Relating his amazing customer experience with Amazon.com before Christmas in Put Buyers First? What a Concept, Joseph Nocera (NY Times), relates how a ‘lost’ Playstation 3 was replaced by Amazon and delivered on time for the holiday.
After founding out (through online tracking) that his package had been delivered to his building and signed for by a neighbor who then left it in the lobby no less, the writer called Amazon who sent a new shipment.
This proves that we now take for granted that customer service will be bad to awful.
It also reminds me of how retailers like Nordstrom built their reputation on great service.
Customer service is the (not so) ‘new’ marketing.
Related piece: Is Web keeping Banks and others honest? Guardian calls 2007 ‘Year of Consumer Power’