It’s no secret: Amazon’s been making major changes to its site and mode of operations, and we’ll admit, we love some of the improvements. Here’s another great one, and though it’s not brand new, we’ve noticed Amazon’s customer service has undergone a complete makeover.

Apple was the king

Apple was once known to have the best customer service around, but the company’s been losing its "good" image with recent growth. Amazon must’ve noticed how customers were reacting to Apple’s better customer service, and thanks to recent improvements, the online store may now be the king of customer care. 

While this isn’t an official "review", we had a few problems with a couple of recent orders, and Amazon was extremely quick and convenient in fixing the issues without causing further problems for me. Let’s start with the most recent one, involving Amazon’s MP3 Download store.

Problem 1: Aesop Rock doesn’t come home

Late last night, I had a sudden urge to buy another Aesop Rock album, and I chose Labor Days. Like we’ve done several times before, we did the 1-click purchase, allowing the computer to download a tiny file, which I then opened, opening the installed Amazon MP3 Downloader app. The file was automatically deleted, and the songs began to download. Everything was going as usual until…

The second song finished downloading and suddenly all the songs were instantly downloaded. This didn’t make any sense, so I checked for the files. Only two songs were coming up in iTunes (it can be set to automatically add the new music to iTunes), and the files were absent on my hard drive. What’s worse: there’s no option to re-download. Lame.

I sent a quick email to Amazon cusomter service and recieved a thorough reply by the time I checked my email the afternoon on the next day. Fucking fast, I know.

The email let me know that my account was re-enabled to download the album, and instructions were provided on how to do so. Although I had to download each song individually (bypassing the convenience of the Amazon Downloader app), the problem was quickly solved in under 12 hours. How many companies solve your problem in under half a day? Sure, you could argue that this was an easy problem to solve. They just let me download the same thing again, but the next problem involves a chargeback for something I didn’t mean to purchase.

Problem 2: Why isn’t Lil Wayne cussing?

After solving my Aesop problem, I had a craving for more hip-hop — but the Lil Wayne flavored kind. So I bought the Carter II by the famous rapper. After the first song downloaded, I began listening to it and then something weird started to happen…

When it was time for Wayne to say "the b-word", he said it backwards — it was slurred and inaudible. Suddenly, I realized Lil Wayne wasn’t cussing at all! The album was censored!

"Great," I thought, "there’s no way Amazon’s going refund a data purchase," but I’m not one to give up easily. I tried looking for a phone number to call on Amazon’s site and instead came across this:

Amazon is going to call… me? That’s right, immediately after entering my number, Amazon called me. I didn’t have to call, press a bunch of numbers, enter my order number, etc etc. No, Amazon called me with an operator on hold, waiting to talk to me. Way to turn the tables, Amazon.

I explained to the operator that I wanted the explicit version of the same album, but the censored version wasn’t labeled as such. Without questioning my intentions, the operator put me on hold for about a minute and a half, and when she returned, she had good news.

My credit card was immediately credited for the accidental purchase, and that was it. She (sounded like an American and) didn’t wait around to see if I was actually going to buy the other album, and the music was set to download either way through the Amazon Downlaoder app. There’s no way to remove a download once its been added, but they just let it be to make it easier for me (though making things easier for the customer usually makes things easier for the company). I bought the appropriate album and deleted the censored one once it finished downloading. I almost feel guilty for having such an easy time on the phone with a customer service representative.

Problem 3: Two for the price of one

This happened last year, but it also deserves a mention. When I purchased an Xbox 360 Premium system from Amazon, the online store accidentally charged me for two. After seeing the purchase through my online credit card statement, I was quick to call Amazon.

Long story short: They asked me a few questions about the situation and then credited my card without causing any further problems. I still recieved the second Xbox 360, but I didn’t really consider that a problem. Oh well, their mistake!

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Entry was posted on Friday, April 11th, 2008 at 10:15 pm under Apple, Internet, Opinion, Tips and advice.

Read more entries by Danny Mendez.
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