Recently, I had to call Amazon’s customer service department. Normally, I cringe at the thought of calling the customer service department of a large company. For me, these experiences are worse than going to the department of motor vehicles. Here’s why.
Buried Phone Numbers. It seems like everytime I have to call a large phone, credit card, insurance, or airline company, I have to waste a lot of time simply searching for a phone number. It seems like most of these companies bury their phone number to discourage people from calling them.
Ever have this experience? Sometimes, I have given up and gone to email only to get no response for days. Email is a great tool, but sometimes speaking to a live person can resolve a problem much faster. In this recent experience with Amazon, I did not have that problem. In fact, I was shocked. The number was surprisingly easy to find on my Kindle.
Being placed on hold. Ever call up a large company and get put on hold for eternity? Public agencies also seem to have this problem. They either don’t have enough staff or don’t want people to call them. Ever get put on hold, then connect with someone, only to be told that they have to connect you to a different department, and then you’re placed on hold again? It seems to happen to me all of the time and if my problem is too difficult to solve, they simply hang up and I have to call again. It’s like waiting in line at the DMV, getting to the front, and then being told that you’re in the wrong line and have to go and wait in another long line. Ugghh!!!!
Although I expected this type of experience when placing my call to Amazon, it did not happen, In fact, I was quite surprised. I was not placed on hold. I was connected very quickly to a customer service agent who seemed to be eager to help. He solved my issue right away and I was thrilled.
This recent experience with Amazon makes me believe that there is hope. Perhaps the down economy has had something to do with it. Whatever reason, it’s good to see that some companies like Amazon are starting to get it. Customers have choices and companies that behave like they actually want to hear from their custumers will fare better than those that don’t.
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Filed under: books, consumer | Tagged: Amazon, Customer Service, Kindle | Leave a Comment »
