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Amazon customer service

Amazon customer service

Old Oct 5th 2012, 10:47 pm
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Default Amazon customer service

Daughter's first birthday this weekend, and her grandmother sent something from Amazon (the US version). UPS said package was delivered on Monday "left next to pillar" - we don't have any pillars! Chatted online to Amazon customer support and they've sent replacement items for free: one item by overnight delivery, with the other coming next week (not an Amazon stock item). I assume that the value of the products means it's cheaper than somebody going through all the UPS track and claim procedures. Excellent work though!
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Old Oct 5th 2012, 10:51 pm
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Default Re: Amazon customer service

Originally Posted by GeoffM
Daughter's first birthday this weekend, and her grandmother sent something from Amazon (the US version). UPS said package was delivered on Monday "left next to pillar" - we don't have any pillars! Chatted online to Amazon customer support and they've sent replacement items for free: one item by overnight delivery, with the other coming next week (not an Amazon stock item). I assume that the value of the products means it's cheaper than somebody going through all the UPS track and claim procedures. Excellent work though!
Looks like they value customer satisfaction over the value of the product. Hope your daughter gets her pressies and congratulations on her 1st birthday.
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Old Oct 5th 2012, 10:58 pm
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Default Re: Amazon customer service

Originally Posted by GeoffM
Daughter's first birthday this weekend, and her grandmother sent something from Amazon (the US version). UPS said package was delivered on Monday "left next to pillar" - we don't have any pillars! Chatted online to Amazon customer support and they've sent replacement items for free: one item by overnight delivery, with the other coming next week (not an Amazon stock item). I assume that the value of the products means it's cheaper than somebody going through all the UPS track and claim procedures. Excellent work though!
I've had excellent customer service from them a few times. Once in the same situation to yours, and once when we deleted a $100 gift card.

Most recently though, I bought a used text book for my uni course through one of their online sellers. When it arrived it had the CD missing that was advertised as with the book. I complained to the seller, who basically said tough it's second hand what do you expect. I gave them a bad review on Amazon and thought that was the end of it.

Next thing I get an email from the seller offering to refund me on my book if I removed my bad review. I told him to stuff off.

I contacted Amazon and told them one of their sellers had tried to bribe me to remove my review. I didn't expect anything to happen, but thought they should know. They contacted me within 24 hours saying how sorry they were and they would give me a full refund on the book and I could keep it, and they would investigate the seller and more than likely strike them off

I buy from Amazon virtually all the time, as I know their customer service is always outstanding and they never let me down.
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Old Oct 5th 2012, 11:31 pm
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Default Re: Amazon customer service

Their customer service isn't bad, but sometimes hit or miss.

Years back when I got this netbook, was supposed to be a new one, but got someones returned one, which had all their info on it, gave Amazon a shout and they offered either a $40 refund or I could return it, so I took the discount and wiped the thing...also returned the memory I ordered as this one had it installed

Kindle though on the other hand. Major pain in the butt, but all's well in the end.

One thing that is annoying, when wanting something in a hurry, it never seems to arrive on time, but if you've got all the time in the world, it's usually delivered within a couple of days.

Also the one time I ticked the box for gift wrapping, it arrived with a roll of paper and ribbon in the box. Wasn't impressed with that and got nothing of it when I contacted them about it. I guess that's not what generally happens, but I've never bothered with it since.

Some of the resellers are a bit iffy though. One place sent me a dud, but to be fair to them, after I gave them a duff review, they automatically just sent me a replacement and refunded me the money minus postage and apologised, so I revised my review to mention they at least took care of things as they didn't even mention the review.

Tried to order something recently and found it really hard to get the actual product because every time I tried, Amazon kept punting it to another third party seller, who was copying the product I wanted and didn't offer the same warranty. Amazon were shit about explaining that one and I just ordered directly from the place in the end.

Anyway, with all this, they are a million miles of an improvement on customer service compared to ebay and paypal, where shoving a blunted bamboo stake up your bellend is more satisfying :/
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Old Oct 5th 2012, 11:42 pm
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Default Re: Amazon customer service

I never had any problems in the UK so I don't know if their CS is any different, so all this is new to me. I was reading stories on the web while trying to work out what to do and probably 99% of them were positive. Yeah, the third party is probably quite understandably iffy at times but even in this case they've ordered a new one without any quibble. Reviews of UPS, on the other hand, not quite so positive! And I agree with the comments about PayPal/Ebay bar stewards!

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Old Oct 6th 2012, 12:03 am
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Default Re: Amazon customer service

Love Amazon for their customer service. Always find them so helpful.
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Old Oct 6th 2012, 12:27 am
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Default Re: Amazon customer service

Originally Posted by Bob
Their customer service isn't bad, but sometimes hit or miss.

Years back when I got this netbook, was supposed to be a new one, but got someones returned one, which had all their info on it, gave Amazon a shout and they offered either a $40 refund or I could return it, so I took the discount and wiped the thing...also returned the memory I ordered as this one had it installed

Kindle though on the other hand. Major pain in the butt, but all's well in the end.

One thing that is annoying, when wanting something in a hurry, it never seems to arrive on time, but if you've got all the time in the world, it's usually delivered within a couple of days.

Also the one time I ticked the box for gift wrapping, it arrived with a roll of paper and ribbon in the box. Wasn't impressed with that and got nothing of it when I contacted them about it. I guess that's not what generally happens, but I've never bothered with it since.

Some of the resellers are a bit iffy though. One place sent me a dud, but to be fair to them, after I gave them a duff review, they automatically just sent me a replacement and refunded me the money minus postage and apologised, so I revised my review to mention they at least took care of things as they didn't even mention the review.

Tried to order something recently and found it really hard to get the actual product because every time I tried, Amazon kept punting it to another third party seller, who was copying the product I wanted and didn't offer the same warranty. Amazon were shit about explaining that one and I just ordered directly from the place in the end.

Anyway, with all this, they are a million miles of an improvement on customer service compared to ebay and paypal, where shoving a blunted bamboo stake up your bellend is more satisfying :/
This bell end of yours - did you get it on Amazon too? And can you get it as a gift set, complete with bamboo stake?
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Old Oct 6th 2012, 12:52 am
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Default Re: Amazon customer service

Originally Posted by HarryTheSpider
This bell end of yours - did you get it on Amazon too? And can you get it as a gift set, complete with bamboo stake?


Wouldn't surprise me
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Old Oct 6th 2012, 5:52 am
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The two main things I dislike about Amazon is that they don't always have the item in their warehouse and when you use standard free shipping, they normally use Fedex Smartpost.

Instead of telling you they are out of stock, Amazon generally gets weekly shipments from their vendors to restock. If you pay for expedited shipping, they always have enough in their warehouse to deliver immediately but if you use standard shipping (up to 9 days delivery time plus weekends plus 1 day to fill the order), they just wait for the order to arrive in their warehouse and then ship it at the slowest possible way so that you will get it on the 9th day.

For items that they have in their warehouse that is shipped by standard free shipping, they normally use Fedex Smartpost. If the item comes in from the east coast to San Jose, generally it is at their Sacramento sorting center pretty quickly but will stay there for about 4 days before the item is given to USPS for delivery the next day. The worst is when they ship from the Los Angeles area to San Jose where the item typically sits in the LA Fedex sorting center for 4 days and then shipped to their Sacramento sorting center where it sits another 4 days before being given to USPS for delivery the next day.

Normally if I want electronic equipment, I use B&H Photo out of New Jersey. Their prices are generally better than Amazon, they carry just about any electronic equipment available, they tell you if the item is in stock, they always ship the item that day if order is placed before 11 am, standard free shipping is 5 days or less, and their return policy is as good as Amazon. The only problem I found with B&H Photo is that they are closed on Jewish holidays.

Last edited by Michael; Oct 6th 2012 at 6:20 am.
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Old Oct 6th 2012, 9:36 am
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Default Re: Amazon customer service

Originally Posted by Michael
The two main things I dislike about Amazon is that they don't always have the item in their warehouse and when you use standard free shipping, they normally use Fedex Smartpost.

Instead of telling you they are out of stock, Amazon generally gets weekly shipments from their vendors to restock. If you pay for expedited shipping, they always have enough in their warehouse to deliver immediately but if you use standard shipping (up to 9 days delivery time plus weekends plus 1 day to fill the order), they just wait for the order to arrive in their warehouse and then ship it at the slowest possible way so that you will get it on the 9th day.

For items that they have in their warehouse that is shipped by standard free shipping, they normally use Fedex Smartpost. If the item comes in from the east coast to San Jose, generally it is at their Sacramento sorting center pretty quickly but will stay there for about 4 days before the item is given to USPS for delivery the next day. The worst is when they ship from the Los Angeles area to San Jose where the item typically sits in the LA Fedex sorting center for 4 days and then shipped to their Sacramento sorting center where it sits another 4 days before being given to USPS for delivery the next day.

Normally if I want electronic equipment, I use B&H Photo out of New Jersey. Their prices are generally better than Amazon, they carry just about any electronic equipment available, they tell you if the item is in stock, they always ship the item that day if order is placed before 11 am, standard free shipping is 5 days or less, and their return policy is as good as Amazon. The only problem I found with B&H Photo is that they are closed on Jewish holidays.
Slightly OT, but I found this interesting because with Amazon UK, I always order regular shipping and it almost always seems to arrive within a similar time frame as the guaranteed 1-day or 2-day delivery.

The online order might say "Expected delivery 12th September", but it actually arrives on the 8th ... maybe this is just a reflection of the better regular postal service here, or a different philosophy in their warehouses.
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Old Oct 6th 2012, 10:13 am
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Default Re: Amazon customer service

Always found Amazon (UK) to be brilliant in general. Only time I had to call the customer service was when I sat on my kindle (I know). Rather dishonestly told them it had been in my bag with a load of books (which still would have been entirely my fault) and they posted out a brand new one that day, completely to my surprise. Can't imagine getting that kind of service at a high street store.
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Old Oct 6th 2012, 5:12 pm
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Default Re: Amazon customer service

I've always had good results with Amazon customer service. Over the years we've had things arrive broken, packages with things missing and a couple of times packages not turning up at all. Once we got somebody elses order due to a shipping glitch that put the wrong address label on the package. Every time they have sent out a replacement immediately with overnight shipping. The returns have always been paid by them. The only one weird experience was several rears ago we ordered Lord of the Rings Return of the King which was received quickly. Then 2 days later we received another copy. When we contacted them they told us to return the copy but we wouldn't be refunded shipping costs. No matter how many times we told them they couldn't seem to grasp that they had sent an extra copy and we just wanted it returned. Sure enough, shortly after we returned it we got a credit for the DVD cost. Even then they didn't get what they had done wrong so we just gave up!
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Old Oct 6th 2012, 9:02 pm
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I've always had good customer service with amazon. In fact a week ago I returned one of their kindles which I found that I really disliked using and they took it back 29 days after purchase with a full refund of all charges including shipping.
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Old Oct 7th 2012, 1:05 am
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Default Re: Amazon customer service

Originally Posted by dunroving
Slightly OT, but I found this interesting because with Amazon UK, I always order regular shipping and it almost always seems to arrive within a similar time frame as the guaranteed 1-day or 2-day delivery.

The online order might say "Expected delivery 12th September", but it actually arrives on the 8th ... maybe this is just a reflection of the better regular postal service here, or a different philosophy in their warehouses.
The UK is not that large so if they use normal mail, it should be fast. As I stated, Amazon US normally uses Fedex Smartpost for the free shipping which is the cheapest way to ship but is the worst service in the world. Fedex Smartpost only ships by Fedex for the long distances and then is turned over to USPS for the final mile. The problem with Fedex Smartpost is that Smartpost packages are placed as their lowest priority in the sorting facilities and they won't sort them if they have any other type of parcels to sort or 4 days have passed which ever occurs first. A package from the LA warehouse to San Jose will take 9 days since it has to go through two busy sorting facilities. The same package shipped via USPS normal mail will arrive in 1 to 2 days. I usually hope that packages from Amazon comes from the east coast since they immediately put it on a truck or plane and only sits in the Sacramento sorting facility for 4 days.
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Old Oct 7th 2012, 1:30 am
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Default Re: Amazon customer service

Originally Posted by GeoffM
Daughter's first birthday this weekend, and her grandmother sent something from Amazon (the US version). UPS said package was delivered on Monday "left next to pillar" - we don't have any pillars! Chatted online to Amazon customer support and they've sent replacement items for free: one item by overnight delivery, with the other coming next week (not an Amazon stock item). I assume that the value of the products means it's cheaper than somebody going through all the UPS track and claim procedures. Excellent work though!
I have had HORRIBLE service with Amazon sending packages via UPS that never arrive. My husband's address in Los Angeles is a bit odd (it's in a very small apartment complex, but the address is xxx-1/2 Street Name). UPS NEVER gets it right. He ordered a desktop compuer from Amazon and UPS left it all the way outside by the front gate (not a locked gate), right on the public sidewalk. When I saw online that it had been delivered, hubby walked all around and couldn't find it. He saw another package he was expecting, left by UPS by the front gate, but that one wasn't stolen because it was small and in a plain brown box...the computer was in a box marked HP. Of course Amazon refunded the money and all was well, but hubby never got his computer. We didn't want to risk it again.

One other time, he was expecting a package via UPS (although not through Amazon), which needed his signature in order to be delivered. He sat home all day waiting for it. When I saw online that it was delivered and yet he hadn't seen UPS at all, he went searching. He found the package left at a doorstep of another apartment in the small complex, and online it said "left at front desk" and signed by "Jose". WTF?? The UPS driver probably signed for it himself, but it most definitely was NOT at a front desk, it was in front of someone else's apartment!

I have to agree, Amazon's customer services is very good. It's UPS that sucks.

Rene

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