I consider myself to be a fairly savvy online shopper, but this time it seems I've been burned. The culprit: Alibris.com. This site serves as a broker for a ton of online dealers, and while looking for a recently unavailable title, I stumbled across a copy here. Turns out I should have done more research. It's hard to say whether the broker or the seller is to blame (I'm reserving my judgement), but with policies where they "ask your patience" when a book hasn't arrived by the quoted time, I'm leaning towards the broker. And if you've tried to get a place in NYC you'll know that brokers tend to be the bad guys. Maybe I'm biased.
So here I am, 2 weeks after the shipping date, 4 days passed the quoted deliver by date, still waiting on a book shipped to me via USPS Standard from Brooklyn. I'm never gonna see that book. And I'm doubtful if I'm ever going to see my money again. I don't know what sort of legar recourse exists to protect a consumer in a situation like this (I'm inclined to believe there is none), but surely a company that would like to maintain a good reputation should have some sort of options to keep the customer happy. Alibris, on the other hand, asks that you wait 30 days from the time of shipment before you contact customer service, and if the internets are to be believed, I've got a snowball's chance at getting my money back.
All told, I'm only out less than $20, which is a cost I can absorb, but I'll be damned if I think they deserve that money more than I do if this book isn't here past those 30 mandatory days of waiting. And from here on out, I'm placing my faith in Amazon's A-to-Z guarantee.
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