Damn you, Joooobbsss! So I finally broke down and decided to get myself a MacBook. I had gotten a Mini (and iPod) for Aimee and she's complaining that I'm on it too much, heh.
I had my eye on the lowest MacBook, but at the last minute decided that the faster processor, larger hard drive and Superdrive (aka DVD burner) is worth the extra $200.
Buying from the Apple Store sucks because you have to pay tax, which is $107 for the $1300 MacBook. Also, Amazon gives a $75 rebate and $30 instant savings if you sign up for their Visa card, which I've been meaning to do for a while.
Aimee and I have a trial Amazon Prime account, so I got the $4 overnight shipping. I placed the order on Thursday with a supposed delivery day of Friday.
Up(s) yours, Brown! Naturally, I tracked the package. At 6am, I saw it scanned in Austin and by 8am, it was "out for delivery." At around Noon, a coworker said they saw the UPS truck out front, but it just stopped for a while, no one came inside, then it left. I checked the tracking page and it said my package was rescheduled for Monday!! Ugh!
So I call UPS to inquire. Funny thing about calling: you can only get the 800 number. They don't list, nor will customer service give you the numbers for the local hubs. Anyways, customer service couldn't tell me anything more than I knew already from looking at the tracking page on the web. I called a few times more and finally someone from the local hub called me back (a one way phone number, btw. I couldn't call it back). They said I could declare to pick it up from the local hub and it would be there at around 730 pm, but they would give me a call first to make sure it came back off the truck.
730 comes and no phone call, so I drive to the damn hub (because I have no way of calling them). Long story short, they lost the package. It's not on the truck, nor can they find it at the hub. Also, they didn't seem to care. "Take it up with Amazon to refund you."
Amazon, fix this! So I get on the phone with Amazon customer service at around 8am on Sat. The girl is super nice and almost before I finish explaining what happened, she says a replacement order has been made and will be shipped "overnight" for a Monday delivery. Wow, now that's customer service!
So Sunday rolls around and I'm wondering why I wasn't emailed a new order number or tracking number.
By Monday, I'm really wondering and get on the phone with Amazon (11am). Apparently the replacement order wasn't made. Annoying... being told one thing, then another thing actually (not) happening. So this time they assure me that the replacement order is made and it will be there on Tuesday.
Curious thing... 6pm comes and yet again no replacement order number or tracking number. So I call back (and speak to a "lead" this time) and just get told "a replacement order was made with overnight shipping." Yeah? Well if it's going to make the overnight plane, shouldn't it have been shipped already? "Hrm, yeah... you're right." So why the hell wasn't it?
I'm livid now. Having competitive prices and fulfilling orders in a timely fashion are the bare minimum requirements for a company to survive. How is Amazon different? What makes them stand out over, say, Newegg? (yes, I'm saying all this to the "lead") Any company can fulfill orders (if not, they are criminals), it's how a company handles "incidents" that gives it an opportunity to stand out above the others.
"So what are you going to do about it besides apologize?" Apparently nothing... at first. ..but then out of the blue the lead calls back and admits that Amazon screwed up (more than once) and they are willing to give me a $50 rebate on my next purchase. Not bad... but how about applying the rebate to this current purchase. "Yeah, we can do that." Sweet.
So finally the replacement order is really made (I got an order number and tracking number this time, yay!) The lead said his boss had to get it approved by her boss which is why it took so long. Jeez, once the corporate gears are moving, it's hard to stop them, eh? That's for another blog post though.
So the (really) cool part is that there is a note attached to my order number, again apologizing, but also saying that I'm getting a $265 discount on the purchase! Apparently the lead's boss didn't think $50 was enough and decided to give me 20% off, plus refund the all shipping costs!
Yes that made up for everything, Amazon, and you're again in my cool book (I've always loved you though)!
The bottom line So let's tally up the damage!
From Amazon with discounts and rebates... ($1299 + $4) - ($75 + $30 + $260 + $4) = $935
How much it would have cost from the Apple Store...
($1299 + 107) = $1406
Total savings... $471
I'm so glad, not only because of the money, but because I actually like Amazon (despite generally hating huge corporations). They've always had good price, great return policy and good customer service... and I'm glad it turned out that way again for me in the end of this debacle.
P.S. I blame Steve Jobs for UPS losing the original package and for the replacement order mix ups. Damn you, Joooooobbbbssss!!
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