Amazon kvetch

Amazon has decided that customer satisfaction is only moderately important to them, and what is more important is keeping their shipping contractors happy. I ordered a DVD player for use in my office, spending the grand total of $87 for this machine.

“Philips DVP5960 DVD Player with HDMI, 1080i Upscaling, DivX Ultra, USB direct” (Philips)

However, Amazon has started utilizing the evil stepchild of the package delivery business, Airborne/DHL.

I should have taken my own advice, but all times previously, Amazon only used UPS.

Of course, my DVD player never arrived. I ordered it Dec 3rd, choosing to spend a few dollars extra for expedited delivery. On December 6th, according to DHL tracking, the player was delivered, and signed for by 'secretary/receptionist'. Hmmm, wasn't aware that I employed such a creature. Who is paying this secretary/receptionist? I contacted Amazon, they apologized, and promptly resent my order via DHL again.

Two days later, DHL tracking reported 'attempted delivery - recipient not home'. Strange, I never heard the door buzzer ring, nor did my partner. Curiously, when I examined the building's security camera (a camera trained on the front door, on the elevator door, and elsewhere, saved to a computer in our basement), there was no record of an employee of DHL ringing the door buzzer the entire week.

Yesterday, according to DHL tracking, somebody named Mike G signed for my DVD player, at 9 A.M. Hmmm, again, nobody rang the door, and there is no resident of my building with the first name of Mike. There are only 17 residents who live at this address, and I know them all at least by name/face. We don't kiss each other hello, but I do know with absolute certainty there isn't a Mike G here.

Amazon apologized again, yet tried to insinuate the problem was my address, ignoring the multiple times UPS has arrived bearing Amazonian gifts, using the exact same address. I suppose this was Amazon's way of giving me the brush-off. Duly noted, Amazon. Good luck to ya. I won't be ordering electronics from you anymore.

As two attempts to deliver a package to this address have been unsuccessful, I hesitate to send you another replacement.

Instead, I have requested a refund of $83.98 to cover the cost of the original shipment. This refund should go through within 2-3 business days and will appear as a credit on your next credit card billing statement.

If you'd still like to purchase the item, you could place a new order using a different shipping address.

Unfortunately, there is no proposed solution being proffered by Amazon here. I'm not prepared to move to another address just so that Amazon can deliver to me. My building predates the Chicago Fire, you'd think DHL would have entered it into their database by now.

I ordered the same DVD player via B&H this morning, who value their customers enough to give choices of preferred delivery service. Luckily for B&H, I also ordered a Nikon D80 and a couple of lenses, choosing UPS for delivery.

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