Personally I've found Amazon's customer service is pretty reasonable (sometimes you need to dig in the site to find something). I know they aren't a great company in other ways - their workers are poorly paid and overworked, but that's one thing I'm not worried about.
> What happens if Amazon decides, for some reason that they will not explain and that you can't appeal, to cancel your account? Then you can't even go grocery shopping?
Only if they have a monopoly, if this proves successful I expect other shops will start investing in this too (or licence the technology). You're just as likely to have an issue currently if you live in Bumfuck, Nowhere and the only store around refuses to serve you because they suspect you of stealing.
> Amazon is another prime example of a company that does customer service well - though that might have some consequences on their work culture (mistakes are not easily forgiven - since the cost is so high).
Certainly not. In fact they have one of the most incompetent customer services. When I changed my bank account, they didn't change my bank account, but rather created a new user with the new bank data. Then when I asked them to remove the old wrong account, they were very nice confirming that they will do that. But instead they deleted my new account, with only the old account remaining. When complaining about that they ignored it, so I just deleted my old account also, and am a happy non-Amazon customer since.
>their customer support is stellar, across countries.
People in the US have no idea how bad customer support can be in third world countries. If I go to a store and buy something (pair of shoes, book, backpack, can of paint) and 5 minutes later I go back and decide that it doesn't fit or even show that it was broken, I can't get a refund. The salesperson, manager, etc will tell me that I can exchange it for another product, but since "we already logged the receipt on our system" (or some other BS explanation), there's no way to refund the money, only exchange for something else. Amazon's customer service is 10 times better than whatever was here before it. Now a few others have caught up and today offer good customer service. But Amazon is still better.
They are a trillion-dollar company, but what we're observing is that the market isn't hyper-thirsty for safety guarantees and is willing to accept their current climate for service convenience. Other stores will let you make a different safety-convenience tradeoff.
> You will likely have a better customer experience at literally any other retailer.
That hasn't been my experience here in the UK. A big benefit of Amazon is the customer service in the sense that it is very simple and quick to return something, and most often free. IMO that's a big reason why they own online shopping: They made people feel safer so they were more confident buying from Amazon rather than somewhere else. Competition has been trying to catch up ever since.
> What do you find surprising about consumers preferring to buy something from Amazon rather than their local mom and pop store?
The website. It’s been absolute shit for years. It’s full of knockoffs and scams. I can hardly find the things I want, there’s dark patterns, they actively compete with sellers on their platform… I honestly think they get away with it because mom and pop are out of business. I’d go back if I could.
> Does anyone really think Amazon is the world's "most customer-centric company" now?
As much as I hate a lot of things about Amazon, their customer support is hard to beat. I go out of my way to avoid amazon: I buy musical gear from sweetwater, books through a local bookstore (you can often have your local bookstore order books for you; pretty win-win), outdoors gear through REI, etc. Sweetwater actually has unbelievable customer support, that's probably the most enjoyable shopping experience I've ever had.
_but_, when it comes to convenience and peace of mind, Amazon is really hard to beat. I can take for granted that if I have any issue whatsoever, I can practically press a button and get a refund, a replacement, a return, maybe 5 or 10 bucks if the issue isn't easy to solve, etc. Not to mention their shipping and credit card.
I wish I didn't feel that way. I openly plead every other retailer to do what they can to help me not give Amazon money. Unfortunately it's tough
> On numerous occasions companies have shipped me "fuck you" instead of what I paid for and Amazon won't deal with that.
What? I've never once had a problem with an Amazon return. You click "return this item", choose the return method (their newer "Locker" thing around the corner is pretty convenient) and that's all that needs to happen.
I mean... there's lots to complain about with Amazon, as there is for any big company. But customer service just isn't one of them as I see it.
What has your experience been that you think Amazon "doesn't deal with" returns?
> 1) The day Amazon feel threatened they can become the cheapest in the market quickly again.
No. Amazon had built up trust. Trust that they were the cheapest place to look, and trust that they were ultra-reliable. Trust that their reviews were trustworthy.
The longer that's untrue for, the more the brand is becoming irreparably damaged. It seems mind-blowingly stupid. Three years ago, I would purchase absolutely anything I could from Amazon. Clothes, for example.
There's a brand of jeans I like, I know the size and style I like, and I used to always just go to Amazon. These days I spend my money on Zalando because I don't want fakes, and I know that Zalando will make sure I get genuine items each time.
I bought a suitcase a little while ago. Wrong item was sent. Because of whatever agreement Amazon has with the third-party who sold it to me, I couldn't easily generate an immediate refund like I used to be able to do.
Amazon have probably lost around $3-4,000 of easy revenue from me this year, so far. The whole thing feels like a massive own-goal.
> This problem is quickly destroying Amazon's credibility with a lot of customers
It has totally destroyed their credibility with me personally. I used to be an avid Amazon shopper. It was just too easy. I now actively find stores locally to shop. Does it make a difference to Amazon's bottom line, not in the least. While it might be less convenient, I feel less dirty than supporting Amazon. There are times where local stores do not carry something, and I still have purchase from Amazon but only if I can't find it anywhere else first.
> Is there anything more to Amazon than a) fast shipping and b) you can buy anything there for relatively cheap
Service.
I had some headphones that broke after just over a year, but were still in warranty, and the manufacturer was being awkward about repairing them. Amazon refunded them the next day.
I also recently had some bulbs stop working after about six months, but as I'd ordered a two-pack and a single, and two had stopped working, I wasn't sure how to do a refund. Amazon just refunded all tree three.
>>> However, despite all of that I do still use Amazon. ... And their return policies allow me to order with the confidence that if I get a fraudulent item (or just something I don't like) it will be fairly painless to get a replacement or my money back.
Oddly enough Amazon didn't invent this. All of the "big box" and online retailers had no-questions-asked returns before Amazon came along. My hunch is that one of two things have happened: 1) You figure out that the most cost effective way to manage quality control is through returns and refunds, and you streamline this process; 2) You go out of business.
The retailers who delivered quality goods and charged appropriately for getting it right on the first try are gone.
> Also have to factor that Amazon's customer service is fantastic.
I only need their great customer service because of the poor quality products they are shipping. With other retailers, I don't know how good their customer service is because I almost never need to utilize them.
>why bother leaving the couch at all? Why not just get what you want on Amazon?
You are obviously pro-amazon...but my experiences with amazon are awful.
From counterfeit goods, to just shit products (examples: dress ties that stain my white dress shirts, ill fitting clothing, to goods that never arrive, even amazon basic products have turned out to be embarrassingly shit quality).
I recently purchased a new snowboard jacket and would never have thought about rolling the dice on amazon when I could buy online from the manufacturer direct at the same price and know I’m getting the real deal.
I completely understand someone opting for an in person shopping experience over amazon. buying online direct from manufacturers is one thing, but I honestly can’t understand why anyone would buy from amazon after my experiences.
>"Every time it lays waste to a Blockbuster or a Best Buy, it puts tens (perhaps hundreds) of thousands of people out of work."
Two companies well-known for bad service and misleading/fraudulent business practices.
>"For now, businesses that are in competition with Amazon can take comfort in the fact that Amazon is not now (and probably won't be, any time soon) all about customer service."
Customer service is actually the key reason I keep coming back to Amazon and stopped using terrible businesses like Blockbuster and Best Buy years ago.
Everything is hassle free and Amazon has always acted instantly to satisfy me when I've had an issue from returns to stolen packages or streaming video hiccups.
Amazon makes it right, the first time, every time. Amazon didn't kill those places, they did it to themselves, years ago.
Keep in mind, this is already an Amazon customer. They almost certainly already shop Amazon first.
This is a given before you even start.
If you are using this, it's either because you are selling things Amazon doesn't sell (and despite how large they are, there's a ton of stuff like that). Or you have some kind of advantage over Amazon that they can not match.
If all you are doing is matching, or slightly beating Amazon, you already lost before you even implemented Amazon Pay.
Amazon has had the lowest price for basically everything I’ve shopped for in the last 4 years. When it is higher on Amazon, it’s by pennies (because algorithms) and not for very long.
At home there’s a grocery store at the bottom of my elevator. It costs less money for me to buy groceries on Amazon Fresh with same-day delivery, than it does for me to go downstairs and buy my own groceries. Not a little bit less either, like 20% less. Same products!
I don’t even have to be home, the groceries just materialize at my front door whenever I schedule them to.
I think HN just gets on a negativity roll sometimes, and the most extreme or exaggerated comments float to the top.
I’m sure there are plenty of externalities, probably moreso with Amazon than most any other company... but let’s not pretend that Amazon isn’t doing amazing things for their customers. The efficiencies they’ve added to my life have saved me hundreds of hours.
They’ve done that with a business model that (allegedly) monetizes the widespread violation of all kinds of regulations while (allegedly) externalizing all of the liability, and it’s devastating hundreds of businesses, and a million other things ... but on the other end of all of that is a very happy customer.
There would be no point to playing so dirty if there was nothing in it for the customer. It wouldn’t even work, we would all just go back to K-Mart.
Personally I've found Amazon's customer service is pretty reasonable (sometimes you need to dig in the site to find something). I know they aren't a great company in other ways - their workers are poorly paid and overworked, but that's one thing I'm not worried about.
> What happens if Amazon decides, for some reason that they will not explain and that you can't appeal, to cancel your account? Then you can't even go grocery shopping?
Only if they have a monopoly, if this proves successful I expect other shops will start investing in this too (or licence the technology). You're just as likely to have an issue currently if you live in Bumfuck, Nowhere and the only store around refuses to serve you because they suspect you of stealing.
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