Amazon Appreciation
by Scott Hardie on August 27, 2008
I just wanted to take a minute to thank Amazon.com. They've been my primary retailer for over a decade now, not to mention the seller of most prizes in the goo game and Oscars contests on this site. Once they started offering their Prime service ($80/yr gets you free 2-day shipping and discounted overnight shipping), they leveled the playing field against local retailers: No longer did I feel the need to save up a list of several items and buy them all at once to save on shipping. If I wanted a particular item, I just ordered it, and it showed up two days later. This has saved me more 45-minute drives across town to Best Buy than I can count.
But they really bought my lifetime loyalty this week, at a cost of $80. We ordered two items for that much, to be delivered the same day. UPS said the packages were placed at our front door at 5:19pm. We were home and heard no doorbell. I stepped out at 5:25pm and saw no packages. I walked around the building and asked neighbors if they had it, nothing. The front office of the apartment complex didn't have it either. It couldn't have been theft in that brief six-minute window, which leaves driver error. UPS made me jump through hoops for days even to file a claim, and ultimately wouldn't help. So I told Amazon about it. They sent replacements overnight, no questions asked, with a friendly apology. I expected a lot of hassle just to get a partial refund, not treatment this fair. I suspect that the sizeable sum I've spent there over the years might have helped, but anyway, I'm glad to get it. This is the way to thank a customer, and here's thanking them right back. There's finally a new Best Buy opening in my neighborhood, but I see no reason to shop there.
Four Replies to Amazon Appreciation
Steve West | August 27, 2008
Except for that one occasion when I needed Ernest Goes to Camp and I needed it now(!), I make all my DVD purchases via Amazon.
Tony Peters | August 27, 2008
My UPS man has an odd sense of humor, I ordered a rear tire for my motorcycle so he put it in my driveway against the garage door and like scott I was home at the time. My garage is on the other side of my lot so it was a little strange. I love Amazon..if it wasn't for them I would have died a brain death with the lack of english bookstores in the far east
Amy Austin | August 27, 2008
Well... much as I would like to join in the lauding of Amazon for the good that they do provide, I have also been having a bit of a moral dilemma for some time now over issues brought into focus by Michael Vick's animal cruelty spotlight last year and the more than understandable concerns of the Humane Society, an organization that I am (unsurprisingly to anyone here) quite sympathetic to. So much so, that I took about 14 of the 18-month window to spend one of Scott's generously gifted certificates, before deciding that the money had already been spent to Amazon's profit/benefit. I have since made at least one order through them that I can think of -- for pills to help C.C. with the effects of her growing tumor -- and now believe that I can go on purchasing through them despite the decidedly gray area that exists for me on the matter. Here are a few links, for those not already aware:
background to controversy -- last summer
black/white/gray -- where do you draw the line to "freedom of speech"... or do you? (comment #13 priceless, btw)
cock*fighting* okay... "other activities", not so much...
this May: "partial settlement reached", but "Amazon has vowed to fight on"
Amazon.com: Now with 50% less cockfighting (First Amendment not a defense for peddling contraband)
(Man, that was a pain in the ass to format!)
Logical Operator
The creator of Funeratic, Scott Hardie, blogs about running this site, losing weight, and other passions including his wife Kelly, his friends, movies, gaming, and Florida. Read more »
Mystery Gift
Thank you, Johnson, whoever you are. I received what I presume is a birthday gift hand-labeled from someone named "Johnson" in Jacksonville, Alabama, postmarked Anniston, Alabama on May 22nd. This means it's someone who knows me well enough to anticipate my birthday and know my home address. Go »Survivor Guilty
As a longtime Survivor viewer, I've been bothered by its slow decline. Some of the show's problems are apparent on its surface, like Jeff Probst's appalling gender bias and the show's overemphasis on tacky "themes" for the season. But I got to thinking about what's wrong under the surface, on a conceptual level. Go »Toothiness, Or: More Bad Dental Humor
You know what company makes my favorite commercials? Oral-B. (link) (link) The camera careens inside the "Oral-B Institute," where a legion of white-coated scientists look sternly at interactive hologram displays and lasers carve out futuristic technology inside reactor chambers. Go »Eulogy for Two or Possibly Three Restaurants
Dining in Sarasota at 10:30pm on a Friday night is not the easiest proposition. I took my friends Miah and Ines downtown to the only non-franchise I knew would still be open, an upscale sports-themed bar & grill called Patrick's. I've had fifteen or so great meals there, but not last night. Go »Summer of Suck II
Science says that complaining is bad for you, but sometimes it helps me feel better, so I'm going to do it anyway. It's my blog and I can cry if I want to. Summer has arrived and I'm miserable. Go »
Aaron Shurtleff | August 27, 2008
I have to echo Scott's sentiment. I also had an order that UPS claimed was delivered not show up at my doorstep, and Amazon.com also sent me a replacement immediately. Best of all, when the original shipment ended up showing up (I suspect it was delivered to the wrong door, and a neighbor put it on my doorstep later), Amazon sent me a label to send it back to them, so I wouldn't have to pay for the shipping back to them! (Yeah, I know. Could have kept the second delivery, but I wouldn't have felt right about it). And I don't even have Prime service! Amazon.com is totally awesome in the customer service department.