Wednesday 3 January 2007

Through Amazon we go

You know, not many things in this world upset me to the point of wanting to jump out the window, but when I get on the phone with a person working for customer service, yet not knowing anything about it and speaking in an unfamiliar accent - well, that just about does it for me. And I sit there on the phone wondering - is what I'm saying unclear, is it my English, or is it just the people on the other end of the line not having a clue about what they're doing?

Two weeks ago, when flying from NY to DC, my grandfather-in-law calls Delta to find out what's happening to my flight - 'the plane arrived on time, sir'. This man is 81, waiting at an airport, and they're holding me on tarmac for 4.5 hours to get me into DC 8 hours late. No information anywhere - the flight ran smoothly according to all systems except that one thing was missing - the plane itself. In fact, not a single airplane had landed in DC or any other airport in that state that morning - the fog just wouldn't go away.

Today I attempted to return a Christmas gift, which was purchased through Amazon. I tape up the box, put the relevant stickers on, read the online returns policy and get ready to go. Before dropping it off I call the returns centre to make clear where the refund should go and that the person who purchased the gift should not be informed. Half an hour later I get an email from the friend who got the gift with an Amazon email to her 'your account has been credited with the return refund'. And so it goes, I'm still waiting for them to call me back - they're 'investigating'...

4 comments:

Mark said...

Some of my best friends (and wives and daughters) are American, BUT it is a fact that many large corporations and most of the US government employ ill-educated, passive, racially insensitive, Oprah-watching, often obese, dodos to mouth foolishness to paying customers. It's more infuriating than honest malice.

Mark said...

please change "racially insensitive" to "racially sensitive" asI meant to write.

Kate said...

What's wrong with being 'racially sensitive'?

And actually, many American companies are using off-shore labor for customer service these days. Can't blame those fat, ill-educated, Oprah-watching fools for this one. Let's hope you yourself weren't being 'racially insensitive' with this thread.

Mark said...

I was being "racially insensitive".

Identity politics and sensitivity about race and gender in everyday life are a curse.