My Post Office and Amazon.com screwed me out of my product!

T

talon20299

CAGiversary!
So last week during that TRU clearance sale I ordered FFTA, Iridion 2 and Sword of Mana from amazon.com. Then the next day I ordered FF:CC with the bonus link cable, the GBA version of LoTR:RoTK, and Midway Arcade Treasures 2. In both cases their site wouldn't allow me to use my normal address as it contained a PO Box so instead I used my street address thinking it would be fine because I'd had orders shipped to it before without any problem.

Well, fast forward a few days when I discover to my shock that the packages arrived at my post office and were returned as undeliverable because they didn't have a PO Box number! The postal workers apparently have decided that it's now entirely too much trouble to do their jobs and match my street address with my PO Box (the same box we've had for over 20 years!) and instead just sent my stuff back without any notice whatsoever.

So I decided to contact Amazon to see if they could help. The fact that I had to use google to even find their customer service number because it's apparently not even listed anywhere on their site should have been my first clue that they weren't going to be of any help whatsoever. So I called them...twice. Both times they basically told me that their policy in these cases is to just refund the money and let the customer reorder the stuff if they choose. Which would be fine...if, ya know, the stuff I'd ordered was still in stock at the same price! Which, of course, it isn't because it was on clearance!

So in conclusion my local post office is staffed by lazy jackasses and amazon's customer service is a joke.
 
I'd consider filing a complaint with your local Postmaster. Of course, amazon is following their policy, and in this case, it wasn't their fault the packages were returned.
 
Yes, it really isn't Amazon's fault. Your postal service, however, is at fault. I would write to the Postmaster as that is your only recourse. It could be worse though, my carrier is dyslexic or blind. Every week I get 3+ letters/packages/etc. from the 1344 when Im 4413. I don't mind too much except I can only wonder what 1344 gets that is mine!
 
That sucks talon 20299. Everytime I get a delivery confirmation and it says that my package has been sent USPS, a shiver goes down my spine for just this sort of reason.

Sometimes my mail gets delivered from some rednecks in a Jeep Cherokee and they always screw it up. My regular carrier is retarded sometimes too. Fedex is the best and UPS are usually okay in my book, but the Post Office is plain scary.
 
[quote name='wubb']So you don't get USPS delivery to your address at all, just to the PO box? That would suck.[/QUOTE]
That is correct. I presume we would have home delivery if we put a mailbox out there but then why in the hell would we do that when we already have a nice secure PO Box in the freaking post office? I never in my wildest dreams thought the idiots would suddenly decide to just stop delivering my packages even if they were addressed to my street address because I mean, haven't these people ever heard of computers!? There are records of who rents which box, can't they do a simple search to see if I have a box before declaring my packages undeliverable? Obviously they were doing something like that previously since my packages used to actually be delivered...

Oh and I am definitely filing a complaint with the postmaster so thanks to those that suggested it. I still think Amazon could be more understanding about this though, as it is now they've gotta refund my money and my stuff is sitting in some warehouse somewhere and all they really had to do was stick another damn label on it and resend it and everything would be fine. I'd even pay for the extra shipping but noooo, they have a policy.
 
The post office is the bloody devil. They're unreliable as all hell and most of the people around my area are rude. While working at a local MBE, I once got a letter, going from Maine to the same town, in Maine.


I'm in California.
 
Do you normally have them deliver all of your mail to the PO box regardless of how it is marked? Also have you complained in the past to your post office about wanting all your mail to go to the box? If either of these are true they did what they are supposed to do. Or if you have pissed off one of the clerks to cause this, God help you. Pissed off box clerks are capable of unspeakable horrors. ;)

If it wasn't because of the above, my guess based on my experience in the PO is that it was sent to the box section by the parcel clerk(s) because they recognized your address as one having a box. The box clerk saw it had no PO box and sent it to street (back to the carrier) who then killed it (marked it undeliverable) because he/she was insisting it was for the box. When I used to deal with return to sender mail that I found box mail in there that was killed by the carrier hundreds of times. Usually it happens on a day the regular carrier is off and the replacement is lazy or a moron...often both. Also the size of the town you live in is a factor too. The bigger the town, the more likely a screwup since then the clerks won't recognize your address most likely.

Regardless go to your local PO and ask to see a supervisor or the PM about it. Since you got a refund already they aren't going to give you any money but you might be able to stop it from happening again.
 
[quote name='talon20299']That is correct. I presume we would have home delivery if we put a mailbox out there but then why in the hell would we do that when we already have a nice secure PO Box in the freaking post office? I never in my wildest dreams thought the idiots would suddenly decide to just stop delivering my packages even if they were addressed to my street address because I mean, haven't these people ever heard of computers!? There are records of who rents which box, can't they do a simple search to see if I have a box before declaring my packages undeliverable? Obviously they were doing something like that previously since my packages used to actually be delivered...

Oh and I am definitely filing a complaint with the postmaster so thanks to those that suggested it. I still think Amazon could be more understanding about this though, as it is now they've gotta refund my money and my stuff is sitting in some warehouse somewhere and all they really had to do was stick another damn label on it and resend it and everything would be fine. I'd even pay for the extra shipping but noooo, they have a policy.[/QUOTE]

It depends on if the USPS procedure is to match up a street address with a P.O. Box or not. It could be they will typically do that before sending something back, but they don't technically have to. If it's not their procedure to do that, the postmaster will probably just tell you to instruct the people shipping to you to use the P.O. box. (Which Amazon apparently won't do, so you are still up a creek.)

But either way it's a good idea to lodge a complaint and see what they say.

EDIT: And crow got in before me. He's the expert around here on USPS.

You could also try callling the USPS at 1-800-ASK-USPS. Wait times are pretty short in my experience and they'd hopefully know the policy on this.
 
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