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
I think Eryn said just what I was going to say very well.
I also worked in customer service when I was (much) younger, and you should always tell the store WHY you are upset and exactly WHAT you expect. You may not get just what you want, but at least that is a jumping off point.
I hope it all works out for both your children. I really like the idea of the review that was a mistake.
Good luck and Happy Holidays.
I don’t think you are overreacting at all. Though the letter was nice, the bottom portion sounded like their standard form “sorry” letter. But they offer nothing to remedy the situation and make it right for you. A $5 credit doesn’t seem right. I would be upset that the package was taped up and “repackaged” too. That usually isn’t a good sign. Between both of these issues, they should do something nice for you.
It is so sad that this is what you wanted for her under the tree from Santa. It sounded like a simple request to me. I am so sorry this happened. I think I would try to talk to someone else too.
Maybe send them this link and give them the opportunity to get some good PR out of it ??
May be risky but I’d be tempted but hey I’m a brat.
I agree with the story that Santa dropped it off early. I would also contact Amazon again and try and get some sort of discount. I think they owe you that.
One of my daughter’s presents may be late so we’re telling her that Santa’s elve that makes those kind of toys got sick and he will be delivering the toy later.
Get creative and I think all will be OK.
And no you’re not overreacting.
that sucks! I’ve had a spotty track record with Amazon.com, especially with their third party vendors who don’t seem to care about how they fill orders once they have your $$$.
I like the idea of taking the trike out of the box the night before Christmas and putting it under the tree–because that’s how Santa would deliver it straight from his toy shop, right?
You should give ut to her from Santa and if she mentions that you already had it just tell her Santa ran out of room on his sliegh and dropped it off early
Oooh Noreen…quick thinking!!
I like it!
I think there isn’t really anything they can do to remedy your problem. Since your problem is that you fear the reveal was too much of a reveal to be able to us the gift the way you intended. If you want to send it back you could ask for free return shipping, but that doesn’t solve your problem either.
I never really pushed the Santa thing with my own kids for personal reasons having to do with trauma surrounding the Santa revelation when I was a kid. So If it was me I would say I let a friend send me the bike so their child wouldn’t see it pre-Christmas and then surprise my child with it on Christmas morning.
Or just tell them it was some sort of screw-up with flex spend. What do kids know?
I allow myself to lie to my children where happy surprises are concerned.
Hey Kim,
You’re right, Jake is too smart to still have the gift be from Santa unless you attac a little white lie…say something like “Santa needs help sometimes and he dropped it off early, or Santa’s elves were so excited about this gift for Abby, that they couldn’t wait to get it to her.” Or better yet, you could get a brand new one from Amazon, this time concealed, and send back the first one, this way you could tell Jake that you got a call from Santa and that he wanted to get that gift for Abby, so you returned it to keep Santa happy. Hope this helps. I don’t think you’re over reacting.
Kim, you are so not overreacting. I would be heartbroken. I feel the same way about Santa and want my children to believe for as long as possible. Truth be told, BOTH my husband and I try to make it as magical as possible. I think part of it is for him, he grew up in a religion that does not celebrate and I can see it in his eyes when he watches the kids on Christmas morning.
Anyway, now that I’ve gone off subject, I hope they do SOMETHING to make up for this.
I’ve yet to have a problem with Amazon other than when I buy something from one of the resellers on the site. But once you get beyond the “Try to communicate with the seller” stage, they’ve always been very helpful.
That said, when I was 18, I was managing a toy store. Come Christmas, a woman ordered a special edition GameBoy that came with a game. The idiot (non-mom) assistant that I inherited when I became manager called her at home and left her a message to come to the toy store.
All fine and good, except she said “to pick up the special edition Zelda GameBoy you ordered.” OF COURSE the child heard the message, and OF COURSE the mother was heart-broken and mortified.
I worked it out that the Asst would call back and leave another message saying “Oh my, I’m so sorry, we accidentally sold your GameBoy to the wrong family, and we can’t order another one until Valentine’s Day!” so that the mother could “accidentally” let the boy hear THAT message too. Then I gave the woman 20% off of her GameBoy (something we NEVER discounted for ANY reason…).
So, some of us in retail DO get it. I guard Santa like crazy, extending the magic as long as possible.
Now, I know I’m writing a novel here lol BUT…
Is the RadioFlyer label only on the front? I can’t tell. Could you take that off and put a name label in it’s place, so it says “Abby!”? If so, maybe you can tell your son that someone sent you a RadioFlyer wagon to review, on accident, and you had to send it back. Show him a wagon online, to help the lie lol
I would contact Amazon AGAIN, and tell them that you would like part of your purchase refunded, explaining that it was a Santa gift that your child has now seen, and is questioning the existence of Santa, and how unfortunate it is that THEY caused that. In customer service emails, it’s always best to tell them why you’re mad and what you want them to do about it, not just hope they offer something (they won’t).
Look, I know it’s not right to lie, and especially not to your own children, but I have NO QUALMS lying to help protect the Santa image (which one could argue is lying to them to begin with…sorry if I just revealed the secret to any unsuspecting mothers!)
I hope my novel was helpful! ;)