Amazon Knows Customer Service

Background: I ordered a battery charger from Amazon a while back. The postman delivered me a kind note saying that he would re-attempt delivery when I was around. I said that would be splendid and signed the card that said my signature wasn't necessary.

13 days later, the package still hasn't been delivered. I called the post office, they claim the package was sent back to Amazon. My Amazon account claims it's at the post office.

I claim I'm annoyed.

So, with 10 minutes before boarding my flight, I decided I'd dig into this issue. Here's what happened...

1) I found my way to the Amazon Help Center

2) I noticed a Contact Us link and clicked it

3) They offered to call me if I filled out a form. Mind you, it's 10pm at night and I have just minutes before I need to board. Whatever, filled out the form and clicked submit.

4) Within seconds my phone starts ringing. I know I triggered this, but still, it felt spooky.

5) Within 15 seconds, I was talking to a human. I don't recall pressing any prompts or keying in order #'s or anything else.

6) The rep asked for my order # and my address.

7) I explained the dilema above. He put me on hold to do what customer service reps do after you tell them your story. This no doubt involves putting you on hold to laugh about your case with fellow call center buddies.

8) The rep came back and explained that their records didn't show the product had been shipped to them. It was still at the post office. However, it had been over 13 days since my order had shipped and therefore he would give me a complete refund immediately. Oh, and he was sorry about the inconvenience.

9) At this point I was nearly speechless. This wasn't an Amazon issue. It was clearly a post office oops. Yet they completely and painlessly fixed the problem.

Within minutes of starting this adventure, it was resolved. I still had plenty of time to get in line for my Southwest boarding line.

So how did Amazon do? I'd say pretty amazingly. The time to rep was ideal, and the fact that they so completely solved the issue without playing the blame game was unexpected to say the least.

It's refreshing to see a big organization like Amazon using its resources to provide top notch support. Other big organizations could learn from this.

--Ben