11.11.22

Amazon (lack of) Support Part 2 “Agency Insider Opinion Piece”

Written by Matthew Ferguson | Read Time: 5 mins

“Amazon support undermines logic and all we think we know of Amazon as consumers.”

See past and supporting posts in this series:

Let’s shake off the pain and frustration as best we can from last week's post. Yes, it was 4 months of lost time, wasted energy and sheer befuddlement such an event is commonplace with Amazon support.

However, let's try to remove the emotion… or at least, ignore it. Let’s try to break down what happened. Let’s try, unlike many in support, to understand the issue more deeply.

How has Amazon allowed this to happen?

“... sellers interacting with support will soon realise how little Amazon cares for them.”

I honestly have no idea how Amazon has let this fester and grow for so long. Amazon is supposed to be a huge innovative buyer-focused hive of great service and 21st-century thinking. How did their support become a backwater of inconsistencies, soaked in a lack of accountability? It's like Amazon support wants to take longer to get things resolved.

Last weeks post identified a number of touch points that need to be addressed and better understood. Why they exist is a matter of pure opinionated conjecture by this author, but let’s take a moment to identify them.

Where is their internal documentation for processes and steps?

Last week we saw 4 cases for the same question breed 4 wildly different responses. That simply should not be possible with central training and procedural documentation. That is what our small agency does - we write down what works. We know it helps train staff and provide a more succinct and structured service for all. We know it saves all parties time. Where is Amazon’s internal documentation? Why is it missing, or so lacklustre it might as well be set alight.

Why do they all have different ideas to fix the same problem?

Surely a central internal documentation on Error = Solution would have been thought of and developed by now, 15 years later.

To be fair, I understand Amazon likes to evolve and make changes often. I appreciate each change would trigger a documentation revamp exercise. This is not lost on me,

But for heaven’s sakes, come on. Amazon makes billions. It is suppose to be consumer-focused. Is it good consumer experience to have the wrong size on a listing? To order the wrong size? To return it? Sure, the buyer won’t be out of pocket, but its hardly a positive experience.

Where is their central knowledge base and process steps?

Amazon passes all that cost, energy and time to the seller. But also to the support team, who lead the topic in circles.

Did someone crunch the numbers and really identify it’s better for Amazon, consumers and costs to push this mess to a poorly supported and trained Support team with no pillar of documentation to rely upon for concrete support responses that actually work? Did anyone even notice?

This is a ‘101’ action for team growth and training, as well as uniformed responses and increasing speed to respond.

Who is measuring case repetition?

4 cases, 4 months… surely that, and the countless other examples like it, should be appearing on internal KPIs and need flagging for improvement.

It is hard to believe no one is measuring case lengths. So do they simply not care? With all the automation at Amazon’s fingertips… this somehow is missing.

Everyone I know who is ex-Amazon (I know many) always say the same things; Amazon is very metric-driven. It’s all about the numbers.

I find this really hard to believe when it comes to Amazon support, and granted, I have yet to meet anyone Ex Amazon support!

If Amazon Support is metric-driven, why are they ignoring all their own poor metrics? How on earth are they OK to waste their own time, let alone sellers, and consumers?

Either they are not tracking the right metrics, or someone is fudging this to justify their own existence, or hide their own inability to fix this. I really do not know.

Who has seniority and experience for escalation?

It's not just inefficient - it's broken. But who the heck do we escalate this to? No one. That’s who. There is a collective “well it’s not my problem” message you get when it comes to Amazon Support escalation - Account Managers, Category Managers, Marketing Managers… lot’s of ‘managers’ who all don't ‘manage’ this area.

The support agents themselves are not to blame - they seem to have had minimal training and zero internal documentation support as far as I fathom. They are set up for failure. Their line managers seemingly measure on a simplest measure of total volume of cases closed, rather than probing deeper on repeating themes, repeating cases, case open times and more. Amazon support needs its own internal scoring process. If it has one, it needs a better one.

The whole team lacks oversight, efficient thinking or care. Maybe that is what irks most - sellers interacting with support will soon realise how little Amazon cares for them, to give them such an ineffectual support system or process. It’s disrespectful, pure and simple.

Silver lining, please

As I warned, this has been written more as a self-help technique. I’m venting. I’ve got 15 years of steam to let out.

Amazon has a mystique about it. Amazon is an all-smart and all-innovative and all-encompassing amazing service… Amazon support quickly burst that bubble. Anyone believing Amazon will take over the world and make it better… Well, try to get your Brand or GS1 barcode changed on your listing for your product, then let's talk about that idea.

Those that read this to the end and related, consider us in a self-help group. If you are feeling weak, contact your sponsor.

Eventually, you should get the problem resolved. Not always though - I have known a seller who, despite owning the product, Brand, trademark, buy box (with no resellers), GS1 barcode and manufacturer… could not update their Brand on the listing 3 years later. They were told it’s ‘impossible’. It is very much not impossible. It just might take more time, sanity and emotional baggage than its worth.

We do this for a living, and we do follow rules and methods which work most of the time. We are typically confident most things can and will be resolved with time and effort. Help is out there, and you are not alone. If you do want someone to take this and other elements of this, at times, hugely frustrating channel off our hands, I (despite this post) make a living helping people just like you…

If you have a great story to tell, please email us and share it for the world to appreciate. I think the time has come to start speaking up about this globally. Let's avoid any future heart palpitations for current and future sellers. Lets help the customer Amazon so vocally claims to prize amongst all else.

I need to save the thinning hair I have too!

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