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Life

How not to support your customers

I’m trying to buy something from Amazon but my account has been broken since Thursday.  Any time I try to submit my order Amazon just responds with:



We’re sorry!


An error occurred when we tried to process your request. Rest assured, we’re working to resolve the problem as soon as possible. If you were trying to make a purchase, please check Your Account to confirm that the order was placed. We apologize for the inconvenience.


Being a reasonable geek and a person in the Internet industry I expect this kind of thing will happen.  So, I decide to wait and try later.  Yep, it didn’t work later either. 


Since their online help didn’t solve my problem I decided to ask them for help.  Amazon has one method to ask for help: an online form.  I don’t mind filling out a form.  There’s just one problem… the form doesn’t work.  I tried from work on my desktop machine.  I tried from work on my laptop.  I tried from home on my laptop.  I tried from home on my home desktop.  I tried clearing my cache.  I tried deleting cookies.


My account is broken.  I am unable to submit the support form.  I’m unable to get in touch with Amazon, right?  We’ll see.  As a last resort I sent mail to every single Amazon.com address I was able to find on their website (everything from press addresses to their recruiting addresses).  Hopefully someone will reply.


Here’s my advice to Amazon and everyone else who has customers:  Think about it – what happens to your customers if they can’t get a hold of you?  I’ll tell you, they get pissed off and they go away.


If it weren’t for the $50 gift certificate Amazon is holding hostage I’d write them off and take my business to Barnes and Noble.