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Very OT:I ordered one 5/32 USA-made end mill on Amazon and got $1.5K of tools*

dgfoster

Diamond
Joined
Jun 14, 2008
Location
Bellingham, WA
Just a quick story. As the title says I needed a small end mill for a few-off job and ordered an end mill to make the cut. This was made by a USA maker and fulfilled by Amazon.

A couple days later a 5.5 pound box of tools arrives in my mailbox. It had stickers on it showing it originated from the supplier, was never opened by Amazon, and simply had a mailing label slapped on it and sent to me, inside were countless taps, tap holders, and end mills of all sizes including the one I ordered.

I called the manufacturer and had a nice chat with the sales rep. He recounted a tale of woes retailing through Amazon and yet continues due to marketing they provide. Understandable.

I put his box, as agreed, less one 5/32” 4-flute carbide end mill in a medium USPS flat rate box and shipped it back to him. He was grateful and reimbursed me, of course, and sent me a few extra bucks to enjoy a lunch somewhere.

Denis
 
I sometimes wonder if things like this aren't just ineptitude, but guerilla actions by some Amz employees peeved about their low pay.

But good for you doing the right thing.
 
An aside on a similar note.

Back in the day I got a parcel from one of my then new customers, (material tooling and drawings) ........and in the bottom of the carton was a very expensive looking gold ladies bracelet, ......which on closer inspection had the clasp broken, ...........it had probably got snagged etc etc, and was of ''a good weight'' and 14 carat gold etc etc.

Of course the thought of ''finders keepers'' went through my mind, .......but I rang my customer, and yes, in the hustle and bustle of the day - in order to get it away on time the guvnas secretary had packed my parcel.

Suffice to say the lady was beyond overjoyed that her bracelet had been found, ............and it came to pass that my honesty and phone call paid in both kind and hard £££, far more than I'd ever got for the bracelet.
 
............and it came to pass that my honesty and phone call paid in both kind and hard £££, far more than I'd ever got for the bracelet.

Knew you were good stock, Sami ...Bolshevik politics quite aside!

:)

It gets weirder. All-hands 40 and more years gone, so.. where's the harm?

As National Service Manager for a hearing aid maker, a "problem customer" was the King of exclusive RCA distributors for the region. Fix his hearing aids, a then rare and costly RCA colour TV would arrive as a "tip", and damned if he would stand a refusal!

- First go, I thanked him on behalf of our IBEW Local. I can't take "gifts". So I had it put up in the staff canteen!

- He then tried to "escalate" with an RCA FM receiver! Which - by MY standards - were garbidge! I sent that one back to his firm.

Finally BROKE him of the habit by sending HIM a set of Swedish-made "neck glasses".

Think of a wineglass on a leather thong one hangs around the neck so as to not spill whilst grabbing food. Or wimmin'... etc.

That worked. Got a note as to what a HIT they had been at a cocktail party.

Thereafter?

He quit trying to "show-off".... and got the same service at the same flat price as impoverished seniour citizens, more than one US President. Or widow-of.
 
Stocking your Amazon Fulfilled by Amazon account isn't the easiest process in the world. More than likely your seller just screwed up and sent you the stock that was destined for Amazon. It could have been just the wrong label put on the box even.

I did get a surprise in an Amazon shipment once. CM (chain hosts) had been putting their weird stock on Amazon and letting Amazon auto price it to sell it. Stuff like a chain host with 10ft of lift and 50ft of the hand chain. So I was buying some great stuff for really really cheap. In with one of the chain falls there was a printout of a e-mail to an employee giving them CM's Amazon login information and instructions on how add inventory to Amazon. With that login it would have been possible to just set the price on whatever they sold to whatever I wanted and buy it. Of course I didn't do that. I sent a note to the sender of the (printed) e-mail and told them. Never heard back. But presumably they don't send their Amazon credentials with their orders any more.
 
Stocking your Amazon Fulfilled by Amazon account isn't the easiest process in the world. More than likely your seller just screwed up and sent you the stock that was destined for Amazon. It could have been just the wrong label put on the box
.

Nope, the “paper trail” provided by the shipping labels clearly showed the original shipment to Amazon and Amazon’s subsequent erroneous shipment to me of the unopened box.

That box represented a lot of hours paid and tooling consumed to get that order out the door. It would have been a significant hit to the vendor. I would not be the least surprised if the value of the cutting tools was much more than my wild guess. It could not have been less. 5.5 pounds is a lot of smallish carbide cutting tools.

Denis
 
Not in quite tha same league, but I sent my Samsung Xcover 4S (£190, allegedly robust, IP68 etc.) off for repair because the casing had cracked in three places.
They claimed that it could only happen from impact damage and dinged me for £45. Totally wrong, but I didn't tell them that it was actually solvent damage.
The repairers sent back someone else's £950 Note 20 Ultra 5G ...

TWICE!

Only just got it sorted out. I was amused by the whole experience, but I bet the other guy wasn't quite as happy.
 
About Amazon, once upon a time a friend told me, "If you play in the toilet you get shit on your hands."

Or maybe, more simply, “shit happens.” Amazon gets it right and does so quickly 99% of the time, in my experience. Particularly during this epidemic, they have been an essential service to my household. The intent of this post was not to disparage a company that provides goods at competitive prices, with orders promptly and nearly always accurately filled, and has a generous return policy. I, actually, am amazed at the range of goods provided and the efficiency of their operation. Can fault be found with them? Sure. Believe me, I come in contact people who are fault-finding experts. But, I avoid them...

Denis
 
Sometimes doing the right thing can be an uphill battle.

Some years ago I bought a used Toyota. Shortly thereafter it showed a warning light which flagged the cable to the airbag as defective. Replacement would have been $800 and I'm studious about seat belt use so just blew it off. Several years pass and the car is in a parking lot accident and as part of the repairs they note the inoperative airbag cable and replace it. Insurance pays less $200 deductible.

The next chapter is a letter from Toyota about defective air bag cables and a request to have it returned to the dealer. So I take it in and verify that the cable now installed is the one to be installed under warranty and suggest marking it off as done. No way, they say. No matter what, they must take out whatever is in place now, install a new one and check off for Toyota USA. Now this kind of annoys me. It's a waste of time and money if they replace it now, and fraud by the dealership if they don't actually replace it since they know it's now right. And maybe it's a gravy deal for them with what Toyota pays for the job.

At home and looking at the Toyota recall, I see that they say if you've had it replaced yourself already, you can file for a refund. So I do. I've got the papers from the accident repair showing the work done and the cost to replace it. After some time Toyota sends a check for $200 as the only money I was really out of pocket since the earlier work had been paid by insurance.

Okay, that $200 should go back to the insurance company since they really paid for it and my out of pocket deductible was a legitimate charge for the rest of the work. Now it's my insurance agent's turn to be puzzled. People don't ordinarily try to give them any money except the premiums and they sometimes have a hard time getting those. This entails some looking up in procedures and telephone calls to headquarters and finally a hoped-for right place to send it the $200. I don't know what ever came of that but it was a damned sight more work to try to set it straight than just to pocket the change. No good deed goes unpunished.
 
Limi did you fix the clasp or was it a bit too small and delicate to mess with? When I borrow a tool I always try to return it cleaned up, freshly sharpened, full of gas and oil etc.
Bill D
 
I got a phone call several years ago. "If you get something in the mail that you didn't order, it's yours to keep, right?". What did you get? A box with four brand new revolvers in it. The guys neighbor was a gunsmith and the box had gotten delivered to the wrong address.

I said, "Can you be any more stupid?". Why did you open it if it was addressed to your neighbor? I didn't have my glasses on when I opened it. I suggested that he carefully tape it back up and call Fedex and have them stop and pick it up so that they could deliver it to it's rightful owner. Nobody needs that kind of trouble.
 
Okay, I'm going to bite-just WTF is Trotsyite?

Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist and Bolshevik–Leninist. He supported founding a vanguard party of the proletariat, proletarian internationalism and a dictatorship of the proletariat based on working class self-emancipation and mass democracy. Trotskyists are critical of Stalinism as they oppose Joseph Stalin's theory of socialism in one country in favor of Trotsky's theory of permanent revolution. Trotskyists also criticize the bureaucracy that developed in the Soviet Union under Stalin.

REF Trotskyism - Wikipedia
 
Nope, the “paper trail” provided by the shipping labels clearly showed the original shipment to Amazon and Amazon’s subsequent erroneous shipment to me of the unopened box.

No, it definitely could still be the seller who screwed up. As an FBA seller you can instruct Amazon that you are sending a box that they don't need to further process If didn't have their stock packaging setup correctly, Amazon could easily under their outside carton to be the sellable unit and not have any reason to open the box. Stocking Amazon as an FBA seller is not a simple process.
 








 
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