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 »
Humbug 4 Life
This isn't a very popular opinion these days, but it's from the heart: I'm getting terribly fed up with Christmas all around me, and being wished a merry Christmas dozens of different ways every day both verbal and non-verbal. Normally I think political correctness is a joke and the word "offended" is a thoroughly dead horse of a cliché, but I have no other word for how I feel than offended. I'm not Christian and want nothing to do with the holiday of Christmas. Go »Trekkers Will Understand
The Netflix summary of Deep Space Nine (Season Two): "Commander Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) heads the crew of Deep Space Nine -- including Odo (Rene Auberjonois), Worf (Michael Dom), Dax (Terry Farrell) and others -- as it travels through space, trying to keep both the ship and the areas it travels safe, secure and free. One of the first (and greatest) challenges the intrepid voyagers face is the violence of the Dominion, a group composed partially of the shape-shifting Changelings." Gee, I wonder why fans call this the most misunderstood of all Star Trek series. Go »The Importance of Being Richard
A conversation drifted today into weird shortening of names, like Robert into Bob and William into Bill (how come Michael doesn't become Bike?), and inevitably Richard into Dick came up. How did that even happen, anyway? Go »Upsetting the Pace
Gen. Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on homosexuality (link): "I believe homosexual acts between two individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts... I do not believe the United States is well served by a policy that says it is OK to be immoral in any way." Go »Buying a Printer
I bet if you work in a grocery store, you spend part of the time rearranging food that you know is going to get thrown away after it doesn't sell, so you feel like you're going to a lot of trouble for nothing. That's what buying a printer feels like. I hate buying printers because I'm highly skeptical that I can find one that will still work after six months, after Kelly and I have gone through a long series of them for the last ten years that all broke down like flimsy pieces of crap. 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.