Be ware of Third Party Amazon Sellers

I got curious about how the seller 'Hi Tech' (been on Amazon for something over a year) now has a 99% positive rating for the most recent reviews when I first looked on Dec. 28 and they were 95% due to quite a few complaints just like mine (non-delivery, no tracking, no help from seller).

You can't sort seller reviews by stars, so a flood of 5 star all sent the same day covers up the isolated 1 star complains.

5 out of 5 stars
99% positive in the last 12 months (488 ratings)
HI TECH is committed to providing each customer with the highest standard of customer service.

1 out of 5 stars
Supposedly sent the day after ordered, but with no tracking. It never came. I asked Hi Tech about it twice several days apart. Each time Hi Tech asked for more information & I replied the *MINUTE* they asked but never got a follow up from them. Finally I just asked Amazon for a refund, and Amazon immediately credited me. Yay Amazon. Not so yay Hi Tech.

Amazon has sued (in 2015 I think) companies that sell reviews- they pay people to order products and then give the company either 5star glowing reports, or 1star terrible reports to the competition. So maybe that's not happening now. I wonder though, if there are still ways of getting false reviews?

At Hi Tech it's flooded with 5 star reviews, most saying things about how fast the product was delivered or how much they love the product with no details on why they love it and there's many with just one or two word 'Great' etc. comments. And these 5 star reviews tend to come in clumps all on the same day. Hmm...

The one star reviews almost all have the same complaints- My order didn't come on time, I never got my order, there's no tracking, company didn't respond, etc. Since the one star reviews are buried in the mass of 5 stars, it's a chore to look for them, and with a 99% rating, who would look? Only a customer who had already had a bad experience with the seller.

So, in future, I will try to avoid 3rd party sellers *UNLESS* it says 'fulfilled by Amazon' which means that Amazon has the products & will handle the shipping.

Some 3rd party sellers are blatantly thieves and get around the Amazon guarantee by asking for direct payment (Western Union, etc.) - definitely watch for that.

OMG, Amazon just sent me a product shipping update that says Hi Tech has sent my order. What do I do now, I wonder? :^)

Is it just a coincidence this happened an hour after I posted the 1 star review?

*sigh* I keep trying...

So, anyway, after giving up on the delivery of the third party seller, and getting a refund from Amazon and writing a negative review, an hour later I get an email from Amazon with shipping update, saying the order has been sent and this time it has a tracking number.

I'm thinking, oh, what do I do now, are they sending this for free as an apology or are they going to charge me again?

So, as you do, I sewed antique shoe button eyes on a toy horse and thought about it, while calling the taxi guy AGAIN. Still no answer. *sigh* All dressed up and no grocery store to go to.

So I came back in with smiling toy horse, and looked at the email again. Clicked the tracking number.

It says the package was delivered 9 days BEFORE I complained, to another city in my state (and not even a city near me.)

Yeah, no. You can't send a package without tracking and then retroactively track it. They took a tracking number from something else and reused it.

How did they think they'd get away with this? A customer who's already complained once about non-delivery is hardly likely to pay for the second non-delivery.

So I livechatted with Amazon & they assured me they were going to make sure I didn't get charged, and they were going to investigate the seller.

*Whine* It's raining so I can't dig up the bed I was going to put cantaloupe seedlings into, and my hip hurts, the taxi guy isn't answering, I've fallen and I can't get up (LIE). OMG, I'm an old fart. *Puts a smile on a toy rabbit*

EDIT: I just realized the tracking says the package was 3 pounds. The item I ordered was a 10 pound box of fiberfill. Wow, they really didn't try to match it at all with their lie. I'm insulted that they thought I was so stupid.

EDIT 2: I just went back and see that Hi Tech now has 100% positive rating! They REMOVED my review. (along with everyone elses that was negative).

I didn't know they could remove reviews that didn't violate the guidelines. I was careful not to say anything that wasn't allowed.

Three Little Critters to make you smile

Couldn't take photos outside, so this is just on the dining room table. The largest one is about 9 inches tall. The Pony's eyes are antique shoe-buttons (with black Sharpie painted on for pupil), and the other two have antique buttons for eyes which I could not SEE how pretty they were because they were so tiny. So after I photographed the critters I expanded the image of one of the button eyes and OMG, SO beautiful! My mother had them from her mother who probably had them from *her* mother. I'm guessing they're over 100 years old.

The fabrics are all prints I designed, including the pony spots. The critters are all patterns I made. So, you know, genuine one of a kinds.

( Pony, Bunny, Teddy & a closeup of antique button )