Día de los Muertos and Day 36 of being a flea on the butt of Amazon, BNI Postmedia, and Intelcom courier

Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries are celebrating la Día de los Muertos honoring their departed family members. It's a lovely tradition full of color, light, food, music, and family gatherings.

For me, November 1st is my 36th day of pounding my computer keyboard, trying to obtain a refund of $613.47 from the multinational megacorp, worth 1.9 trillion dollars. Amazon.  

Amazon contracts out deliveries to businesses like BNI PostMedia and IntelCom. Those companies are supposed to deliver all parcels safely to the designated addresses. 

September 12th: I ordered 655 copies of my 10 murder mystery novels in preparation for several upcoming Christmas markets.

September 25th: the boxes started to arrive.

September 26th: a box of 39 copies of CORKED was posted on my account as ‘Undeliverable.’  Then a box of 43 copies of SMASHED met the same fate, ‘Undeliverable.’ 

I have phoned the Amazon Customer Service Representatives 10 times.

I have emailed the Amason Customer Service Representatives, dozens of times. Each time being asked for the same information over and over again.

I have emailed, three top executives several times; Mr. Andy Jassy, Mr. Doug Herrington, and Ms. Candi Castleberry-Singleton. They have forwarded my pesky emails to their Amazon Executive Relations Team.

39 copies missing

I recently posted this notice on many Okanagan FaceBook groups asking if anyone in the South Okanagan had received my two parcels by mistake.

HELLO OKANAGAN FOLKS!

Just on the off chance .... BNI (Postmedia couriers) claims that they delivered my missing package to my address in Penticton on September 24th. I did not receive it. Has anyone, anywhere in the Okanagan Valley seen a heavy Amazon box, containing 43 copies of my mystery novel SMASHED? And there is another box that's missing, 39 copies of CORKED?

I am desperate to resolve this problem, which has been occupying too much of my time for over a month. Please message me if you know anything! It will be a huge financial hit for me if Amazon or BNI won't refund my money.

Cheers Lynda Lock, Penticton.

43 copies missing 

Yesterday I emailed the City of Penticton asking if by chance any of their employees at the Campbell Mountain Landfill (city dump) had noticed one or two large Amazon boxes of books. They are in the process of checking with their staff. 

I seriously doubt that I will ever find the boxes but I am trying to prove what happened to the two missing deliveries.

36 days later and I am still being stonewalled with vague responses such as these:

"Firstly, I apologies for all the inconvenience caused in regards to your shopping experience with us. During your free time please write back via email to us with the following information:" 

-Order number

-Name of the item or ASIN, quantity is applicable

-Description of the issue

-Assistance you may require Or please contact us via chats or calls for a faster resolution on it."

Email from the top boss! 

Jeff Bezos. Oct 30, 2024, 1:46 PM - Thank you for contacting us.

So, today I started sending out Letters to the Editor, for local newspapers.

My next task will be to send letters to any American newspapers that will post my letters. 

I am stressed. Very stressed. But I am not giving up.

Lynda

PS: there is a lot more information on my previous posts on this blog starting October 24th. 

Day 31 of being a flea on the butt of Amazon, and now BNI Postmedia

Happy Monday, everyone:

Today's love letter from Amazon was slightly less annoying. 

Thankfully, this time I was not asked to supply the same information - again.

It's from someone who works for the Amazon Executive Relations team. I had a similar letter a week ago from a different person on the same 'team.' I responded to that one, and never heard from that person again.

Amazon seems to use a revolving system of assignments. I have never had a response from the same person twice in the 31 days of dozens of phone calls, and dozens of emails. It's damn annoying.

Fingers crossed I'll get my refund of $613.47 soon - before the stress kills me.

Lynda

Your Account Amazon.ca Message From Customer Service Hello Lynda L, This is Sirisha, with the Amazon's Executive Relations team. We received your email and are following up to ensure your concerns are addressed. I'm sorry to hear about the problem you've had with your Order ID: 701-3222033-3269060 and 702-8656836-714263. We apologize for the delay in answering your question. We can assure you that your question is being investigated. We are working towards providing an update to you as soon as possible.

My one-month anniversary of being a flea on the butt of Amazon, and now BNI Postmedia

 

HAPPY ONE-MONTH ANNIVERSARY TO ME FROM AMAZON! 

A pleasant person named Aparna from Amazon has sent me another form letter asking me to supply the same information that I have supplied, daily, since September 27th, through phone calls to the Customer Service line, or through detailed emails to at least 27 different Amazon Customer Service agents.  

So, in celebration of our long-standing association, I posted this on several Facebook pages.

HELLO OKANAGAN FOLKS!

Just on the off chance .... BNI (Postmedia couriers) claims that they delivered my missing packages to my address in Penticton on September 24th. I did not receive them.

Has anyone, anywhere in the Okanagan Valley seen a heavy Amazon box, containing 43 copies of my mystery novel SMASHED? And there is another box that's missing, 39 copies of CORKED?

I am desperate to resolve this problem, which has been occupying too much of my time for over a month. Please message me if you know anything! It will be a huge financial hit for me if Amazon or BNI won't refund my money.

Cheers Lynda Lock, Penticton.

Your Account Amazon.ca Message From Customer Service Hello, A pleasant day to you! This is Aparna from Amazon, the one who is working on your issue right now and it certainly is a pleasure assisting you today. I'd like to make an assurance that all inquiries are reviewed and taken seriously, and we're working hard to ensure a positive shopping experience among our loyal customers like you. Firstly, I apologies for all the inconvenience caused in regards to your shopping experience with us. During your free time please write back via email to us with the following information: (OMG!!!) -Order number -Name of the item or ASIN, quantity is applicable -Description of the issue -Assistance you may require Or please contact us via chats or calls for a faster resolution on it. Thanks for your understanding. Do contact us if you have any further queries. We can be reached by phone, e-mail and chat 7 days a week using the link below. We can be reached by phone 06.00 to midnight (local US time), and by e-mail and chat 24 hours a day: https://www.amazon.com/contact-us We look forward to seeing you again soon. We'd appreciate your feedback. Please use the buttons below to vote about your experience today. Best regards, Aparna Amazon.ca Did I solve your problem? Yes No

A flea on the butt of a multinational megacorp, Amazon, and now BNI Postmedia

TODAY'S UPDATE DAY 30 LYNDA VS AMAZON. "Email from Amazon Customer Service: [ITEM MISSING: It appears that the Carrier has recorded your package as delivered on September 24 to the correct location with the correct weight."

Amazon now claims that the delivery company BNI says that the package was delivered to my address, even though their email to me said Undeliverable, and I physically counted the books and only received 157 out of 200.

BNI, also known as Brunswick News Inc., was owned by J.D. Irving Ltd. until Postmedia acquired it last year. The company delivers Amazon packages not just across New Brunswick, but in other provinces, including Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

So, now I have to fight with the BNI call centre. Around and around I go!

Missing!  43 copies of Smashed.

A flea on the butt of the multinational megacorp - Amazon!

 

I have discovered a new way to kill someone.

Try getting a refund from Amazon for a partial shipment that never arrived. Make that two partial shipments that never arrived.

Amazon owes me $613.47 and they refuse to refund my money. It’s a devious, untraceable way to kill a person.

My blood pressure and pulse rate soar every time I open another unhelpful email from their “customer service representatives.” Amazon is trying to kill me by proxy.

The trouble started in early September when I decided I would participate in several holiday gift markets, I enthusiastically ordered a total of 655 copies of my 10 mystery novels.

For my Canadian murder mysteries, Death in the Vineyards, I ordered 250 copies of CORKED. 200 copies of SMASHED. 150 copies of CRUSHED. These were given three separate order numbers on my Amazon account. (You’ll understand later in this article why this is important.)

For my Mexican murder mysteries, Isla Mujeres Mysteries, I ordered just 55 copies of the seven books because my Canadian fans prefer the Canadian series. These 55 books were given another order number on my Amazon account.

The boxes started arriving on September 25^th. Lots of boxes. Many boxes.

My books weigh about one pound, or 455 grams which is about half a kilo. No sane person would ship an order that weighs 250 pounds in one box. Which means that the orders arrived in 22 packages. Some boxes contained 43 books, others 39, or 16, and oddly a few arrived in separate padded envelopes containing just one book.

And now the trouble began.

A box of 39 copies of CORKED was posted on my account as ‘Undeliverable.’

Then a box of 43 copies of SMASHED met the same fate. ‘Undeliverable.’

There was no explanation from the delivery company why the boxes were undeliverable. All of the other packages arrived safely from the same printing company to my address.

Checking my Amazon account the message said to wait a few days to claim for the missing merchandise. On October 10^th I tried to do a ‘request for refund’ on my account but discovered I couldn’t because I didn’t have anything to return.

So, I called the Customer Service line, and the real fun began.

My first conversation included an interesting bit of advice: “You have to return the entire shipment if you want a refund for part of the shipment.”

So, that means that I have to find the people that I have already sold books to, refund their money, then package up all of the books, and send them back to Amazon, who will then send them back to the printer. Then I have to re-order the books from Amazon, and hope that nothing goes astray this time.

Wow! That is an amazing Amazonian solution. (Not!)

Earlier in this article I said, you'd understand later in the article why the three separate order numbers were important.

And here is the reason: When a Customer Service Representative receives a request for a refund, the Order Number and the Total Invoice must match. There is no accommodation for multiple invoices for one order number. Crazy but true.

Amazon does not know how to process a partial refund.

I have been in contact with Amazon via phone calls or emails every single day from October 10^th until today. Every single communication said, “I was unable to find the order you have issues with so I would request you to provide the following details for better assistance.”

Recently I found the email addresses for several of the top Amazon executives and tried sending them a letter begging for assistance. And guess what? They referred me back to the Customer Service Representatives, and their computer-generated form letters.

I have several times sent detailed letters with attached supporting documents printed from my Amazon account showing the four original orders, and the various separate invoices listing the contents of each box.

No joy there. I still get the standard computer general replies, “I was unable to find the order you have issues with so I would request you to provide the following details for better assistance.”

So, now I am wondering.

Does anyone in this multinational megacorp actually read letters from their customers?

Does anyone know how to compose a letter without the assistance of AI bots?

Does any of the upper management know how to solve a simple problem that is outside the parameters of their accounting system?

I will persist...if they don’t kill me first.

Cheers, 

Lynda