Does Anyone Do It Better?

Amazon’s vast selection and low prices have won the Seattle firm millions of loyal customers.  One area that may go under the radar is Amazon’s outstanding customer service, at least if my recent example is the norm. I recently fed my habit for books, buying a fairly recent financial book.  It was on my “wish list” and I bought it when I needed to get another purchase above the limit for free shipping. I am a regular Amazon shopper and the purchase was routine – until the merchandise arrived.

To my surprise the book they sent me was used, and not a particularly well-loved used book either.  How could they get my order for a new book confused with a used one? I waited a couple days and then notified the company that there was a problem and that I wanted to exchange the book.  Amazon, as one might expect, has a good process for managing exchanges and refunds but they were somewhat confused by my request to exchange a book. A company rep sent me a polite note that they wanted to clarify what I wanted and asked that I notify them when they could call. I indicated that I was available and sent the email, and my phone rang within five seconds. Explaining my concern the customer service rep not only replaced my used copy with a new book, he also arranged to send it free of postage despite sending it via second-day delivery, even though I didn’t request that service.

I wonder now if there was some way I got my wires crossed. But Amazon was unconcerned with who was a fault, just keeping me a happy customer.  Is there anyone else that does it better than Amazon?