In this age of self-service, bad customer experiences are quite often the things that we write and tell our friends about. In a shift away from this tendency here is an example of a great experience for the customer

Back in October I accepted a trial membership to Amazon Prime, where one of the main benefits is express shipping at a very reduced rate for yourself and friends or family members that you invite into your membership. I accepted the free-offer in order to expedite the shipping of my order at the time. They were clear that at the end of the trial, they would charge my card on file unless I would cancel the membership prior to this date. I made a note on my calendar to make sure I would cancel the membership before being charged.

My deadline fell on a weekend that I happened to be out of town and without my computer, not that it would have mattered because I had completely forgotten about Amazon at this point. On monday morning, I verified my Amazon account and it said my credit card had been charged for the annual fee and extended my amazon prime membership for a full year. I was bummed. It was a lot of money for something I rarely use and would not be worth the value I was being charged and most of all it was my own fault.

There was a cancel button next to the my prime account details, I was tempted to click it since I was just a couple of days late and it was a weekend. Then fear settled in, what if I cancel my membership but I still retain the charge, that would almost be worse since I had just paid for a full year. I decided to find more information online about canceling the service. An FAQ answer cleared thing up for me, I could cancel my membership at any time and as long I had not used the privileges of the membership, I could get a full refund. Brilliant!

I went back to my account details and clicked the cancel button. I received an email message letting me know that my request had been received and that my account was being evaluated before issuing a refund. A few minutes later, I received confirmation that my charge would be refunded as a credit because I had not used the benefits of the membership.

Our records indicate that you have not used your Amazon Prime membership benefits, so I have requested a refund of $79.00 for the
membership fee. The refund should be processed within the next 2-3
business days and will appear as a credit on your next credit card
billing statement.

I went back to Amazon for another purchase and although the express shipping would’ve been nice, I felt better buying from them knowing they care about the customer experience. That is far more valuable to me in the long run than saving a few bucks on one order. Thank you Amazon for treating me like a valuable customer, or at least making me feel like one.