There are many companies in the world today of which have reputations as to whether they are good or bad. In the area of customer service, many times, this key area will determine whether the company can stay afloat or collapse.
Amazon ranks as the number one company for customer service worldwide on nearly every survey taken. Some pertinent questions must be asked. Why does Amazon have the best customer service? What are they doing to maintain a nearly insurmountable level of this achievement? The answer as to why Amazon is the best can be started with the owner of Amazon himself, CEO Jeff Bezos. Bezos really takes seriously the idea of serving the customer and making them feel special. Unlike many CEO’s, Mr. Bezos has built his company from the ground up. He puts the philosophy of the customer being number one the hallmark of his business (Baldacci, 2). Amazon has 164 million customers and most of them would agree that Bezos was the key builder of a customer-centric organization.
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"Two Companies with Good and Bad Customer Service".
One great example of Amazon’s customer service is when Sean Madden, the author of the article How Companies Like Amazon Use Big Data to Make You Love Them, wrote that he was having trouble with his Amazon Kindle. Upon getting connected to a customer service representative she had Mr. Madden’s kindle fixed within two minutes (Madden, 1). This company did right by the customer by being friendly, courteous and resolving the situation quickly. With service like this who would not want to shop at Amazon? In addition to this above success story, Amazon has seven steps to keep customer service running well. Step One: “Don’t just listen to your customers, understand them” (Baldacci, 3). Every year, Bezos, along with thousands of Amazon managers attend two days of call-center training. The result here is that managers will constantly realize that Amazon’s philosophy is listening and understanding the customer (Baldacci, 3). Second, Amazon’s mission is to serve the customer. “We’re competitor obsessed, we’re customer obsessed. We start with what the customer needs and we work backwards” (Baldacci, 3). A good example here is the kindle tablet. This was created specifically for the customer’s needs, not what upper management or Jeff Bezos wanted. Therefore, they found success by giving the customer what they wanted.
The remaining five philosophies are: “The Empty chair: The most important person in the room”; “never settle for 99%”; “Respect today’s customer”; “Strive to create a customer-centric company”; “Don’t be afraid to apologize”. In a nutshell, Bezos’ company looks out for the customer and always strives to be the best.
The end result of this kind of attention to customers is that Amazon gets a magnificient reputation. Most likely this is the major reason why Amazon makes billions of dollars every quarter and remains at the top of the internet retailing world. It would be impossible for this author to tell Jeff Bezos, who runs a multi-billion dollar per year company, how to improve on his customer service abilities. However, the author, after researching this company, would be more likely to shop at Amazon because of their service. As we have seen, Amazon really pays great attention to detail and customers. However, for nearly every Amazon there is an American Airlines. According to anonymous sources who posted their disparaging opinions on a site called, Epinions, there is one customer on there who actually says that when it came to his experience at American Airlines that “Service wasn’t just bad, it was actually hostile!” (Epinions, 1). This customer says that there were no pros of doing business with American but the cons were overwhelming. He goes on to say, “Really horrible service, hostile flight attendants, no leg room, difficulty getting seat assignments”. The customer finally said, “American Airlines sets a standard for the worst customer service I have ever experienced” (Epinions, 1).
Another traveler, Ed, says that American charges a $200 airline change fee. His daughter also got hit with a $200 change fee. Both cases changed this fee within twenty-four hours after booking despite all of the other airlines giving the customer a grace period. A 2013 law stipulated that the airlines do not have to keep the quoted price for twenty-four hours without payment or allow a reservation to be canceled within twenty-four hours without penalty (Consumer Affairs, 1). Another unsatisfied customer, Jennifer, says, that she and her husband flew from Pittsburgh to Miami for their honeymoon and then intended to take a connecting flight to Punta Cana. Bad weather delayed the newlyweds’ travel plans initially, but when the couple tried to get help from American, the company was extremely rude and unwilling to help the young couple. In the end they cancelled the honeymoon and came home (Consumer Affairs, 2). Some good business advice to give to American Airlines would be to pay attention to the customer and give them what they want. Also, do not be rude to the passengers. The passengers pay salaries. In comparing and contrasting these two businesses, American Airlines and Amazon, American struggles financially because they have such poor customer service, whereas Amazon is a world leader within business because they pay attention to their customers. Perhaps, if American Airlines does not clean up its act, it very well may well declare banktruptcy and not be able to recover.
- American Airlines. Consumer Affairs. Retrieved from: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/
travel/American_airlines.htm. - (2006) American Airlines: Service Wasn’t Just Bad, it was Actually Hostile! Epinions.
Retrieved from: http://www.epinions.com/review/trvl-Airlines_us_canada-American_ - Baldacci, Kevin. (2013). 7 Customer Service Lessons from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
Retrieved from: http://blogs.salesforce.com/company/2013/06/jeff-bezos-lessons.html - Madden, Sean. How Companies Like Amazon Use Big Data to Make You Love Them.
Retrieved from: http://www.fastcodedesign.com/1669551/how-companies-like-
Amazon.
