One of the first items I ordered anything from Amazon was back in 2012. It was an electric carving knife with 2 blades similar to the photo on the left. It was lost in transit and Amazon gave me a full refund. Meanwhile the item had been discontinued, so I bought the one on the right. The original eventually showed up, by which time I had used the 2nd one several times. I offered to return the original one to Amazon but they said I could keep it. I then re-gifted it as a wedding gift. If you had been new to Amazon, would you have been impressed with this level of service from an online retailer?

A few years later, a package from Amazon arrived on my doorstep when I hadn't placed an order for anything. When I opened it I found four flashlights similar to the ones in the photo. When I contacted Amazon they put me in touch with the Chinese retailer who shipped them. They said I could keep them, provided I tested the product and gave them a nice product review, which I did. I then gave one to each of my two kids and their respective spouses. Apparently the value to the manufacturer of having positive reviews on Amazon was more than it cost to make them and the cost to advertise the product. I thought this was a great way to introduce a new product. Do you agree?

More recently, things at Amazon have gone somewhat strange. For medical reasons I had to buy the item on the left. TW members of my vintage may have had the need for something like this. What arrived however was the product on the right. The latter is a 35 litre milk can which some people use for making hooch. I suppose this could also have been used to do what the original purchase was meant to do but not when we had visitors over. I tried to return it but Amazon's system expected a return of the item on the left - which I still needed. After a call with Amazon customer service I got a full refund which I used to reorder the original for delivery the next day. I was able to keep the milk can which I sold for $100 (more than I paid for my original purchase). I have never made hooch - have you?

Another item I ordered was the "Four Wheel Rollator" shown on the left. What arrived was the item on the right, a ventilation fan for an RV. In a similar fashion to #3 above, I got a refund, reordered my original item and kept the item received in error. I will sell the RV fan in the spring and I expect to make about $50 more than I paid for the "Four Wheel Rollator" It costs less for Amazon to write off the items that were sent in error than to pay the cost to ship them back and, from a PR standpoint, I am very impressed with the service I got. Has Amazon or any other retailer ever given you this level of service?