Sandra Addo’s $98 Christmas tree is damaged by FedEx before it arrives. An Amazon customer service agent promises to send her a new one, and a second agent confirms it. But then a supervisor reverses the decision, leaving her with no tree for the holidays. Can Amazon save this Christmas tree order?

Question

I’m a longtime Amazon Prime member, and I’m hoping you can help me with a frustrating situation that has ruined our holiday plans.

In late October, I ordered a Puleo International Christmas tree from Amazon for $98. It was an Amazon Warehouse item, and my family and I were really looking forward to decorating it. A few days later, I checked the FedEx tracking and saw the item was “damaged in transit” and being returned to Amazon.

I immediately contacted Amazon customer service. I was hoping maybe just the box was damaged and I could still receive the tree. A helpful agent promised to contact the shipping team to send me a new tree.

I specifically asked him to confirm if they were shipping a new tree, and he replied, “Yes, they will ship the new item.”

The next day, I hadn’t received a new tracking number, so I chatted with Amazon again. I was bounced around to multiple agents. The first one told me to just wait. Finally, I was connected to someone from Amazon’s leadership team who said the first agent had provided “incorrect information” and that they couldn’t take any action. 

Amazon’s only offer was a refund.

I was floored. I expect Amazon to honor its word. I want the replacement tree I was promised.

I wrote to Amazon’s Executive Customer Relations team, but they just repeated the same thing. This isn’t right. Can Amazon just lie to a customer, break a clear promise, and then get away with it? — Sandra Addo, Dumas, Texas

Answer

Amazon’s agent made a promise. Amazon should have honored it. 

The problem, as you discovered, is that your order was an Amazon Warehouse item. These are often one-of-a-kind, open-box, or returned items. When the first Amazon agent promised a new item, he probably didn’t realize a replacement wasn’t available in the warehouse stock.

When the leadership team discovered the error, it should have done more than offer a simple refund. It should have found a suitable replacement — preferably a new tree. That’s what good customer service looks like.

You did an excellent job of holding Amazon accountable. You started a paper trail (your chat logs) immediately. When the front-line agents failed, you correctly appealed to a manager. When that failed, you escalated your complaint to the executive level. Although you had a great paper trail, it was missing one critical item: A promise, in writing, to send you a new Christmas tree. 

If you get stuck in a customer service loop, you can always appeal your case to a company executive. I publish the names and numbers for Amazon’s executives on my consumer advocacy site, Elliott.org.

Lately, Amazon has been less than responsive to our questions, and it seemed determined to continue its streak. I contacted the company on your behalf to see if it would honor its agent’s promise. In response, a representative contacted you and reiterated that there was no replacement available for the product. You’ve received a full refund.

Amazon apologized that “incorrect information was provided by different customer service members” and offered you a $15 gift card for the inconvenience.

Unfortunately, Amazon’s “fix” was not the one you wanted, and it wasn’t the one my advocacy team and I wanted, either. 

“When a company—especially a company as large and profitable as Amazon—repeatedly tells you that it will honor something, it is really disheartening to have them walk it back so abruptly,” you told me. “And to have that happen during this season made it feel even more disappointing.”

The lesson? Don’t look to Amazon to save Christmas  — or your Christmas tree.