Exasperating website, ordering procedure and miserable customer service
by subbuk77 - Written: Apr 03 '04 (Updated Apr 12 '04)
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Having to deal with their gift card redemption or with their customer service is a nightmare: Review follows.
As one of the first retail businesses on the internet, amazon.com has an amazing selection of items as well as an extremely easy to use interface. I have made numerous purchases from amazon.com in the past, including cell-phone service. Now I want to switch cell providers and I decide to buy again from them.
I try to order an AT&T cellphone and a book from amazon.com using a gift certificate for part of the payment and a credit card for the rest. The order goes through. Some time later, I receive an email that my credit application for the phone service has failed. The email asks me to re-enter my personal identification details. I do this and after 10 minutes I get an email saying my credit application failed again. So I enter an older address, and it fails again. A fourth try also fails. By now, I am thoroughly disgusted and cancel the order. The gift certificate is however not refunded to my account. Account Gift balance shows $0.00, I try to enter it for another order and the system won't let me saying it has already been redeemed.
So at the end of two hours of EXASPERATION, I have not bought what I want to buy, and am actually 50 dollars in the hole.
I send two emails to customer service and there are no replies. I wait a day and place two calls to customer service at 800.201.7575 - This number is no where on the site, I have to get to get it by searching internet chat forums. Anyway, neither agent seems to know what they are doing. The first tries to place a new order for me to find out why a gift certificate won't work but confuses the "free super saver shipping" with a gift certificate. The second does not understand what a "credit application" is. She also asks me if I am referring to an order placed in 2001 March. By now I am fast losing patience, and quite likely screaming, but the agent calms me down and tells me that she can do nothing and will transfer my issues to two other departments - one for the credit check and the other for the Gift Certificate, and they will contact me by email in 1-2 business days.
SUMMARY: Exasperating, 50 dollars lost, worst shopping experience ever on the internet.
Update #1:
Then I receive an email thanking me for calling them up and if there is anything else they can do for me, could I please click on the link and let them know! So I send the entire above review to the "Customer Service Specialist". Outcome awaited.
Update #2:
I hear back from a "Specialist" that my gift certificate is restored. Meanwhile, my repeated query (on phone as well as emails) about why my credit application fails goes unanswered. Bottomline is that I cannot buy a phone service from amazon since, for some reason, my credit application fails when they try it and they will not give me a reason.
SUMMARY: I'll stick to them for the occasional book or CD and get my electronics elsewhere.
Update #3:
The miserable saga continues:
First, amazon gives me an extra $20 promotional coupon to compensate for my inconvenience. So, I use this $20 promotional code and the now-restored $50 Gift Certificate to order a router and two books for $64. I receive an email from amazon.com saying that my order balance is $0 and will be shipped in two days. Nothing happens for a while so I check the website and it shows that I owe them $19.98. According to amazon.com mathematics, $70 in certificates is "insufficient to cover the cost ($64) of the order", which is now placed on hold. My certificate balance shows $0.00 and only $28 were applied. In other words, $22 is gone again into thin air.
SUMMARY: This site has turned to a major headache. Avoid at all costs for anything more than a few dollars.
Update #4:
Finally, after two more calls to Customer Service, I get someone who knows what she is doing. Here is the scoop: Amazon needs a credit card number even if the amount due is zero. Otherwise their system goes haywire. For the first time in more than two weeks, I get the feeling that my order will actually ship!
Recommended:
No
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? wireless service, books, router, CF card
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