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Richard McEvoy's avatar

I think many/ most of us have had the experience with Amazon of starting the return of a small item and being told to keep it or toss it. (Had this happen yesterday with a propane hose.) It costs them more to ship back and process. But to promote this as a strategy to cheat them out of an item is kind of outrageous. I know I’m paying for 2 day delivery and 95% of the time that works. But they also do one day free as with the propane hose. Things happen. Usually I think the driver just can’t finish his deliveries. My propane hose came same day but was delivered at 9:30pm.

I’m appreciative of freebies and discounts but I think you crossed the line. No, I don’t feel bad for Amazon but I try to be honest with every company. You can do as you suggest but we know what you’re trying to accomplish and that’s not honest. Additionally, the people more people do this, the more likely it is that they will end the practice and make you return even a $1.59 shirt button.

Sorry, I’ve followed you for years and love ya. Just one mild criticism in all these years. 🙂

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Rick 'The Cheapskate' Broida's avatar

Very fair point, thank you for sharing. Definitely not recommending “gaming the system,“ but I know a lot of people get very frustrated with delayed deliveries, especially when they are paying for something they’re not getting.

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Richard McEvoy's avatar

Maybe I’m just lucky but I order an embarrassing amount of stuff on Amazon and find delivery beyond two days on ‘maybe’ 5% of my items. On a few things seriously delayed they hay refunded the cost and let me keep it. On a bad screwup the gave me a $50 e-gift card. I know it’s trendy to hate on Amazon these days but I have only one real complaint. I used to review most items I received. The reviews were fair, thorough and balanced. I even updated many as time went by. Then one day I went to place a review and got this:

“We apologize but Amazon has noticed some unusual reviewing activity on this account. As a result, all reviews submitted by this account have been removed and this account will no longer be able to contribute reviews and other content on Amazon. If you would like to learn more, please see our community guidelines. To contact us about this decision, please email community-help@amazon.com.”

Apparently I’ve been banned for life as it’s been several years now. I reviewed only items I bought on Amazon. I never ranted. If I really didn’t like something I gave detailed reasons why. They won’t tell me why I was banned nor will they reinstate. With the high level of fake reviews they have you’d think they’d appreciate real and thoughtfully written reviews. If I said something that was against their rules just show me and I’ll be more careful. But an apparent lifetime ban??? I probably should thank them for saving me time. Remember ‘epinions?’ They used to PAY for reviews. I just enjoyed giving my honest and detailed opinions on things.

I appreciated when others did the same.

Anyway, that’s MY Amazon rant. 😁Thanks for understanding my cranky earlier comment. I’ve read and loved your columns and posts for years now. You must be an interesting guy to have as a friend. Have a great weekend!

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Rick 'The Cheapskate' Broida's avatar

Also, don't ever hesitate to call me out if you think I've made a bad judgement call. It happens! :)

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Richard McEvoy's avatar

Thanks 😁 Maybe every 20 years or so. 😉

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Rick 'The Cheapskate' Broida's avatar

Amazon is a mystery wrapped in a riddle wrapped in a Bezos. ;)

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Richard McEvoy's avatar

There was a time when you could write to jeff@amazon.com and someone from the sr. management team got back to you almost immediately and whatever problem you had was solved. Supposedly, Bezos read many and responded on some. I had a crazy incident with a Scott’s fertilizer spreader. Three times they sent me a spreader with just the bucket - no handlebars. Wrote to ‘Jeff.’ They had someone come out and hand deliver a complete unit to me, refunded my money AND gave me a gift card. Apparently, all the units were sitting in their warehouse without the handlebars. How a company handles problems tells a lot. I don’t know if they are that same company anymore. Then there’s the problem with the reviews.

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Kat's avatar

I have the Baseus Bowie MC1. I love them; they are really waterproof. I use them in the shower daily.

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Phil Fox's avatar

I got the Baseus Bowie MC1 earbuds a few months ago and love them. They’re the same style as the ones in your article and are great for running.

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FRed's avatar

I had purchased a pair of Bowie MA10 earbuds from Baseus about 17 months ago, used them sporadically. I truly enjoyed, connect to bluetooth without any problemas, (looking at you JBL Tune Flex), battey life was great. REcently the righ bud stopped playing at the same level as the left. Tried all the tricks including factory reset, no joy. REached out to support, they couldn't do much for me since it was out of warranty but ultimately offered me a 30% refund on the price, (probably comes out to about 9 bucks). Not what I was hoping for, really wanted some trick to get the volume restored but I have to admit, they didn't have to do anything since it was out of warranty and their offer was a professional response. Would buy again from Baseus.

(Someone on another site questioned my understanding of headphones, as someone who owns Bose Ultras, Sony WH-10000XM4, Wyze noise cancelling, Apple air pods, Solo Pro, etc, I think I understand pretty well)

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Rick 'The Cheapskate' Broida's avatar

These things definitely don’t last forever, especially with heavy use, but with the price that low, it’s easier to deal with having to replace? 🤷‍♂️

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MattMN's avatar

Had to vote for Heat, since I moved from MN to FL. But I tell ya, 6 months of 70+degree dew point does get old. The snowbirds are onto something, as northern (MN, MI, etc) summers are awesome.

Interesting viewpoint on the paddle design, as I just last week purchase a new paddle with the same design (Ultimate Link). Demo'd it and it felt great as a power paddle. Can't speak for this AMZ one tho, but I did pay $150 for mine, so $40 is a great entry point for someone willing to try it.

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mark edwards's avatar

(think: old-timey Bluetooth headset, but less dorky) -- is this why people always laugh at me and mock me? because of my bluetooth headset? and here all this time i thought it was because of my fannypack.

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Rick 'The Cheapskate' Broida's avatar

That shirt you picked out probably isn’t helping 😂😜

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