I used to like Amazon...
by shadow_3 - Written: Jan 25 '02 (Updated Feb 02 '02)
| Customer Service: |
 |
|
| Selection: |
 |
|
| On-Time Delivery: |
 |
|
|
| Full Review |
**After writing this review, I forwarded it to Amazon.com customer service so that they could respond if they so chose. After another series of daily e-mails, they apologized for their poor customer service and sent me a 20 dollars gift certificate, I guess to reel me back in. I'm still debating whether or not I should use it. I'm kind of curious if things are better, but, on the other hand, I dread dealing with them again if there are any problems with my order. They still never directly addressed the issue I described below. Even the apology e-mail seemed like a form letter.
I started ordering books from Amazon.com back when it first started up. I really loved the convenience and the user reviews. However, my bad experiences with Amazon over the past 6 months have led me to stop doing business with them.
My problems with Amazon are all related to the (lack of) customer service. Several problems with orders led to a series of e-mails wherein I would describe my problem and then, a day or so later, receive a form letter that was not helpful. Each problem required several days of e-mailing back and forth much to my frustration.
My final problem with Amazon began when I placed an order in which one item was said to take 1-2 weeks to get. I had ordered 3 items - an expensive book for my dissertation (about 140 dollars), a CD, and a cheaper book. The CD wasn't available for 1,2,3, more weeks and it hung up my whole order. Turns out it wasn't available at all apparently.
Meanwhile, I needed the expensive book! So, I logged in and tried to edit the order to get rid of the CD, but I had trouble with this. So, I just canceled and tried to re-enter the order for the book.
When I did this, suddenly the book cost more than it had originally. Also, the e-coupon I had used before didn't seem to be working anymore. I went through the whole e-mail customer service thing and finally annoyed them enough that they actually gave me a phone number to call (a first!). I called and they basically said "too bad for you," the price had changed so I would have to pay the new price. I explained that I had previously ordered the book and that specific book was probably sitting in a warehouse with my name on it, so why should I pay more? Their "new" cost was higher than buying directly from the publisher. (This is not the first time that prices have changed after I have placed an order). The customer service woman basically said "I don't blame you. I wouldn't buy it from us either." So, then I was really mad.
No one in customer service seemed to care about my problem. No one seemed to care that this stupid change in price (about 10 dollars - I know not a lot, but still), would cause them all of my future business because I was so frustrated with their customer service.
I called and had the company erase all of my accounts and stop sending me personal information. They didn't seem to care about that either. They didn't care that I was canceling or seem to worry about my bad customer experience.
I'm now using Barnes&Noble.com and they have been great; customer service is friendly and available and books can be returned to the local retail store.
Recommended:
No
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
