Amazon is No Longer What It Used to Be — Who is Next in Line to Beat Amazon?
I’m Considering Shopping Physically at the Stores instead of Online
My Go to Shopping Place is no Longer What it Used to Be
I am appalled with how negligent Amazon has gotten with choosing sellers. I remember placing orders on Amazon and not needing to return anything because most everything I ordered was of good quality. But these past couple of years, it’s been one return after another. While some are not a big deal to me, there are a couple that really hit a nerve. Here are just a couple of things purchased through Amazon that has really upset me.
The Quality and Craftmanship was Lacking
The first was a pair of sandals that I bought about a year ago. According to the description, they were Ethnic Style Bohemian Open Toe Women’s Wedge Sandals in leather priced at $37.99. Great price, huh? Judging by the image, they were beautiful. Therefore, I bought them. I had not been disappointed with Amazon just yet until I received this product.
First, it was not leather at all. It was a cheap vinyl. What looked like a beautiful leather cut flower with a button on the original Amazon image turned out to be a vinyl cut flower with some sort of pearly-looking blue button with rhinestones. The craftmanship was very poor. In the photos I provided, you could see the mismatch in the unions and seams of the sandals. The embellishments on the Amazon photo that are delicately carved were nothing other than a sloppy painted squiggly thing on the vinyl of the sandals. The bottom line is the ones I received were nothing like the one described or on the Amazon image.
Thankfully, Amazon worked with me and gave me a credit for the same amount because the seller did not want to refund my money. They wanted me to either return the sandals to China which would have cost me $72 or refund me $14 and keep the sandals. They even dared to tell me to give them away as a gift. Honestly, I would have been too embarrassed to gift them. I donated them to a Thrift Shop. They could either sell them, give them away, or throw them out if they wanted to.
The Mandala Yoga Room Night Light was Anything but Elegant
The second item to really disappoint me was a Mandala Yoga Room Night Light LED. This was outright ridiculously awful. It looked nothing like the image and the description is way off what it truly is. According to the Amazon ad, it is “Multilayered Laser Cut Carved LED Elegant Wooden Mandala Hanging MDF Panels Lamp Decoration.” First, it is not multilayered or carved whatsoever. Elegant? There’s nothing of elegance in this piece of crap. It has no wood, it is a piece of cheap acrylic. Here is more information on the product directly from the Amazon description:
1) “Mandala yoga room night light LED is lovely and high quality for lovers and friends. It will provide a stylish, modern, gorgeous, and beautiful look to your living rooms, bedrooms, homes, and offices.”
High quality? Are you kidding me? What kind of stuff do you buy to consider this crap high quality? I would be embarrassed to display it in any part of my home.
2) “We used 3mm plywood and acrylic, LEDs, R-Tech DC12V Power Adapter. No additional assembly is needed. Ready to hang.”
Well, if you used plywood, you left it out on this one because it had no plywood at all. Really? Ready to hang? How do we hang it? Do we tape it on the wall?
3) “This lamp is very economical; you can use it during the day and night. Has a dimmer and a wide range of brightness. Could be used like a night lamp or 24 hours accent piece in your room.”
There is no dimmer on it so I’m not sure how the “wide range of brightness” works.
4) “This product is half handmade with love, the other half is done by precise laser cutting technology.”
What do you call handmade? Placing the mandala sticker on it or the backing that attaches the lights to it? And, if it is half handmade with love, I don’t want to see what you make when you’re not in the mood to work.
5) “Mandala helps boost the immune system, reduce stress and pain, lower blood pressure, promote sleep, and ease depression. These symbols are used for meditation, prayer, and healing, and art therapy for both adults and children.”
Ya think? What I have experienced is a high level of stress, my blood pressure soar because of your misleading advertising, possibly a sleepless night tonight, and depression because I trusted you and was taken for a sucker.
iPhone Cover was Not What was Described
It did not end there. I needed to get a new phone case, so in early January, I ordered a magnetic buckle case with a screen protector and camera lens protector with double-sided tempered glass and a clear back metal bumper for my iPhone. It took about three weeks to arrive. It came in a fancy box which did not match the item purchased. Heck, the box seemed more expensive than the case.
What I found once I opened the fancy box was a plastic phone case — not tempered and there was no metal bumper anywhere on the case. Plus, there was a scratch on the plastic screen protector. I returned the item and requested a refund.
Amazon is No Longer What It Used to Be
I expect this kind of problem from Wish. But it seems Amazon has become another Wish.com. We are honest, hard-working people who put our trust and hard-earned money into a company that treats us like fools. I am happy Amazon honored my returns and refunded me promptly. But it is not what I want to continue doing each time I receive an order that is far from the description. I wonder what company is next to beat Amazon. For the time being, I will return to the stores physically and stop relying on Amazon.
