Getting things straight with Amazon tax collection

How much work would you do to get $ back that is owed to you.

Here's the situation:
In New York State there is no sales tax on medical equipment.

https://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/publications/sales/pub822.pdf

We bought medical equipment, and I noticed that sales tax was charged.
Amazon's bots said I had to contact the seller.  I did.  The seller replied:

"We do apologize, but this issue is handled by Amazon. Because of this you will have to contact them directly for further assistance please call 1-888-280-4331
Best Regards
Prime Medical Store"

Before calling Amazon, I decided to check other identical items.  Five (5) times tax was charged and eight (8) times it was (correctly) not charged in the last year and a half.  One (1) time the tax was refunded.

I checked another type of medical equipment.  Two (2) times the sales tax was refunded.  (I may have called them on that.)  One (1) time it was not.  So now Amazon needs to refund the tax on five (5) orders.

Time to call Amazon.
First call - Amazon equipment hung up without getting through to a person.
Second call - Yvonne answered.  I could hear her clearly, but she, apparently, could not hear me and hung up.
Third call - Janet answered.  She was delightful.  We spent a long time compiling the list of orders that needed a refund.  Fortunately, I had already researched and had set open tabs for each order.  She recorded my information and said she would send it along to the department that could solve this problem.  I thought we were done.

I get an email from Priya saying:
"If you're a tax exempt customer and your purchases are from Amazon.com, its affiliates, or other participating sellers, we'll need a completed tax exemption certificate for the state of New York."
Well, I'm not a tax exempt customer.  It's tax exempt item.  Of course I do not have a completed tax exemption certificate!

I respond to the email:
I am not a business or tax-exempt person.

There is no tax in NY on medical devices.  These are medical devices.  There should be no tax.  

sales tax  https://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/publications/sales/pub822.pdf

Please refund the money charged in error.

Thank you

Hearing no further response, I decide to try the phone again.

Fourth call - Paula tries to understand, but is unable to find the list of items that Janet and I compiled, so I will need to do it again.  I have run out of my day's supply of patience, and I tell her I'll do it another time when my patience returns.

I get another email from Amazon:

Hello, I understand that you would like to receive a tax refund on your order. If you're a tax exempt customer and your purchases are from Amazon.com, its affiliates, or other participating sellers, we'll need a completed tax exemption certificate for the state of New York. Please write to us at tax-exempt@amazon.com from the account that placed the order and make sure it contains the following information: — Order numbers. — Acceptable documentation of exemption Upon verification of the document, we'll process the tax refund. If you will be placing multiple orders on behalf of your tax exempt organization, you may want to enroll in Amazon's Tax Exemption Program. Amazon Tax Exemption Program has the capability of generating and maintaining the correct tax exemption forms so you don’t have to. Please note that not all exemption forms can be created by the Wizard and you may be prompted to upload your certificate. https://www.amazon.com/gp/taxExemption We look forward to seeing you again soon.

Best regards, Krishna K I wrote back: Can you find someone who can help me? I am not a tax exempt customer.  You charged tax on tax-exempt items.  Please refund the tax you charged by mistake. Leslie So far, I have contacted: customer service webpage the seller a Bot No One Yvonne Janet Paula and I've gotten emails from and sent back responses  Priya and  Krishna K Now I will recompile the list, in writing.  This is taking a ridiculous amount of time. The list ended up being five items, around $3.60 each in tax charged. Fifth call:  On July 28, 2020, I tried Amazon again.  Glea tried to help me for 27 minutes.  She ended doing the same thing that Janet and Paula did - send a message to the tax department.  We'll see . . . Here's the email Glea sent me:   "I relayed your information to the team trained to handle this scenario regarding on the tax. You should hear back from them in the next 3-5 business days. . . . " Glea also told me that the taxes are set by the seller.  As noted above, the seller said they are set by Amazon.  Hmmmmmm. . .    Well, on July 28, I did hear from the customer services emailer, Bhaskar A.: We've processed the following tax refunds: 111-6011621-1379402 111-3924720-3632221 112-3433821-4419449 112-8516783-1227462 You'll see these refunds applied to the payment method used on your order within the next 3-5 business days. Sweet - four out of five is not bad, I guess. I wrote back: Thank you. Why didn't you refund the tax on this order:  #,,,9001? Actually, I think no one reads my replies.  I have never gotten an answer, so I guess the replies are for my own amusement. Stay tuned for the next installment. I guess we're ready for the sixth call. FWIW, I have been quite impressed with Amazon customer service in general.  The folks are well trained in ordinary issues, and every one has been fluent in English and very pleasant, even when I have been expressing my frustration.  This is a huge improvement just in the last couple of years.

Bread and Butter Pickles

Had a hankering for bread and butter pickles - we probably made them 15 or 20 years ago, and they are all gone.  We stopped at a farm stand today and they had nice cucumbers for 75¢ and large white onions for 50¢.  So I sliced up two cucumbers and the onion.

With 1/4 cup salt, they rested in the refrigerator for four hours - I have often rested them overnight.

Then I boiled 1/2 cup cider vinegar and 1/2 cup white vinegar with 1/2 cup brown sugar and less than 1/2 cup white sugar.

Now the challenge was to see what spices I had.  There was some pickling spice, some mustard seed, white peppercorns, celery seed, red pepper flakes.  Alas, no turmeric and no cinnamon sticks.  I used Chinese Five Spice powder instead  (That's very finely ground Anise seed, Fennel, Cinnamon, Cloves, Black Peppercorn).

I drained the veggies and added them to the simmering vinegar mix.  Returned it to a boil, then put the entire mix into a quart jar.  It made a scant quart.  Quite enough for two people!

Since I was only making a quart, I did not can them, but simply placed in the refrigerator.  I am wondering if, since they did not have the boiling water bath, they will be too crunchy.  I'll give it a few days, and I can always simmer them if necessary.

Garden in the First Half of June

At the end of May the tomatoes were planted in the front yard, since that area gets the most sun on our little property.  They will be supported by fencing as they grow.  In the immediate foreground, with a stake, is a brugmansia, which is this year's learning project.

 The beginning of June is dominated by iris.  We were surprised at the number of blooms on the yellow siberian iris.  These plants were transplanted from the farm last year.  There they rarely bloomed, and never in profusion.   The purple siberian iris are also doing well this year.  The little iris are new plantings.

 We are delighted at the number and variety of birds enjoying the birdbath.  Some just perch on the edge to get a drink.  Others flutter and bathe.  Fun to watch.

This is a powerful purple.  Especially lovely at dusk.

A year or two ago a friend gave me a large clump of chives.

We divided them to spread around the garden.  

They have been wonderful!

 We have made chive blossom butter and chive vinegar with the bounty.
Check that out in the blog post on experiments with extracts.

Pansies are such a happy flower.  D grew them from seed, and there are 4 different ones.

 We have tried a variety of alliums this year.  This one is Allium Bulgarica.  It's a kind of rangy plant.  Current thinking is that they need to be massed alone.

The white bleeding heart has very few blooms this year.

Years ago we discovered Mara des Bois strawberries.  They taste like real strawberries.  They are everbearing, which means that after a bounty in early June, we may get a few berries all summer.

Looks like we picked 180 berries.  About 12 cups of sliced strawberries.

By mid month the peonies were blooming.

We put in five plants.  Three bloomed this year.

This white one was the first to flower.  

It will be followed by two light pink ones.

This is the first brugmansia to bloom.

Actually, we were not expecting any blooms this year.

To get an idea of scale, that is not a flower pot - it is a waste basket half buried in the soil.

They must be watered at least once a day, and sometimes two or three times.

At least they droop and tell you it's time for more water!

They will be brought in for the winter and taken back out next year.

Does he look scared?  That is a huge bee in the rhododendron by his ear.