I recently ordered a Kindle. I’ve wanted one for a very long time.  The website said they were “in stock.” So the next morning I expected to login to my Amazon account and see a tracking number etc. Instead I saw that it would be shipped one week from the day I ordered. How long does it take to walk back to the warehouse and put it on a truck?

I called the next day and complained. They nicely resolved my issue and updated my shipping to the faster version for free. Although the person on the line said she had to “Tweak” the system to get this to do it. She had to charge me for the shipping, but lowered the price on the kindle cover that I also ordered.  Great. I was happy. My issue had been resolved.

Then the next morning I got an email alerting me that my checking account was over-drafted.  I had been charged two extra times for my kindle. That’s right I ordered one, and through the “tweaking” I got charged for THREE (an extra $589).

I called my bank (Charter one) and they said to call Amazon and that Amazon would have to not only reverse the charges but Amazon would also pay for the overdrafts.

For the next 45 minutes I was on the phone with Amazon talking with Marta, and eventually her supervisor Stacia. Marta tried to convince me that there was only ONE charge. Well technically she was right, but they had authorized two additional kindle charges. This money is then “held” by my bank and taken out of my available funds. This is why I had over drafts. Stacia finally figured out that she needed to de-authorize two of my three kindle payments.

Now how does Amazon pay back overdraft fees that THEY caused? They want me to fax (cause everyone has a FAX in their living room) a copy of my bank statement (cause I have no problem faxing sensitive information to complete strangers). I provided them with the phone number to my bank. They have my credit card number, but apparently that’s not enough to connect the dots. I said, “Can I turn it into a PDF document (allowing me to blur account numbers if needed) and email it to the billing department?”

Nope. The amazon.com billing department does not have anyone with email, or a direct phone extension. They only accept faxes.

Worried I called my bank back and stated that they wanted me to fax over a bank statement showing the fees. (I will eventually have 5 fees a $39 each so I will have $195. in overdraft fees DUE TO AMAZON.COM’s error.

I understand that amazon.com cant just go and refund money without proof, but can’t you just call the bank? Why do you make your customer go through all these hoops. Is this how you say “I’m sorry?” By making me jump through more hoops? Shouldn’t I be getting free books or something for my kindle?

When I called back my bank to get their opinion on faxing over my online account screen shot they informed me, “If they call and reverse those authorizations, we will then reverse the overdraft fees.” I was happy that this solved my problem, but pissed that the last 30 minutes of my phone conversation didn’t need to happen. The first person at charter one should’ve informed me of this, and it would’ve made my call much easy (and shorter) with amazon.com

Next time, I’ll just let it show up whenever it shows up. In the meantime be sure to:

1. Have systems in place to communicate with your customers in ways that they communicate (chat, phone, email, twitter).

2. If you make a mistake that harms your client, YOU need to clean up the mess – not the customer.

3. Know your policies. If the first person at charter one had told me about refunding over draft fees when amazon corrected theirs I would’ve been able to enjoy the past 30 minutes of my lunch hour instead of spending the entire time on the phone.

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I wasted 10 minutes on a day when I was already behind at my local McDonald’s. When I finally got to the point where I could order, I was informed that they were accepting cash only. I had no cash.

It would have been so nice if they had stuck a sign on any of the trash cans, newspaper boxes, etc that said “Only accepting cash, sorry for the inconvienience, we are working on it.” They didn’t, and allowed me to waste my time in line. Thanks Ronald.

Don’t be afraid to tell your customer news they may not want to hear. My favorite example is the Cable person. They say “I’ll be there between 9 and 4.” You hope they arrive at 9:30, but you ist and wait and wait till 2:30 when they show up. You can’t get upset because they are in the alloted time.  Wouldn’t it have been better if instead of saying “between 9 and 4″ they said, “We can’t get their until at least 2 o’clock.” While you would be dissapointed, you could do something with your morning instead of sit and wait for the cable installer.

Empower your customer, and allow them to make informed decisions.

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Longhorn Steak House in Fairview, Oh

On my wife’s birthday we decided to go to Longhorn (I know I eat out too much) in Fairview Ohio. We were seated immediately, but waited and waited for our waitress to come and take our order. I was surprised as every waitress in the place walked by our table, and nobody said boo.

Finally our waitress showed up horrified that we were at her table. She asked how long we had been waiting. “About 10 minutes I answered.” She replied, “Oh my gosh – I’M SO SORRY, I was in the back preparing some dressings. I am so sorry.” When we tried to make her feel better by saying, “It’s not that big a deal, ” she replied, “Oh yes it is that’s too long, I am so sorry.” She took our order, brought our drinks and bread immediately we were set.

She was very attentive during our meal. We never waited on refills or anything else. At then end of the meal she asked what kind of dessert we wanted, when we explained we didn’t really want desert she explained that she was buying us dessert. So we enjoyed some sort of chocolate pie and ice cream concoction that was delicious. On the menu it was priced at $7.00 Our bill was around 45 for both of us.

I told her how great she did. It’s not how you handle things when business is good, it how you handle them when you make a mistake.  It is all in the recovery. Here is what Sharon did right.

1. She apologized immediately and would not let us reduce the severity of her mistake. She took full responsibility. She apologized and did it sincerely.

2. She showed that she really meant her apology by buying us dessert. While I originally thought she should’ve bought us an appetizer, buying us cake was a better idea (as who doesn’t love cake). It was risky as we might’ve turned it down. However, who turns down free cake? Be careful with this. Had she handed me a 29 cent pen with their logo, I would’ve been offended.

3. She took a bad situation (as we were perturbed at waiting to get our order – we were hungry after all), and turned it into a positive. If you ever go to longhorn in Rocky River I highly recommend Sharon. We wil be back. It cost the company 7 bucks (actually less as that is retail price), and now I’ve told you.

Outback Steakhouse in Westlake, Oh

I got my first paycheck from the new job and wanted to celebrate. My wife picked Outback Steakhouse in Westlake Ohio. There is a great waiter there named Dustin. We love Dustin. We followed him from a previous restaurant. Dustin understands being a waiter. He’s awesome. However, our problem was not with a waiter -but being seated.

We get there and get one of those vibrating devises and we are told it would be 10 or 15 minutes. There are a few families also sitting and waiting. We see family after family leaving, but nobody is getting seated. Then finally people start moving. More people show up, and take their place.

It seemed like everyone had been seated and one of the new families got seated. Its way more than 15 minutes. My wife commented, “They got here after we did.” I said, “Are you sure?” Then another couple came in and got a vibrating device. They went outside and two minutes later they came in.  They were getting a table for two (as were we). I went up and said, “Hey wait a second we were here before they were. The other customer said, “Yeah they were they can have our table.”

The employee (in a black shirt) goes, “OK, that’s fine we can get everyone seated.” One of the hostesses said “Somehow the devices must’ve been put back wrong.” To this I said, “I just know we were here before they were.” To this Mr Black Shirt says, “We have plenty of available tables.” To this I ask, “Then why have I been sitting here waiting?” To this he answers, “Hey I’m not arguing with you sir.”

I think to myself, “Am I getting an attitude?” I had yet to hear and an apology. Finally when I was escorted to my table I got an apology. This was nice, but the whole thing was out of sequence.

When a customer catches you doing something wrong, APOLOGIZE IMMEDIATELY. Then offer an explanation, then take steps to make it right (for the record I got nothing to demonstrate their apology like a free appetizer).  The explanation will get ignored if it is not preceded with an apology.

The service was good but not great.  The waitress had told us about honey butter, and said she’s bring us some for our bread. Never showed up. She brought out the salad, and said she’d bring us more bread. To this my wife added, “And some honey butter.” Other than that she was very attentive, but the first impression was blown.