I’m in dire need a Flip camera. I’ve never used one and I’m conducting an interview Friday, therefore, I’d like to have the camera for a few days so I can play around with it and be ready for the interview. I searched on jCompare and found a great price! It was with Amazon so I clicked through, went through the usual check out process and selected “One Day Shipping.” I figured the $18 shipping cost was worth it if I would have the camera within 24 hours. I saw a note that read something along the lines of “If you make your purchase within the next 2 hours, you’re product will arrive tomorrow.” I didn’t hesitate.
Today, I took a look at the confirmation email and noticed that the expected delivery date is Friday, February 26 – that’s four days from my purchase date!!
I became more frustrated when it took me a good 14 minutes to find a phone number on Amazon.com. They pretty much tell the consumer to contact them via other mediums BUT a phone call. I don’t want to send Amazon an email. I want to speak to a human on the phone and get my issue resolved immediately.
Eventually, I found their customer service number and my call was answered within two minutes of calling – obviously, my calling resulted in a quicker response.
I told the representative about my paying for one day shipping and finding out I had to wait an extra three days and how unacceptable that was. He pointed me to a sentence beside the product image that read, in green, “In stock but may require an extra 1-2 days to process.” Ok, where did that sentence come from? Why is it green and not red? Why is it next to the product image and not in the section where I choose my method of shipping?
I was very upset and told the representative that I have no choice but to wait to receive my camera, but that camera would be the last purchase I make with the company. He then went on to pitch other in-stock cameras to me! I don’t need to be pitched on something that’s not what I want.
He put me on hold to speak to his supervisor and came back with a solution: they would refund me the amount I paid for one day shipping, but they couldn’t expedite the actual delivery of the camera. I accepted their offer. It only seems fair that I not pay for what I’m not getting. Regardless, I’m going to have to wait to receive my camera.
While I’m not 100% happy with the phone call, I’m glad they took my frustration into consideration and offered some kind of solution.
Amazon, I know how revolutionary you’ve been with your check out process, but it baffles me that you wouldn’t put messages such as “In stock but may require an extra 1-2 days to process” within your “Choose your shipping options” page. I understand that as a consumer I should read everything on the page before purchasing, but a little help from you in repeating an important message like that would be extremely helpful. Also, if it’s important, maybe using red as opposed to green as your font color would be more attention-grabbing.
A few years back, a radio personality was complaining about how there was no Customer Service number for Amazon. Someone had called into the show and said they had found it and recited it on air. Within hours, Amazon’s call center was flooded with calls from thousands of people because of the very fact that they don’t deal with phone calls, they deal with all internet/computer-based inquiries. Eventually, Amazon released a statement saying their number had always been there for customers to contact them, and then listed the page on where this number was. I’ve never had to use it, so I never went looking to believe them.
I think if you are a legit business, you have a website, email, and phone number for contact information. I think the way Amazon handled your issue was good customer service — when you finally got someone on the phone! Yes, they should have had that on their page for ordering and shipping, but to rectify the situation, I think they did pretty well.
They did handle it well. I was expecting a catastrophe because I was told that they’re not known for their customer service, but in the end, they acknowledged my situation and offered a solution. This post was intended to pin point a few areas I think they can improve on. All good companies are constantly moving forward and improving themselves so to expect a company to be absolutely perfect is a little much. The best way to improve is to listen to your customers and the customer who stays quiet doesn’t help the company at all.
Hey Agustina, I was shopping for a minicam as well, ended up with a KodakZi8, and I got it at Bestbuy. I got it for $169, after they matched price with another store. I like this one, coz’ it does 1080P capture and it has a big screen.
Not sure if you got yours yet, but I hope it went well. Have fun.
Thanks for the tip, Cesar, but I did get the Flip. I really like it. All I need is a camera and its simplicity is exactly what I was looking for.