Amazon seller 'Thompson Tools'

And you should be mad.

If you were returning it because you did not like it then no reason the vendor (even Amazon) should pay return shipping.

But when its their error, any vendor should pay to have it returned.

After you get your refund you can certainly post a nice feedback on Amazon. "Shipped wrong item, would not pay for return shipping."

You should just play the game and get the knife returned and your money back. Once that is done, request them to pay for the return shipping and if they those not to based on them being at fault, I would then leave them negative feedback as Alann45 has stated.
 
I would recommend purchasing your knife from one of the dealers on this list. Amazon is alright for some things, knives in my opinion is not one of them. YMMV.

I purchased my first Davison on eBay.

Turned out it was a dealer on this list, VCM3. I have subsequently purchased several knives from him and now have an excellent dealer/buyer relationship with Vince and would recommend him highly.
:thumbup:
 
You should just play the game and get the knife returned and your money back. Once that is done, request them to pay for the return shipping and if they those not to based on them being at fault, I would then leave them negative feedback as Alann45 has stated.

Also, once I had the refund and if they still refused to pay shipping, I'd make a very polite report to Amazon by email or phone. Personally I would call. Frequently Amazon will give you a credit of $5 or $10 just because you have had to hassle with an order....less likely in this case with an outside vendor, but you never know.
Amazon's CS is usually pretty good, but I have had to call a second time when I got a less experienced rep who only knew how to give robot answers.
At least you would know Amazon was aware a vendor was not living up to their standards.
 
Also, once I had the refund and if they still refused to pay shipping, I'd make a very polite report to Amazon by email or phone. Personally I would call. Frequently Amazon will give you a credit of $5 or $10 just because you have had to hassle with an order....less likely in this case with an outside vendor, but you never know.
Amazon's CS is usually pretty good, but I have had to call a second time when I got a less experienced rep who only knew how to give robot answers.
At least you would know Amazon was aware a vendor was not living up to their standards.

I am not sure I would call Amazon just to get a credit as it really wasnt there fault. I do have a problem with a company that manipulates their feedback by trying to pay off the buyer for their mistake, especially when it sounds like this isnt the first time this company has screwed up. If they had some actual feedback, then maybe when it shows that they are not the greatest, people might not buy as much or chose to buy somewhere else and their sales will show a slowdown. Once they see a slowdown then they might be apt to actually worry about customers and customer service.

This is why I would play their game til I get my money back and then tell them I want my return shipping refunded as it was their issue. If they refused I would give them the feedback they deserve. Heck, I would still leave feedback even if they did refund the shipping but maybe more towards "neutral" than "negative"...
 
I just wanted to thank everybody for their support. I don't know what i would do if I didn't have a place like this to vent. I can't exactly complain to my friends and family because they would think i was crazy for spending $200 on a knife :) Right now this thread has well over a 1000 views. The police reports and all the rest i may have to file in the future won't have as much impact as the thread in itself. This large number of people (who buy tons of knives) that will stay away from thompson tools in the future will put more pressure on them to change their business practices or go out of business more than anything else i can do at this point.

The latest: I received a proof of delivery from USPS via e-mail. They now have the knife back in their hands. According to amazon they have 48 hours to return my money.
 
I am not sure I would call Amazon just to get a credit as it really wasnt there fault.

Sorry, I guess I wasn't clear. The main purpose of the call would be to make sure Amazon was aware. They have pretty high standards which they take seriously.
Only secondarily they would probably realize this wasn't done right and that THEIR customer got screwed...they really don't like that and might throw a few bucks to make sure one remains a happy customer.

This is why I would play their game til I get my money back and then tell them I want my return shipping refunded as it was their issue. If they refused I would give them the feedback they deserve. Heck, I would still leave feedback even if they did refund the shipping but maybe more towards "neutral" than "negative"...

I agree that is probably the best technique.
Though I'm not sure how effective it will be. By Amazon standards this vendor really doesn't have good a rating anyway.
 
I purchased my first Davison on eBay.

Turned out it was a dealer on this list, VCM3. I have subsequently purchased several knives from him and now have an excellent dealer/buyer relationship with Vince and would recommend him highly.
:thumbup:
Good to hear. I should not have generalized so much. There are some shops that sell a knife, the customer gets it and returns it because it is defective in some way, and they seem to restock it. There was a case where someone bought a Benchmade 710, and 2-3 people on the forums got the same knife in a months time or so. Same damage to the blade and everything, it was bizarre.
 
Unfortunately I didn't read this post before attempting to purchase something from this seller. I bought Altitude Sickness Pills along with $300 worth of other Amazon items from different sellers on 5/11 and on 5/14 I had 5 or 6 boxes waiting at my door. According to USPS the pills were delivered that day boxes; however, I never received them. As a result I sent Thompson Tools an email notifiying them, very politely I might add, that I never received the items and their response was: "Thank you for writing. If the package has shown delivered what are we supposed to do? The only proof we have to go by is deliveryconfirmation, and USPS is confirming that they have delivered this."

So, I replied: "As a retailer and the shipper, you can file a claim with USPS to investigate, and get your money back. But the bottom line is I do not have the product which I paid for."

And finally, their response back was: "I am sorry, but the claim is rejected if there is proof of delivery.We have filed claims with USPS in the past, and we will not get anymoney from them when there is proof of delivery."

I'm going to notify Amazon and point them to this forum showing that there are a number of issues with this seller.
 
And finally, their response back was: "I am sorry, but the claim is rejected if there is proof of delivery.We have filed claims with USPS in the past, and we will not get anymoney from them when there is proof of delivery."

Charming. :rolleyes:
If you or someone else did not sign for the box, what exactly is their PROOF of delivery?

I'm going to notify Amazon and point them to this forum showing that there are a number of issues with this seller.
:thumbup:
I recently did not order an item because it was from this vendor.
In the future I will avoid them like the plague.
 
Fuel to the fire?
I bought a delica from them - instead, they sent me a beautiful sprinkler head.
I just returned it directly to Amazon - did not try to repurchase from them. It was not worth saving another buck or two at that point.

Amazon did process the return very quickly.
 
Fuel to the fire?
I bought a delica from them - instead, they sent me a beautiful sprinkler head.
I just returned it directly to Amazon - did not try to repurchase from them. It was not worth saving another buck or two at that point.

Amazon did process the return very quickly.


How can you return something directly to amazon when you've bought it from another seller? I would have done that but I didn't (and still can't) find anything on amazon about doing this.
 
Another update:
Seller responded basically trying to intimidate me by stating "Amazon will only allow a certain # of disputes per account" as though this is something I do often (it's not.) I replied with a civil, yet direct message outlining my points (He can request an inquiry from USPS, request an insurance reimbursement, etc) and also noted that it would be pretty silly for me to go through all this trouble to scam him out of $20. He then replied saying "If you want a refund, send the package back." all the while knowing I never received the package! I believe he is insinuating, like the original poster, that I am attempting to scam him. He also told me that filing a claim with Amazon would be useless. After this, I contacted Amazon via their 800 # and the CSR was very friendly. She apologized for the sellers behavior (she could see the replies which were logged in their system and was appalled by his unprofessional responses.) She filed the claim for me and sent me a link to file a formal complaint as well. I suggest anyone having trouble with this seller to contact Amazon directly at 1-866-216-1072. I'll let you know how this turns out.
 
Unfortunately I didn't read this post before attempting to purchase something from this seller. I bought Altitude Sickness Pills along with $300 worth of other Amazon items from different sellers on 5/11 and on 5/14 I had 5 or 6 boxes waiting at my door. According to USPS the pills were delivered that day boxes; however, I never received them. As a result I sent Thompson Tools an email notifiying them, very politely I might add, that I never received the items and their response was: "Thank you for writing. If the package has shown delivered what are we supposed to do? The only proof we have to go by is deliveryconfirmation, and USPS is confirming that they have delivered this."

So, I replied: "As a retailer and the shipper, you can file a claim with USPS to investigate, and get your money back. But the bottom line is I do not have the product which I paid for."

And finally, their response back was: "I am sorry, but the claim is rejected if there is proof of delivery.We have filed claims with USPS in the past, and we will not get anymoney from them when there is proof of delivery."

I'm going to notify Amazon and point them to this forum showing that there are a number of issues with this seller.


I hate to play the devils advocate in my own complaint thread but in the situation that you describe i'm not sure there's all that much that the seller could do. It sounds like either USPS made a mistake or someone stole the package off your porch. I'm not sure if it's really fair to hold the seller responsible for a package getting stolen after it's been delivered. If i were you i would contact usps immediately since it's clearly a problem at their end. Even if the package was insured USPS isn't going to pay out while the package is showing as delivered. Certainly thompson tools customer service should have been more helpful. If i was the customer service i would have profusely apologized and offered to contact usps to see if anything could be done.

I hope you get it figured out and please do update us when you find out any more.
 
Have you gotten your money back yet?

I like how in the e-mails from Thompson they talk so casually about how they have these problem on what seems to be a semi-regular basis. Really inspires confidence in a company.
 
"(my name),

We have received the knife back. It is indeed the knife we sent you, and indeed we made a mistake in sending you the 0350 when you should have received the 0550. I have refunded you in full plus reimbursed you $8.45 that you spent on return shipping. I am sorry for sending you the wrong knife. I am also sorry that our verification process in returning the knife inconvenienced you. We needed to get the knife back and look at if first before we could refund or exchange.

sincerely,

Matthew Thompson
Thompson Tools"



Its over! I've been waking up angry for days now but they gave me my money back and payed for the return shipping. I'm going to update my first post with this info and a few other thoughts but right now i need to sleep off a 12 hour workday. goodnight.
 
Finally a decent response from them.

Glad to see they did the right thing and paid the shipping even though they had said "we cannot reimburse return shipping", you must be special since they changed their policy for you.:rolleyes:

If they had replied like that in the first place they might not be on my Do Not Buy From list. ;)
 
I love it when stories have happy endings. Suffice to say however, I will still avoid this vendor. There just seems to be too many things...
 
I hate to play the devils advocate in my own complaint thread but in the situation that you describe i'm not sure there's all that much that the seller could do. It sounds like either USPS made a mistake or someone stole the package off your porch. I'm not sure if it's really fair to hold the seller responsible for a package getting stolen after it's been delivered. . . . .

It is simply a question of who bears the "risk of loss in transit," the seller or the buyer. Unless that parties expressly agree otherwise ("FOB point of shipment"), it's the seller who bears the risk of loss in transit. The seller can protect himself/herself/itself by charging a price that includes insurance or self-insurance against loss. Very fair and the law in any case in all fifty states, DC., and Puerto Rico..\

Which is why, for example, the only possible insured in "mail insured" is typically the seller because only he has an "insurable interest" - his property until delivered as agreed.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Back
Top