I just spent half an hour dealing with Amazon on trying to start the return process for a defective gift I received. I've had great experiences with the retailer in the past but this time it was awful. All of the problems I had stemmed from not having the order number for the item. This seems like an unnecessary burden to place on me, the gift receiver. I know what the item is, I know who gave it to me and I know it was ordered from Amazon. It seems like this should be enough to uniquely identify the transaction and process the return.
It isn't, though. I can't process the return online without an order number and despite the statement on the return webpage that I can contact customer service to get the order number, I still don't have it. I did an online chat with a customer service representative (hi, Alvin!) who said that without a tracking number or an order number he could not start the return process. My second attempt (once it became clear to me that Alvin was not a top-notch support specialist) was a phone call that was quickly answered but where the representative stated a similar story. This time I countered that the return webpage stated I could get the order number from him if I provided certain details on the sender (name, email address, ...). I provided the particulars, he put me on hold and then hung up.
Clearly there has been a holiday hiring binge and I don't expect these representative to be the best Amazon has to offer. I do expect them to be competent, though, and I do expect there to be agreement between what their website says and what the representatives say.
For now, I'm trying to get an order number and see if I can actually get the return processed. I think the downsides of the gigantic online retailer are becoming more clear.
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