I like Amazon … I think they’re a great company that offer people the opportunity to get the things they want regardless of where they live and they do it efficiently and effectively.
Saying that, I’ve never regarded them as a great ‘brand’– I don’t think people would actively go out of their way to transact with them if they had a cheaper/easier-to-get alternative to hand – however they are very well run and managed and like my friends at Google, they have realised there is huge brand and profit potential by developing products and services that move them into areas where they will infiltrate into other parts of people’s lives other than their digital habits and/or postal collection routine.
Now I’m not going to talk much about Kindle – that’s a post for another day, especially when the stuff we’ve done for them and Google hopefully comes to fruition – however there are 2 things that have happened recently that has made me think their focus on their new digital book reader has led to them failing in their goal to be ‘Earth’s most customer-centric company.’
Issue 1
So I got a new Kindle at Christmas … and as usual, it got delivered in their customary brown box.
Anyway, just as I was about to open it, I saw this logo on prominent display …
Now obviously they think this is a good thing to say – either because they know people are fed up of having to spend 30 minutes trying to open their DVD’s and CD’s or because they have had complaints in the past – but for some reason, their ‘frustration free’ packaging was errrrrrm, fairly frustrating, which is why the only way I could get my hands on my new toy was to do this …
Who the hell did Amazon get it certified with? NASA?
OK … OK … I know I can’t even wire a plug … but come on, surely a cardboard box should be easy to open, especially if it claims to be ‘frustration free’.
Issue 2
So after almost breaking my arm opening the box, I decided to use the machine and guess what – it didn’t work.
Well it worked, but when I tried to buy a book, it never said any was available.
ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
So I rang Amazon in America and they said to me that like iTunes, the books available were determined by region and so the ‘way around it’ was to change where I said I was located [currently HK] and put either my UK, US or Australian home address.
While it was a bit of a pain, it only took 2 minutes to do and suddenly my Kindle was working as expected and I spent the rest of the day buying more books than you’d find in your local library.
All good?
Well yes … until the next morning when I got an email from Amazon saying that they thought I was trying to ‘cheat the system’ and unless I could prove I was a resident of the US, then they would have to freeze my account because there are strict rules regarding which books are available for which country.
To say I saw red is a massive understatement – and it only got worse given it took me 20 minutes to find an email address to respond to – so conjuring up my father’s spirit, I fired off a pretty harsh email telling them to basically go fuck themselves because [1] they told me to change my main address and [2] what’s the point having a Kindle if publishers don’t want to sell books in the country you’re in.
Twenty four hours later I got a reply apologising, saying there must be some misunderstanding because the previous email was only sent because they wanted to offer me the best service possible because their goal is to be Earth’s most customer centric company.
Yeah right … twats.
The thing is, I’ve spent a bloody fortune with Amazon over the years … and they have always been great, even when there’s been a problem … so I find it quite interesting that the moment they launch their own product, some core pillars of their business go to pot.
Whilst we may be a society that can be seduced by the cool and new … companies cannot afford to view good customer service as an option, especially when they have built up a great reputation over many, many years.
Amazon may have earnt a sizable number of ‘credits’ in the Rob Campbell ‘patience’ bank, but if they continue to behave in this profit-centric manner, they will realise they can go overdrawn faster than a Beverly Hills teenager shopping with their Daddy’s AMEX.