amazon go: customer service the way it should be

One of the things I've come to appreciate about the new office location is its location near an Amazon Go Store. What I really want to talk about is their ace customer service, but first I have a long digression.

Now, here's where I'm of a mixed mind. As much as there are some modern marvels that amaze me, I generally don't write about them. There are so many ways that I feel as if I'm living in the future, but everyone knows about these technological miracles, so I'm not saying anything new. But as far as I can tell there are only four cities with Amazon Go Stores, so it may be that my reader doesn't live near one and is unfamiliar with them.

So bear with me if you already know about this.

The Amazon Go Store is like a small market. Some groceries. Some prepared foods. It's kind of designed for hardworking Manhattanites who either need to pick up something for lunch, or who want to grab a few groceries quickly to carry out to their uptown apartments. What makes it stand out is how it works. When you enter, you have to scan in with your phone. You and take a bag (or don't), and take the items you want. You put them in your bag or your pocket, or you just carry them out. Somehow the system knows what you've taken, and your credit card gets charged.

Now, I have no idea what technologies they use in order to know what you've taken, but it's very good at it. Sometimes I buy one item. Sometimes a few. On one occasion I bought 20 items (including 17 packaged soups from Hale & Hearty). I've put things in my bag, then changed my mind and put them back. I have a friend at work who has gone out of his way to trick their system -- putting things back in the wrong place -- and his bill has never been wrong. From my experience, they get it right about 94% of the time -- I've purchased stuff there 33 times, and my bill has been incorrect twice. Actually, their success rate is better than that indicates because there have been a couple times that I've gone in, taken things off the shelf, then put them back and left without making a purchase.

Now that that's out of the way, I can talk about what I wanted to talk about -- their customer service. On the two occasions where my bill was wrong, I was charged for an extra item I hadn't taken. But getting it corrected was really a snap. When the itemized bill shows up on my phone, there's an order number at the bottom and a link to contact them about the trip. With a couple clicks, I can have my phone call Amazon (or, more precisely, to have Amazon call me). I have to tell them who they're talking to, but other than that they know what bill I'm calling about and what's on that bill. None of this reading a number to one representative, getting transferred to another, then reading the number again, and telling them my name, address and blood type forty gagillion times. So in both cases I told the representative which item on the bill I hadn't taken. The rep apologized and the bill got corrected in short order.* Easy, peasy, George loves Weezy.

That's what customer service should be.

One final word: As cool as this is, I also find it oddly creepy.

*Notably, I assume that part of the reason I have had no trouble getting my bills corrected is that I've only had to do it a couple times. Presumably if I went in there every day and complained after each visit I'd start to get push back. I don't know what technologies they use, so it could also be that they have full video surveilance and someone can review the footage to check up on me.