Stock answers do not count as customer service. (Part 2 - A New Stock Answer)


Abstract:
It's like they read my message, and then tried to come up with the funniest fake reply. It's a mishmash of stock answers, combined with a few unique items (product name and $50 rebate) to "personalize" the form letter response. I've highlighted the key phrases in bold and red.

Oh, and Amazon sends stupid wrapped-text emails, so I had to remove all the pointless line breaks before posting it, as I like my readers to be able to view the blog at any width they prefer.

Body:
Part 1 | This is part 2. | Part 3

NAME: Michael Wyszomierski
COMM ID: xxxx
COMMENTS: I was disappointed to receive a stock reply to my inquiry, as it seems there is no distinction between prewritten help pages and "customer service."

The stock reply indicated that Mac OS X Tiger Family Pack had sold out. If a representative had read my message with any care, he or she would have realized that the product has not even been released yet, and therefore the supply could not have run out already.

I hope this message reaches someone who will actually look into the matter without sending a stock answer. Thank you in advance for your assistance.

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Thanks for writing to us at Amazon.com with your concern and bringing this to our attention.

I regret that our previous response was not as helpful as it should have been. I also apologize for the added frustration of having to contact us again, and hope that I can be of some help.

Further, I have checked for "Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger Family Pack - 5 Client," on our web site and found that it is currently out of stock.

You can check this information by visiting the following URL:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0007LW1MW/

I am very sorry that you were not able to place your order for this item before our supply ran out to take advantage of the $50.00 rebate offer associated with it.

Unfortunately, our supply of some items is limited and these products sell out quickly.

We do not know if this item will be available for purchase on our web site in the future.

I would therefore suggest checking our web site from time to time to see if this item has come back in stock or if it is available from another seller through Amazon.com Auctions (http://auctions.amazon.com) or zShops (http://www.amazon.com/zshops).

We do expand our selection frequently, so you may want to check back from time to time to see if we have added this item to our web site. Also, you may submit your request for this product at this URL:

http://www.amazon.com/o/subst/stores/catalog-builder/index.html

Please note that we cannot guarantee that we will be able to source this item, but we do want to know what our customers are seeking.

Also, at this point, I would like to mention that it is "Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger," which is listed as not yet released on our web site.

You can check this information by visiting the following URL:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0002G71T0/

If you have any further questions, please visit our Help pages:

http://www.amazon.com/help/

Again, I apologize for the inconvenience caused and hope this information is helpful. Thank you for shopping at Amazon.com.

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Again, the message was followed by a "Did this help you?" thing. I haven't clicked on an answer yet, as I'm not sure if I really feel like going through this anymore. I might call them next as they do list that as an option. I'm probably leaning away from further contact at this point simply because I just woke up. Later in the day, I will look at this message and realize that contacting them again is stupid, but a little (yet powerful) voice inside my head will say, "Do it for the blog."

Posted: Saturday - April 02, 2005 at 09:24 AM          

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