Ripped off on Amazon. Bought a $3100+ switch. Received an End of Life 7 year-old switch worth $50

And Amazon couldn’t help despite the same thing happening to others according to reviews of the same seller called MC_A2. We shelved the switch upon receipt in February, intending to deploy it later in the year. The box had a UPC Code on it that said “Cisco CS_3850”. We ordered a 3850. When we finally opened the box we received a Cisco 2950, a switch that’s been End of Life for over 6 years.

So I called Amazon to let them know of the bait and switch. Another reviewer “Ron S.” had the exact same review in January 2018. Bought a 3850, got a 2950 in a 3850 box. The seller MC_A2 had a review history of shipping the wrong product going back to 2015. I failed to read these reviews, my fault. However, with such a review history why does this person still have an active Amazon seller account? Seems Amazon does as much policing of it’s sellers as it does the counterfeit merchandise all over their site. We canceled our Prime account on July 7th and I was considering re-subscribing. Not now, not ever. I will never purchase another item from Amazon ever. They are proving to be as dangerous as the early days of eBay and I let their customer service know. Notice how they point me to the manufacturer for a solution when this was a 3rd party reseller account. Amazon’s response wasn’t even competent.

“Hello Amy,

I’m sorry to hear your Cisco Catalyst WS-C3850-48P-S Ethernet Switch was not as expected. In my experience, the quickest way to have this issue resolved is to contact the manufacturer directly. You can find the manufacturer’s contact information here:

The manufacturer may require a proof of purchase, such as an invoice, before they’ll send you a replacement part. You can view and print an invoice for your order from this link:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/css/summary/print.html?orderID=114-9803718-8015459

If you’ve contacted the manufacturer and they can’t help, please send us a summary of that correspondence and we’ll work on another solution.

We look forward to seeing you again soon.

We’d appreciate your feedback. Please use the buttons below to vote about your experience today.

Best regards,
Kyla O.
Amazon.com”

“It’s quite alright. We canceled our Prime account on July 7th anyway and won’t be back. $3100+ is a real punch from a bait and switch seller with a review history of ripping people off while Amazon allows to continue to sell with a 100% negative rating in 2018, bait and switch review history going back as far as 2015. I am also the IT Director for (retracted) out of NC. That’s who I procured the switch for. I will no longer be buying anything on Amazon for the organization either. Not so much as a phone case. With a history of not catching counterfeit products, a proven ability to be ripped off as easily as the early days of Ebay, reports of horrible working conditions for employees I cannot understand Amazon’s success. Pop culture success is all it comes down to, just like Apple. Inferior but praised by the masses. I’ll tell this story in full, with proof of how I (we) were ripped off by an Amazon Seller in hopes it will discourage anyone else from shopping on the site. I know you laugh at such assertions with full Amazon arrogance but I can assure you it will make at least a few people reconsider their unjustified faith in your website. And after all is hyped to the max that’s all it is, a retail website. One that is increasingly difficult to sell through (ya, I support AS2 EDI connections to Amazon for reseller accounts as well) and now has proven it is less secure for buyers than many, many other retail sites. Such as serversupply.com where I just procured the replacement switch. I’ll think of Amazon as I’m throwing the 7 year old unit we lost $3100 on into the trash. Then I’ll post this reply to customer service on my blog as warning to others that YES, it is possible to be completely ripped off on wonderful Amazon without recourse”.

And a follow up:

“Oh and by the way I did contact Cisco, the manufacturer.  Why would they help?  Why would they know what the hell I’m talking about?  This bait and switch product came from a 3rd party reseller, MC_A2, who has nothing to do with Cisco.  A reseller you continue to allow to sell on your site despite a review history of bait and switch.  This is a matter of Amazon policing sellers about as well as you police for counterfeit products.  You rely on 3rd party sellers for 40% of your sales and it seems as long as you get your percentage you don’t care who they’re ripping off – let ’em hang out and play right?”

Oh ya! SPS Commerce is operating “in the red”. Losing over $1 for every $100 in sales!

And it couldn’t have happened to a more deserving batch of E-Commerce ignorance. I guess their vendor-ransom model isn’t working out like it used to yet they continue to increase executive compensation. Gangstas gonna get paid first right? Even if they aren’t making sales. This is a great win for the vendors in the supply chain world wide. May SPS Commerce wither and die as investors who know nothing about EDI continue to be boondoggled by these charlatans with their maniacal business model. They are a plague upon the supply chain and I could post even more, new communications with SPS that would leave many who truly know about EDI shaking their head. Incompetence and in-effective document testing continue to rule their days and yes SPS, I have the proof. Just stop undermining the E-Commerce industry with your practices and incompetent technicians and you may stave off the inevitable. I also won’t be removing any more comments on this site posted by your former employees who attest to your failures first hand. Sounds like everyone’s catching on to you. It was inevitable.

Seeking Alpha says “Avoid” SPSC: https://seekingalpha.com/article/4164342-sps-commerce-avoid

More evidence of costly, ineffective EDI Document testing by SPS Commerce

Here’s another email between an EDI Analyst and a map developer regarding an SPS customers documents after they made the choice to let SPS hijack their customer base for an ineffective testing ransom.  Will it ever stop?  Will the incompetence and gouging ever be outed?

Hi Margarita,

 

We’re still trying to sort out the issues we’re having with these ALL*** Invoices since switching to their new connection.

We received the below communication from them advising the required freight charges are not showing on the 810 and that these should come through the SAC loop. The Specs for this is attached for your reference.

 

I’m not sure why this is happening? as I copied the Tested TP kit when switching to their new EDI Connection. So everything that was tested and confirmed as passed should match. I’m beginning to think SPSCommerce did a poor job with handling ALL***’s document testing because when I look back to TEST invoices, none of them included this SAC segment. Therefor it should have failed during the testing period.   

 

Reminder: We do not receive POs via EDI for this TP.

TDOC Name: ALL_810_4010X_TRIM2

 

Example of 810 (All Pro New)

ISA*00*          *00*          *01*044381234      *ZZ*ALLPROCORP     *180105*1008*U*00401*000000036*0*P*>

GS*IN*044381234*ALLPROCORP*20180105*1008*70*X*004010

ST*810*000000005

BIG*20171229*INV0670665*20171228*366884***DI

REF*SW*SOD0141885

N1*SE*Trimaco, LLC*92*7950

N1*BY*Miller Paint Co. – AllPro*92*5240

N4*Puyallup*WA*98373-2414**SN*0195

N1*ST*Miller Paint Co. – AllPro

N3*14207 Meridian E*Bldg C

N4*Puyallup*WA*98373-2414

ITD*01**2*20180128***0*****2% EOM/Net 15th

DTM*011*20171231

IT1**64*EA*8.85**MG*84075*BP*84075

CTP***8.85

PID*F****One Tuff Wiping Cloth  75/box 8bx/cs

TDS*69647

CTT*1

SE*17*000000005

 

 

 

 

Thank you,

 

Desireé ******* | Systems Analyst – EDI | *******, LLC

D: ***.***.***

Do NOT use Mountain Bike Trails as a promotional gimmick for Real Estate Development.

I don’t think home building companies realize how much damage they are doing to themselves by trying to use what they perceive as a mountain biking “trend” as a marketing gimmick.  I know of three developments nationally where the home builder offered mountain biking trails as a community perk only to shutter the trails within months as they used the land to expand development.  Now I’m not gonna get into how pathetic these over-priced, poorly built track homes are with regards to quality of construction and components (a $3700 laminate double door option, really?).  Regardless of their lack of any real wood I suppose some people are drawn to pay a premium for a house built 10 feet from their neighbor for a sense of “community”.  But when you build mountain bike trails you’ve immediately extended beyond your “community”.

Build all the barn style coffee houses you want beside the community pool.  Who cares.  If you build mountain bike trails word will get out.  We live to explore new trails.  All great for your marketing right?  Yes.  Incredible.  As long as you plant to NEVER remove the trails to expand development of more shot ass homes on the land.  Once you do that, you’re BLACKLISTED.

Blacklisted?  Yep.  A shit community.  Traitors.  Word’s getting out about Wendell Falls.  I suppose they don’t care because demand for their boring track cardboard is so high they destroyed trails they marketed as the second coming of Christ to the area in April 2017.  “Future expansion” they said.  Nope.  Just destroyed trails after one season of riding.  No communication about the trails status.  Just people arriving to find them gone.  Now they can sell all the ghetto fabulous, cheap material track homes they can build due to demand.  We will not forget.  You’ll never have a serious cyclist interested in your matchstick dwellings.  Wendell Falls is blacklisted.  To hell with posers and marketing dim bitches who think this is trend to us.  It’s a lifestyle and you’re a tease for profit.  A teasing whore in a coffee shop barn.  A total misfire.  You DO NOT fuck around by building trails with so much social media and LBS fanfare only to rip them down.  You will lose sales and credibility as anything but development whores for such nonsense.  The cycling community is much bigger than yours.