PROBLEM SOLVED

Ryan Maietta orders an Arc A770 graphics card from Amazon. Instead, he gets a different card, an A750. How does he get this fixed?

I recently ordered an Intel Arc A770 Graphics Card on Amazon. I paid $271 with my Amazon credit card.

The order arrived a few days later, but it was not the Intel Arc A770 – it was the Intel Arc A750, which is significantly different.

When viewed in my account history, it shows the order as the A770. On my invoice, it's the A770. But when I clicked on my order after the wrong item was delivered, it was the A750.

I called Amazon's customer service department and spoke with a supervisor, who agreed to issue an advance reimbursement as a gift card with a balance of $271. She instructed me to return the incorrect graphics card and place a new order for the Intel Arc A770 through a different link.

The order arrived today, and I see a partial credit in my Amazon account. But they shorted me $107 -- the price difference between the items. I've spoken with several representatives and supervisors who refuse to help me, saying they don't price match. I'm not looking for a price match. Ideally, I would like my reimbursement to my original method of payment. Can you help?

Ryan Maietta, Visalia, Calif.

Amazon should have shipped you the right graphics card. Once it discovered the error, it should have arranged for a quick replacement. The card you received is not the one you ordered -- it has less memory and is significantly slower.

The gift card refund is confusing to me, and chances are, it was also confusing to the representatives you called.

I noticed you also paid with your Amazon-branded card, so permit me a quick sidebar. Credit cards and gift cards can be useful tools when you're making a purchase. But ultimately, they exist because they benefit the company. When you pay with your Amazon card, the company earns money from late fees and interest. And when it pays you with gift card credit, or "Bezos Pesos," as my kids like to call it, the company never has to pay you real money.

If you could rewind to the moment you discovered the wrong order, I think you should have turned down the gift card offer and simply returned the item.

My consumer advocacy organization has historically received few complaints about Amazon, but they have started to pick up in recent months. That is cause for concern. You might have appealed this to one of the Amazon customer service contacts I publish on my consumer advocacy site, Elliott.org. Using the Elliott Method of sending a brief, polite email to one of the managers might have quickly reversed this problem.

I shared the Amazon executive contacts with you, and you reached out to one of them in writing. Unfortunately, Amazon did not respond, so I contacted the company on your behalf.

Amazon issued the promised refund and gave you a $25 gift card for the trouble. "They've also informed me that they started an internal investigation into the error with my order," you noted. Hopefully, this will not happen again. But if it does, I will be here to help.

Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy (https://elliottadvocacy.org), a nonprofit organization that helps consumers solve their problems. Email him at [email protected] or get help by contacting him at https://elliottadvocacy.org/help/

© 2023 Christopher Elliott