My Amazon Story- lured by the deal, cured by the experience.
Before I start, I think it’s best to clarify that this post is by no means a generalisation of Amazon’s service standards, but having said that, by the end of it, many people may relate with whatever is said & written.
When it come to online purchasing, my behavior aligns closely with a typical ‘too lazy to go out’, price conscious, yet apprehensive user, who has enough motivation to place an order online, but not without a hint of skepticism. And, sometimes rightly so. That’s probably one of the reasons that when it comes to online buying, I usually limit my options to either Flipkart, one of the popular online shopping destination for Indian users, or, Amazon, the giant eCommerce company, who is trying to give Flipkart the run for its money. I have been a part of quite a few social gatherings, where the group ends up debating about who offers a better service amongst these two, and until now I had been largely un-opinionated. But, my recent experience with Amazon has ensured that I pick a side and have something substantial to contribute in these debates, than just be a mute spectator.
So, here goes my story. In the interest of time, and the ever dwindling attention span of online audience, I will try to keep it short and relevant, but will include few vital details to establish the necessity of this rant. It all started about 3 weeks back, my wife’s birthday was fast approaching, and the epitome of procrastination and laziness that I have become, going out shopping to a brick & mortar store, eliminating options from shopping list and the usual jazz seemed like a Herculean task. Instead, I went the easy way; a laptop was on her wishlist for quite some time. So, as a dutiful, loving, and caring husband (All the mentioned qualities are proposed hypothesis and yet to be verified), I zeroed down on couple of options, compared the prices on two of my preferred eCommerce portals (read Flipkart and Amazon), found a better monetory deal on Amazon, secretly cursed Flipkart for trying to rip off an extra Rs. 500 despite the recent string of orders I placed with them. Since, it was a gift, that too on wife’s birthday (I am sure you can understand the gravity of this order now), I didn’t want to take any chances, and with the confidence in Amazon as a brand, made the payment upfront rather than going for the typical COD order, which most Indian users feel comfortable with, specially with a high value good…. Voila! Order was confirmed, ETA- within a week, by 29th July at the max, which was her birthday. I felt an immense sense of satisfaction as I did my part, now just had to surprise her with it on the big day and take the credit!
But just when things looked easy, Karma came to bite me on the backside, mostly, I guess for being lazy and taking the easy way out on an occasion which deserved more time and effort on my part. Fast forward to 29th July’15. I was already sensing something amiss, when the tracking didn’t update in last 3 days. I even called them to confirm, but I was asked to wait until the final delivery date before contacting them about the update, and so I did. Morning was awkward, as I wished her, and went about doing my work without a mention of birthday gift, as is customary, or, at least that’s how the expectation has been molded socially. Morning turned into afternoon, and afternoon gave way to evening. I followed up with calls, and more calls to their help center, and eventually at 7 PM, I was told that it seems there is some delay and I should not hope for delivery to happen that day. Though, disappointed at many levels, I am a reasonable customer and accepted it as a part of the deal. As we had to go out of station the same night, I requested the Amazon people to reschedule the delivery for 4th Aug’15, which they promptly did.
Until this point, it was a case of just another order delayed, and there could have been many reasonable explanations for it, but, the real ordeal started after I returned, hoping that this will be the day when I will get my shipment and will finally be able to make up to my wife for the delay. I waited for half the day and then decided to follow up with Amazon again, and fell into the vicious loop:
Call Amazon-> Get a vague and canned response-> followed by a standard email template from amazon-> False promise of prioritizing it and delivering the package by evening/end of day/24 hours (I have heard all 3 and more at different points)-> Wait till the specified time-> Call Amazon, again!-> REPEAT!
What I am unable to comprehend is the mess that Amazon’s operations and their delivery system is. Despite the logistics internalized, and fair expectation of being able to track the package (I paid approx. Rs. 300 just for that), nobody, and absolutely nobody knows the current whereabouts of the package, not just that, they are not even coordinated in their response. Just take a look at numerous email responses I received from their support team:
I was left so much annoyed by the end of it that as a long shot at getting some actual answers and to vent out some of the disappointment in the service, I had to drop a note to Mr. Amit Agarwal, country manager for Amazon India, and Jeff Bezos, CEO, Amazon. Obviously, without expecting them to reply, or concern themselves for a mere $500+ order, as opposed to managing a multi-billion dollar company. Now, you may say, why this fuss? If I’m not happy, I can simply cancel my order, get a refund and go my way. Which, I did this morning and now keeping my fingers crossed that I will not have to wait this long for the refund, as well. But, more than that, the personal embarrassment this experience has brought me on an occasion is unmatched. Until now, even after 10 days, I have been telling my wife that it’s a surprise and will be worth the wait, but because of the incompetence of Amazon’s service, I will now have to tell her that the wait is over and there is a big NOTHING for her! I may also end up sleeping on the couch for next few days, but, please don’t let that worry you, or empathize with a customer to improve your processes and communication. You, Amazon, after all is an enterprise employing a bunch of logic-devoid humanoids in your service, uncoordinated operationally and unresponsive functionally.
And, so ladies and gentlemen, you can learn from my mistake without making one of your own. When it’s about important occasions, NEVER try to save a few bucks, or trust Amazon with its delivery. As for me, IF, and IF AT ALL I order from Amazon again, better to order with COD. Atleast then it will be @amazon chasing me and not the other way round. Also, will really appreciate if at all I can get Amazon to answer the following. After all this, at least I deserve the answers, if not my order.
- Is it not fair expectation to be able to know the exact whereabout of my order, if I am paying for the courier service and being allotted a tracking number? It’s called ‘tracking’ for a reason, I assume.
- In case the package has crossed the expected delivery time, is it not Amazon’s responsibility to own the delay and communicate the same timely?
- If the package has been lost/not trackable, and is unusually late, shouldn’t the communication and rectification be proactive, rather than waiting for the customer to follow up and as a last resort cancel the order?
- To not have the service guys disconnect the call on you because they don’t know the answer!
