Customer service may still be what it used to...
In light of the recent story of Vincent Ferrari and his ridiculous conversation with an AOL customer service rep, I thought that I would post somewhat of an antithesis to that and tell you about a recent phone call I made to Amazon.com's customer service.
I didn't so much call them though, as they called me. Amazon has this amazing feature where they don't actually list a phone number. They ask for your phone number through a web interface and promise a call when an operator is available. I can't believe that someone didnt think of this sooner. Instead of calling and wading through menus and getting put on hold I just sat here, free to do whatever while I waited their call. I was skeptical at first, but 3 minutes later the phone rang and I was put through to "Rodger." I explained to Rodger the reason for my call. I was just charged $79 to renew my Amazon.com Prime membership (which I was not aware I had) and I wanted to know why and if I could cancel it and get a refund.
Rodger started by explaining why I was charged, apparently some time back I signed up for a 3 month trial for Amazon Prime and never cancelled it. At that point I was sure I was toast, they had my money and I was liable, it was over. To my great surprise it was not over. Rodger looked into my account and found it had not been used since the charge and told me that they would refund my checking account within two business days. That simple. Through all of this Rodger was patient and helpful, and I walked away from it amazed. Good customer service does still exist. Huh.
I didn't so much call them though, as they called me. Amazon has this amazing feature where they don't actually list a phone number. They ask for your phone number through a web interface and promise a call when an operator is available. I can't believe that someone didnt think of this sooner. Instead of calling and wading through menus and getting put on hold I just sat here, free to do whatever while I waited their call. I was skeptical at first, but 3 minutes later the phone rang and I was put through to "Rodger." I explained to Rodger the reason for my call. I was just charged $79 to renew my Amazon.com Prime membership (which I was not aware I had) and I wanted to know why and if I could cancel it and get a refund.
Rodger started by explaining why I was charged, apparently some time back I signed up for a 3 month trial for Amazon Prime and never cancelled it. At that point I was sure I was toast, they had my money and I was liable, it was over. To my great surprise it was not over. Rodger looked into my account and found it had not been used since the charge and told me that they would refund my checking account within two business days. That simple. Through all of this Rodger was patient and helpful, and I walked away from it amazed. Good customer service does still exist. Huh.
