Thursday, January 9, 2014

An ethical dilemma

I am an honest person. I hate coercement. I am feeling pressured to do something that I believe is wrong.

Here is the dilemma. I ordered a gift for my nephew on Amazon from an Amazon market place seller. It arrived broken - wires were not connected  - not that it was smashed in transit. My brother tried to fix it. My nephew really liked it. They gave it back to me.

I was asked by Amazon to review my order and I gave it one star and said I was returning it because it didn't work.

I filed a claim with the seller who didn't respond in the three to five days or whatever time frame Amazon specifies. So I upgraded it to a complaint at Amazon where I received a quick reply and a promise to refund my money if I don't hear from the seller.

Yesterday when I came home from work I had an email telling me to modify my rating. Then I received a phone call telling me once I modify my rating they will give me a refund and I do not need to return the product. However they cannot issue a refund while feedback is present. And they did not leave their name.

So they want me to remove the negative rating and will issue me a refund. That way they get to keep a clean record with Amazon - which is important fro sellers because no one wants to buy products from a seller with unresolved issues.

I could just  take a refund from Amazon and ignore them. I could change my review (which I prefer not to do) and get the refund.

What would you do? The honest route is for the seller give me labels to ship back the product and then to issue me a refund.

4 comments:

Dana11811 said...

Caroline, This is a dilemma. I would be tempted to type another review explaining that you're being forced by the seller to change your semi-negative review before they will agree to refund your money for a damaged product. Also, I would tell them you’ll gladly change the review when things are handled in a professional manner. Seems unethical to me. They should simply ask if you’ll kindly agree to updating your review once you are satisfied. I would turn this company in to Consumer Affairs and Amazon. Can I ask which seller?

Unknown said...

Been in an almost identical situation with E-bay. It's been a while so I can't remember if I even got a refund but I refused to change my comments..............

Anonymous said...

Honestly, I would report the seller to Amazon. There is no way that I would modify my feedback. I see this that you are giving honest accounting of the transaction (not being spiteful--just honest), so why would you edit that?

Caroline said...

I did file a claim with Amazon and quoted their phone message to me where they did not leave a name and told me they could not issue a refund if there was any feedback. I hate scummy people. Thanks for all the support.

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