This could be my strangest Amazon purchase experience yet

[SimonSays]

I will either be getting…

6 kg (13.2 lb) of prunes for £13.66 ($15) or…

6 kg of prunes for £1.86 or…

3 kg of prunes for £1.86

Let me explain.

The original order of 3 kg was to arrive today, but by 4pm it hadn't even been dispatched, so I contacted customer service to find out what was going on, and was offered a £15 promotional credit for the inconvenience. However, if I cancelled the original order and reordered it, I could apply the promotion to the new order, so the whole thing would cost me £1.86 instead. So he cancelled the order and requested a refund.

Half an hour after receiving an email from him confirming the refund had been requested, I received a dispatch notification confirming that the original order was now arriving tomorrow and hadn't been cancelled at all; I'd ordered another by this point which was arriving on Monday.

Now, because the item is on its way they may not give the refund. Which would make sense as they’re delivering the order. But, just as I was thinking I'd have to contact Amazon again as I didn't want 6 kg of the stuff, I realised something. Maybe I did.

I was happy to pay the original price, and I certainly don't mind paying an extra £1.86 for double. Which is a fantastic price. Even if they do cancel the first order, I'd end up with 3 kg from the second-order, and charged £1.86 instead! Which is incredible. I don't see a downside to letting it play out even though this is not what I was told would be happening.

Bizarre.`

 

[Suzette]

Something like this happened with one of our orders too. I ordered a robe for my son and amazon delivies said it was delivered an included a photo of the delivery location. The photo showed delivery was made to the wrong address. So Amazon offered a refund, which I accepted and placed a new order for the robe.
Meanwhile, the refund came through and then the original order was delivered with the second order allready on it's way. Amazon told us to keep the first robe and the refund. My son got two robes for the price of one.

 

[Tom]

That brought to mind the old film The March of the Wooden Soldiers, which is technically called Babes in Toyland.

"But Stannie has mixed up an order from Santa Claus (building 100 wooden soldiers at six feet tall, instead of 600 soldiers at one foot tall) and one of the soldiers, when activated, wrecks the toy shop. Stannie and Ollie are fired without getting the money."

Yes, another fine mess...

And a little creepy by today's standards.

 

[SimonSays]

@Suzette

This has happened to me before, and we can't be the only ones, especially if you take into account how many orders Amazon deals with on a daily basis. And still they make so much profit none of this even matters to them.

I don't know if this is a good thing. Yes it's good for the customer to get two robes or 6 kg of prunes, but their staff don't seem looked after very well, both delivery drivers and warehouse operatives. And yet customer service is second to none really. What strange times we live in.

 

[SimonSays]

Getting weirder...

I received confirmation from Amazon that my refund has being completed. But not for the item I just bought. For a pair of sandals I bought five months ago! The sandals cost more than the refund and the email says this is an accounting adjustment. Whatever that means. Stranger and stranger...

So I'm allegedly getting 6 kg of prunes for £1.86.

 

[Suzette]

@SimonSays
Make prune fluff? Prune pudding or pie?
Oh I know, make mago lassi but use prunes! "Prune Lassi" could be the new hit drink to go with avocado toast! Hahaha!

 

[SimonSays]

@SimonSays
Make prune fluff? Prune pudding or pie?
Oh I know, make mago lassi but use prunes! "Prune Lassi" could be the new hit drink to go with avocado toast! Hahaha!

I like Mango Lassi. I live in a Hindu neighbourhood where they make it fresh just round the corner. I'd give prune lassi a try if they did that.

I won't be making prune fluff or prune hair, I'll just be eating them... four or five a day, straight out of the bag. I may soak some of them in apple juice. I like them like that too.

They come in half kilo bags so I'm hoping the shelf life is long enough to last six months. The whole thing is bonkers. I'd actually tried to find prunes locally but couldn't find what I was looking for. I'm not even sure where I'm going to put them all

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

That brought to mind the old film The March of the Wooden Soldiers, which is technically called Babes in Toyland.

"But Stannie has mixed up an order from Santa Claus (building 100 wooden soldiers at six feet tall, instead of 600 soldiers at one foot tall) and one of the soldiers, when activated, wrecks the toy shop. Stannie and Ollie are fired without getting the money."

Yes, another fine mess...

View attachment 72913

View attachment 72912

And a little creepy by today's standards.

Then there was the made for TV Babes in Toyland that featured Mr. Pockets pulling out an amazing cache of stuff from out of his clothes. I think that was in the late 50s.

 

[Fino]

You get the award for longest post about prunes!

 

[SimonSays]

@Fino

When one says a lot about prunes, additional words just sort of come out so much more easily.

 

[SimonSays]

Just a quick update (for those who may be interested). Amazon cocked up the second-order too. Instead of sending me a box of six bags they only sent one bag. They are of course terribly sorry, and are sending a replacement, so that I'll now end up with 6 1/2 kg for £1.86, as I get to keep the single bag they sent by mistake. And for the inconvenience, they have given me an additional £10 credit.

So basically I'm getting 6 1/2 kg of prunes from Amazon, and it isn't costing me a penny and they're giving me £8.14 on top. Crazy times.

 

[Suzette]

Enjoy your prunes!
At least you will be able to get something "regular" out of this un-regular purchase experience! Hahaha!

 

[SimonSays]

I will be extremely regular for a while that's for sure!

But actually, I came back to this thread to make a slightly more serious point.

I only wanted to get some prunes. I eat a lot of dried fruit and prunes are nice. But the journey to find them, starting off locally and ending up with more prunes than I know what to do with, and more in my bank account than I started off with, could just be seen as a very lucky coincidence. But actually it's created quite a bit of anxiety for me.

Having to know when the parcel will arrive. Having to be in to receive it, or in my case to avoid that, having it delivered to a local delivery hub round the corner and then going to pick it up so I don't have to be concerned with when it arrives, still creates anxiety in me. I just want it over so I can go back to not having to think about things like this. And yet, had Amazon not offered me free prime, so I could decide to order prunes without having to pay delivery, I would never have even bothered and just accepted that I couldn't buy any locally at this time.

I did feel a strong intention of acquiring prunes, and it's almost like I had an effect on the world, causing a response I could never have imagined. Had this not happened several times before in the not-too-distant past, I would think nothing more of it. But when strange coincidences happen enough, it starts to feel like there's more going on.

I'm reluctant to create some kind of belief or magical thinking around it as a way of explaining what could be going on. When something starts to feel like more than just coincidence I don't try to rationalise it out either. Strange things do happen. I have no doubt of that. Even if it just involves prunes.

 

[Suzette]

@SimonSays,

When others proclaim "magical thinking" I wonder if they simply have not experienced magic.

 

[SimonSays]

When others proclaim "magical thinking" I wonder if they simply have not experienced magic.

It would surely have to be. You can't experience it and not be changed in some way by it.

I struggle with this. Having experienced 'otherness' enough to know such things are real, then after so much changed over the last few years, I began to doubt my own experience. To lose myself. Perhaps I misinterpreted everything. Concluded something I had no right to.

I was always ready to offer a perspective that was different to the one people usually have. I wanted them to know there was another way to see things. I knew what I'd experienced, and yet the reality is...words don't teach, only experience does.

For those who don't have my experiences why should they believe them? There are different worlds. Different realities. The more I felt it was important to share my experiences, to help those who couldn't see, the more trouble I'd get myself into.

Why was it so important they accepted my words anyway? Did I have a need to be taken seriously? Did I need people to trust me and accept me? Did I want to be seen as special? Maybe I did. And if this was true, then my ego was involved in a way it wasn't supposed to be. Without wanting attention, there's nothing that needs to be said. I know what I experience. If I no longer need those experiences to be accepted as true by those who probably won't understand anyway, then I can let go of having to reveal them.

Of course some do understand, because some know what I'm talking about. But those who don't, don't have to accept something that is not part of their world. They are not less because of it. I am not better just because I'm taking a different class.

 

[SimonSays]

Addendum...

Amazon cocked up the third order! They sent the same single pack instead of a box of six as I'd ordered. However, they decided they could no longer compensate me for their mistake. I just took a refund.

I did end up with 4 kg of free prunes and not the six as I'd originally expected. To be honest, I did not like dealing with them. I'd had enough. I didn't need to be greedy and insist they send another box. The Universe had given me more than enough prunes.

But there's something insidious about getting something for nothing. For a moment, instead of being happy to have received 4 kg of prunes at no cost, it felt like I'd lost 2 kg that I was entitled to. That's not good. Everything was their mistake, but honestly I wish I hadn't had to use them and could have found prunes locally. I don't mind paying for what I need. I don't expect to get it free. Sometimes what looks like a gift horse can end up being a problem.