(How I Bought A Happy Lamp For SAD, In 10 Easy To Follow Steps)
Originally from the Seattle area in the US, in 2015 I made the giant decision to move to Sweden to be with my partner, who now is my husband. Just before I moved abroad, I ended up getting a $50 gift card to Amazon. Before I moved I didn’t have time to purchase anything with that card. I was frantically giving away lots of stuff, while my Swedish partner was busy collecting more stuff (like jazz records). However, when things started to get grey and dismal in northerly Stockholm, I started searching for a happy lamp to help with the winter blues. Many people find that bright light therapy is a great way to deal with seasonal affective disorder and when you are SAD, why not create an insane acronym to cheer you up? Since I was struggling already with culture shock and a new job and new language, I figured why not make life more complicated by ordering something online from my native country?
I figured I could find a happy lamp on Amazon and get it sent to Sweden. Amazon is birthed in Seattle and is famous for shipping to all sorts of locations. What could possibly go wrong with this plan? (Hint: it took a lot longer to get the lamp than I expected.)
Step 1. Order a Lamp-I looked through all the different sorts of lamps and hemmed and hawed over what to choose, eventually picking one and having it delivered.
Step 2. The Package Arrived With the Wrong Item-When I got my package after some time, I thought the box looked like a different shape than what I was expecting, but you never know about packaging these days. I tore into it and opened up the box to find golf shoes. I started laughing. I posted about my golf shoes on Facebook and someone suggested keeping them as they might be good for walking on the ice-covered streets here during the wintertime. But, alas, the crazy fortune that brought me the golf shoes did not check to see what size shoes I wear, and unfortunately, they were too small. Others suggested that I sell the golf shoes as they were probably worth more than what I was paying for the happy lamp. But, that sounded like a lot of work to me, so I decided to attempt returning them instead as that should be waaaaaay easier. . .
Step 3. Print a Return Label-It’s an online shop, just return it. I looked at the packing slip and realized that not only did I get an item that was incorrect, but it also came from a completely different store. I went on the Amazon website to print a return label. And the only label I would be able to print is for returning the lamp that I ordered to the company I ordered from. There was no option to print a label for the golf shoe company.
Step 4. Contact Customer Service-I kept going on the Amazon website and looking for other options for returns or printing a label and trying to figure out how to contact customer service. Eventually, I got a hold of someone in customer service who created a new return label for me to go to the Amazon warehouse.
Step 5. Take the Package to the Postal Service-I figured I had all the information I needed now, so I took the package and the new return slip to the local postal service. The person working there simply asked me to fill out my address and leave my signature and my golf shoes would fly to their glorious destination. The cost for shipping was $47, which I would get reimbursed once I sent the package.
Step 6. Add More Information -But, the package wasn’t on its way yet. A few days later, I got a note in the mail saying they couldn’t send my package back to Amazon until they had more information. Well, that’s what I figured out it said, once I took the form and analyzed it with google translate. (And later confirmed with Mattias that I figured it out correctly.)
It turns out they also needed:
A. My person number (our equivalent of a social security number here in Sweden)
B. Value of the golf shoes
C. An export code
I knew my person number, but for the other two pieces of information, I had to ask for help.
Step 7. Call the Export Phone line-I found the number for the people that handle exports, but it turns out — like many businesses here in Sweden — they had very restrictive phone hours. So, I had to wait until I could actually get back from work in time to make the phone call. I would venture to guess that if you work on the customer service line for exports, it’s kind of a dull job. When I finally got someone on the phone and explained that I ordered a lamp and got golf shoes (so I didn’t know the value of the item I was returning), they burst out laughing. And it takes a lot for strangers to actually cut loose and laugh with someone here. I don’t think I’ve ever had it happen some other time in Sweden. But, they actually couldn’t catch a breath for a minute there. They apologized for laughing so much and then asked, “So who’s the poor person trying to play golf with your lamp?”
Step 8. Get a Credit Back To Your Account-So, after spending all that money for return shipping on golf shoes and thinking about how Amazon still had to send it back to the original store, now I still had my credit for my Amazon gift card staring at me. I decided to spend it on something of a digital download instead of physical products. Music anyone?
Step 9. Find A Used Happy Lamp on Facebook-I searched the local buy and sell group for International Parents in Sweden because at least they posted in English so I could more easily read and reply to people.
Step 10. Pick Up The Lamp and Meet Someone New-I took the train to meet someone to buy the happy lamp in person and I saved a product from being thrown away. I looked inside the box and there were no shoes in there — it actually was a lamp. I went home and started sitting by my lamp to cheer me up from the whole hassle of the experience.
