An Amazon Prime “bargain” that never arrived… and Amazon does not honor the discount given

Enticed by Amazon’s promotion of its Prime Day I bought something I wanted…. and, apparently, I will never get delivered to my door. Amazon says I should buy again… without the discount!!!

Let me make one thing clear: the PICO 4 VR headset is great. Amazon’s services are BAD! I decided to use the PRIME DAY discounts to buy a second-hand PICO 4 VR headset, on the 11th July, with delivery to happen until the 19th July. At the same time, I acquired some accessories for the headset. Those arrived within a couple of days, but the headset, suddenly, was delayed until the 27th July. On the tracking page one could see it left Amazon on the 11th — I even have a tracking code for the product… that the carrier does not recognize!

Days passed and nothing happened. I contacted Amazon on the 27th — the order page had a note the headset would now arrive on the 28th July — and was told that I should ask for a refund because they can not replace the product. Yeah, right, but what about my Prime Day special discount? Does Amazon honor it? Apparently no, despite the fact that it was because of the discount that I decided to buy the headset.

Because I insisted I did not want a refund, Amazon’s custom service told me the product was not sold by Amazon, so they could not replace it — what is not true, from the info collected on the page. No word about honoring the Prime Day discount, they offered to give me a 5 Euro voucher for my troubles, which I said I don’t want. I want the VR headset I’ve paid for, so I can use it with the accessories that Amazon was quick to send me… and for which I’ve no use without the headset.

Customer service told me they would get in touch with the carrier and that I should wait another 48 hours for a solution. Today, the 28th July, the page for my order was updated with a note that my product might be lost, and that I can ask for a refund. So much for customer service at Amazon… No thanks, I want what I paid for.

This story should be a cautionary tale for others buying from Amazon on Prime Day… or any other day, in fact. I did not make the rules, I simply followed them, and acquired, with a discount, a product from Amazon. They were quick to withdraw the money from my bank account, but not to deliver what I bought. And yes, they have many other second hand “in very good condition” headsets available, so they can simply deliver one, so as to honor the Prime Day discount. But apparently they don’t want to do that…