Up until June 2026 I’d only ever gotten one thing from Amazon for free. A LUX meter that was supposed to come in a hard plastic case. The vendor gave us a song and dance so we contacted Amazon customer support and they agreed things were not as advertised so we got a refund and we’re told to keep it.
Fast forward to June of this year and my son and I have a new shared hobby in Billiards/pool we started in March. After months of playing we started getting new beginner equipment. With all the local stores being gone we went to Amazon again.
It seems a lot of things aren’t being made well or shipped properly as they arrive with defects. Strangely they have decided to let us keep the defective items and refund the money rather than replace them?
So to date we’ve gotten to keep for this new hobby: Three practice/training cue balls, a three piece jump/break cue, two piece carbon cue, black 8 ball set, and something else I can’t recall at the moment. All items were either fixed fairly easily or just had minor cosmetic issues that could be lived with. (The balls had minor cosmetic marks or a small scratch. The break cue had the Bakelite tip pop off but I have proper glue to fix it after cleaning.)
So we ended up getting $500 worth of equipment for nothing. This can’t be a normal thing? Regardless we’re happy and enjoying a new old hobby and putting our savings into playing.
Might be time to buy a lottery ticket.