[Resolved]  Amazon India — refund not issued/denied for cancelled/undelivered order

Address:	Bangalore, Karnataka
Website:	www.amazon.in

Hi,
I am deepak kumar, a prime customer with amazon. I have placed an order in amazon on 03rd oct, 2018 with the order id:[protected]. It was a hard disk and a mobile holder and as per amazon it was a third party seller named "jalaram store". Before placing an order with the third party seller i had contacted the amazon chat support to know the details of the seller and wanted to know whom to contact in case of any issues. The chat support person gave an assurance that amazon will take all the responsibility and all the sellers are amazon verified and trusted sellers. After that i placed the order.
I got a tracking number from the seller on 4th oct, 2018 and the tracking reference number is cg[protected]in belonging to india post. Since then i was trying to get the details of the shipment which i was not able to get as there was no information and it was saying "consignment not found" in india post site.
After waiting for few days, i raised a request to the seller on 10th oct, 2018
Dear sir,
I am trying to track the details of the consignment for a long time but not able to get. Its been more than 3-4 days but no info. Please help me tracking the details.
Indiapost doesnt show any information.

For which i got a reply,
It will tracked from friday (Oct 12th) as we reshipping it and updating new tracking id.

I waited for the same and did not receive any mail with new tracking details on 12th oct. So i sent a mail to the seller on 14th oct,
Dear sir,
It is like 10 days you have given a tracking number but nothing is updated till now. Upon contacting last time u had told me that by friday a new tracking detail will be available. But unable to find anything. Can u please update the details.

The seller replied back on the same day with,
We will deliver the product to door step at expected delivery date provide while ordering. Generally product takes 7 to 9 days for delivery and in some cases it may delay and for same we will inform before delivery date.

I contacted the customer care just because the seller had not responded back with the tracking number. Even after a mail initiated from the customer care end, the seller did not provide the tracking reference number.

Again on 15th oct, 2018 i had contacted the customer care and requested for cancellation of the product as the seller hasn't given any valid tracking number even after 12 days. A mail was sent to the seller from customer care end like,
We've been contacted by one of our mutual customers regarding an order placed with your store. Below is the information provided by the customer:
Reason: cancel order
Details: customer do not want the item, as its being delayed a lot. So please cancel the item and process refund for the item. Customer do not want it. Please do it as soon as possible.

I also added a note on the same ack mail as,
Dear sir,
I have been patiently waiting for the order since oct 3rd. It was promised by you last time that a new tracking information will be provided on friday, 12th oct. But nothing was provided nor the details of the shipment was not updated for the tracking number given initially. Hence i humbly request you to cancel the product and process the refund as soon as possible and im no longer ready to wait for the product due urgent requirement. Hope to have a smooth transaction now and further.

After this i got a reply from the seller that,
Dear buyer,
We apologize for delay in delivery of product as we assure the
Delivery of product between 19 to 20 october.
It is humble request to co-operate us so we can deliver product
On above delivery date.
We are always there for resolution.

I replied back with,
Dear sir,
I was ready to wait for the delivery as per the message you had sent on oct 10th. "it will tracked from friday as we reshipping it and updating new tracking id".
I was patiently waiting for an update and then there was no update from your side with the new tracking details. Its been 3 days since friday still no new tracking number was provided. Because of this and due urgent requirement, i had to order a new hard disk from a different seller and im getting it delivered by the end of the day.
So i kindly request you to take this cancellation request and process the refund. Hope we will have a smooth transaction.

Again on 17th, oct 2018 i had contacted the customer care to know the status of the cancellation and refund and the executive told me that the seller hasn't responded back within 24 hrs regarding cancellation and so she is raising an a to z claim for the same.

I got a reply from the a to z claim team like,
Hello,
We are sorry you have not received order[protected]. Our team is investigating your a-to-z guarantee claim of rs.3, 068.00 and will get back to you.
You can check the status of your claim by visiting your account.in the "orders" section, click "your orders". Look for this order in the list and click “file/view claim”.
To learn more about the a-to-z guarantee, refer to our help pages: https://www.amazon.in/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=[protected]
Sincerely,
The amazon a-to-z guarantee team

I contacted customer care again on 20th to check the status and they initiated mail to seller,
Details: kindly cancel the order as customer doesnt want the product. Kindly cancel the order and we can cancel the claim once refund is issued to customer.
Seller replied back as,
As a prepaid and self ship order we dispatch it in 24 hours and provide details forward to courier partner so we will try our best to cancel it or another thing is you can refuse delivery for cancellation.

I replied back to the seller as,
Dear sir,
Thank you very much for your response for the concern raised. I agree to the fact that its a prepaid order and you have dispatched the product already, but i would like to ask you one simple question. Why the tracking number doesnt show any records and it says "consignment details not found". (Below image is for your reference). I have received many products through india post and the delivery was smooth along with the details of the product very much traceable.in this case, its completely hidden/ unavailable for the past 16 days since the tracking number was provided. See this from the perspective of the buyer, it will be like the tracking number is completely fake/wrong and again you had agreed that a new tracking number will be provided last friday which did not happen and that is the reason i had to raise a request for cancellation and have bought a new hard disk already.
I really appreciate your effort for having posted the hard disk in a competitive price but because of no proper response i was forced to cancel the product. I hope you understand the issue from my side as well and take a bit more effort to cancel the product and issue me a refund at the earliest. This will help to increase your credibility.

The seller replied back as,
We are working for the issue occurred and it is faced by many india post regions not to all so request to wait till we deliver it as per date

Then i have replied to the seller one last time as,
Dear sir,
I have made my point very clear "cancel the order & issue me refund". I have told many times due to this issue, i have already bought a new one and i cant afford one more. You are expecting the customer to understand the issues faced by you and inefficiency of your courier partner. I have all right to cancel the product before the delivery and i have requested for the order cancellation on oct 16, well before the delivery date and that doesnt even matter as the tracking number provided by you is wrong and doesnt give any details.
I am saying once again i donot want the product and i only need the refund for the product. Dont again start afresh asking me to wait for the delivery date as its a fault from your side by not giving the right information to the customer since oct 4th. I am not ready to wait anymore. I hope this will be the last correspondence in this regard and refund will be issued at the earliest.

The seller finally on 20th oct replied back as,
We processed the refund for unfullfilable order and will be credited in 3 to 5 working days.

After 2 days i got a mail from a to z guarantee team that,
Hello,
We have denied your a-to-z guarantee claim on order[protected]. A claim can be denied for many reasons but the most common ones are listed on our help pages.
If you would like to appeal this decision, visit your account.in the "orders" section, click "your orders". Look for this order in the list and click “file/view claim”. On the next page, click “appeal decision” and follow the on-screen instructions. We may ask you for more information throughout our investigation. Failure to respond within 3 days will mean your appeal is denied.

This mail was very much shocking to me as the entire fault was with the seller and the amazon yet nobody contacted me asking for the issue but they have cancelled/ denied the claim and that too i haven't raised that from my side. I replied back like,
Dear sir/madam,

I had requested for cancellation well before the delivery date on 16th oct itself. Seller had agreed for the cancellation and he informed me on 20 oct that refund is processed from his side and will be credited within 3 to working days. Please check the status and process the refund as informed by the seller.
How can you say you have resolved the claim without giving a resolution for the customer who has all the right to cancel a product and request for a refund well before the delivery date. I have informed the seller also that i will deny the delivery form my side.

A to z team replied back on 23rd stating,
We have closed your claim for order[protected] because the order is not eligible for coverage.
To be eligible for coverage, the day you file the claim must be 3 days past the maximum estimated delivery date.

(This is not the right way to respond as they have a confirmation that the seller had accepted the cancellation and had issued refund as per the mail i received.)

I again contacted customer care to know the status of the refund and it was forwarded to the seller and he had replied back that "it will get tomorrow".

I patiently waited till 29th oct and again sent a mail to the seller as,

Dear seller,
As per your mail, the refund was supposed to be credited on friday, 26th oct. Since i have no message from the bank regarding the credit of the money or even a refund confirmation message/mail from your side, i would like to know the status as this is not the right way. You had promised to pay the money back within 3 to 5 working days and that was on 20th oct and today is 29th. I hope you understand the criticality of the situation and credit the money by the end of the day.

The seller again replied back stating,
Dear buyer
We issued refund for undelivered order which will credited within 3 to
5 working days. Humble request to apologize.

I told the seller that,
Dear sir,
The same you have sent to me before 9 days. Below screenshot is the mail you have sent to me on 20th oct stating refund is processed. Now again you are asking me to wait for 3 to 5 working days. You are holding my money for more than 25 days and this is not the right thing you do. Do not test the patience of the customer. Hope you understand.

(Again he replied back with the same mail).

After this i contacted the customer care and i had to wait for 1 hour to get the call connected to the escalations-manager who again asked me to narrate the entire story and i had told him completely what had happened and he asked told me that a gia form/claim (Guarantee investigation claim) has to be raised and within 12 hours i will get a response and i have to reply back on the same then the process will start and it will take max 2 weeks for the resolution. I did not agree to wait for 2 weeks and asked him to mention in the form that problem has to be resolved within 3 working days. I got a mail after waiting for another 30 mins on call that,

As per our conversation guarantee investigations assistance form filled, you will receive a response to this form within 12 hours.
As per your request you need the refund to be done within 3days but as per process inform to wait for 01-02weeks post confirmation from cx side. And no commitment done from our end.

As per the mail, i again waited for 12 hours and i did not get a response i sent a mail again asking for the refund status, it sent me a automated mail asking me to wait for 6 hours for response which did not happen and finally after 25 hours after the mail commitment that i will get a response from buyer guarantee team, i again called the customer care to know the status. Again it took a long time to get connected to manager-escalations and he never gone through the case history properly and was again questioning me. Finally after few conversations asking for the status he told that its their duty to forward the issue/mail sent and we have no job in the response part which was a really hurting answer for a person waiting for so long trusting amazon would resolve the issue for the self/seller issue. And after that he again asked me to write to buyer-guarantee team directly for the resolution.

I had wasted my time, money everything contacting customer care for hours together and finally they say we have nothing to do with this and the other team does not even respond back.

I have never ever faced this much of harassment from any customer service end. Amazon does not care for their customer that too even if its their prime customer.

I want my money back.