A “new” Amazon waffle maker came with an old crusty-looking waffle already in it | Hacker News Reader

A “new” Amazon waffle maker came with an old crusty-looking waffle already in it

vox.com

26 pointsfortran7715 comments

I’ve cancelled my Amazon subscription and I suggest others do as well. There is simply no way to avoid counterfeits and scams when buying on Amazon right now, and that’s not a problem I should have to worry about.

Why are we instantly siding with the accuser who has an easily fake-able photo? No longer innocent until proven guilty?

Because this is believable based on recent years filled with all kinds of quality issues, from counterfeit products shipped side-by-side with genuine ones up to Amazon doing absolutely nothing against various shameless review tricks (for example I haven't even found a way to report such cases anywhere, so to me they're clearly not even interested in doing anything - EDIT: what is visible is a button for me as a private, logged in customer where I can setup a seller account right between product description and automated suggestions...no report button though).

May this be fake? Sure. It's just not very likely based on history.

I received a “new” product I bought on Amazon that had something on it that could have either been a lubricant for the product or someone’s food. The entire product was very greasy and there was other weirdness that lead me to believe what I received was someone else’s return. I sent it back and ordered directly from the manufacturer. When I opened the package it only confirmed my suspicions. No greasy stuff. Paperwork that was missing in the Amazon shipment. Protective packing. Etc.

My conclusion was that the Amazon product was returned and no one even looked at it before taping it up and sending it out to me. Maybe the customer lied to them about why they were returning it. I don’t know.

Whatever it was, it certainly means I’m not dismissing this customer’s story out of hand.

Iron products are supposed to be shipped with a mineral oil coating.

I assume you're offering this as a counterpoint, suggesting I might have just been mistaken about it being a return?

1. It wasn't mineral oil. It lacked the feel, appearance, and odor of mineral oil. The substance was buttery and it would not surprise me if it had been butter.

2. The greasiness wasn't the only weirdness with the device.

3. The device straight from the manufacturer lacked the greasiness and other weirdness, but was otherwise clearly the same product with the same packaging (except some extra bits the one through Amazon didn't have).

Companies are not and never will be people, and hearsay is necessary for markets to work. "Innocent until proven guilty" only makes sense with people; with companies, it should be "Innocent unless there's reasonable suspicion to assume literally anything else," in most cases.

On top of that, this isn't an uncommon circumstance: the counterfeit problem on Amazon brings up 1,812 results with a completely unsophisticated search of HN; there are a lot of different variations of that, it's probably half-again that number.

There's no question of whether you have the right to assume guilt.

It's only that, logically, if you rush to judgment on anything, you don't in fact care about the issue that much. You can't convince someone rational that you both do and don't concern yourself with it.

y'all are right, i am wrong

Yeah I've been avoiding Amazon lately.

They just don't care. Literally every-time I need to rely on them for something, they screw it up somehow. Always a late or missing package, or something inconsistent with the order. Especially when I take them up on one or two day delivery, expecting them to follow through on the promise.

I just think the cost of the losses is factored into their wild system. Getting orders by claiming to offer same day delivery is worth it even if 50% of those orders never show up. So customer service suffers because of their ruthless desire for market share.

Honestly, what product has amazon produced that is a good product? They just decimate industries by using their scale and financial backing to take a hit while their competitors die and then do as they wish.

Paging BigCliveDotCom

It's time for another Amazon hotdogger / deathdapter / waffle-smasher tear-down and circuit diagram. http://bigclive.com

EDIT: I bet it's from return stock where the seller/Amazon didn't open it and just assumed it was clean / sellable.

Shit happens. At least with Amazon it's super easy to make a return (at least here in Germany).

I’ve never had a bad experience returning items here in the US, either.

I once bought an electric toothbrush sealed in the box at a Costco store which had clearly been used at least once.

Vox are garbage, out for clicks

An expert explains why Burberry, H&M, Nike, and Urban Outfitters destroy unsold merch — and what it says about consumer culture. https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/9/17/17852294/fashion-bra...

If you're totally freaked out about wheat products on a second hand product (Yes, it was bought as new and looks gross) your great grand parents would be ashamed of you, that's privilege.

Just return it if you must. This one story is not worth the millions of views it's getting.

A working product should be destroyed because it had old food on it? That's fine, but don't pretend next week you are an amazing human who recycles.

Humans still work at Amazon and they make mistakes do we really need blood on this?

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