Thursday, September 22, 2005

Hail Amazon.ca !!

Do you remember the TV series "Mind Your Language" that was once shown on local television?

It was a very popular UK sitcom featuring Barry Evans as Jeremy Brown, the eager teacher of an English evening class for adult foreigners. Mostly derived from the language barrier, the outlandish comedy that ensues was a constant source of hysterical laughter that was beloved by over 17 million viewers and became one of Britain's longest running, most successful TV shows.

I was hooked on the series since I was a kid when my father's friend loan me his mini VHS tape on "Mind Your Language". His tapes needed to be played on a antique special player which he kept long time ago. He recorded the TV series back in the 70s and 80s and managed to preserve them nicely so that others can enjoy. However, those tapes developed fungus and cannot be used anymore. Such a waste...

Few months back, I had the sudden urge of watching the series all over again, only to find out the bitter truth on what happen to those mini VHS tapes. Hence, I thought of buying them from either UK or Australia. As usual, I went online and search the Internet upside down only to find out that DVDs from UK or Australia might not be compatible with my player at home (Region 2). And they cost over RM200 for a complete set. I almost gave up on my hunt until I stumbled over the item at Amazon.ca (Amazon at Canada). They offered Region 1 disc, which was not only compatible with my player but it only cost about RM110 per set.

After getting the green light from my finance manager J, I went ahead and ordered it online. I took the cheapest transportation option (Standard International Shipping) and the item finally arrived about 2 months later, well within the estimated delivery date. It was very well packaged and all the DVDs inside were of best quality. Too bad it only had 2.0 stereo sound. But nevertheless, that was my second authentic DVD purchase. The first was "Miracle on 34th Street" which was bought through J's brother from US during last Christmas.

I told my father's friend about my latest collection. He got interested and asked me to order the same for him the next day (13th June). His item was due to arrive between July 27th - Aug 11. I had the order delivered to my parents' place since they are always at home (taking care of Little Skywalker). I did not bother to check on his order (half his fault as he did not bother to remind me as well) until last week (13th Sept). I was surprised that he has yet to receive his package.

I wrote the following complaint enquiry at Amazon.ca (14th Sept):

ORDER NUMBER: xxx-yyyyyyy-zzz
COMMENTS: In reference to my order, I have not
received the package although the estimated date of delivery is between Jul 27
2005 - Aug 11 2005.
Kindly enlighten me on this.
Thank you.

The next day, I received a reply (15th Sept):

Thank you for writing to us at Amazon.ca.
I apologize that you have not yet received your order. It does appear that this package is lost. Please accept our sincere apologies for this inconvenience.
We do want to make sure you receive the items you ordered. Before we can proceed, please verify the shipping address for this order, in case this is the reason for the missing shipment.
The shipping address we have for this order is:
[Egghead's Name]
[Address of My Palace, which is next to Istana Negara]
Malaysia
To confirm this address or provide us with a new one, please click the link at the
bottom of this message....

I did as being told in the email to confirm my address. Within the same day, I received another email from Amazon.ca:

Greetings from Amazon.ca.
Thanks for writing back to us confirming the shipping address of this order
(#xxx-yyyyyyy-zzz). The package appears to be lost.
Please accept our sincere apologies for this inconvenience.
I placed a new order for the item. There will be no charge for this replacement. Here are the details of the new order:
Order Number : aaa-bbbbbbb-ccc
Shipping Speed : Expedited International Shipping
Estimated Delivery Date: 23 September - 04 October, 2005
If the estimated delivery date above is unacceptable, and you would prefer to cancel
the replacement order and receive a refund for the original shipment, please let
us know by visiting the following URL...

Cool! They actually upgraded my previous cheap slow shipping speed to "Expedited International Shipping" without any additional charges. And true enough, I received the package at my parents' place yesterday (22nd Sept), exactly a week after the new order was placed. I checked the package and it was delivered by DHL Express. Impressive! I guess those DHL guys really "know Asia Pacific better than any other" as advertised.

I wish to take this opportunity to thank James W. and Vikas of Amazon.ca Customer Service who handled my complaint with such great efficiency and professionalism. I also hope that our local Post Malaysia and any other local companies for that matter, can take a cue from Amazon.ca in their customer relationship management. Personally, I had a few incidences of "cheque being lost in delivery" even though it was mailed through registered mail.

Thanks again Amazon.ca! I look forward to my next purchase!
Jotted down by Egghead :: at around 9/22/2005 09:53:00 AM :: and invited 8 Blah(s):

8 Blah(s) by:  Anonymous,  Sue,  Anonymous,  Egghead,  Jason Lioh,  Egghead,  Greenapple,  Egghead,

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