You may recall back in February, I noted the ole Sony tube TV in the bedroom, after 17 years, finally bought the farm.
I stumbled across a Sony Bravia V-Series KDL-40V5100 40-Inch 1080p LCD Flat Panel HDTV & Sony BDP-N460 Blu-ray Disc Player Bundle on Amazon for sale by Electronics Expo for $853.
The delivery people got delayed due to a snowstorm, rescheduled the delivery and finally dropped everything off on Feb 16th. I set up the TV, and before I set up the Blu-Ray, left town for business.
I came back a week or so later, and a week or so later, went to set up the VCR. I open the box, and its in pieces — utterly destroyed. Someone must have dropped it from 20 feet in the air. (The box was barely creased).
I log onto Amazon, inform Electronics Expo of this and . . . nothing, No response. I wait a few days, file a follow up and radio silence.
Next, Amazon has an A to Z Guarantee for their 3rd parties, and it comes back denied. According to Electronics Expo, I waited 31 days before filing a complaint — their limit is 30 days.
Absurd. The delivery was delayed, I notified Electronics Expo through Amazon a week in advance. They denied the claim.
Before I have Visa void the entire transaction, I speak to Amazon. First attempt ,connected me to Mumbai, that went nowhere.
Last Friday, I tried again — got a local in the US, work my way up the corporate ladder — and the next day, they offer to make good on the damage themselves. Amazon! Even though it was Electronics Expo fault, Amazon offered to send a new Sony BDP-N460 Blu-ray.
I am a happy Amazon customer and will continue extol their virtues! I immediately turned around and bought about $150 worth of Books, DVDs and CDs – as a thank you to Amazon for going beyond the call of duty.
~~~
My advice for anyone shopping for Electronics: Avoid Electronics Expo — they suck!~
Next time, you should try once with Amazon. If they are a bucket of fail, then directly call your credit card company. They’ll sort it out for you. Amazon will come calling and solve your problem as if it mattered.
Following up with merchants is a waste of your time.
Did you name drop? (your own, once off the line with mumbai)
if you buy direct from Amazon, instead of from their third party resellers, you don’t have any issues at all – they are tremendous about taking returns.
Amazon Rocks, indeed. BR, everybody talks about their iPhones and iPads and Googling this and Googling that, but to me, the most profound revolution in the dissemination of knowledge (not just information) is the Amazon bookstore where, honestly, you can explore any little corner of the universe of knowledge that your inquiring mind might want to take you. That they also take care of their customers for other items is just icing on the already delectable cake.
Your experience/luck could have been worse: A couple years ago I bought a 32″ Sony Bravia (for about what you paid for your recent purchase) from Best Buy. Two weeks after I bought it, I knocked it over setting up the DVD player. The inside of the LCD shattered in about a thousand pieces. I have it now set up against the wall as an abstract painting–it happens that a shattered LCD makes a really cool avant-garde type piece of artwork. There was no one with this thing to blame but myself. Oh well. The price of fine art, I suppose.
Well, it might be better, yet, to have ‘a friend in the Biz’.. (;
With that, one may get fewer Purchases dribbled and fewer calls ‘around the World’..
But, no worries BR, at the min., you’re Proving, yet again, some of the Classic case studies of Customer Dis-/Satisfaction
I find it extraordinary how few “consumer oriented” businesses don’t have the slightest idea how to provide even rudimentary customer service.
I had a similar experience 25 years ago when I purchased new tires from Goodyear. The tires were installed improperly and wore unevenly after only 3500 miles. I contacted Goodyear regional office and they offered new tires as a replacement and an apology. Despite having moved across the country, I have returned to to my local Goodyear service center repeatedly over the last quarter century. Do you think that they made a good investment when they decided to treat this customer with respect?
OTOH – I have cancelled more than 50K in credit lines and refused a mortgage offer with JPM becasue they are the most obnoxious, disgusting “custome service” call center I have ever encountered in my life. May they burn in hell
I’d like to mention Hewlett Packard sucks. I bought a HP 64 Bit Pc from them, also bought a new printer from them as well. The computer would crash anytime it went to sleep, it took me a few months to figure out that was why it was crashing. The printer never worked right with all the computers on the network. If it was plugged into the 64 bit machine the xp machines couldn’t see it. If it was plugged into the xp machines the 64 bit machine couldn’t see it. Long story short the printers drivers never got upgraded by HP and they told me “Too bad for you about that.” The crash when it went to sleep, I was told you’re not supposed to put a desktop to sleep. That I’m supposed to leave the noisy thing running 24/7 wasting energy, and if I have a problem with that I should talk to Microsoft about it or shut it down and waste 5 minutes anytime I want to use it.
I bought an Epson printer and sold the HP one. The computer is still sitting there filtering dust in the office, it works reliably, if I leave it running all the time, but I’m not happy with it and will never purchase a thing from HP again.
I have been a religious Amazon shopper for ten years. It is not out of the question that I may have over 500 transactions. Books, new and used, cd’s, all the tools to build my house, music downloads etc etc. Knock on wood there has never been a problem on any transaction. A scratched used cd–no problem, the seller credits my account and most times tells me to keep the cd. Same with used books.
My hope is that they produce a new kindle with a camera and other netbook capabilities and price it at $199 to wipe the smug smile off Jobs face. I’ll buy one in a heartbeat.
I can’t say enough about Amazon as a company. They have revolutionized retailing. Their comment section is second to none.
It just goes to prove that some companies get it in regards to customer service and some don’t.
I’d suggest you send this blog post to EE for their PR person’s entertainment. This one post alone will equal up to a really bad hair day for that person
I had a similarly bad experience with Electronics Expo.
They are on my DO NOT BUY FROM list
I wish Amazon’s recommendation system still worked. In the Olde days it suggested interesting, hard-to-find options that I frequently either bought or at least wish-listed (which led to additional interesting suggestions.) But one day, years on, it suddenly stopped working. I seems like they ceased to downgrade suggested books for popularity. Now all I get are recommendations on the same 15 bestsellers, no matter what books I’m looking at. That’s useless. I can find the NYT bestsellers without amazon’s help. They are shoved in my face at every brick and mortar store, airport snack shop, and even my grocery store. I don’t need to see them yet again. Waste of bits, and sad lack of opportunity for finding good reads.
BR — as a math guy –as you did with your book– did you try to figure out how much time you spent seeking satisfaction and what that cost you on an imputed per hour basis?
I’m guessing you had over 1.5 hours into it and that’s not counting the post…
Good for you at least giving Amazon the props they derserve.
By the way your Blog is off the hook and I hope it’s making you some money. Certainly worth far more than a subscription to Business Week or Forbes. Keep it up and thank you for sharing your insights –from a loyal and greatful reader.
By the way how about some props for Killinger giving it right back to the grandstanding Senators that don’t know the difference between a Certificate of Deposit and a Compact Disk…
I bought a plasma from Electronics Expo the other week. There was a problem with the shipping (not their fault) so I called them. They ended up refunding the shipping cost and very satisfactorily resolved the issue. It sounds like you clicked a few buttons via Amazon but didn’t actually just try calling Electronics Expo direct. (If you did, this isn’t clear from the post). I think it’s a little unfair to use the clout of this blog to ruin a company’s reputation like this. I carefully read through the Amazon reviews before deciding to buy from Electronics Expo. (Buying a plasma online is not a small risk). They have a generally high reputation. Your one experience is anecdotal, but the weight of your blog isn’t.
I buy TVs from Sam’s – they have the most amazing return policy. If you are not satisfied, bring it back…period. After three years with a plasma, it developed a blue spot. They took it back, applied full credit and I took home two new LCDs for what I spent on the old plasma set. Does not get any better!