Cindy H.

On December 5th I ordered a present for a 7 year old boy. The product was in stock and I was GUARANTEED delivery between December 13 - 23. On the 16th I had a "Chat" with a customer Serve Rep as the product still had not shipped. They told me not to worry and GUARANTEED that the product would ship before December 23,2019. I had a "Chat" again on December 20th expressing my concern that the product had not shipped. And again they GUARANTEED that the product would be shipped by December 23. On December 22 when I checked my email in the morning, they had sent an email saying that the product would not ship and they do not know when it will. Seriously?! I had another "Chat" and was told that it was my fault as I should have looked if there was a guaranteed delivery date - I did, I had already provided this information in the chat. I asked for a Rep more senior and she spent 3 hours flipping between "It is your fault you should have checked the delivery date" and "you should check that an item is in stock before you order". I asked her to re-read the script of our chat and she can see that it was a GUARANTEED delivery date which I again confirmed on the 16th and 20th and that the item was in stock!

She then proceed to tell me that with Amazon that if they have 50 items in stock that they will take 100 orders for it - all saying that the item is in stock. Then the first 50 will be delivered and the remaining 50 will get an "Out of Stock" email, even though it was listed as being in stock when the customer purchased it.

She told me to look else where for my product - 2 days before Christmas. I told her to refund my bank so that I could shop elsewhere and she insisted that I had not been charged. I copied the transaction from my bank statement and she told me to take it up with the bank as they placed a hold on my funds. She said that it is not their responsibility - apparently nothing is!

They offered me a 30% compensation, which in no ways covers a gift for Christmas.

I asked her to put it in my bank account. She says that she cannot do that because she does not have access to my account. Really? Because I paid with my bank card, you had no problem taking the money? But now, you will not give me any compensation unless I use it to buy more from you?!

So it is 2 days before Christmas, this little boy is not getting a gift, I don't have the funds to purchase one and Amazon sends a message to me "Sorry to hear about your concerns, please shop with us again"!

I asked her many times what good is 3 delivery date GUARANTEES and she refuses to answer my question.

I asked for the name of the Director / VP of her Department and she says for Security reasons she refuses to give them, and tells me to research it on Google.

I ask for their Ombudsman and she provides one in London, England. Hmmm, that may be out of Canadian jurisdiction.

I ask for the contact details for their industry regulator and she provides details for someone in USA. Again, thinking this may be out of Canadian jurisdiction.

How much of a deplorable organization do you have to be to keep someone waiting for a product for 17 days just before Christmas, take their money, knowing full well that you did not have enough stock to fulfill the order, but guarantee delivery 3 times and then send a sly email late at night saying that you can't do so 2 days before Christmas?

And then to hold onto their money, refuse to give them compensation to use anywhere else, and tell them to check inventory levels at local stores 2 days before Christmas? Really, I ordered on December 5th, you think stores will have inventory on December 22?

And then to keep telling the customer that it is their fault despite your 3 GUARANTEES of delivery?

She refused to check with seller, Hathaway Toys, but kept telling me to do so while at the same refusing to give me their contact details.

She refused to check with the fulfillment centre.

So other than blaming the customer, taking ZERO responsibility, not answering what a GUARANTEED delivery date is good for, and doing anything to make the situation right, what exactly is your customer service department good for? Spoiling Christmas for little kids?!