The Amazon.Com Customer Service Page — I’m actually surprised by the lack of good grudge pages out there. Here’s one that began some months back with the following post:
Why did I make this page?
Amazon.com made an unauthorized charge of more than $300 to my credit card this weekend, and because I couldn’t find a phone number, I had no way deal with this problem that needed immediate attention. I finally did a search on Google and found somebody who has posted the Amazon.com customer service number to his website. He, too, was having a problem and couldn’t find the number, so when he finally got it he provided it publicly for people like me. Now I’m following his lead.
I think it’s completely lame for a company to pull this kind of crap — hiding their phone number to avoid calls — especially one that won’t quit talking about what a high level of customer service they offer. It’s a tactic designed to save money, but, personally, I’m willing to spend a little more to avoid the sort of situation I found myself in this weekend. And, while Amazon has had some rough times lately, they apparently chose to remove the number years ago when things were flush.
Things were not only resolved but if you go to the site now there are a lot of cool customer support numbers. Bookmark it!
Years ago I bought a label maker and some labels from Amazon. Amazon offered the label maker and the labels as a part of a deal. After getting them I noticed they were incompatible, i.e., the labels did not work with the maker.
Back then I simply called Amazon and told the person the situation. He looked into and agreed they were not compatible. I simply sent the labels back for full credit and they paid shipping.
Fast-foward to last fall. I bought something from one of Amazon’s “partners.” I never got it. The partner never responded to emails. It wasn’t much money, so I just wrote it off. But Amazon’s response wasn’t much better. Other than automated responses, I’ve received nothing from Amazon on the issue.
Don’t let Amazon make you a nervous wreck. I just ignore Amazon.com, which is easy enough to do. I’m not saying Amazon is no good, but I don’t use it. I saw that Circuit City cut ties with Amazon.com. The two companies had started a deal in Aug. 2001 and went their seperate ways recently. I think etailing will be dominated by businesses with actual physical locations. People still want to go to the store and you can’t beat human customer service if there’s a problem. I think companies like Best Buy or Circuit City will do fine if they integrate their etail and retail strategies. It’s all about customer satisfaction and great product support. Amazon is at a disadvantage without stores and an army of salespeople helping customers. You can’t beat live people who want to help customers in a bind with a defective product or another problem. This builds value and trust. You can’t do this with some call center in some offshore location or with virtual reality.
The Federal Citizen Information Center has lots of contacts for all kinds of companies, gov orgs, non-profit orgs, etc. A directory of corporate contacts may be had at
http://www.consumeraction.gov/corpormain.shtml
The FCIC’s home page is http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/
Wow, a government agency that actually produces something useful with our tax dollars. Surely the world is standing on its head.
Where do you live where sales people actually help? I buy nearly every thing on line. Even with shipping it’s vastly cheaper.
Heck, a friend of mine recently bought a new HDTV for about three thousand LESS than what Best Buy was selling it for!
I recently bought a monitor from newegg.com for $400, including shipping, which Best Buy sold for $600. And of course newegg.com got it to me in only TWO days!
I’d agree with Ima. I buy as much as possible online. I use the stores to browse for items to see if they are something I like and then I buy it online where I can get it much cheaper. Granted, combined with shipping that is not always the case, but the vast majority of times it is. Take tech books. Bought in the store, they cost face value which in my case can easily be $40-$60 a pop. Bought online, I can get the same book for $20-$50 including shipping. Hell, my dad, who detests shopping, doesn’t even shop for clothes anymore. He buys all of his clothes online.
The other problem I have with brick and mortar, specifically when it comes to electronics like computer components, is that the brick and mortars never have the top end stuff anymore. They always have two to five rungs down from the top end item for top end cost. That means the only people buying their stuff is people that are ignorant.
Amazon is great as an automated selling process but they suck in the personal service.
It all goes back to the original vision of e-commerce… that selling on-line would be hugely profitable because there would be minimal infrastructure.
Of course, we now know, the people who said this were clueless 20-somethings.
Hank
Buy everything online. Maybe all the grocery stores will close and we can all save big money on food next. You can just order food over the web and have it delivered and never go out again. Gasoline will be $4 a gallon, so what the hell, who will want to drive 3 miles to get food. Driving to the big box electronics store 6 miles away will be more expensive so the shopping for electronic junk may become more popular. The current retail store may just be another warehouse without the traffic congestion. Home Depot delivers stuff and I expect more big box stores will increase delivery services on the local level. As gasoline goes up in price, driving out to the mall or big box store is going to be less attractive. Amazon doesn’t have stores or delivery trucks. Web shopping will be determined by location and price. If the big box has it in stock locally, they will deliver it cheaper. If they don’t deliver it, somebody else will. You can only sell something for so little, so long before you are out of business. I’m all for home delivery and online shopping. The companies with broad geographic locations will win in the long run. We don’t have a local Amazon store, we have a bunch of local Best Buys and Circuit City stores. I just don’t see Amazon as being a sustainable model. You can discount the importance of physical inventory. Companies and people want a part or need an item today, they don’t want to wait for it to come out of some warehouse on the other side of nowhere. The Dell model works, because people who are buying a new PC can wait for it and in most cases they already have a PC or will wait a week for the new one to arrive. Gateway closed its stores because it didn’t carry inventory and people had to wait for the PC to be shipped. Consumers said the hell with this, I’ll just go to CompUSA, Best Buy or whatever and pick out a new PC and go home and hook it up. If you want a printer or need ink for a printer today, drive over to the store or order it online depending on how bad you need it and how the gas prices are and how far the drive to the store is. Keep a spare ink cartridge on hand. Keep on printing.
amazon.com customer service amazing annoyance
I was trying to cancel this order and
amazon.com won’t let me cancel it.
Order of events:
Feb 23, 2005:
Placed order for a S66 cellphone and Cingular service.
Product status was available to be shipped in 24hrs.
Feb 25th, 2005:
Order status changed to shipping process(CANNOT BE
CANCELLED).
Wait for order shipment confirmation. Nothing. Can’t
wait any longer.
March 4th:
Contacted customer service to cancel the order.
The lady said she will pass on the message to
cellphone dept.
Sent an email later just to be sure.
March 5th:
Recevied a email saying I can’t cancel this
because “at the time I placed the order, the item was
AVAILABLE TO BE SHIPPED WITHIN 24 hrs”???
It was available, but not shipped.
March 6th:
Magic happens. ORDER SHIPPED. What is shipped?
The plan, SIM card, but not the phone. How am I
going to use the SIM card without phone. How come the
order with a SIM card shipped on a Sunday? Why didn’t ship on
Feb 25th? How come shipping became so efficient all of a
sudden?
March 7th morning:
Contacted the cutsomer service to cancel the
order again becuase the phone is not shipped and the SIM
card is useless for me. I have been told that package
includes phone also.
March 7th morning:
Received a mail saying phone is not shipped
March 7th afternoon:
Talked to cellphone dept team-lead(who was more
sympathic) to cancel my order again. Also came to know
that my SIM card is already going to be activated to be
soon(automatic process?) and I need to contact Cingular
to cancel it. Hope amazon.com will bear the activation
cancellation charges. Also team-lead told me she will
help to to cancel the phone shipment. I need to return
the sim card once USPS delivers that to me by writing
“Return to the Sender”
Now you guys tell me, if something like this happens
to you, how do you feel? How come my attempt to cancel the
order expedited the shipments(including Sunday shipment of a SIM card)
and activation? Is this the way to make customers suffer for shopping
at your website?
Date: Sat, 5 Mar 2005 22:49:56 GMT
To:
From: “Amazon.com Customer Service” Add to Address Book
Subject: Your Amazon.com Order
CC:
Thank you for writing to Amazon.com.
Unfortunately, we did not receive your e-mail indicating you wished
to cancel your order until this order had been shipped.
“Siemens S66 Phone” was listed on our web site with the following
availability estimate: “This item usually ships within 24 hours.”
This item was in our inventory and it entered the shipping process
immediately after you placed your order. You should receive an e-
mail confirming this shipment shortly, if you haven’t already.
We apologize for the inconvenience. To avoid disappointment in the
future, please bear in mind that it is extremely difficult to modify
an order for an item shown as shippable within 24 hours.
Date: Sat, 5 Mar 2005 22:49:56 GMT
To:
From: “Amazon.com Customer Service” Add to Address Book
Subject: Your Amazon.com Order
CC:
Thank you for writing to Amazon.com.
Unfortunately, we did not receive your e-mail indicating you wished
to cancel your order until this order had been shipped.
“Siemens S66 Phone” was listed on our web site with the following
availability estimate: “This item usually ships within 24 hours.”
This item was in our inventory and it entered the shipping process
immediately after you placed your order. You should receive an e-
mail confirming this shipment shortly, if you haven’t already.
Date: Sun, 6 Mar 2005 20:59:09 GMT
To:
From: ship-confirm@amazon.com Add to Address Book
Subject: Your Amazon.com order has shipped
Greetings from Amazon.com.
We thought you’d like to know that we shipped this portion of your
order separately to give you quicker service. You won’t be charged
any extra shipping fees, and the remainder of your order will follow
as soon as those items become available.
Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2005 16:38:38 GMT
To:
From: “Amazon.com Customer Service” Add to Address Book
Subject: Your Amazon.com Order
CC:
Greetings from Amazon.com.
After researching your order further, we have found that there was a
technical error while processing it. Unfortunately your order will
now arrive in two shipments. The first will contain your new SIM
card and paperwork, while the second shipment that will shipping
soon will contain the phone itself once we have received inventory
from Cingular.
I am looking for an address to write to Amazon .com Customer Service. I recieved a nasty letter from someone that wan’t even sure if I am the one that gave them a low score(I am not the person) I would like to send a copy of the letter to Amazon.com and keep having it returned to me because they say Customerservice@Amazon.com doesn’t exist. How do I get a letter sent to them? Just wondering Sue
can anyone who has the number to amazon.com customer service and an email address pls. send it to me. I cant seem to reach them either and it is frustraiting me. pls. contact me. anyone??????? THANK YOU