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First, a note about calling Amazon.com customer service.

Remember when calling Amazon.com customer service that you've got something in common with the representative you'll talk to on the phone. You've both been put in a crappy situation by the management of Amazon.

Amazon's decision not to put their customer service on their "Help" or "Contact Us" pages means that after you experience a problem you end up searching for their number for an unreasonable amount of time. After you finally find it, you call the number and then are put on hold for quite a while as well. Chances are, you're frustrated, angry, and at the end of your rope by the time a customer service rep answers.

But that rep is also feeling the effects of Amazon's decision. The person on the phone isn't a member of management with decision-making power. They're somebody that needed a job, and they took this one. Amazon's decision to withhold the phone number from their customers means that everybody they talk to is like you: frustrated, angry, and at the end of their rope. It's got to make their job really hard. Wouldn't it suck to have to talk to people who are pissed off all day long for eight hours a day? I'd hate to come to work!

So, when you call, try to keep in mind that you and your customer service rep are in the same boat. You can bet that they're having a terrible day.

Also, especially if you are ordering books or CDs, remember that your local independent stores are likely to be able to order anything that you want if they don't already have it in stock; and chances are, their customer service will be a lot better. You may not get the deep discounts available at Amazon, but, as you've probably already learned if you're reading this, you get what you pay for. Happy shopping!

The numbers!

US Customer Service
Phone toll-free in the US and Canada: (800) 201-7575 or (866) 216-1072
Phone from outside the US and Canada: (206) 346-2992 or (206)-266-2992
Another direct line: (206) 266-2335
E-mail: (I think this will still work, but no guarantees)

E-mail address and the fax numbers seem to go on- and off-line with some regularity. Readers have also had luck with the following addresses:

(This last e-mail address sends back an note from Amazon that using it won't help you. There may be nobody reading the e-mail that comes to this address.)

Amazon's rebate center: 1-866-348-2492
Amazon Corporate Accounts:1-866-486-2360

Snail mail to customer service
Amazon.com, Inc.
Customer Service
PO Box 81226
Seattle, WA 98108-1226

Service for Amazon Sellers
877-251-0696
They also have special e-mail accounts for spoofing and abuse:
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(This information was provided by a reader! Thanks!)

Canadian Customer Service
Phone 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern time, 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Pacific: (877)-586-3230

Corporate Offices, Seattle
(206) 622-2335
The fax number has changed. 206-266-1832 is no longer a fax number.

New! Fax for Amazon's legal Department: 206-266-7010

UK Customer Service
Phone: +44.208.636.9200
More UK numbers, from a reader:
Freephone (only from within the UK): 0800 279 6620
Phone (outside the UK): +44 20 8636 9451
Fax (free from within the UK): 0800 279 6630
Fax (outside the UK): +44 20 8636 9401
An Aussie who contacted me verified the number above but for Aussies you need to dial it this way: 0011 1 206 266-2992.

UK Snail Mail:
Amazon.co.uk Ltd
Patriot Court
1-9 The Grove
Slough
SL1 1QP

Amazon.com Headquarters
Address: 1200 12th Ave., Ste. 1200
Seattle, WA 98144
Phone: (206) 266-1000
Fax: (206) 622-2405
Info e-mail: in@amazon.com is no longer a working e-mail address.
(Amazon's CEO is Jeff Bezos, if you want a name to put on an e-mail or fax to this office.)

According to good sources, Amazon is no longer outsourcing much of its customer service work to Gay Porn Websites More Press! This beauty appeared in the Aug. 18-24 issue of U.S. News & World Report. Sadly, I think this link is now dead. Perhaps I should put up a scan of this article.

This page got a little write-up in the Austin Chronicle in December 2002. Why did I make this page?

Amazon.com made an unauthorized charge of more than $300 to my credit card, and because I couldn't find a phone number, I had no way deal with this problem that needed immediate attention. I finally did a search on Google and found somebody who has posted the Amazon.com customer service number to his website. He, too, was having a problem and couldn't find the number, so when he finally got it he provided it publicly for people like me. Now I'm following his lead.

I think it's completely lame for a company to pull this kind of crap -- hiding their phone number to avoid calls -- especially one that won't quit talking about what a high level of customer service they offer. It's a tactic designed to save money, but, personally, I'm willing to spend a little more to avoid the sort of situation I found myself in this weekend. And, while Amazon has had some rough times lately, they apparently chose to remove the number years ago when things were flush.

I also learned that if Amazon ships you something by mistake, their default reaction is to charge it to your credit card and force you to remain financially responsible for it until it's back in their warehouse. This is their position even if they completely agree that it's their mistake. If you argue and get mad with people on the phone, they'll eventually give you a more immediate refund. But I hate this "squeaky wheel" method of providing customer service. I don't want to feel like I have to be a bitch to get good service; that's just nasty and it makes me feel gross.

And why in the world should you have to spend any of your time and energy arguing with them when it's clearly their mistake? Unauthorized charges on credit cards are illegal, and Amazon should be taking every opportunity to keep unauthorized charges off their customers' cards, not make charging people illegally for Amazon's mistakes a part of their company's policy.

I encourage all of you to drop a line to Amazon and tell them what you think of these customer service policies, and to shop elsewhere until they quit talking about customer service and start providing it.

And, while you're at, if you have a web page and the room to do it, why not post their customer service numbers? The more of us who post it, the more people who will be able to find it.

Over the course of dealing with Amazon, I received many apologies from customer service people, but none of them were adequate. Nobody was willing to admit that, really, Amazon had screwed up.

However, finally, somebody did. On September 29, 2002, I received this in response to a snail mail letter I sent to their corporate offices addressed to Jeff Bezos, the Amazon CEO.

Dear Ms. Hobbs,

Greetings from Amazon.com. I am writing in response to your letter of August 25th, received at our corporate offices and addressed to Mr. Jeff Bezos. I have been asked to reply as I am well-placed to make appropriate inquiries and to render assistance due. I welcome the chance to help as I may and please know that I am including Jeff in this correspondence.

I am truly sorry for your entirely understandable disappointment with the circumstances of your order of August 19th (#102-2271049-3523350), and especially that our Customer Service was not more easily reached and was not more helpful once you actually got through. We at Amazon.com pride ourselves on efficiently servicing our customers' orders and on swiftly resolving problems when they arise, and for our failing you on both counts, I can only offer my sincere apologies.

Reviewing your order I am troubled as it was a fairly severe technical issue which resulted in your being sent an extra graphics pad. The order clearly shows that you ordered two, but just as clearly shows that we charged you for three, which is what we sent. It is a bit of Monday-morning quarterbacking on my part given that the order has been complete for more than a month, but I am going to send it to the attention of our tech specialists in hopes that such errors can be prevented hence. I know it was inconvenient for you, and I am just glad it was not worse (What if it had been a debit card, for example?).

The phone numbers for Customer Service are at a few places on-site, but I agree that their presentation is inadequate. Again, I can only act retroactively, but I will share your feedback with the appropriate persons as indicative of a way in which we are letting our customers down. For future reference:

=======================================================
Customer Service is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
-------------------------------------------------------
U.S. and Canada: 1-800-201-7575
International: 1-206-266-2992
=======================================================

Lastly, I presume that the agents with whom you spoke did not realize that it truly was an error on our part which caused the problems. Still, ignorance is no excuse and I promise you that I will personally educate those persons on how the service they extended you was lacking. Once more, it is regrettably after the fact as re. your order, but I trust that your strong and legitimate remarks will be duly considered and I hope the feedback may catalyze improvements in the service we provide hence.

Your refund for the extra pad was paid at the end of last month, and I am glad that Customer Service extended at least the consideration of a $20.00 gift certificate. I would like to add a final refund for the shipping costs of the order, $18.89. Like the previous refund, we will repay this amount to the card charged and we will notify you once it posts back.

Ellen, you are a much valued customer of longstanding and I regret that for the events of this order, we did not treat you as such. I hope it will be otherwise in the future. Thanks for taking the time to write, please direct further questions or concerns to me at the address resolution@amazon.com, and thanks for using Amazon.com. All the best.

Regards,

John Clark
Executive Customer Relations
Amazon.com

Our Holiday Correspondence

This site went nuts during the Christmas holidays! So nuts, in fact, that I decided to send a note to my friends at Amazon.com:

From: Ellen Hobbs
Sent: Wednesday, December 11, 2002 6:15 PM
To: resolution@amazon.com
Subject: A holiday message about my Amazon.com web page

This message is for anyone who gets it there at Amazon, but especially for John Clark who sent me a note about the trouble I was having with Amazon.com and my credit card.

Thanks again for sending me the apology, the gift certificate, and making sure my problem was finally resolved. I do appreciate it. However, I have to say that I still have mixed feelings about the level of customer service I received from Amazon.com, and especially about the fact that Amazon has chosen not to publish its customer service phone number on its website or its packing slips and invoices. Thus, I decided to leave up the Amazon Phone Number web page I created for other folks who were having trouble, because, frankly, I would have had a much harder time getting my situation with Amazon resolved without the help of the guy who posted your number in his weblog.

I thought I'd let you know that in the first 10 days of December, according to my site statistics, more than 900 people have visited my Amazon page, and I assume most of them are looking for your number. Sixteen of the top twenty search strings that bring people to my site are some derivation of "Amazon's Customer Service Phone Number." I've also gotten a number of letters from people who have visited the page; those responses are now posted on the page.

You can visit the page at http://clicheideas.com/amazon.htm.

Just so you know, I'm not sending this note to be antagonistic; I'm actually hoping you find it useful. While I feel it's pretty important to make sure I do the majority of my book and music shopping at the local independents in Austin -- I want to do what I can to make sure my city doesn't become a homogenous part of a corporate community rather than a unique place to live and shop -- I'm also a fan of internet shopping, of Amazon, and of the services you provide. It's been disappointing this holiday to feel like I have to limit my Amazon shopping, but I have, because I want to make sure that I, as a consumer, am doing whatever I can to convince the vendors who sell to me that they're going to have to do things right to keep me as a customer.

At this point, when I am confronted with bad customer service, I don't try to get around it and go on with my business; I take my money and go elsewhere. And sometimes I kick up quite a fuss, too. That's because I feel we're having a customer service crisis ' businesses seem to think they don't have to provide customer service if they sell things as cheaply as possible. I hope that this changes soon. For my part, I have tried to do most of my Christmas shopping with retailers who may charge me slightly more than, say, Wal-Mart, but who also provide a level of service that goes beyond the minimal that seems to have become the norm.

As I said, I hope you find the information I've provided to you useful, and that you will consider changing your policy of hiding your customer service number from your customers. Best Adult Affiliate Programs Happy holidays! I got a response pretty quickly: From: resolution@amazon.com
Sent: Tuesday, December 17, 2002 8:06 AM
To: Ellen Hobbs
Cc: orders@amazon.com
Subject: Your Amazon.com Feedback Dear Ms. Hobbs, Greetings from Amazon.com and thanks for writing back. I have been aware of your webpage since October and am glad that it is effective to its ends. I will pass your comments on the posting of the phone number and your page's URL to the relevant persons for due consideration. I cannot promise that the policy will change soon (if ever), but certainly we value your feedback and the change, if it is to come, will be exactly for remarks like yours. Thanks for your patient understanding, good luck with your website, and all the best for the rest of the year and into the new! Regards, John Clark
Executive Customer Relations
Amazon.com Back to the top. Take me back to Cliché Ideas!