MR. BEZOS AND YOUR EXECUTIVE OFFICE DOESN'T CARE WHAT I'VE BEEN GOING THROUGH

there's always skype?

irony or irony

i just received a package from amazon that i didn't order
but it's not amazon's fault.

i think the guy who ordered it use to live here. he must have picked
my address from the list without actually paying attention.

but i went to amazon's contact us page, clicked the phone button,
entered in my phone number ... and they called me right away.

so now i have a return shipping label in my email and i'll be sending
the package back tomorrow morning.

(1) Very few CEOs actually respond to customers. Particularly for what
are all routine customer service issues. That doesn't minimize the
important to the customer, but for a CEO to be effective they cannot
possibly deal with every customer that had a problem with shipping,
gift notes, out of stock issues, or pricing issues. As important as
these are to you, I assume that you never actually believed that this
would be handled by Jeff Bezos himself, nor would be even read a copy
of your complaint.

(2) , I presume, is employed there specifically to deal with customer
service issues. Again, the CEO's job cannot be to deal with every
customer. If he did, he'd never be able to get anything else done.
It's not "dirty work" to have someone assigned to customer service (or
several, since it does take more than one person to handle such a
job).

(3) Many large companies, certainly of the size of amazon, have
toll-free (at least within the US, if not North America) numbers to
reach customer service staff. Not just the standard customer service
number, but to reach specialists like . However, not all do. I don't
think that this was a trick, however, to make you go away. I think
it's just that someone made the (perhaps wrong) call not to provide
with a toll free number. That said, one thing you can do is call her,
say "I don't want to pay for this call, please call me back." Given
that she's already reached out to you, I'd expect that she's agree to
call you back such that you don't have to pay more than a minute or so
of the call.

(4) As for the delivery tracking issue, I agree that amazon.ca (as far
as I can tell) doesn't tell you the name of the delivery company. That
would lead me to assume it was Canada Post. Was it? I am totally
ignorant of postal laws in Canada, but I wonder if there might be some
reason why amazon.ca would be required to use Canada Post or a
specific private delivery company to be in compliance with the law?

(5) It is lousy to be told that your package was delivered when it was
not. Have you discovered why this happened? As a practical matter,
asking the delivery company will likely be the best way of getting an
answer. No sense in having righteous indignation against amazon when,
what you really want is to find out why the delivery company told
amazon that the package was delivered when this was not the case.
There could, you know, be a totally logical explanation.

(6) Possible regulations aside, it's important to let a company know
that their delivery company has failed, such that the company can made
a decision about whether to switch delivery companies. However, just
because one customer had something go wrong does not immediate say
that the delivery company is unacceptable and that amazon.ca bears the
responsibility. Remember, they were the ones that were lied to. They
simply passed along the information they were provided.

(7) As for the gift notes, let me ask: what did you really expect? No
where does it ask you questions like "what color card would you like?"
or "pick a font for the writing" or anything of the sort. Which means,
it's "you get what you get." While someone that's never ordered a gift
from amazon before might not have any idea what would happen (and
amazon could do better about saying), clearly you formed a picture in
your head about what a "gift message" is. That image was something YOU
created, not amazon. They failed in that they left it up to your
imagination. However, in the end, they did deliver what they promised,
which was a "message."

If having a particular card is important to you, best to arrange for
it yourself. Why leave it up to a store to select a card for you?

Anyway, as someone who has sent and received amazon gifts, I'm used to
these gift messages. When I send something directly to someone, they
can see on the packing slip (on which I can request no prices) my
message. For people that I care more about than letting them receive
my message on a packing slip, I call them. I send them a card. I have
the item shipped to me, I wrap it and enclose my own card or
handwritten note, and then mail it to the recipient.

(8) On your #3, I miss how the dispute made something go out of stock.
Both of your other complaints are about something you actually
received. Did you have another issue where you failed to order
something because of a dispute?

In any case, when something is out of stock, amazon can do little for
you, other than to get it in stock. Sometimes, a business will agree
to extend the discount, especially if you ask up-front. But not
always. High volume businesses like amazon often won't do this, but
it's worth calling and asking... while the item is still on sale (not
after). You may have done this and maybe their refusal to ship the CD
immediately or give you the discount whenever it arrives was the
dispute?

Anyway, while there may be some things that didn't go as you wanted, I
see nothing that seems like amazon did anything wrong. Further, the
fact that they had someone () contact you directly shows that they are
clearly trying to understand your issues and perhaps help resolve
them. But, in reading your letter, it seems like you don't need any
resolution because there is nothing to resolve. The thing you're
asking is for them to pay you the difference between what they sell
the CD for and what you paid (which you did, I'm assuming, on your own
accord). Do you know any business that will, when you say you
purchased elsewhere for more money, pay you? Who does this?

The gift notes are sent to the receiver of the package. If you had
sent the 3 gifts to 3 different people at 3 different addresses then
each one of them would have gotten a separate gift note. Instead, you
had all of the packages sent to you at a single address. Therefore,
the gift notes were all on the same packaging slip.

The purpose of the gift note is to send a message to someone when you
purchase something and Amazon sends it directly to the receiver of the
gift. They are not meant to be used if you are going to have the gifts
delivered to yourself and then you are going to distribute the gifts.

um...

i only asked you what companies you've seen do this.


and i don't like to email people here. in fact the only people here
who have my email is pfb itself cos i had to use it to register.

as for calling companies up...
this isn't a service i've ever asked for.

i simply asked what companies you've seen do this, since you've stated
that you have seen it.

There are things the site is, and things it isn't.

If you want to post ctiticism of a company for all to see, there are
websites that specialize in that.

This site's primary purpose is to put customers in contact with
companies. The option of making your letter public also allows a
dialog to take place within the community. Therefore, if you make
your letter public, you must be prepared for all comers. A lot of
people here have been in customer service, and of course we are all
consumers and have to deal with these matters ourselves.

Sometimes OP's who receive a lot of replies that are counter to their
opinion feel they are being attacked. They sometimes go as far as
suggesting that company reps (shills) lurk here, but that isn't the
case.

When I posted my first letter, I received several replies that I felt
were not supportive. The replies did cause me to view my situation
from a different perspective, which was very helpful.

In this case, I think most people understand the issues. I also
understand you have litany of issues with Amazon, and consider them to
be a "lousy" company. That is interesting, because Amazon has been
extremely successful from a business standpoint. As far as customer
satisfaction, count me on the list of highly satisfied customers.

Sometimes people want to satisfy two objectives in their letters -
propose a resolution to the company, while at the same time making
their letter public so everyone can see how bad the company is. It is
very challenging to craft a letter that does this. IMO, a person who
has these two objectives should write a private letter to the company
here, and then post a scathing critical letter on a site that
specializes in such matters.

Excellent post! You've explained this very well.

It's fine that you are satisfied with Amazon. When I read some of the
complaints on this site, I have had good service with many companies
that have been written up. That in no way diminishes what the posters
wrote concerning their situation nor does it make their complaints
less valid.

Sorry, I forgot to add that amazon prices aren't good. The item at
Amazon that was $17.99 and went to $40.45, I ended up buying at a
store near me for only $13.99. I was also going to get a movie that
was $12.49 at amazon and I ended up paying $9.99. So,besides their
nonexistent customer service,their prices can be easily beat if you
search the internet or go to a local store.