InsaneJournal

Inaugural post and look! It's a rant...
This past week was well, the week from hell. I kid you not.

Suffering from insomnia for starters. So Monday-Wednesday nights, getting like 3-4 hours sleep, max. Stupid insomnia.

Thursday: Proposal fell to pieces. Not through any fault of mine. But ... you know ... for $50mil, I would have thought people would have had a vested interest in it prior to 1pm on the day it was due to ship out.

Worked 8-830ish on Thursday. Came home, worked some more. Went back to work at 1am, worked till 12pm Friday.

Yeah, you read me correctly. In a span of 28 hours, I worked approx. oh, I dunno, most of 'em.

Proposal ended up getting -flown- to Chi-town. Yeah, you do those kinds of things for a $50mil deal.

Came home Friday after doing my weekly shopping trip, fell asleep about 1-2ish....woke up about 6am Saturday. Nice.

Then, in the middle of the week, Amazon drama. Cha, like I was going to back down from those wankers. The worst customer service I have seen in a long while, but that could have been because I was cranky with sleep, too. ;)

Background: I ordered 7 books on Aug 13. I am a Prime Member, so I get free 2-day shipping. 5 books went in one shipment, 1 in another, the other 1 was a preorder for Aug 27. On Aug 14 I tracked my 2 packages - the shipment w/ 5 books was marked "Shipment Damaged" and that was it. I was hoping for something from Amazon re: the shipment, but nothing. I received the 1 book on the 15th, and still hadn't heard anything about the other.

Thus follows my email chain.



My initial email through their "help" system:

It's not really refund-related but was the only remotely applicable issue listed. This order has been labeled as "Shipment Damaged" under track packages. What does this mean?

As a Prime Member, I expect 2-day delivery for items in stock as I
am -paying- for the service. I do understand that unexpected delays happen. However, I have not received any courtesy information as to the delay or reason why the shipment was not delivered today. I would appreciate an update (altered estimation time, an explanation of "shipment damaged," etc) and if there is any recompense for the delay as a Prime Member.

***

First response from Amazon: "Pritishkar"

Thanks for writing to us at Amazon.com.

First, please let me apologize for any inconvenience you may have
experienced with this order #[Order].

In regards to your question about the tracking nformation "shipment damaged" for one of the shipment.

In such cases the packages are typically returned to us, and upon
receipt of the return we will issue a full refund (including
shipping charges) to the payment method used on the order. It
usually takes us 3 to 5 business days to process returned packages;
when the refund is completed, we'll send you an e-mail confirming
the amount.

If by 4 weeks after the estimated delivery date you still haven't
received notification of a refund, please visit
http://www.amazon.com/contact-us/ to let us know, so we can assist
you further.

Unfortunately, we are unable to re-ship orders that are returned to
us as undeliverable. If you'd still like to buy the items, please
return to our web site and place a new order. Please be sure to
double-check the shipping address and make any changes to it when
placing your order.

For your reference, the shipping address we have on file for this
order is:

[Name]
[Address]
[City, ST ZIP]

If this is an outdated address, you can remove it from your account
by clicking the "Your Account" link at the top of our home page and
then clicking the "Manage Your Address Book" link under Personal
Information.

With regards to the second shipment, our latest information
indicates that "Title" has not yet been released and the expected release date is not known. As soon as a release date has been determined for this item, we will add that information to our web site.

While we are confident that copies will be made available, we cannot provide more precise information about the fulfillment of the order. In light of this uncertainty, we will understand if you would prefer to cancel your order. As of yet we have made no changes.

You may cancel orders yourself on our web site. Simply click on
the "Your Account" link at the top of our home page and select the
link that says "Cancel items or orders." After signing in with your
e-mail address and password, you will be able to cancel your order
for any item that has not yet entered the shipping process.

Thank you for shopping at Amazon.com.

Best regards,

Pritishkar

***
Now, mind you, that email really -really- pissed me off. And I was already cranky as hell as this was received early Thursday morning - thus, my day from hell had just begun. So, I responded:

My response #2

Thank you for your response.

I do not understand Amazon's customer service response to "shipment damaged." For regular orders of 3-7 business days delivery, this is acceptable. Your processing time (3-5 days) falls within those margins. However, I pay $80/year to be a Prime Member so I will get two day shipping on items in stock. I received no notice that my order was being returned to Amazon or how you were resolving the issue. In fact, according to your email, I would not have received any form of contact for up to 5 days following the day it was supposed to have been delivered. I pay for a service, I expect better.

It would be no different than you walking into a 5-star resturaunt, ordering a kobe steak, and getting an angus new york strip with no explanation from the staff as to why you were not given what you ordered and paid for until you demanded to speak to their manager.

My order is not undeliverable, nor do I have the incorrect address. My order was damaged during shipping. Your policy needs work. When my shipment was reported as damaged, I should have been immediately emailed with options as to how to handle the order: refund or reship. I should not have to wait until refund (up to 4 weeks??) to order again, or pay for the order twice just to get the kobe steak I originally ordered.

What is Amazon's policy for recompense? I pay for faster shipping, but I am a Prime Member. How will you refund my shipping costs? I do not pay to be a Prime Member to receive faster service only to have my intelligence insulted (undeliverable? Outdated address?) and to not receive what I paid for.

I still want the order that was damaged, and I still want the book ("Title") I have on preorder. I do not want to pay for the damaged order twice, nor do I want to wait up to 4 weeks for a refund. I wanted my books in 2 days, I still want my books in 2 days. How can you help me with that?

***
Bastards didn't email me till Friday. But I got this response, it made me smile:

Amazon Response #2: Finally someone who apparently has half a clue about customer service.

Thank you for writing to us at Amazon.com.

Please accept my sincere apology for the inconvenience you are
experiencing.

I've reviewed your previous correspondence with us and your order.

Please note that this oredr was damaged by the carrier due to which
it has been delayed to ship with in the estimated time frame.

As my colleague mentioned this order was damaged by the carrier and
returned to us.

Please know that your voice has been heard and I have brought this
situation to the attention of the appropriate persons so that they
may do further investigation.

I am really sorry for the information provided in your previous mail.

From your message I've learned that you want the damaged order hence you need those items.

To compensate this inconvenience I've replaced the damaged the items at no charge.

Here are the details of the new order:

Order Number: [Order #]
Estimated Delivery Date: August 21, 2007.

If the estimated delivery date above is unacceptable, and you would
prefer to cancel the replacement order and receive a refund for the
original shipment, please let us know by visiting

http://www.amazon.com/contact-us.

Rest assured that this inconvenience will not repeat again for your
future orders.

I am truly sorry that we were not able to fulfill your expectations
for this level of service. I hope that you will give us another
opportunity to prove the quality of our service to you.

If you have further questions, feel free to visit our online Help
pages: http://www.amazon.com/help

Thank you for your understanding. We hope to see you again at
Amazon.com.

Best regards,

viswam

***

did it end there? oh no. so i get notification that my order has shipped. fabo. but the funny thing? the book i had on preorder? funny....they apparently located a copy or -something- cause on friday i got notification (right after the 5-book shipment notification) that i am to receive that preorder-book on the 21st as well - almost a week ahead of the 'release' date listed on Amazon.

HELLZ YEAH BIZNITCHES. don't fuck around with me when i'm short on sleep and cranky ;)