterboards
Thank you for your reply! That is true, it is rather impressive they are the same. I did notice that the USB port on the back of the unit also did not work. That would make sense like you said, separate daughterboards. I have never heard the term "daughterboards" either! ;-)
Crazy! I usually have a pretty decent time with Amazon customer service, but that was always within the return window. Just need to verify the purchase right after I receive something, just to be on the safe side.
@BigTime817, thank you for your reply! I have also had very good experiences with customer service, but like you said, most of the time I am within the return window! Several years ago I had a problem with something outside of the return window and it was something that cost about $200. Since it was outside, that was 100% on me, but the person I talked to was outstanding! She looked at my account and said "you are a VERY good customer, so let me fix this for you!" That gave me such a positive experience, especially when I was outside of the rules and I would have totally understood them saying "sorry", but that CSR went above and beyond and left such a positive impact on me. Fast forward several years and I encounter this!!! They could have refunded me $180 and turned this into a positive experience, but no, they had to do this! Ironically, because I did a letter writing campaign to shed light on this, you can see in my latest update that they ended up refunding me $25, then $250, so ultimately I did get back the money that I disputed. But, instead of this being a positive experience, it took 2 months, caused me a great deal of stress and resulted in this UA-cam video that I will leave up for eternity. And as of today, 1 week after posting, over 700 total strangers have heard my side of this ugly dispute!
Great customer service is so important and so hard to find!
I've never had a good experience with Amazon customer service. They just pass you around until you give up. I've even sent them their own words and their policies back at them, and it still didn't go anywhere. I got screwed.
If you have the time, just keep calling, sending messages, and pursue legal action.
@brianlewis6853, thank you for the reply! I have been fortunate to have had pretty good customer service in the past. It is difficult to phone a phone number, and even more difficult to get a human to speak to, but I have had positive customer service experience...until this nightmare! I just posted an update that after writing letters to top execs, I received a $25 refund (insulting), then the next day received a $250 refund to cover the disputed amount. Legal action was my next step!
Thats weird. Ive had them just refund money and tell me to keep items. Peoples experiences with their CS is wildly inconsistent.
I hope you get enough subs and become internet famous enough to cause amazon to give a shit about that matter of $80 they stole from you
@isbestlizard, thank you for your response! Actually, since I never received the $50, $75 or $100 that Olivia offered, they stole $180 from me...then another $93 for the restocking fee. I don't know if they saw my UA-cam videos, but see my latest update in the comments. After writing letters, I received a $25 refund, then the next day I received a refund for $250 to cover the remainder of the disputed amount.
LG screwed me over in a similar way with a refrigerator. The whole deal from hitting confirm purchase to 6 months later was the worst customer service I have ever experienced from any company. I will never buy another LG item of any category ever again (even used, just to drive down the resale value).
2 months late delivering, arrived dented and they wouldn't adjust the price or send a repairman with a replacment part; Every call was several hours on hold. Said I could ship it back... started sending me around the phone-tree in circles.
Never got the issue resolved, so I have a dinged and damaged fridge because I didn't want to screw around sending it back. I should have done a chargeback but i was too late giving them chance after chance.
It has proven defective in other ways since then, too much plasticizer in the interior so the plastic shrank and heavilly cracked after a year.
Thank you for the reply. That is the true nightmare scenario! You had to go through all of that and still no resolution. So sorry to hear of your experience! For what it is worth, I will avoid LG in the future as well!
Take them to small claims, they wont show and if they do you have documents to prove your case.
@jncojoke, thank you for your reply! I just posted an update that after writing letters to top execs, I received a $25 refund (insulting), then the next day received a $250 refund to cover the disputed amount. Although that was my primary goal, a little extra would have been nice for the many hours I spent on the phone dealing with horrible customer service reps! If they didn't resolve this, I did plan to file a small claims complaint. If I had done that I would have included more money for all of the time I wasted and the stress that I had to deal with during this ordeal! It was almost 2 months to the day from my initial phone call with Pat until I received the refund!
They offered a refund, why didn’t you get the refund and reorder? Don’t understand what your issue is.
I think I mentioned that. They offered a refund but I couldn't reorder for the same cost, the new cost was significantly higher ($180). That was the main issue!
This is just one of many stories about people receiving fake products from Amazon. I don't mean to be rude, but how smart are you if you keep returning to the dog that bit you? I'm in an industry where a fake item could have disastrous results for my clients. Based on stories like yours, I N--E-V-E-R buy anything from Amazon that is critical or for which I don't mind losing my money. I'm getting ready to buy a Synology NAS, too, but buying it from Amazon, in my opinion, is like buying sushi from a gas station. I'll buy it from a reputable seller, which some people don't believe Amazon is anymore.
LOL. No problem, not rude calling it like you see it! I hear ya, the old expression of doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different outcomes! However, the vast majority of my purchases have been positive and Amazon is super convenient so I suppose that is why I return. It is sad though that as they continue to grow, attempt to improve bottom line, and have poor management decisions, the quality of the brand is definitely taking a hit! As these stories happen more and more people (including me) will go elsewhere more often. Sadly, no place is immune from this. I have also had nightmare issues with BestBuy, Fry's Electronics, Circuit City and even Mom & Pop places, although those rarely exist any more. I suppose the old phrase "buyer beware" is alive and well...ESPECIALLY at Amazon! :-(
Fight for you moeny. Getting fobbed off and accepting a credit or voucher. Thats all money in the profit margins for Amazon.
Yep! I just posted an update that after writing letters to top execs at Amazon, they finally refunded me $25 (insulting), then the next day refunded $250 to cover the exact amount of my dispute. It took 2 months from initial contact, and they refunded exactly what I disputed, nothing more! So sad that all they had to do was refund $180 in the beginning it would have been sufficient and I'm pretty sure it would not have hurt their bottom line since they had revenue of $143B for Q1 of 2024!
The original price refund should have been acceptable and been on your way
But then I would have had 2 hard drives that I spent $500 for that would be completely useless!
One time I ordered some paint and I got a empty package, had to do a return and sent the empty package with return inside got my money back
Thanks for the reply. Ahh, it sounds like you got that new clear dehydrated paint! It is VERY rare!!! LOL Isn't that crazy? Makes you wonder what went wrong at the factory that day and how often that happens! 2 different times I have purchased 12-packs of coke and found that one of the cans was completely empty. They were sealed still so it isn't like they leaked, they just somehow missed the filling nozzle! You would think it would be easy to have an automated scale at the end of the assembly line to make sure the product weighs the expected amount!
Take them to small claims court
I think that would have been a very viable option and I would have been able to add additional costs and probably would have received it. That was going to be my next step if they didn't "make it right".
You may think you are a good Amazon customer. Amazon does not care about you at all.
@Yandarval, thank you for your response! So true! I think I am a good customer, but they have many millions and billions of dollars so they do not care much for any one customer....and they seem to care less every day! That is the truly sad part!!!
Can you take them to small claims court?
@hypnotize5344, thank you for your reply! Yes, that was my next step! In Arizona, small claims court is for anything up to $2k or $3k and can be done without a lawyer. I just posted an update that after writing letters to top execs at Amazon, they finally refunded me $25 (insulting), then the next day refunded $250 to cover the exact amount of my dispute. After writing the letters, my plan was to take them to small claims court. I am a bit stubborn and strongly believe in principles, so I was not going to let this go without a fight!!!
Just a comment to push the views 👍🏻 Olivia is a B
@HaroldKuilman, thank you for the response and I totally agree! :-)