I like books, and I like bargains. Being amazon.com has them both, I zeroed in on them years ago. They have discounted books and free shipping on orders of $25 or more on most of their products. I’d never had a problem ordering from them. Until now.

My scope of ordering has recently gone beyond books. Amazon has branched out, and due to the solid experiences I’ve had ordering from them, so have I. I ordered an external hard drive from them last year.

This one. It’s a Seagate 160 GB external hard drive. I’ve been having computer troubles, and this suitcase has been my saving grace for keeping all the good stuff, like my pictures, safe for me when the computers smoked up and crashed. Yes, more than one computer has up and left me. I ordered that drive directly from Amazon. All was fine.

Recently, I decided I needed another suitcase for various reasons. The original Seagate worked so well, I wanted a duplicate. I went back to Amazon, and found that they were all but obsolete. One vendor on Amazon still carried it – Endless Variety. I ordered it.

A week or so later, a box came in the mail. When I lifted it, I knew the weight of that box and the weight of my current suitcase did not equal. Sure enough when I opened the box, I found this.

It is an 80 GB Seagate internal hard drive. It sells for $25 less than the drive I ordered.

According to the packing slip, I needed to contact the seller to get an RMA# before I sent the item back. I called, and the number led me to what sounded like a personal voicemail system. I e-mailed, and the e-mail bounced back. I filled out the form on Amazon, and still no response from Endless Variety. So through my bank, I got Amazon’s phone number. That is not easy. For future reference, it is 800-201-7575.

The bottom line is that Amazon has an A-Z Guarantee and I have to wait for another few days, but Amazon itself will refund my money. That will definitely keep me as a customer.

I would not do business with Endless Variety ever again, though.

Helen