Is this thing even on?

I am on leave now; as my last two posts were composed at work and the one before was all about how little I have been blogging I don't expect I will write much more before next year. So Merry Christmas everybody, and a Happy New Year.

This year I resolved to write a book (not what you may think), make a space in the garage for creative work, and have a computer at home connected to the internet. I achieved none of these resolutions. (The book was a roleplaying source book.) On the other hand I did go to China, become debt free and fall deeply in love with Emma. This has been a great year.  ¶ 16:25 6 comments

  Answers on an email.

When two boxes arrived on Monday afternoon (one with the first order, without the cancelled items, and the other with the second order) Christopher returned the items from the first order, inclulding the cancelled items, and applied for a reimbursement of the shipping costs. Amazon's email engine did cater for "returns and refunds" but only for items which were on an order. If an item didn't appear on an order (e.g. if the item was dispatched despite being cancelled and arrived despite no longer appeared on an order) then there was no option to send the email. Christopher had to misinform Amazon about the reason for the email in order to send it.  ¶ 12:13 0 comments

  Amazonly inept, or amazonly generous?

I ordered two DVDs and one CD and another thing from Amazon. Amazon said my credit card didn't work but it would probably work if I asked them to try again. I was asking them to try again when I noticed my order was for one DVD and two CDs and another thing. Amazon said I could change my order but I couldn't really; I couldn't change the quantities and I couldn't add to the order, I could only cancel items. So I had to cancel the two CDs. Then I ordered one CD and one more DVD. (I could have combined my two orders into one but why tempt fate?) My credit card worked for my second order, which was good because there is no way to check the correctness of the credit card number recorded (which is also good). So it was fortunate it didn't work the first time or I would not have noticed the error in my order.

Amazon said the cancellation of my order was not processed due to a system upgrade and my order was dispatched in full. They said there was no order refund as I had not been charged. They advised me to return the "shipment" and they will reimburse me for the shipping costs. The advice didn't mention what was cancelled or what remained in the order, it implied I should return the whole shipment. They also gave me a five pound gift certificate.

The record of my order indicates the first order was dispatched 30 November, the day after Amazon said it had been dispatched in full. The record also indicates the cancellation was processed correctly. However when the order arrived on 1 December (one day after it was dispatched) it included the two cancelled CDs. I haven't received the second order yet (which was dispatched 29 November, the day before the first order). My credit card was charged for one CD and one DVD (the second order) on 30 November; and one DVD and one other thing (the amended first order) on 1 December.

Now I have two CDs I have not been charged for (and could use as Christmas presents); a link to be reimbursed for an arbitrary amount of shipping costs; and a five pound gift certificate. What did Christopher do next?  ¶ 11:07 3 comments