Customer Service at Amazon? (Grouch)

[David Weaver]

Good morning guys - A grouch is sort of a different thing from a gloat, right? I've been ordering a lot of stuff from amazon lately, because of their roller coaster prices - and I'm picking the stuff when it's at the bottom of the roller coaster ride.

The trouble is, they've been having trouble getting things to me correctly.

Does anyone else have similar experiences?

First go-around, I got a hybrid delta saw from them - but only the fence and the table board showed up - the receipt however, said that it was the full shipment. So, I called customer service, and got someone who told me to send the stuff back. It took a long time to explain to the outsourced person on the other end that I didn't have the table saw at all (they were looking at the picture, but just didn't understand what the parts were, and they thought I was missing a small part).

Still, they insisted I send back what I have.

So I called tool central, their tool place - which isn't supposed to offer customer support, and I pleaded with the person there to give me assistance anyway, and they did after a while (though they told me their records showed also that I had received the saw). Ultimately, I ended up calling the freight company myself after getting the number from Amazon, and they gave me the heads up that Amazon wasn't correct - that the saw was coming in two shipments and not one, and they had another package on the way. Inconvenient because I had already taken one day off work to wait for it. I got all of it several days later, and fortunately, didn't follow the first CS agent's instructions to send back the fence.

Fast forward to yesterday - I was waiting for a Grip Tite 2000 42 inch set (2 grip tites, DVD and steel fence cover) to go with the biesemeyer fence that came along with the saw. A small box appears at the door with one grip-tite featherboard and nothing else in it other than a receipt for $120 and a statement that the shipment is complete. So I call customer service, and they didn't have any idea what I was talking about, even after I went through the whole dance of "see the yellow things in the picture, I only have one, and nothing else in it, including the long metal part or the DVD". The result of the call is that they tell me to call grip-tite instead (I didn't order it from grip tite), who turns out not to be open on fridays.

I called CS at amazon again, and could hardly understand the guy who was on the other end, but every time he repeated what I said, he said I received everything but one featherboard (opposite of what I got). He gave me the go-ahead to send it back, and he's sending another featherboard "system", I just hope it's correct.

Any money I've saved has been more than wiped out by time wasted.

Has this been anyone else's experience, or am I all wet? I don't want this to turn into a rip amazon session - I just want to know what other peoples' experiences are so I know whether or not this kind of thing is rare or common. If it's common for everyone, I'd rather just start getting everything at rockler (a couple of miles down the street) and just pay the difference.

[glenn bradley]

I've had real good luck with Amazon but have heard enough stories good and bad to know it's consistency, not CS that is part of their problem. Sorry they got you on the down side.

[Scott Halverson]

Does anyone know if they still have a price matching policy?

Scott

[Paul Douglass]

Anytime I call a customser service and get someone I can't understand I ask for someone else or a supervisor and politely explain that I could not understand the person. If that doesn't work, I hang up and dial again and do so until I get some one that I can communicate with. I try not to offend, because I don't blame the person that can't speak my language plaining, I certainly can't speak theirs, but I feel that the company has an obligation to have someone I can communicate with.

[Mike Heidrick]

I am a ton of orders into amazon this year. Everything from freight shipped shaper and jointer to Freud cutters to jet slow sharpener.

Only hiccup this year was last Fridays (4/6) price mistake where they had the Jessem 7500 MAst R Slide for $240. They canceled my order. They fixed that for me.

Also a Freud cutter set had a damaged insert but Charles from Freud fixed that - I never called amazon on that one.

Most of all my packaging has said exactly what I was getting and in how many shipments.

Amazon Prime seems to get attention to your shipping. I ordered that Jet Sharpener towards the end of the deal and was one of the first to receive it according to woodnet guys who also ordered one. I like the saturday delivery as well - $5 next day delivery even on Sat.

They have treated me more than failrly. I have spent 5K but have saved 4K or more off my other dealers prices. Those rock bottom deals are SWEET.

I have had excellent luck with the amazon call back CS as well. Both people I was sorting out the Jessem Sliding Table deal were both very understandable.

[Ken Garlock]

Anytime I call a customser service and get someone I can't understand I ask for someone else or a supervisor and politely explain that I could not understand the person. If that doesn't work, I hang up and dial again and do so until I get some one that I can communicate with. I try not to offend, because I don't blame the person that can't speak my language plaining, I certainly can't speak theirs, but I feel that the company has an obligation to have someone I can communicate with.

Paul, I agree with you, it is darn frustrating to have to deal with someone who can't speak clearly. There was a vice president at TI that I had to brief from time to time. He was from Indonesia with a strong accent. In several briefings I had to stop and pardon myself for not understanding his 'voice patterns'. He was a nice person and understood that I wasn't the only one that had the problem. In this situation, he was the customer and I was the service provider.

When I am the customer and the person on the other end of the wire is not speaking such that I can understand him, I get quite frustrated/angry. These companies forget that I am the customer not them, and it is there duty as provider to staff their CS group with people that can communicate. It makes no difference that the person is half way around the world, or just across the counter. :mad:

[Carroll Courtney]

Mike, how do you fine out about the amazon deals?I always seem to miss them.

[David Epperson]

Paul, I agree with you, it is darn frustrating to have to deal with someone who can't speak clearly. There was a vice president at TI that I had to brief from time to time. He was from Indonesia with a strong accent. In several briefings I had to stop and pardon myself for not understanding his 'voice patterns'. He was a nice person and understood that I wasn't the only one that had the problem. In this situation, he was the customer and I was the service provider.

When I am the customer and the person on the other end of the wire is not speaking such that I can understand him, I get quite frustrated/angry. These companies forget that I am the customer not them, and it is there duty as provider to staff their CS group with people that can communicate. It makes no difference that the person is half way around the world, or just across the counter. :mad:

You guys should try talking to Microsofts CS. Your stpries sound a bit mild by comparison.

[Mike Heidrick]

Mike, how do you fine out about the amazon deals?I always seem to miss them.


Woodnet members crave deals and watch for them religiously. I read woodnet too much. I also constantly search on the items I want cheap. If you see a 20" planer cheap please let me know.

[Ken Garlock]

You guys should try talking to Microsofts CS. Your stpries sound a bit mild by comparison.

David, I have not talked with the 'hired hands' at MS. But I have had occasion to deal with the Dell Chat-line customer service. And I found it to be quite usable. I think that is only because it is hard to butcher written English, given that they were schooled in it. Yes, the person was in India.

[Mike Henderson]

All of my experiences with Amazon have been quite positive. I'm often amazed at what they will do. For example, I had a shipment stolen from my front porch (at least, that's the only explanation that makes any sense). When I contacted Amazon to ask them to help me track it because I couldn't find it (even though it indicated "delivered") they sent me another item - and it wasn't a cheap thing!

But that's just one example. Every time I contact them they seem to bend over backwards to help. They do more than I would if I was the seller.

Mike

[Randal Stevenson]

Does anyone know if they still have a price matching policy?

Scott


On another forum, I saw a link which is still valid to a price matching policy. They also have a page stating that they have no price match policy. I've never understood why they can't eliminate the page that is incorrect.

[Rob Blaustein]

Only hiccup this year was last Fridays (4/6) price mistake where they had the Jessem 7500 MAst R Slide for $240. They canceled my order. They fixed that for me...
Both people I was sorting out the Jessem Sliding Table deal were both very understandable.

So you did get it for $240? If so, that's impressive. I got mine from Rockler using the 25% off coupon and I thought I was doing well...

[Byron Trantham]

Amazon is my "go to place". I use them for price comparison and have ordered everything from router bits to LCD monitors. Further, I have had to return stuff. You can say what you want but they work for me!

[Bruce Benjamin]

The best advice in this thread was posted in post #4. Unless you're talking to a small company you should always try to talk to someone else if you're not getting through to someone. If it's obvious that they are understanding you and they are just stating the company policy then talking to another CSR may not help. In that case I usually ask to speak to a manager or the owner or whatever. If anyone is going to make an exception to a policy or clear something up, the owner or CS supervisor, (or their boss) will. Of course that doesn't always work either.

A good friend of mine owns a sucessful auto repair business and deals with numerous vendors and distributors everyday. It's not uncommon for something to go wrong. His method of dealing with it is to give them one chance to get it right and after that, blow up at them. I don't know why it works for him but he nearly always gets satisfaction when he's abusive. I don't recommend it though and the few times I've lost my temper on the phone it's been counterproductive. Maybe it works for him because he spends so much money they don't want to lose his account. He's not normally an angry guy but when someone screws him on the phone he gets ugly. Works for him...

On the subject of overseas, (Typically India) customer service centers, since this has become more and more common I've found that I've rarely had more friendly and helpful service. With very rare exception, the Indian CS reps I've spoken with have bent over backwards to be helpful and they've always done it in a very patient and polite manner. And I can usually understand them fine if I pay attention. Only once or twice have I had to ask to speak to someone else. It sure beats the CS I've received from many of the U.S. based call centers. Not all of the time but frequently they could really stand to learn from the overseas based CS that I've received. Maybe I have a better than average ability to understand thick accents but the Indian accents haven't really been a problem for me.

Bruce

[Mike Heidrick]

So you did get it for $240? If so, that's impressive. I got mine from Rockler using the 25% off coupon and I thought I was doing well...

Yes, My corrected order is for $240 but it may not ship until May. More to come when it arrives.

The company I work for also uses overseas resources as well as hires external staffing companys to recruit indian technical analysts. Not many HP3000/MPE boys out there in US colleges that can port code to HP9000 and WebSphere. But when we go to these external staffing companies they can supply as many people as we need. They supply much more than just customer service reps! I have quite few indian friends that I work with. Some have been with us for 7-8 years.

[John Durscher]

I had a problem once where I ordered a little giant ladder from them and received a wooden lawn chair instead - go figure. Anyway, I clicked on their return an item and indicated that I received the wrong thing. They took care of it pretty well and very fast. I'd reccomend the electronic route to talking to them instead of the phone.

John

[Terry Kelly]

Mike you really got it for the $240... How did you manage that must have bent their ear a bunch eh?

[David Weaver]

Just as an update - the replacement came, and it too was just one featherboard, but with a bar code and bill labeled as a whole system. Someone must've labeled all of them wrong, but I'm not real excited with paying for the whole system and getting only one featherboard.

So I requested a refund, and they informed me that I wouldn't be able to try to get a replacement, anyway, but they did it in a nice way.

So I went down the street to rockler and got the correct thing in a matter of minutes - I wish I would've known it was there in the first place. 20% off coupon made it about the same as the amazon sale deal.

[Mike Heidrick]

Mike you really got it for the $240... How did you manage that must have bent their ear a bunch eh?

Just asked them to look up my previous orders since Jan 1st '07 and asked how bad they wanted a new 20" planer purchase latter this year. Pretty simple really. Many people sell tools on the net.

[Anthony Anderson]

I only have good things to say about Amazon. They have always given me great CS, and rarely have had to call. Very happy with Amazon, and have just enrolled in their Prime shipping program. Bill

[Paul Johnstone]

Amazon has been hit or miss with me.

I never order anything that I'm in a hurry to get.

Sometimes it takes 2-3 months for them to ship an item.

I have a piece of T track that I used as a filler to get to $25 on an order.. It's been on backorder for over 6 weeks now.

Customer service is mediocre at best. They do make you jump through a lot of hoops to make it right.

I have their Amazon credit card.. After you earn so many points you get a $25 gift card.. The statement says you will get it shortly, but I've had to call the bank that issued the card (Chase) every stinking time to get them to send it to me. I guess they hope you forget about it.

In summary, they are not my first choice. If it's a screaming deal and I'm not in a hurry, I will order from them. Otherwise, I use someone else, even if it costs a little more.

[David Weaver]

I've had decent service from them on most things - though some of the items that come from third parties come kind of slow - there's not a whole lot they can do about that unless they want to punish those people - that wouldn't be good for their ability to be a one-stop shop.

I'm just going to limit the things I get from there to items small enough to ship UPS where they don't offer anything else comparable. Someone there doesn't "get it" with tagging the grip tite boxes wrong in their inventory system, but it's an economy of scale and labor leverage thing. I don't begrudge them for it - it's just a learning experience for me as a consumer (especially with my nasty habit of looking for deals no matter what I'm trying to get). Some items work better than others in that kind of situation. In this one, I'm sure that the item is about as obscure as it gets for a non-woodworker, and whoever tagged the items put the wrong tags on the boxes. There's no way the average person would know what the item is in the first place.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone else ordered the same thing while they had it on sale recently - and if they ended up with the same issue as me. I would bet money on it that they did.

[rodney mitchell]

I have had a few CS issues with amazon this year, but every one has been resolved to my satisfaction. In fact, on a couple of items, they bent over backwards to give me what I wanted. I have garnered a DJ 20, Delta wood/metal cutting bandsaw, PC 7518 and a 12 inch Makita scms for unbelievable prices this year. I literally have saved right at 3K over what these tools would have cost me anywhere else. So, yes I LOVE amazon.

Rodney

[Chris Merriam]

I worked at an Amazon distribution center for over three years. Trust me, it can be VERY confusing when they receive certain shipments from vendors. You just get this stuff that shows up on a truck with a packing list and a PO. Put the PO in the system and you get a list (no pictures) of products and codes, and you have to figure out what goes with what.

Sometimes you can receive as is, other times the warehouse has to rebox or relabel the product. Tools are really hard because the larger stuff can come in up to 5 boxes.

These warehouses ship out the entire range of products on the website, they do not really know anything about what they are shipping. If quality or CS issues come up they will address, but otherwise the system tells them "go here, pick this, pack it, ship it here". The people who actually know about the products are at corporate headquarters.

They may not get things right all the time, but they really try their hardest. Quality and delivery accuracy are tracked using six sigma methodology, and you'd be surprised how high up the chain your order gets bumped if they miss a premium (next day) shipment.

[Brian Dormer]

Not to say that I haven't heard some horror stories, but I've had pretty good luck with Amazon.

Just had a problem on Monday where the wrong Freud saw blade showed up. The Barcode on the package was the blade I ordered, but the blade inside was wrong (and it was factory sealed). I used Amazon's on-line refund/replace (asked for a replacement) and I got the right blade today(Wednesday). I'd call that pretty good.

[David Weaver]

Not to say that I haven't heard some horror stories, but I've had pretty good luck with Amazon.

Just had a problem on Monday where the wrong Freud saw blade showed up. The Barcode on the package was the blade I ordered, but the blade inside was wrong (and it was factory sealed). I used Amazon's on-line refund/replace (asked for a replacement) and I got the right blade today(Wednesday). I'd call that pretty good.

That's exactly what happened to me, but it occurred on the first and on the replacement. I'd bet they move more freud blades through and the problem resolved itself more quickly. It's gotta be difficult to get all of those things marked correctly if you don't have any interest in them (which is probably the case for the person labeling them there).

[James Leonard]

All of my major power tool purchases have been through them recently. Yes, sometimes you have to wait a while, but I have learned patience in my elder years, especially when it comes to big ticket items.

I am mostly very satisfied, and now I hit their Gold Box every morning to see what's up.

-James Leonard

[Al Willits]

Have to say in maybe 20-25 times I've bought something from them its all worked well...least till I opened my mouth now....:)

Which is more than I can say for Dell, when the wifes comp was under a service agreement, the last three times we called we (that's either of us) couldn't understand them, and had to be transfered to some one who spoke better english.
They may be nice people, but I wasn't paying for nice.

Still like their computers though. :)

Al