Back in February Amazon misplaced an Apple Watch.  This happened after the watch was purchased and then the order was canceled.  Somehow when the order was canceled Amazon misplaced or lost the watch.  It is not the first time this has happened to me after an order was canceled.  In fact, it has happened enough times that when an order is canceled on me the next day I go to the events log for the item to make sure it has not been misplaced.

If it has been misplaced I immediately contact Amazon customer service to begin the lost inventory process.  In the case of missed inventory that means they will tell you that they have 30 days to find it and if they don’t you will be automatically reimbursed.

The last couple of times this has happened to me Amazon usually found the item within a week or two.  Unfortunately, that was not the case with this Apple Watch and I am not pleased with how Amazon handled it.

After making my claim the day after the watch was misplaced, I waited. And waited.  And waited some more.  After 27 days (this may have been what screwed things up) I contacted Amazon.  I told them I made a claim almost a month ago for misplaced inventory and had not been reimbursed and wanted to know what the status was.  The CSR told me she would begin the reimbursement process and that would take an additional 10 days.

At this point I am a little annoyed, but it is beyond my control so I wait and see.  On day 9 (now 36 days after the inventory was lost) Amazon miraculously finds an Apple Watch in a holding account (whatever that is) and places it in my inventory. The watch is sold within minutes.   And now I am officially pissed, here’s why.

1. I have no idea what condition this watch is in, if it was a prior return or what.  Which means I am concerned about a return on this sale when Amazon was supposed to reimburse me, not replace the inventory.
2. What if the order is canceled and I have to go through this process again (thankfully it shipped).
3. Why the hell didn’t they just replaced the watch 36 days ago?
4. They replaced the watch in my inventory with no warning.  In the ensuing 36 days after the watch was lost the price increased by $30.  My watch was still priced $30 lower so no shock it sold within minutes.  By replacing inventory with no notice I missed out on an extra $30.

I sent an angry email to Amazon complaining about the situation.  The reply back was not very responsive.  I think the CSR on the other end thought I was complaining about the amount of the reimbursement.  In the end I did not reply back, it was not worth fighting about.

If this happens again, next time I will not contact Amazon before the 30 days is up.  I feel like that may have been where things were screwed up because it put another set of human eyes on it instead of just waiting for the auto reimbursement.  Patience is a virtue I sometimes struggle with.  I’m curious if others have encountered this problem and how they have dealt with it.

Next time I will wait the full 30 days and hopefully the auto reimbursement will occur and I can avoid this situation again.