I Love You Amazon

When living overseas, you begin to appreciate the most those people who send you care packages and gifts - those things you want the most in a material sense.  With that in mind, one of my best friends here in Vietnam is Amazon, Amazon Dot Com.  Amazon sends me stuff I want all the time, from dried fruit and nuts, to electronics and books.  As a matter of fact, I receive more from Amazon than anyone else in the U.S.  This isn't an indictment of friends and family, however, because we all know I am really the one sending these things to myself - I am sort of my Not-So-Secret Santa.  Nevertheless, of all the services I appreciate on the internet, I would rank Amazon WAY up on the list.

But even with the great service that is Amazon, we have restrictions on what we can send through post to my location.  Those restriction are related to lithium batteries and the restrictions are related directly to the way the batteries are packed.  The guidelines are lengthy and sometimes hard to understand in intent.  I am getting somewhere with this, so hang on.  So, anyway, I wanted an expensive piece of electronic equipment that I felt fell somewhere in the middle on the guidelines and decided to give it a try.  My shipment never made it to my location, and I got an email from the courier service stating the package was returned to sender.  I was disappointed but figured I would get the refund to my CC in a few days and would just wait until my next trip to the U.S. to get the item I wanted.  Anyway, time passed and the order was never refunded.  I began to fret about the hassle of tracking down the returned package and getting my money back. I imagined in my mind the phone calls and lengthy emails... the waking up early to go to work and call during stateside business hours.  Well, none of that happened.

Through the account section of Amazon, I sent a message explaining briefly the situation. In less than 24 hours I got an email stating I would be refunded in the next 2 - 3 days.  While this may sound matter-of-course to anyone in the U.S., for me it is a small miracle exercised by Jesus Christ Himself.  Nowhere in Vietnam would this ever happen.  It is a matter of course to exhaust every ounce of energy to create difficulties for the customer in returning an item and getting a full refund.  Not sure why that is, but in my time here I have learned to accept the statement, "It just is."

But this post isn't about bashing a society or business practice; rather it is about giving a big shout out to Amazon Dot Com: My best friend. Thanks!