I just returned a Makita backpack sprayer. It went pretty well. The only issue is they shipped the box by itself. No outer box. I packaged it up nicely and took it to a UPS store and they refused it. Said I needed an outer box because of the logos. I went home and duct taped the whole box and took it back and they accepted it
Amazon specifies in the return instructions whether the item needs to be repackaged. That said, UPS store employees may have a different interpretation, or do whatever they wish. There was a thread in the past about "rogue" UPS store behavior.
However, the effort to eliminate secondary packaging has gone too far. I've seen optical drives with a label slapped on them and sent on their way.
I just received an order where I specified Amazon packaging and it arrived naked. No harm since the original box was suitable for transport, but…
Well we are not constant returners
And thinking about the term - how defined? Zero returners for us, for no reason- so basically we return or get money back for items that are 100% on Amazon. So Amazon abuses customers for Amazon screw ups?
Due to rampant abuse, retailers have had to draft metrics as to what they find acceptable. Internally, and even externally, via third party companies that aggregate and track returns across different retailers. Best Buy is one that contracts with such a company. Costco's membership model makes it easy for them to record all the purchases and returns on an account. As they say, it only takes a few to ruin it for the rest.
Bought one package of them, labeled as "Amazon's choice" which worked very well.
Still needed more, so I ordered another brand which were also labeled "Amazons choice," but had more adapters for slightly less money.
Not a one of them worked.
Well, at least the refund was not problematic.
Those labels should be taken with a grain of salt. They've been applied to dangerous products before, and seem to be based on machine algorithms, not human review and vetting.
TL;DR - The help hotlines, internet links, etc leave a lot to be desired.
I can't speak to the return policy but I noticed they make it impossible to make a complaint about the delivery driver. While I'm rarely in the situation where I feel a complaint needs to be made regarding a worker, I felt it was warranted for the few times I had an Amazon driver cause concern.
Impossible? Every delivery I receive is followed by an email asking whether it was good or bad, which is also accessible via the tracking page for each order.
Granted, it is a different matter whether that feedback is acknowledged, and taken to heart, or simply goes in a virtual circular file, but they do solicit feedback on the quality of the delivery.
That said, they do now make it a challenge to contact a live representative, and it is not readily apparent how to exit the virtual circular maze of the help pages.
The trick is to ignore the other options, and go straight for the "need help with something else" option, which eventually leads to a live rep.
