Amazon Prime Day.. Bad Chat Support.. Scam?

Amazon Prime Day! #Primeday was not a good day for me. Lots of people complained about the sale quality.. Nothing good for sale. Ok, whatever, to each their own.. I didn’t expect anything huge.. It’s a ploy to get people on Prime.. But I did find something worth buying.. A Roomba! I thought the idea was cool, and they were cheap enough ($130 off) that I decided to try one.

Now let me preface all this by saying I am a big Prime customer.. I spend $10,000 plus a year on Prime. Everything from groceries, electronics, gift cards, house supplies, vehicle parts, etc.

Here is my original order —

You can see it says it was refunded… That is because it arrived defective. After sitting there watching the Roomba spin circles for 20 minutes, I realized there had to be a problem. Sure enough, the right wheel was refusing to turn. It was brand new, so there was nothing clogging it up or wrapped around the wheel.. But I checked anyways. I googled the problem and found it was a common problem. To fix it, you just need to replace the wheel module.  I had already thrown away the box (silly of me), so I thought maybe they could just send me a new wheel. Instead, they asked me to send the whole item back. Amazon has a really good returns system.. You get a label, they pay the shipping, you just drop it at a UPS store.

Here is my original chat transcript. Notice they say they will be doing a “free replacement” for me. I double check to make sure I need to send everything back and get a whole new kit. I try to see if I can get a new tracking number, but the agent (confusingly) tells me that there will be updates later.. I was lost, but I thought my issue was resolved so I ended the conversation.

I send in my item and am a bit surprised when I receive a refund. I let it go, thinking that soon, an “update” would show up in my account, with new tracking for the new Roomba. I figured being a replacement, they would rush it out to me.. After the weekend and still not hearing anything, I decided to reach out to them.

Here is my 2nd chat transcript. You can see the agent is pretty confused on the situation. I am rather patient as you can see…. Until the end..

Summary: The Roomba arrived defective… I talked to an agent and was told I was getting a free replacement and needed to ship my first item back. So I did. I then find out that since I got a refund instead (remember, I just wanted a new Roomba) I need to purchase a new item. Since it was a Prime Day deal, I can’t find that price now. I figure they will just give me a coupon code. Nope, turns out if I want it, I am stuck with the $130 difference… Guess it’s my fault that they refunded me vs giving me the replacement? OUTRAGEOUS.. Really not much more to say here! Amazon, make this right!