Walking the walk. An Amazon customer service tale.
I’ve worked on a few brands built around their customer service in my time. Lands End and Travelocity to name a few. Both are companies that really get it and go to great lengths to create great experiences for their customers.
As we all know, if a company handles a situation badly one time out of ten they will likely get scorched by the aggrieved party. That’s just the way it works. And now with all the communication outlets available to us as consumers a complaint can go big, the United breaks guitars song fiasco, comes to mind.
I recently had an experience with Amazon.com that truly raised the bar from anything I’d previously seen.
I bought one of the first generation Kindles a little over a year ago. Within 11 months, the darned thing crapped out on me. The screen went blank and then filled with black lines and finally resolved into this:
I didn’t know if it was irreparably damaged or if it had just crashed and when I finally got around to researching it I realized that not only was it dead but I had let my warranty expire. To make things worse, I bought it from an Amazon reseller so it must have been a refurb. At the time, the Kindle was sold out on Amazon so it was my only choice.
I emailed the reseller and he told me that I was out of luck and that there was nothing he could do. Furthermore, he pointed out that I had refused the protection plan he’d tried to push on me.
So I emailed Amazon, thirteen months after I’d bought it, and asked if I had any options. They referred me to their Kindle customer service section on their site. The way it works is this, you can either choose to email with a representative or they will call you. If you want to talk in-person all you do is enter in your phone number and hit send and within seconds (SECONDS!) your phone rings and it’s a rep.
I was ready to do battle because my beloved Kindle died within warranty. I knew I didn’t have a leg to stand on but hey, squeaky wheel and all that.
Well, I didn’t even have to ask. I explained my situation and that was it, they replaced my Kindle and paid for the shipping. All I had to do was return the damaged one. Now here’s the kicker, my phone call was on Saturday and I had my new Kindle on Tuesday. And it came pre-loaded with my Kindle settings all I had to do was re-download my content.
Obviously, they’ve inspired me to be an even more loyal customer than I had been before the incident.
We talk about walking the walk to our clients all the time. Don’t just say something, BE it. People have to ‘Buy in” before they buy long term. Amazon has stated, “We’re Building Earth’s Most Customer-Centric Company.” That’s a heck of a big statement but they proved they mean it.
Well, I’ve bought in.