A word of warning to Amazon buyers

Take a screen grab of any Amazon orders you place!

I’d been looking for a gun-rest for several days last week – then found one on Amazon priced at £59.31 –  which included free delivery, owing to my Amazon Prime membership.

The item was offered by one of the Amazon Sellers – Bushwear

I ordered the item and it arrived two days later, on a Saturday – along with an email stating that the price I had been charged was £72.99

I went back onto the Amazon website and found the price was still showing as £59.31 – including free Prime delivery so immediately emailed Bushwear. Unfortunately, I failed to take a screenshot to prove this – reasoning that Amazon must keep a record of the prices listed.

I received a response from Bushwear the following Monday claiming that the price was £72.99.

I checked back online and found the price on Amazon had increased – but to £64.35. I took the following screen grab.

I sent this off to Bushwear – but two days later I’d still had no response. So contacted Amazon Customer Services.

I had a long conversation – which became a little heated when I was told that the price of £59.31 was plus VAT.

I advised the Customer Services guy that this was illegal in the UK.

He referred back to his supervisor several times – but told me I it wasn’t possible for me to speak directly to this line manager.

I suggested that surely a check of Amazon’s records would show the price being displayed on the day and time of my order. Apparently and unbelievably this isn’t possible.

The conversation ended with an assurance from him that he would email Bushwear requesting a credit for £13.68 for me.

He assured me he would send me a copy of his email and, in return, I told him I would respond to his email with a copy of the screen grab I’d taken on Monday – which proved at least part of what I’d been saying.

Within a couple of hours I received an email from him. Unfortunately his email referred to a different item. It indicated he’d contacted a different supplier about a different item – one which I’d ordered several months previously, but had not received.

I replied to his email pointing out the error – but the email was bounced back by my server. The sender email address couldn’t receive messages.

I phoned Amazon again and spoke to another Customer Services agent.

She checked and confirmed that the first agent had contacted the correct supplier about the correct item.

I requested a copy of this email – along with a ‘working’ email address – that I could write to with full details of my complaint and the images/screen grabs I’d previously referred to.

Guess what. My email was rejected by their server again. The email address I’d specifically requested and had been given didn’t accept emails from unauthorised sources.

I know it’s only £13.68 but for me it’s the principle – so I’m now awaiting a response from Bushwear.

Of course I could always dismantle the item, pack it up, then send it back for a complete refund – but have decided to wait and see what happens.

But in future, I will be taking a screen grab of every single item ordered online – in particular from Amazon.

I can only suggest you do the same.