There are some dummies out there.

I can’t let this go.

So, as many of us do from time to time,  we order stuff “on the line”.  I do tend to swear by it.  I mean,  we had one package arrive Christmas Eve day.

That was a nail biter,  but the retailer in question came through.  The more amazing part of that transaction was that,  it was The Hudson’s Bay Company.  Who knew?

Anyway,  I suppose there’s bound to be the odd miss-step so to speak,  and last week there was just such a minor issue.  The package arrived at the intended recipients door a couple days ago,  but today I was told that it was busted.  So back it had to go.

Well,  Amazon (Amazon.ca by the way,  not Amazon.com)  has a whole procedure for this sort of thing,  and I’ve sent back stuff from here before with relative ease.   This was a bit different.  Nowhere in the return policy could I find the proper answer when it came to just whose name should be on the return label.  Probably I should know better,  but there was a question from the recipient,  and it caught me off guard.  So,  rather than waiting for a phone call,  or getting an email,  I chose the option to “Chat”  with someone from Amazon.

Here’s how it went.   You may wish to visit the facilities at this point.  Just saying.

Oh,  I’ve put the whole message in italics,  with the exception of bits I might have added later,  either for your amusement,  or to redact the information.

Fill yer boots.

 

Live Chat

End ChatSound

You are now connected to Kishore from Amazon.ca

Me:  Howdy. OK so, sent an item as a gift to a relative in the Ottawa area. (I'm in Burlington, outside of Toronto). Arrived Thursday afternoon, she opened it and discovered it's broken. Crock pot, they're ceramic it seems. They break.

So, she's printed off her return label, but is unsure of whether she should put in her (the recipient's) address, or mine. I've been scouring the "return policy" jargon and it's just not jumping out at me. Maybe it's not that important? She said she'll try and send it off tomorrow or the next day. Let me know, if you could please.

Kishore: Hello, my name is Kishore. I'll be happy to help you.

Me: I'm right here, just a-waiting the answer.:)

Kishore: I apologize for the inconvenience caused to you regarding this issue.

I'll help you in resolving this issue.

Could you please help me with the order number?

Me: Meh, no needs for apologies, one sec for the order number...

ORDER #

702-xxxxxx-xxxxxx.  (Blogland doesn’t need to know that)

Kishore: Just to confirm that, are you a recipient or the sender?

Me: I'm the sender.

I think we’re at the precipice of the “Rabbit Hole” at this particular moment,  just so you know.

 

Kishore: Can you please help me with the recipient complete e-mail address?

Me: Um well. *alarm bells*  It wasn't part of the original transaction, why did you want to contact her?? I'm not in the habit of giving out third party email addresses, if you know what I mean.

Kishore: Not to contact her, Robert. *no really? liar.*  Since this is a gift item I just want to confirm the e-mail address of the recipient.

Me: I can give you her street address, how's that?

Kishore: Just to confirm that, now the item was with you or the recipient?

Me: OK seriously? I'll just copy and paste my original query.   *copy*   *paste*

Howdy. OK so, sent an item as a gift to a relative in the Ottawa area. (I'm in Burlington, outside of Toronto). Arrived Thursday afternoon, she opened it and discovered it's broken. Crock pot, they're ceramic it seems. They break.

So, she's printed off her return label, but is unsure of whether she should put in her (the recipient's) address, or mine. I've been scouring the "return policy" jargon and it's just not jumping out at me. Maybe it's not that important? She said she'll try and send it off tomorrow or the next day. Let me know, if you could please.

*end of repeated message*

 

Does that clear it up?

SHE just wants to know WHOSE address to put on the return label. Hers our ours (mine) Just let me know. I'll wait right here.

Starting to fume ever so slightly….

Kishore: Thanks for the confirmation, Robert. I'm checking on this for you.

Thanks for the patience.

This is the address which you have to mention in the return label.

*I’ve also removed the address,  for the sake of it not being out there in Blog land.

 

Me: AH! There we go! THAT'S what I needed to know. Have a nice day.

Kishore: That's very kind of you, Robert.

Thank you so much for your patience and understanding.

You're welcome. Is there anything else I can do for you today?

Are we connected, Robert?

We've been idle for 3 minutes, so I want to make sure our chat's still connected. If you aren't able to respond in 2 minutes, I'll need to close the chat.

*long pause,  while I send off a note to ‘the recipient’*

Me:  No, I'm done. Just contacted *the recipient* to let her know what to do. Thanks. Enjoy your day.

OK,  a couple things:

I’m pretty sure that “Kishore” is on a “distant shore” somewhere.  There were some definite comprehension issues going on there,  along with some repeated catch phrases. Well,  either that, or I’ll refer you to the title of this entry.

Not to mention the mining of email addresses, but maybe they’re trained to do that.  How can you “confirm” something that never was??  Jaysus.

I probably should have opted for the phone call.  Might have had someone call me from this continent. 

 

Other than that little interaction with the outside world,  it’s actually ABOVE FREEZING outside.  Like, by a couple degrees.   AND,  the sun actually came out earlier today.

Alert the media!

Mind you,  like a fool I looked at the temperature yesterday in Vienna,  and it was 18°C.  I have it set to come up automatically on the Window 8 desktop platform thingy.  It was considerably colder here.  I was sorry I looked.

Seems silly to torture myself with what is essentially useless information.

 

I might just go off now and catch the tail end of a football game.  Me watching the game never seems to change the outcome however.

 

Keep those sticks on the ice.

 

Thanks for stopping by.