I’ve been an Amazon.com customer for YEARS – since 2004 and have spent thousands and thousands of dollars there. They are the first place I look for products and one of my main resources for Christmas shopping.
Until now.
Maybe I am over-reacting.
You tell me.
The other day I ordered a $60 Radio Flyer bike for my daughter that was going to be from Santa. Her “big gift” from the big, jolly man. The product page indicated the item would be shipping in its original packaging (I always look for that) and to mark it as a gift if you want it concealed. Cool. I marked it as a gift, and made the purchase.
Yesterday, my kids and I came home from the store and we were half a block away when my son said “Radio Flyer, what’s that?” after spotting the NOT CONCEALED box sitting on our porch. I quickly scrambled and told him to distract Abby so I could put it away, but the problem still remains. My 6 year old is too smart for me to be able to put this under the tree from Santa now.
And I am heartbroken.
I know we can give it to her from us, and she’s too young to know the difference, but I was just excited for it to be from Santa. This isn’t ALL about the kids you know. The parents get into this Santa thing too.
I doubled checked my order in my account and it clearly says it was marked as a gift, so I wrote to Amazon.com explaining the situation and also that the box was damaged and re-taped (I haven’t opened it yet to see if the bike is damaged I wanted to hear back from them first). They wrote back with an apology for the damaged box and a $5 credit to my account for my trouble. They made no mention about the mistake they made about the concealed package.
So I wrote back.
I got yet another apology:
Hello,
I’m sorry for the delay in responding fully to all of your questions in our previous correspondence.
I understand your order didn’t arrive concealed although you marked it as a gift. Unfortunately, on rare occasions, fulfillment centers make a mistake when assembling a package. I’ve forwarded your message to our fulfillment team to make sure they’re aware of this incident.
I realize this is a gift order for a special occasion, and I’m so sorry about the inconvenience.
We’ll consider your feedback as we plan further improvements.
Customer feedback like yours really helps us continue to improve our store and provide better service to our customers.
One of our aims at Amazon.com is to provide a convenient and efficient service; in this case, we haven’t met that standard. I hope you’ll give us another chance to serve you better in the future.
It is our absolute commitment to provide you the best possible customer service. Should you need any further assistance with this order, please click the link below to tell us when and where to get in touch with you, and a dedicated customer service representative will contact you by phone to provide resolution.
http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-n?c=hawdaudh3238273931&q=sn
Best regards,
Vijay P.
Amazon.com
We’re Building Earth’s Most Customer-Centric Company
But I just don’t feel like it is enough.
This was a big deal for me.
What do you think? Am I over-reacting? Should I let it go and just move on with my life? Should I push it further and ask to speak to a customer service rep? If so, what should I even expect them to do to remedy it?
About Kim
Kim we had this happen last year. What I did this year was call the UPS and FedEX locations nearest me and told them to please leave all Holiday packages at the BACK door for the months of November and December. I also told my mail lady. Hasn’t happened yet this year. ;)
Kas
Amazon screwed up big time! I don’t know what they should do to make it right but $5 off your next order doesn’t seem to cut it. As for your 6 year old, can you tell him that Santa was worried that there wouldn’t be room in his sleigh so he asked if he could ship it to you early and have you put it out for him?
I would have been upset by this also! It is about us also! I would decide what you think would compensate you for this error and then ask to speak to the mananger. To them, it was just an error, but now you have to come up with a whole new Santa gift for Abby.
Awww that sucks. Obviously amazon doesn’t care since they are too big for their britches. I really get into the magic of Santa too…I can certainly understand your disappointment!
Oh no! I’m so sorry Kim. Amazon failed miserably and they need to make it right.
Oh Kim – that’s AWFUL. They are BIG enough to have their sh!t together, especially when it’s so important this time of year. I don’t know where you can go with this and I don’t think you need to make yourself crazy since it’s already a DONE deal. I guess people just make mistakes…
I understand where you are coming from, Felipe. It was a special gift for your young daughter and the mystery and surprise of Christmas morning is now gone. We can’t get back those special moments. There is no “re-do” for next year because she will only be this young once.
They need to do MORE than just say “sorry for the inconvenience”. It’s NOT an inconvenience, it’s a child’s magic Christmas they are screwing up.
That stock answer bugs me EVERY TIME I hear it. You are not a random number or email address. You are a MOTHER who is trying to do something special for your child. Kids grow up too fast as it is, keeping the magic and mystery of Christmas for them is hard enough without the companies we patronize screwing our plans up for us.
Amazon FAIL. You would THINK they would give you more than a stock apology and a $5 credit.
I can so understand your disappointment. But like Annie said it just not worth the time.
That does suck! I am sorry that happened to you. I order from amazon ALL the time and I am actually anticipating a santa toy myself from them anyday now. I will be SURE to make sure my son is not around when it arrives. Good to know this info.
I think you have every right to be upset, but I don’t think it is worth your time to try and get even more from them for this, unless the bike itself is damaged. Yes, they messed up and it was very wise of you to bring it to their attention. They need to not do this again. I just don’t think going any farther with this will produce anything but wasted time and more frusrtation with amazon.com
Think about who works for them – hourly paid workers. They are going to mess up, especially when they deal with thousands of orders a day. I am just sorry it happened to you :(