How Amazon almost lost me

#1. New products require policies and procedures.

#2. New products have kinks.

#3. New products need tweeks.

#4. New products need customer adoption. And to get that you have to be willing to work out all of the above, but most important you have to bend #1.


I tried Amazon's Unbox service to rent a video last week. For the first video it worked perfectly. I couldn't have been more happy. I viewed the video and told my friends that Amazon might have something here to really compete with iTunes. (There was a downfall, I had to use my work PC because I am Mac guy.)

Then Friday night happened. The video didn't work. It just didn't play. Then it would crash my computer- all the more scary.

So I fumbled through their help and support section- which is a whole other post in and of itself. And finally ended up sending in an email. I wrote of my problem and asked for two things. One was a solution, and the second was a credit on my account (their policy prohibits refunds).

I got a general response- which told me they didn't read my email. I tried their solution and it didn't work. No surprise to me since it was just part of their help page regurgitated. I did everything they said, and nothing worked.

Frustrated, I went back to their email and clicked on the reply button. I told them nothing worked and while I understood their policy about refunds, all I wanted was a credit.

Enter this morning. I got an email from Amazon.

"Hello from Amazon.com.

I have reviewed our previous correspondence with you, and I offer my
sincere apologies for any frustration you have felt regarding the
difficulty you have had with your Amazon Unbox rental.

While Amazon Unbox videos are not returnable, I'm making an exception
to this policy for you today. I have requested a refund of $3.99 for you.

This refund should go through within the next 2 to 3 business days and
will appear as a credit on your next credit card billing statement.

As part of the refund process, I have also revoked the license for
this video and it will no longer appear in Your Media Library.

Again, I apologize for the difficulty you had using Amazon Unbox and
thank you for shopping at Amazon.com."

Wow! I thought- which is the exact emotion Amazon was hoping for. They did a great job with the apology letter by removing my frustration. I'll shop Amazon again- not for the Unbox videos, but for other things.

So whats the point?
Policies and procedures are good, they help protect companies and assets. But both deserve to be broken, bent, and reconsidered constantly. Not just for new products, but existing products. I believe if you fix a person's problem and give them the same feeling about your company as when they first purchased your item, they can be won for life.