Archive: February 8, 2016

<<< February 7, 2016

Home

February 10, 2016 >>>


Amazon support: not helpful

Monday,  02/08/16  09:08 PM

We all think of Amazon as a company that cares about their customers and wants us to find the right products, right?  Well...

Amazon is first and foremost a book store, and their Kindle ecosystem has transformed publishing.  Furthermore their "recommended for you" algorithms have set a high bar for e-commerce sites everywhere.  So finding Amazon's "Kindle Books recommended for you" should be easy, right?  You just visit amazon.com, sign on, and poof there they are!  Nope.

I challenge you to find Kindle Book recommendations linked anywhere on the website.  It's there, but you won't be able to find it.  Today I was trying to find it, spent a good ten minutes clicking around, and then figured I might as well just ask.  My first attempt was to chat with an Amazon rep.  Here's how that went:

Initial Question: Hi can you please help me find Kindle Books recommended for me?

02:45 PM PST Adam(Amazon): Hello Ole, my name is Adam. I'm here to help you today.
I understand that you want to find Kindle books for you. No worries, I'll do my best to help you with your concern, Ole.

A member of our Kindle team will be the perfect person to help you with this. Please hold while I transfer you. One of our Kindle Specialists will assist you shortly.
(pause)

02:46 PM PST Jeff(Amazon): Hi Ole, Thanks for contacting Amazon. How can I help you today?
02:46 PM PST Ole Eichhorn: Hi can you please help me find Kindle Books recommended for me?
02:47 PM PST Jeff: A member of our kindle specialist team will need to help you with this. Please hold while I transfer you. One of our kindle specialist representatives will assist you shortly.

(pause)
02:48 PM PST Ina(Amazon): Hello, my name is Ina.
How may I help you today?
02:48 PM PST Ole Eichhorn: Hi can you please help me find Kindle Books recommended for me?
02:49 PM PST Ina: What kind of Kindle books are you referring to?
02:50 PM PST Ole Eichhorn: Any kind of books. You have a page of Kindle books recommended for me and I cannot figure out how to get there

(long pause)
Hi are you still there
02:50 PM PST Ina: Yes.
02:51 PM PST Ina: One moment.
02:52 PM PST Ina: Are you referring to the Recommendations that can be found on your device?
02:52 PM PST Ole Eichhorn: Not on my device ... on your website
02:53 PM PST Ina: One moment.

(long pause)
02:55 PM PST Ina(Amazon): I'm sorry we were disconnected. I can pick up where we left off.
Please click on the link:
http://www.amazon.com/?ie=UTF8&usecaseSessionID=5460072861
02:56 PM PST Ina: Check to see if you are able to locate "Sign in to see personalized recommendations" button.
02:56 PM PST Ole Eichhorn: I am signed in already
02:57 PM PST Ina: Kindly log out and sign in when prompted once you click"Sign in to see personalized recommendations" button.
02:57 PM PST Ole EichhornI am signed in already
Hi can you please help me find Kindle Books recommended for me?
02:58 PM PST Ole EichhornI cannot find the link
02:58 PM PST Ina: Kindly click on the link below:
https://www.amazon.com/ap/signin?_encoding=UTF8&openid.assoc_handle=usflex&openid.claimed_id=http%3A%2F%2Fspecs.openid.net%2Fauth%2F2.0%2Fidentifier_select&openid.identity=http%3A%2F%2Fspecs.openid.net%2Fauth%2F2.0%2Fidentifier_select&openid.mode=checkid_setup&openid.ns=http%3A%2F%2Fspecs.openid.net%2Fauth%2F2.0&openid.ns.pape=http%3A%2F%2Fspecs.openid.net%2Fextensions%2Fpape%2F1.0&openid.pape.max_auth_age=0&openid.return_to=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fyourstore%2Fhome%3Fie%3DUTF8%26ref_%3Drhf_custrec_signin
02:59 PM PST Ole Eichhorn: that is a signon link
02:59 PM PST Ina: Sign in to see the Recommendations.
03:00 PM PST Ole EichhornI am signed in already
03:00 PM PST Ina: Let me connect you to Generalist for further assistance. Please stay connected. Thank you.

03:00 PM PST Amazon: Thank you for contacting Amazon.com Chat Support my name is Shanice.
03:00 PM PST Ole Eichhorn:
Me: Hi can you please help me find Kindle Books recommended for me
03:01 PM PST Amazon: Let me transfer you to our Kindle team.

So that was fun.  Next I tried calling customer support.  The first person with whom I spoke was unintelligible.  I have no problem with people who have learned English as a second language, but in a customer support situation you have to be able to communicate.  When I called back, I was transferred three times between teams.  Finally I was told there is no such link.  I knew there was such a link - I've visited it - so I hung up and tried again.  On my third try, the second rep put me on hold and never came back.

So, what to do?  I decided to spend another ten minutes poking about the site, trying to find the link, and this time I found it!  Yay... here it is:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/yourstore/recs/ref=s9_ps_bw_clnk?ie=UTF8&nodeID=154606011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-8&pf_rd_r=0963HZHZDWEVMYRSTYGE&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1721688622&pf_rd_i=154606011

You might want to bookmark this link because it is *not* easy to find :)

 

flashlights

Monday,  02/08/16  09:53 PM

 


Flashlights

(Still not quite as bright as the Galvanick Lucifer :)

 

 
 

Return to the archive.