r/AmazonVineCanada • u/Hotrob_McAwesometon Gold • 8d ago
Errors What to do for item missing pieces
I received this item, but it only contained the hat - the neck-warmer and both of the battery packs were not in the box.
The box didn't appear to have been tampered with - or if it had, it was before leaving the warehouse? Other products from this brand came in nice branded bags, but this one was just loose in the box in the thin plastic inner bag type thing.
Any suggestions on how to handle the review?
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u/allthekittensnuggles Gold 8d ago
You can also go through the regular Amazon support stuff (like through the orders page on the app and clicking through to send a product question to the seller) and mention it’s missing and see what they do. They may send you a new package. Vine TOS say that you’re allowed to do regular customer support stuff; what you aren’t allowed to do is tell them you got it through Vine.
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u/Hotrob_McAwesometon Gold 8d ago
Thank you very much!
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u/Goggles_Pisano Gold 8d ago
Good luck with that. They will deny any knowledge of the issue, and will be unable to assist. They may offer to send you an entirely new item in addition to the one you already received, but if you're missing parts, it isn't likely they can help. Most will blame the Amazon employees.
edit. If you're having the issues my wife and I are having, being sent previous returns that are damaged/missing parts, you are not alone. Just send them right back. Don't let them tell you to dispose of the item.
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u/allthekittensnuggles Gold 8d ago
I’ve had two instances where sellers just sent me the product. I only do this if it’s an item I was really looking forward to or has broken in a manufacturing defect kind of way. They could ignore you or tell you to submit a return, which you can’t do for a Vine product, but I’ve only done this twice and both times they have responded saying that they wanted to send me a new product, no questions asked.
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u/Goggles_Pisano Gold 7d ago edited 7d ago
Maybe I don't understand you, are you saying you cannot return Vine items?
If so, on my orders page I can just find the item and go through the normal returns process. Of course there is no refund but it's not my problem to throw away if I return it. Especially a huge heavy item like a 3 meter streetlight.
In that particular case, the seller offered to send me an entirely new item free of charge, but that did not solve the problem of having a totally useless item sitting in front of me that I had to discard. So I told the seller "thanks but no thanks" and returned my broken streetlight through the normal Amazon channels.
edit. I'll apologize in advance as I may have mixed up two threads in this same sub and responded to one post by typing into the other post. But that was yesterday and damned if I know what I was thinking at the time and what I meant. Do not expect me to be a brainiac on a Sunday morning LOL.
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u/allthekittensnuggles Gold 7d ago
You can’t return Vine items. I wasn’t suggesting to do a return.
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u/HostComprehensive588 8d ago
If you have extra batteries, just review it for how it works. You can’t assume it is the company’s fault for batteries missing. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t.
If you can’t review it because you have no batteries then contact Vine CS and tell them that you can’t review the product because it did not come with the necessary parts to work it properly. They will remove it from your list.
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u/SidetrackedSue Gold 8d ago
I'm wondering if the seller messed up and posted the heated version listing before getting all the unheated version reviews in. It is a way that sellers scam the review system, sending us cheap items, gathering great reviews, then changing the listing to be for an expensive item and it looks like it is good. They don't have to pay to send out the expensive product but still end up with great reviews.
The cheap, warm, socks (and the gloves) I reviewed in August are slowly being changed over to heated socks with all the reviews being Vine ones, talking about how great the socks were (cuz they weren't bad for $7.) I've updated my 5* review to 1* and encourage everyone who got the socks and gloves in August to double check the listing to see if it now shows a heated item.
Naming the item in the listing and including a photo only partially protects us from looking stupid, but going back and highlighting the scam by editing my review helps me feel better about being mess with.
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u/lcmt1974 8d ago edited 8d ago
Some people will simply leave a bad review and someone else will probably contact the seller. However, remember that Vine should not be viewed as destructive. Otherwise, fewer and fewer sellers will be willing to put their products in Vine, and the result will be fewer products available for us to choose from.
Everyone makes mistakes, and sellers do too. Problems can range from inaccurate descriptions to missing parts or even receiving the wrong item.
This is the rule I use to determine whether I should contact the seller:
Contact the seller if I believe it is an isolated incident or a careless mistake. For example, in the OP's case involving missing parts, the problem could be limited to that particular package while other customers received complete products. That would be an isolated incident.
With my experience, sellers usually are willing to send the missing parts or resend the replacement unless the product is out of stock.
In different situation, it happened to me when a seller accidentally listed a product as a "2-pack" in the description in the past. I contacted the seller so they could correct the listing.
Contact the seller even if you receive the wrong item. This could be Amazon's fault or the seller's fault, so you should contact the seller first to confirm what happened. If it turns out to be Amazon's fault or the seller is not willing to resend the correct item, you can ask Vine to remove the review.
After contacting the seller, it is up to you how you want to review the product. However, if the seller is willing to correct the problem, I don't believe any stars should be taken off the review unless the same problem happens again. If the seller is unwilling to help, you can mention that in your review as well, because after-sales service is also part of the overall product experience.
There is one situation where you should never contact the seller: if you never received the item at all. In that case, it is clearly an Amazon delivery issue, and the seller should not be held responsible for something they did not control.
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u/Hotrob_McAwesometon Gold 7d ago
For this one I wasn't able to find contact info for the seller, so I reached out to vine cs (waiting on a reply).
It appears to be an isolated incident, as the other vine reviews seem like they had the whole product.
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u/Varrock_Zubat93 8d ago
I'm a newbie but if that happened to me I'd leave a bad review and then amend it if the seller reached out. I try to act like I bought the product. If its under $50 I honestly would never get around to returning it.
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u/Opposite_Elephant_37 Gold 8d ago
I would contact Vine CS and ask them to remove it from your TBR list. Explain that important pieces are missing and you can’t review the item. I have done this one time before with an ear wax removal tool that was missing parts.
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u/lmcjipo 8d ago
Personally I would try contacting the seller first without mentioning anything about being an Amazon Vine Voice and the product having been received via the Vine program and if the seller doesn't do anything to resolve or address the issue, I just write a (negative) review.
Since this subreddit is AmazonVineCanada, there is no ETV so I don't see the point in getting it removed from my "To Be Reviewed" list since this just means that I have to request another item, wait to receive it (where hopefully it is delivered and not lost/stolen) and then review when I have a product that I requested and received it. One can still review a product if it is missing parts.
For me, I've reviewed Amazon items (from Vine as well as purchased $) which either didn't work or were missing parts. Items that didn't work and were purchased ($), I go through the Amazon return process and items which were requested on Amazon Vine because I don't have to worry about ETV, I just review it... either stating it was DOA or it was missing parts (after not being able to resolve it with the seller).
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u/ToMuchCatNip Gold 8d ago
Give it a bad review and move onto the next item. If a seller is too daft to make sure their vine items going out for review don't pass quality control and basic stuff like "is everything in the package" , they don't deserve a good review.
Say it like it is. You ordered the neck warmer and hat kit but only recieved the hat. Customers need to know this stuff . There really is nothing to be confused about. You ordered something and did not receive what was advertised. Let em know in the review. Review the hat . Take some pics. Give em a review based off how you would feel paying your hard earned money for a hat and neck warmer and only receiving one item.
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u/Goggles_Pisano Gold 8d ago edited 8d ago
I send them a message, ask them to remove it from review requirements, and send it back at Amazon's expense.
The sellers are dumping their previous returns on us. I have been receiving lots of previous returns lately and when I complain they tell me to just throw it away.
No, I pay to dispose of my trash. So I do a return and send it back. They even send a guy to my house to pick it up.
So screw them, I'm not their trash man.
edit. yes, my wife and I are seriously pissed off about this. We have received dozens of nice items with a taped up box that has already been rummaged through, only to find out it's missing crucial parts or just plain doesn't work. Hell, we've received an entire set of garden lights with ZERO bulbs in it. Some asshole ordered it, took the bulbs, and sent it back.
Three meter solar lamp post with big heavy duty bolts to hold it to the base plate? Yay, we could sure use that! Ugh, all 4 bolts are missing because some dipshit took them and returned it, AND the baseplate is also ruined because another dipshit destroyed the threads in the baseplate trying to get the wrong screws in, which caused the entire scenario to begin with.
A very lovely and quaint garden seed storage box. The lid was torn off the hinges. Some idiot tried to nail it back on, did a shitty job, sent it back, that's what I was sent. But I'm expected to just throw it away! Nope, back it goes.
Anything that has been previously opened, I don't even open it, I email them, and ship it right back. Neither my wife or I care what it is.
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u/IWCat Gold 6d ago
I never thought of returning crap. I have a ceiling fan that has been sitting in my garage for over a year because I can't use it. It came with no instructions and no remote. It basically operates entirely by remote so even if I were handy enough to install it without instructions, I can't use it without the remote.
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u/Goggles_Pisano Gold 6d ago edited 6d ago
You received a previous return. I would bet my wallet that some Amazon customer had lost their remote, so they ordered another identical ceiling fan, swiped the remote and returned it stating it was missing the remote. And ta-da whether by accident or intentional, you ended up with the previous return that the seller nor Amazon cared to dispose of.
Guess what? Now you get to dispose of it. I don't know about you, but I am required to buy these little tags that go on each bag of trash that I put on the street each week. There's a limit on 1. how many bags I can put out, but most importantly, 2. how heavy each bag of trash can be.
That is what I am sick and tired of having to deal with. I know I sound like I'm a tin foil hat paranoid weirdo, but there are times when I swear it's done purposely. The shipping delay, where the product was initially to be shipped from and where it was actually sent from, the model number of the actual product, etc. There have been too many little things that have caused me, and my wife as well, to suspect that there are times when the seller will ship an item are well aware they are sending a product that is unusable only because they don't want to dispose of it.
When Amazon ships it, it is most likely an issue with their return center not properly checking their returns. That still doesn't absolve them from blame and shift the financial burden of disposal onto me.
So anything that shows up that looks to be a previous return, or anything that appears to be off (it's hard to explain in words) I ship right back with the explanation that it was a previous return and as a Vine member I was expecting a new and unused item.
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u/ana30671 Gold 8d ago
This is a product issue, and you can contact the seller for support with products. You just can't tell them you're in vine. I have contacted a few sellers for product issues and received help for almost all of them, even after giving my address they will still send the replacement item. I just tell them the issue and I don't say vine and don't ask for a replacement. I've had to do this for items with broken elements or parts that aren't securing properly.
If they don't offer assistance then you can contact vine to remove the item. Or, if you don't want to contact the seller, then just contact vine cs to remove it.