dawgfan
02-18-2003, 12:09 AM
I was all prepared to bash them, but they finally came through for me today. Back story:
Seeing the Two Towers in the theater pushed me over the edge - I've become a full-fledged Tolkien nut. Only, I've never read any of the books. So I ordered the boxed set of the trilogy, the one illustrated by Alan Lee, along with the special edition leatherette version of the Hobbit and the illustrated hardback version of the Silmarillian - I mean, if you're going to immerse yourself in Middle Earth mythology, may as well go whole hog right?
The books arrive at my house this morning, and I'm feeling like a kid at Christmas as I open the package. When I remove the shrink-wrap from the box set, I discover one of the bottom seams on the box is completely torn, yet the shrink-wrap was unaffected. So I'm thinking, these bastards sent me a defective set. I wouldn't have bothered with the expensive box set if I wasn't interested in having the nice packaging.
When I get to work, I go online and fill out a return form, explaining the situation and requesting a replacement rather than a refund. I get the automatic reply giving me a link to print out a UPS shipping label and am told I can return the books at no cost to me. Then I get an e-mail from a customer service rep.
The gist of his mail is that since only the packaging was damaged, and such damage can occur during shipping, they won't send a replacement set, and instead offer me a $5.00 coupon.
BS I'm thinking - this wasn't damaged in shipment, otherwise why wasn't the shrink-wrap torn as well? So I fill out another form indicating this resolution is not satisfactory. I point out why I don't think the damage was due to shipping, state that I feel their offer is not satisfactory, and again requested a replacement set be shipped.
The happy ending is I just received another e-mail from a different customer service rep apologizing and informing me that a replacement set has been ordered and will be shipped ASAP (I just need to return the damaged set within 30 days at no charge).
Bottom line, it took 2 tries, but Amazon's customer service did end up doing right by me. Either way, I was determined to share my experience. Lucky for them they got it right in the end.
Seeing the Two Towers in the theater pushed me over the edge - I've become a full-fledged Tolkien nut. Only, I've never read any of the books. So I ordered the boxed set of the trilogy, the one illustrated by Alan Lee, along with the special edition leatherette version of the Hobbit and the illustrated hardback version of the Silmarillian - I mean, if you're going to immerse yourself in Middle Earth mythology, may as well go whole hog right?
The books arrive at my house this morning, and I'm feeling like a kid at Christmas as I open the package. When I remove the shrink-wrap from the box set, I discover one of the bottom seams on the box is completely torn, yet the shrink-wrap was unaffected. So I'm thinking, these bastards sent me a defective set. I wouldn't have bothered with the expensive box set if I wasn't interested in having the nice packaging.
When I get to work, I go online and fill out a return form, explaining the situation and requesting a replacement rather than a refund. I get the automatic reply giving me a link to print out a UPS shipping label and am told I can return the books at no cost to me. Then I get an e-mail from a customer service rep.
The gist of his mail is that since only the packaging was damaged, and such damage can occur during shipping, they won't send a replacement set, and instead offer me a $5.00 coupon.
BS I'm thinking - this wasn't damaged in shipment, otherwise why wasn't the shrink-wrap torn as well? So I fill out another form indicating this resolution is not satisfactory. I point out why I don't think the damage was due to shipping, state that I feel their offer is not satisfactory, and again requested a replacement set be shipped.
The happy ending is I just received another e-mail from a different customer service rep apologizing and informing me that a replacement set has been ordered and will be shipped ASAP (I just need to return the damaged set within 30 days at no charge).
Bottom line, it took 2 tries, but Amazon's customer service did end up doing right by me. Either way, I was determined to share my experience. Lucky for them they got it right in the end.