A Heads Up: Be Careful What you Buy from Amazon

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Gizmo

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 22, 2012
Posts
1,786
Location
Bellingham,WA
We like many buy many items from Amazon, especially now since we are full-timers, where the Prime free 2-day shipping comes in handy.  When I bought my Progressive EMS, which I bought through Progressive, because I recall they warned that units bought through Amazon and s few other vendors would not be warranted.  But my recent experience was yesterday, when I received my Suburban water heater anode from Amazon, to replace in my truck campers Suburban water heater for the first time.  I have however replaced them before on two travel trailers I have owned, so the process was not new to mer.  I was surprised to find that although the packing on the new indicted Suburban, the threads would not engage.  I verified the threads on the rod and the water heater were not stripped and used a small wire brush on the water heater to remove residual Teflon tape and any grit and still the rod would not thread.  Took a closer and comparison look at both the old and new rods and discovered the new one has a course thread pattern, while the old, which went back in easily, has a finer thread.  I went to a local RV dealer's parts counter today and picked up another, same thread pattern and it went in no problem. 
 
That's alarming - I purchase quite a bit from Amazon simply because I cannot get those items locally.
 
I have found that there seems to be no policing by Amazon of vendors selling "authentic" or "OEM" parts, often even saying it's coming from the manufacturer (in this case Suburban) when it's not true
 
No there isn't a lot of policing yet on Amazon for their vendors. But the have an open return policy no questions asked
and they pickup the shipping costs back. I know that doesn't solve your issue on the quality of the item you receive but
it does give you some recourse.
 
pz said:
That's alarming - I purchase quite a bit from Amazon simply because I cannot get those items locally.

Same here, pz.  We live in a small town and there are a lot of things that just aren't available and, unfortunately, Amazon is the simplest solution.

One of the unfortunate things is having your stuff tossed around by the likes of FedEx and UPS.  I have a video door cam and every last delivery from UPS the guy literally throws my packages down on the porch.  One was clearly marked, logo and all, "Jackson Guitars".  He still didn't mind tossing it about 5 feet.
 
butchiiii said:
No there isn't a lot of policing yet on Amazon for their vendors. But the have an open return policy no questions asked
and they pickup the shipping costs back. I know that doesn't solve your issue on the quality of the item you receive but
it does give you some recourse.

Yes they do and are very good in that regard.  My wife ordered it under her Amazon account and she will initiate a return.

darsben said:
Did you buy from AMAZON or on AMAZON from a private vendor.

It was Amazon using the Prime free 2-day shipping.  I do not buy from any of the Amazon vendors.

On another note we will continue to buy from Amazon as generally most things seem fine and they do honor their return policy, even going beyond in one case but we will be more selective what items we get from them.  As an example, if I need to get any RV parts to make a repair or replace a faulty component, and there is no RV parts supplier near where we happen to be, I will order from one of the RV suppliers online.
 
darsben said:
Then you are buying from private vendors. I have gotten stung 3 times on EBAY with non delivery of goods. Each time PAYPAL had to refund my money not EBAY. I prefer AMAZON bbut will order from EBAY if I have to

Paypal is EBay that's why the money came from them. Paypal took it out of the sellers account and returned it to you. I have been fortunate buying from
ebay but do prefer Amazon.
 
darsben said:
NO paypal has NOT been part of EBAY for a few years now

I dont know if Paypal is a part of E-bay, but E-bay uses Paypal for transactions, or at least they did yesterday.
 
Could just be a human error.  Did Amazon have a chance to make it right?

We bought a truck part off eBay a few months ago.  Ad said it was for a 2wd,nope,it was for 4WD.  eBay was not helpful.  Seller was not helpful.  There was NO guarantee we would get shipping money returned,which was $40-50 bucks.  So he decided to keep it and resell locally.  Ordered through Amazon,right part arrived within days.  I don't think we have bought anything through eBay since.

I don't think it's fair to slam Amazon over one mistake.  Just saying.
 
Pugapooh said:
Could just be a human error.  Did Amazon have a chance to make it right?

We bought a truck part off eBay a few months ago.  Ad said it was for a 2wd,nope,it was for 4WD.  eBay was not helpful.  Seller was not helpful.  There was NO guarantee we would get shipping money returned,which was $40-50 bucks.  So he decided to keep it and resell locally.  Ordered through Amazon,right part arrived within days.  I don't think we have bought anything through eBay since.

I don't think it's fair to slam Amazon over one mistake.  Just saying.

Not slamming Amazon over one incident, just giving a heads up of what happened with this purchase and what I discovered when buying a Progressive EMS and indicated by Progressive they would not cover warranty if purchased through Amazon and a some other vendors, including Ebay.  Apparently if you read some of the other comments, mine is not an isolated incident.  I also indicated that Amazon does stand behind the products they sell and I would continue buying from Amazon, albeit a little more selective of what I purchase.  I hardly think my comments constitutes "slamming".
 
First.. it is possible Suburban used a corse thread on one heater model. DOUBTFUL but possible.. I do not know never heard of such a thing.

UNless the listing specifices OEM you are not guaranteed OEM quality.

As for Pay-Pal/E-Bay.. USed to be same but yes. Like GM and Workhorse.. They SPLIT a while back and PP is now a diffefrent company... Several legal reasons for doing that.

I do buy from Amazon.. So far no dissappointments. but I also know what I'm buying.
 
Pugapooh said:
Then I apologize for misreading your tone of voice,as it were.

Haha  Nice.  Reminds me of when my mom would tell me, "don't look at me in that tone of voice!".  Thanks for the memory.
 
Ebay spun off Paypal in 2015, but it's still the exclusive Ebay financial transaction service (thru 2020). Things will probably change then.

Ebay doesn't promise much of anything for its vendors, but Paypal claims to guarantee its transactions.  I've had very poor results with that unless the seller is already working to resolve the problem (and I don't need Paypal if that's happening).  My two worst Paypal/Ebay stories involved goods I returned for a refund, with authorization from the seller. Both sellers later denied receiving the return  and Paypal refused to issue the refund, even though I had proof of delivery from the USPS.  I was out both the money and the product, plus paying twice for shipping!  In my opinion, Paypal always sides with the vendor against the buyer, despite their claims.

I buy often on Amazon and have never lost money, but I see Amazon tightening up their generous return policy. Some items are now not returnable and they may charge for shipping if the return was no fault of theirs, e.g. you just changed your mind or didn't like it once you got it.  Also need to pay attention to see if the item is sold & shipped by Amazon or a third party.  Amazon usually highlights that, though, so you know to check the seller's return policy.
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
131,753
Posts
1,384,359
Members
137,524
Latest member
freetoroam
Back
Top Bottom