Amazon’s Customer Service and the Curious Case of the 1 Eared Giraffe
Back in May of 2013, I published this article on Amazon’s world-class customer service.
Since then, I’m happy to say I’ve continued putting their team to the test with a steady stream of purchases, and they’ve continued delivering the kind of high-quality care I preach and teach about in my training rooms.
Which brings us to the latest chapter in my Amazon adventures with this curious case of the one-eared giraffe…
Seemingly out of nowhere, my daughter Ava developed an urgent, life-or-death need for animal onesie pajamas. With Christmas around the corner, I tried to steer her toward the “put it under the tree” option. That suggestion was met with agonizing opposition. Evidently, waiting eight weeks for cozy animal sleepwear was a burden no child should be asked to bear.
After reviewing a parade of colorful critters, Ava chose the giraffe as her perfect bedtime companion. So I placed the order.
Here’s the picture from Amazon.com:
Most of our Amazon orders show up in two days thanks to Prime shipping, but this particular purchase was coming from a distributor in China, so Prime was out of the question.
Ava, however, was unfazed by logistics. Every day for two straight weeks she asked if “the package” had arrived with the optimism of a kid waiting for Santa. And then, on day fifteen, her long-awaited bundle finally landed on our doorstep.
In what was likely the quickest turnaround of all-time, Ava disappeared momentarily then reappeared in our kitchen like this:
Notice anything odd? We didn’t at first either. But a closer look revealed our new giraffe was missing a right ear. If you go back to the product photo, the girl is literally holding the giraffe by the ears. Apparently that quality-control step didn’t make it into the manufacturing process for ours.
Trying to prevent a full emotional collapse (which you probably would’ve heard from wherever you’re reading this), I assured Ava I’d reach out to Amazon and was confident they’d make things right quickly.
Below is the email exchange that followed between me and Amazon’s customer service team.
It all started with my return request:
Item: Unisex Costume Animal Cosplay Onesie Adult Pajamas Anime Cartoon Sleepwear Medium, Giraffe > Qty: 1 > Return reason: Defective/Does not work properly > Customer comments: Arrived with only one ear and appears to have been created that way. My daughter is quite upset and doesn't want to wait several weeks again for a new one to be delivered
—
Reply received:
Dear customer, we have received your return request. We are so sorry you received damaged item. You don't need to return the item, you can keep it. We will make a full refund for you tomorrow. Could you please kindly send us the photo of the one ear giraffe. We will send it to our QC. Thank you very much. Please feel to contact us if you have any problem, thanks again. Have a nice day.
—
That’s great, I don’t even have to return the item, they’re just going to ‘take care of the customer’ and refund my purchase price. Still, Ava really wants a fully functional giraffe, so I sent the picture I posted above along with this reply:
Thank You for your prompt response and offer to keep item and refund amount paid.
I have attached a pic on the 1 ear giraffe. Will the much anticipated 2 ear version
be sent? My daughter prefers her giraffes to not be hearing impaired...
--
Not long after I received this reply:
Dear customer, thank you for your photo. We will send a new one to you tomorrow. We will send you the new tracking number later. Thank you very much. --
As I often say…
This is another great example of customer service recovery done right and why Amazon continues to earn my business and accolades.
Pinnacle Performance Champions 