Got a free guitar from Amazon

Old Dog new Cans

Senior Member
I ordered a $200-ish semi-hollow body. I thought I'd try guitar ONE MORE TIME before I freakin' die. After ordering it, a couple days later I tried cancelling the order. But it was too far along.

Cheap Chinese mass produced. Looks awesome. The nut looked weird, the high E string popped off. . .I couldn't get it tuned properly, seemed really weird. Then I noticed a little damage on the

the exterior of the box. Nah, return it, get something else. I went through the return process, packaged and labeled, ready to go. Now, when I ordered it, I went with payments. The last time I returned something to Amazon where I had chosen payments, they screwed it up. Refunded the entire amount, then charged me the entire amount again. I was on the phone with them for an hour one day.

I tried to avoid this, hit the chat on the app. By the end of the chat, the call center Amazon employee plainly told me 2 or 3 times, I could keep the item, donate or dispose of it. I'm like wait wait....this is a guitar!!! I'm not destroying it--I'm returning it as planned. One last time she said I've refunded your money (which if you notice, I never got to the bottom of that), and you can keep the item.


Ok! So, I have a free "PRS styled" guitar. Although all the review vids I watched said it sounds like a Gibson. Hell if I now. I got it tuned finally. I am going to replace the tuning machines though.



Anyone else experienced similar return situations with Amazon? Obviously Sweetwater or MF is NOT going to say "Hey, keep the guitar, keep the money, we don't care."

I also received an email explaining to keep, donate or dispose of the item as I please. I printed it out and plan on keeping it in the cloud as well.
 
I worked for Amazon briefly. (Absolute worst job of my life.) Amazon already knows there's a quality problem with this product. It's cheaper for them to simply give you the defective guitar and maintain a happy customer than to try to squeeze a nickel out of it. Rest assured, they will get their pound of flesh from that manufacturer; and then some. Trust me. Behind the scenes, they are ruthless and wicked.
 
I worked for Amazon briefly. (Absolute worst job of my life.) Amazon already knows there's a quality problem with this product. It's cheaper for them to simply give you the defective guitar and maintain a happy customer than to try to squeeze a nickel out of it. Rest assured, they will get their pound of flesh from that manufacturer; and then some. Trust me. Behind the scenes, they are ruthless and wicked.
Yes, I don't doubt that at all. And, I kinda figured it was probably cheaper for them to allow me to keep it. I got tired of arguing with her about it, lol.
 
Happened many times. Usually when something is broken and worthless or too big, etc. Sometimes I just ask a question and they give me money, lol. But we buy a lot of stuff. And by the time I get to a human, it feels like I’ve earned it for all the work it takes passing the bot.
 
Happened many times. Usually when something is broken and worthless or too big, etc. Sometimes I just ask a question and they give me money, lol. But we buy a lot of stuff. And by the time I get to a human, it feels like I’ve earned it for all the work it takes passing the bot.
You are the sort of customer Amazon (and everybody else) likes. You're reasonable, honest and play by the rules. Amazon is making money off you and is willing to throw you a bone every once in a while. Good business move.

How does Amazon deal with scammers, cheats and fraudsters? First of all, many would be scammers don't have credit cards or even bank accounts. That eliminates most of them right off the bat. Those folks who do manage to scam Amazon get away with it for a while but eventually it catches up to them. Amazon has many people and locations they no longer deliver to.

As a customer, if you become a liability, you get blocked out.

Walmart gets scammed more than Amazon, mostly through employee theft, fraudulent returns and shoplifting. Another biggie is fake accidents (usually slips, trips and falls) in the store. Walmart's ability to serve cash-only customers is a big money maker, but also opens them up to all sorts of nonsense.
 
I have clicked on the return button a few times to get the "we are refunding the amount, you do not have to return the item."
What I like now is fi you have to return an item, you take the item to an UPS store, unboxed, and they send it back. As soon as UPS take posession of the package they start the refund. You don't have to wait for the item to get back to Amazon
 
Stuff we got free from Amazon:

A water well pump.
A couple bags of dog food

Cool story: A couple of close friends stopped by at our place. They were heading to purchase a new water well pump. We said "STOP!" We have one in our basement that you can take off our hands for FREE!

Another cool story: I tried to return a cymbal I bought from an EBay seller. The seller said "just keep it." Something didn't sound right. I pressed the seller. Found out it belonged to her deceased husband. I made her a deal. I sold the cymbal and sent her a check for the proceeds. She was very pleased. The money wasn't the big deal. I think it was the fact another drummer was taking care of a deceased drummer's widow.
 
Last edited:
We used to do a lot of Amazon Prime Now (now Amazon Fresh) groceries basically.
Everyone would ask how I could afford it as its more expensive than going to the supermarket.
Bottom line, we'd just complain about anything and get 10% off each time or whatever. There were always one or two stupid mistakes, wrong items that we'd still use, arguable incomparable replacents like higher fat content mince we could argue health reasons against, packaged so eg spinach was against the ice and a small portion of the bag had gone all dark and unpleasant but the bag would already be 120% the size we actually wanted so we'd use the rest etc etc. One email and it was instantly comparable if not cheaper than a store and delivered.
 
Happened many times. Usually when something is broken and worthless or too big, etc. Sometimes I just ask a question and they give me money, lol. But we buy a lot of stuff. And by the time I get to a human, it feels like I’ve earned it for all the work it takes passing the bot.
A few years ago my wife ordered a tool box for me. (The ones with 5 drawers rolling kind) she accidentally ordered 2, and immediately after realizing it called them and told them to cancel the extra one, which they did and refunded her money. When the order arrived I got two boxes, I contacted them to let them know I had received an extra box (I was stationed in Hawaii at the time ) they told me to keep it since it will be more expensive to ship it back so, I have two tool boxes....
 
I understand what you had to go through; I wouldn't say I like the process of returning a purchase. Especially about the guitar, I understand how exciting it was to wait for this order and see some flaws. I now spend a lot of time on the Best Acoustic Guitars website and read a lot about guitars in general, as I want to buy a new guitar for myself, but I have not yet decided on the choice of model. So I would even be pleased if you would write me a couple of guitar options, maybe I will choose something from your list. Don't worry about the guitar, and I think you'll be fine.
 
Last edited:
Anyone else experienced similar return situations with Amazon?
Yes. It began about two years ago. I remember my wife exclaiming, "They don't want this back but I get a refund!" We figured it was because shipping/restocking cost more than the item, but not now.

Maybe I'll order a drum set and try to return it. 🤔
 
Yes. It began about two years ago. I remember my wife exclaiming, "They don't want this back but I get a refund!" We figured it was because shipping/restocking cost more than the item, but not now.

Maybe I'll order a drum set and try to return it. 🤔
I seriously considered buying another guitar to see what would happen. But then I'd have to deal with 2.

As an update to this thread, I've kept that guitar. I actually REally like it. I like it so much that I'm going to upgrade it. The "ivy" inlay on the fretboard is less than desirable. But once again, FREE!
 
Ordered this used:


It was listed as "Like new", it wasn't. I was ready to send it back and the third-party seller told me I could keep it. (y)
 
Wow, two days in a row I got a box of things instead of one. It has happened before, but not this frequently. I should buy more stuff. :) I ordered a usb-c headphone adapter, and got a case of 10 (with one missing, only 9.. should I complain? lol). And then a single packet of epsom salt. Why is it in such a big box? They sent me 12. I wonder if it's a human or a robot who just picks up the thing with the matching barcode without looking...
 
Couple of years ago I had it with a Dutch site (Bol.com) once that i received an order twice for some bizarre reason. Believe it was a DVD. Paid once, but got the DVD via 2 separate packages. Reached out to customer service and said 'look i got it twice, so i'm sending one DVD back, but before you guys think i'm cancelling the order and refund me: i got 2 dvd's and am returning one'. They made a note and just to be sure i added a handwritten note when i send it back.
Yup... week later was checking my back account and they refunded the entire order 😑
Didn't bother reaching out again for that (since it was only like €20,- or so), but you did what you can
 
Last edited:
Back
Top