When I buy an item at Amazon, I try to find one that is made in the U.S.A.

Some listings do show country of origin, but many do not.

I recently looked for eyeglass retainers, found some that did not specify where they were made, so I asked "Where are these made? Country of origin?"

My question received one answer: "I don't know, but they're great."

Not too helpful. Useless, in fact. Why bother responding to a question if you don't know the answer?

---

I did find one brand that is made in the U.S.A. -- Chums. They sell direct from their website at chums.com, they sell them at Walmart if you can actually find them in stock; I found shelf tags for the product, but no product in stock. Amazon also sells them for a bit less than either chums.com or Walmart.

Yea, it's kind of annoying. I guess they really having nothing better to do.

I'm really hoping that we get a universal filter for prc companies and also made in prc (companies are not prc companies).

I'm using prime less and less unless I have a specific brand in mind.

What really pisses me off are the prc companies that sell shit trying to disguise the product and/or the company as japanese.

Kinda like shipping with FedEx:

Where is my package?

We don't know, but it was delivered quickly.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
Why bother responding to a question if you don't know the answer?

I dunno. Why do people do it here?

Brought to you by The Dept. of Irony.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
Not too helpful. Useless, in fact. Why bother responding to a question if you don't know the answer?

When someone posts a question, Amazon tends to send out an email to everyone who has purchased that same product recently, stating something like "Someone has posted a question about this item, can you help?" and then listing the question with a link to respond.

My theory is that a lot of not-computer-savvy folks think that this is a question that's being directly asked to them, and for whatever reason feel obligated to respond, with their response usually being something like: "I don't know, but..."

Thus you end up with a bunch of the answers being "I don't know", "No idea", "I'm not sure", "Ask the company", "I like this product", etc.


The ones that get me are the simple yes/no questions, with eight different responses with absolutely no consensus:

Question: Does this widget include the side thingamajig?
Eight Available Answers: Yes. Yes. No. I'm not sure. No. Yes. No. Mine broke.

 
Even if the COO is shown, it may not be correct. I have bought with confidence some tools I knew were made in USA/Germany/Taiwan/Japan, etc., yet the Amazon page shows the COO as China. When they arrived, they were indeed not China. I think "China" is their default COO, meaning "We do not really know" or "information not available", and it is a pretty good guess.

I recently ordered a couple of duffel bags from Amazon. The country of origin was supposed to be USA. I received them Friday. They were made in Indonesia. I returned them.

Prime should add a selection to Reason for Return as COO prc

Similar to its ugly cousin, people who give a product one star because of shipping problems.

“This super fantastic, best in the world product was lost in the mail. Never received it. One star!”

Geez, dude, that’s for the helpful insight.

Being an Amazon junkie, (living 60 miles from anywhere will do that to ya) I get one or two of those a week.

If I know, I answer. If I don't know, I don't answer (just click the "I Dunno" button). Sometimes, I'm too lazy to go find the item and check the dimensions of ABC and just click "I Dunno."

Questions like "Can I use XXX to do YYY?" will occasionally elicit an opinion, clearly stated as such. "Yes, probably, but watch out for blah blah blah."

There's a youtuber, Ryan George, who does short sketch comedy stuff. Here's his take on Amazon. Funny stuff, if you've got a few minutes.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
Why bother responding to a question if you don't know the answer?

I dunno. Why do people do it here?

I’m down to choosing between a Toyota and a Honda. Which one should I pick?

“I know you didn’t list it as an option but I’d go with a Ford or Chevy…”

Thanks a lot

In the current thread in The Lounge about tape measures, I saw a recommendation for Stanley Fat Max, so of course I had to look at them at Amazon.

Somebody asked whether they were metric and received the following reply:

quote:

Very high quality, tuff as nails. Easy on the hands to work with as well.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
The ones that get me are the simple yes/no questions, with eight different responses with absolutely no consensus:

Question: Does this widget include the side thingamajig?
Eight Available Answers: Yes. Yes. No. I'm not sure. No. Yes. No. Mine broke.

Some of this contradictory crap could well be due to the answers being correct, but for different versions of similar product. Amazon amalgamates feedback across many separate SKUs.

I know this as a fact, because I gave feedback on a new product, very detailed and negative feedback, and Amazon and/or the vendor - shortly after the vendor confirmed my issue but bribed me to withdraw the review - swamped my feedback in with years-old comments on no-longer-available versions of that product.

So my 'their new version does not work' zero star feedback was correct, and all the older feedback provided by Amazon as 'reviews' was not. But since their old product - which was no longer available - had worked well and gotten good reviews (one reason I had bought it) the crappy product then-currently available to buy still 'earned' a 4.9 star rating.

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
Why bother responding to a question if you don't know the answer?

I dunno. Why do people do it here?

I’m down to choosing between a Toyota and a Honda. Which one should I pick?

“I know you didn’t list it as an option but I’d go with a Ford or Chevy…”

Thanks a lot

Why don't you get a Ram?

Recently I ordered three genuine MOPAR oil filters from Amazon for my Wrangler, paper drop in cartridges.
They come in a thin cardboard box, overpacked in a thicker box from the factory. Seller shipped them packaged them in a plastic bag, no cushioning, just dumped in a bag and sent out.

I inspected them, no damage except to the thin boxes. So when Amazon asked me to leave a review I did explaining politely the problem with their shipping. I received a message that I could not review the shipping, only the product and an invitation to rewrite my product review.

The rating was not for anything beyond the seller’s control like lost in transit, shipping time. But the idiot that packaged three paper filters with no cushioning should be called out for his or her incompetence.

quote:

Originally posted by shovelhead:
Recently I ordered three genuine MOPAR oil filters from Amazon for my Wrangler, paper drop in cartridges.
They come in a thin cardboard box, overpacked in a thicker box from the factory. Seller shipped them packaged them in a plastic bag, no cushioning, just dumped in a bag and sent out.

I inspected them, no damage except to the thin boxes. So when Amazon asked me to leave a review I did explaining politely the problem with their shipping. I received a message that I could not review the shipping, only the product and an invitation to rewrite my product review.

The rating was not for anything beyond the seller’s control like lost in transit, shipping time. But the idiot that packaged three paper filters with no cushioning should be called out for his or her incompetence.

No, Amazon is correct in this instance.

Product reviews are for the *product*. The same product might be sold be any dozens of retailers, but the reviews stay attached to the product. If you give the product a poor review, it affects the product sales for all retailers, not just the incompetent one.

What you want to do is go back and give a *seller* review. You can review the specific retailer for their packing, shipping speed, and after purchase customer support.

I very much dislike it when people leave seller reviews in place of product reviews. I rely on the product reviews when making purchase decisions, and getting a 1 star review in there because "seller shipped 3 filters with no cushioning, arrived damaged" doesn't tell me whether the Mopar oil filter is good or not.

quote:

In the current thread in The Lounge about tape measures, I saw a recommendation for Stanley Fat Max, so of course I had to look at them at Amazon.

Somebody asked whether they were metric and received the following reply:
quote:
Very high quality, tuff as nails. Easy on the hands to work with as well.

This is called posting while stupid. I have never seen a metric tape measure, but I guess they are popular in Europe.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

quote:

In the current thread in The Lounge about tape measures, I saw a recommendation for Stanley Fat Max, so of course I had to look at them at Amazon.

Somebody asked whether they were metric and received the following reply:
quote:
Very high quality, tuff as nails. Easy on the hands to work with as well.

This is called posting while stupid. I have never seen a metric tape measure, but I guess they are popular in Europe.

While living in Spain I never say any tape measure or ruler (other than the ones I brought with me) other than metric. My wife has a tape measure that is marked in both inches and metric.

I'm sure people are just dumber and lazier than previous generations. Some of the shit I've seen asked on various websites about their products:

Does the warranty cover theft?

Do you get free steak on your birthday?

We are fucking doomed.