• by Sean Hargrave , Staff Writer, January 3, 2017

After announcing its pilot, if you'll pardon the pun, for drone deliveries in Cambridgeshire just before Christmas, Amazon has unveiled its futuristic plans for the next step -- floating warehouses. These large blimps would hang over towns, and be stocked with popular items so drones could dock and then be dispatched to their next delivery.

it all sounds very sci-fi, but I'm sure a lot of ecommerce shoppers have a simple question for Amazon after Christmas -- why take to the skies if you can't get the basics right? If you've never had an issue with Amazon, you'll wonder what all the fuss is about. if you have, you'll know the deep frustration of dealing with a company that has very little interest in customer service.

The proof of this can be found in trying to uncover a telephone number to report a problem that doesn't fit one of the half a dozen issues you can raise with them automatically. This Christmas I had one delivery that I was told had happened but then they later admitted, after Christmas, didn't take place at all and I had a warning of a delay on an item until after Christmas which prompted me to buy it elsewhere, only to then find it was actually on its way and I had two of the same item. The most annoying, though, was an item that a courier falsely claimed was delivered to someone who wasn't even at the property at the time to sign for it.

This must be a common problem for a lot of people. A rushed courier leaves a packet or parcel somewhere -- maybe outside a door, hoping it will be picked up by the person -- and then ticks to say it has been handed to the rightful recipient. The problem is, when you eventually find a way of calling Amazon -- actually, they call you when you put your number into an online box -- all that happens is a person claims to be looking into your case and will get back to you in 48 hours. Five minutes later you get an automated email saying the parcel is delivered and there's no problem.

Every time you call you get the same issue. Nobody can deal with anything -- they just email later to say there is no problem. This goes on until the promised 48-hour investigation takes you beyond Christmas Day and then eventually, after lots of angry calls and tweets, you get a refund. Of course, a refund is no good. It's a present delivered, as promised before Christmas that counts. So then the tweets start and, of course, someone at Amazon asks you to go to the Web site to check the order status and to report it. Great idea. Let's start another circular game of tail-chasing. Let's get angry at people who have no power other than to hang up, give it five minutes and then email a standard letter to say there is no problem.

So, two missed Christmas presents that were ordered way in advance of the big day and were promised to be delivered in time. What's worse, both were reported as having been delivered, which could easily mean I'd have never known I had accidentally "snubbed" two relatives. I'd have just thought they were remiss in not thanking me. 

Most of the time Amazon works seamlessly, and it's well used for good reason. But organisations have to be judged by how they reverse as well as how fast they can go forward. There's no point taking a broken customer services model into the sky if you can't get it right on the ground. 

If you're wondering how Amazon manages to be so much cheaper than everyone else and conclude that it's because they have no overheads from stores, then you're only halfway there. They also don't pay proper full UK tax, they have a well-documented history of not being the kindest employer and they treat their customers like idiots who can be silenced with pointless standardised emails.

It's a time of New Year resolutions. One of mine is to support companies that pay UK tax, treat their staff responsibly and publish a telephone number for you to talk to real people who can make an actual difference. That means ditching Amazon.