10 replies to this topic

[mpaisana]

I just had the most funny conversation with someone at amazon.co.uk... I tried to buy a Hobbit set, and I got a message saying that they couldn't ship it to Portugal. I tried other lego sets, from other collections, and all of them applied to delivery in other countries. I contacted amazon with the following question:

I've tried to buy Lego The Hobbit sets from Amazon.co.uk, to deliver in Portugal, but I got a message telling me that those items can't be shipped to Portugal. I tried to order other lego sets (from previous waves) and i'm allowed to buy them. Why are the Hobbit lego sets unavailable? Is it temporary? I buy all my lego sets from amazon.co.uk and I've never had any problems so far. Thank you for your attention

The answer was the answer of someone who clearly doesn't know what they're selling:

I understand that you're a Lego collector and really want to buy this item, "The Hobbit" edition of Lego. The reason why you cannot avail of this product because its weight is 50kg. We cannot send a certain product internationally if it weighs 30kg or more.

For further information, please check on this link: ..... I hope this helps. We look forward to seeing you again soon. Did I solve your problem? (link to yay or nay)

Do they use this argument to block sales to other countries? If the hobbit sets weigh more than 30 kgs our reviewers should have mentioned that :/

[MstrOfPppts]

That's interesting, I ordered mine when they were marked off and also had a strange problem. I could order all the sets but the smallest one - it was apparently marked as not shipping to Slovenia. I guess they have some problems with auto calculated restrictions. My guess is that the smallest set was marked as not shipping internationally for the postage being almost as high as the set price. But the system never checked if you ordered anything else, to combine into one package. Sad that they really don't seem to know what they're selling as seen from the reply you got. I'd say try to contact them again, maybe you get luckier with the persn who get's the mail :D

BTW my sets were dispatched and I'm expecting them early next week!!

[mpaisana]

MstrOfPppts, on 06 December 2012 - 02:28 PM, said:

I'd say try to contact them again, maybe you get luckier with the persn who get's the mail :D

Already did. Waiting for a reply, hopefully not as awkward as the last one.

[cimddwc]

mpaisana, on 06 December 2012 - 02:03 PM, said:

because its weight is 50kg.

Well, he's right – sort of.   He apparently just looked in the same database that provides the data for the web pages, and that says:

• Product Dimensions: 14.1 x 6.1 x 12.2 cm ; 9 g
  
• Boxed-product Weight: 50 Kg

Well, he might have wondered about that if he'd have thought about it, but that would probably take a little more time than typical customer contact employees are willing and/or able to spend...

(By the way, German Amazon tells a boxed weight of also 9 g. How do they get all those funny numbers? Just leave it empty if you don't know them for sure!)

[mpaisana]

cimddwc, on 06 December 2012 - 03:11 PM, said:

Well, he might have wondered about that if he'd have thought about it, but that would probably take a little more time than typical customer contact employees are willing and/or able to spend...

I told them that in my reply to their reply. I probably unleashed chaos on the amazon contact center, by forcing some guy to actually think before he replies a customer question.. On the other hand, I bet most of these people at these contact centers are actually forced to reply as quick as they can, with replies as short as they can, without being able to respect some quality (or in this case, logic) patterns. Must be though to work there for these guys :/

[mpaisana]

It was a mistake:

"Hello,
I've reviewed our previous correspondence with you and would like to apologise for the incorrect information provided.
From your e-mail, I understand that you were unable to place an order for the item "LEGO The Hobbit 79001: Escape from Mirkwood Spiders" as product description shows as item weight is 50kgs. This might be the result of a typing error. We have asked our technical team to look into this issue. Please note that while most issues are resolved within 5 business days, in some cases it may take longer for us to investigate. I will contact you again within 5 business days with an update. Please be aware that this is the maximum amount of time it will take for us to update you."

Hope this helped more people around here!

[fhomess]

The 50 kg version comes with 1 randomly inserted real hobbit.

[NiceMarmot]

fhomess, on 06 December 2012 - 05:15 PM, said:

The 50 kg version comes with 1 randomly inserted real hobbit.

  I nearly sprayed coffee all over my desk on reading that one!

Wait until you see the special shipping and handling costs for shipping a live fantasy creature. Or perhaps it comes with a real Mirkwood spider? Opening that package would be a real surprise.

[mpaisana]

Judging by the recent trends, i bet the 50kg versions come with 50 kg of sticker sheets.. It's even worse than spiders.

[rogueang]

fhomess, on 06 December 2012 - 05:15 PM, said:

The 50 kg version comes with 1 randomly inserted real hobbit.

I laughed out loud at this as well.

[Graysmith]

fhomess, on 06 December 2012 - 05:15 PM, said:

The 50 kg version comes with 1 randomly inserted real hobbit.

Hahaha.

What a blooper by Amazon. But at least it's an error, and not a sign of Amazon UK following in Amazon IT's steps of not shipping to other countries.