CUSTOMER SERVICE ISSUES FACED BY AMAZON.COM ASSOCIATED WITH YODEL
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT 3
INTRODUCTION 4
METHODOLOGY 4
RESEARCH AND FINDINGS 5
RESULTS 6
DISCUSSION 6
CONCLUSION 7
RECOMMENDATIONS 8
REFERENCES 8
ABSTARCT:
Amazon is the largest online retailer in the world. This report observes the customer service challenges faced by Amazon. It also indicates the problems associated with the customer service provided by Amazon. The problem is mainly created by the Yodel which is the delivery company using by the Amazon. This report suggests the recommendations to solve the customer’s problems and tips for improving the customer service.
INTRODUCTION:
Amazon is the U.S based e-commerce company with its headquarters in Seattle, Washington. Amazon expands its operation globally in Canada, U.K, France, Austria, Germany, Spain, Brazil, Italy, Japan and China. It is the one of the largest online retailer in the world. The founder of the company is Jeff Bezos. The name amazon.com was derived from Amazon River (amazon.com).
Initially they started an online book store, and then it expands its selling in various modules. They start to sell DVDs, CDs, various software, electronic goods, toys, jewellery, video games, apparels, furniture etc. The main part of selling is consumer electronics such as amazon kindle e-book reader, Kindle Fire tablet computer. It is the largest provider of cloud computing services.
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this report is to reveal the problems of customers of amazon. Amazon.com delivered a poor customer service in the last year because of Yodel. It turns into a big issue which affects the business image of amazon.com. The problems are listed as follows (AOL)
➢ Improper Delivery of Parcels
➢ Dissatisfaction of Customers
➢ Poor Customer service
METHODOLOGY:
This article was taken from the AOL website which was published on August 24th 2012. This article mainly insists the difficulties faced by large number of customers. This information was collected mainly from the case study of Amazon.com and from the various magazines and from Amazon.com official website.
RESEARCH AND FINDINGS:
The problems are explained as follows:
Improper Delivering of Parcels:
Yodel is the one of the biggest delivery service using by amazon.com. It is the largest delivery service in U.K. after Royal Mail. For the past few months Yodel company didn’t deliver the parcel to the amazon customers. They leave the parcels at the doorstep at the time of delivering parcels. They didn’t even knock the door of the customers. This makes the customers very disappointed (AOL).
Nearly 5000 people posted complaints in amazon website complain forums. Thousands of people had signed a petition against Yodel for their improper delivery service.
Dissatisfaction of Customers:
Most of the people posted variety of problems regarding the distribution strategy of Yodel. Some people received their packages very late and some of them didn’t get the parcel to their homes. One customer complained about the service of yodel. It is really heart- breaking news. He reported that he saw his package got jammed between the fence and caravan. Yodel didn’t deliver the parcels to the customers at the accurate time. They didn’t even check properly whether the customer is at home or not? They don’t want to wait of the customers. Some customers got much damaged parcels (AOL).
The yodel delivery suppliers just called the customers at once; if the customers are not available they sent back the items to the depot. Some customers found their items on the street. These types of indecorous behaviours make the customers unhappy.
Poor Customer Service:
Due to this Yodel Company, amazon.com received bad impressions from the people. Some customers want to know about the information about their parcels. In every delivery service company, people can check the tracking record of parcels (AOL).
If the customers ask about their items, yodel didn’t answer the queries of the customers. Yodel is not having proper database regarding the information of the parcel. Whenever the customers contact the customer care, the yodel suppliers replied so many reasons which are not to be acceptable. One group of people expected that Amazon should stop using the Yodel Company for their delivery purpose. Most of them want to fire the Yodel. These unscrupulous activities of Yodel result in frustration to the customers.
RESULTS:
From the above research and findings, the ignorance and lethargic service of Yodel are exposed clearly.
I. Delivering parcels at the inappropriate time.
II. Lack of basic customer skills
III. Lack of training to the employees
IV. Lack of proper conduct and behaviour of the Yodel employees
V. Improper handling of Customer complaints
DISCUSSION:
Customer satisfaction is the base for every company’s success. There are few steps to satisfy the customers. They are as follows.
➢ The companies should directly deal with the customers.
➢ The companies should respond to the customer problems immediately without making any delay.
➢ They should always update the customers about the changes takes place in the company.
➢ The companies should have clear and perfect customer service policies. The employees should be friendly to the customers and ready to hear their complaints (Sitepoint).
➢ The company must keep their promises in delivering their good quality products to the customers.
➢ The company should wish the customers for their festival occasions, birthdays, holidays etc. This method helps to impress the customers (Sitepoint).
The distribution company Yodel accept the thousands of complaints. But these complaints are in very small proportion because the company is delivering more than 170 million parcels to the people all over the world. Jonathan Smith, Yodel CEO, insisted that the 170 million parcels delivered to the customers in a regular and smooth way (AOL).
In rare cases some problems are raised for the customers. The main idea of Yodel is to provide quality customer service to the people. So the company apologise and realize for the mistakes and gave assurance to the people or customers that they will try to resolve all the issues as early as possible. Ultimately the company promise the customers that they are ready to listen to the customer’s complaints (AOL) and they will take appropriate actions to resolve the customer queries in the future.
CONCLUSION:
Amazon is working with large number of delivery service companies. Amazon is despatching millions of orders in a weekly and monthly basis to the customers (AOL).This is a biggest challenge to the Amazon. Even though Amazon is providing lot of tracking methods for the customers in the website, sometimes certain problems will happen to the customers in one or two parts of the countries. Besides Amazon is also a good online retailing company. Their performance is measured by the delivery service to the customers.
People don’t have enough time to go to shop to buy the products. So people are using online shopping service. People can search the things in online according to their needs and convenience and they can order the products through online. People just trust the brand names such as Wal-Mart, Amazon, Flip kart etc. Companies cannot misuse the trust of the customers. The online retailers should provide the good quality of products to the customers. They are paying lot of money instantly by using their credit and debit cards. The companies should respect the people’s hard earned money. They should deliver the products to the customers without any damage and the parcels should reach the doors of the customers at the right time without any delay. Then only the customers will be happy and keeps continuing the online shopping.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Amazon must choose the proper delivery service company. Providing quality customer service is very essential for the online business. Either Yodel has to improve the customer service or Amazon should stop using this Yodel for their delivery purpose. This is the only option to satisfy the customers.
➢ Yodel has to appoint the dedicated employees at their delivery outlets. The employees of Yodel should take responsibility for the products which delivered to the customers. They have to take care of the parcels of the customers and they should reach the customers in appropriate time. The employees should give the proper training of basic customer service skills.
➢ Yodel has to implement the proper customer service department in their each and every outlet or branches all over the world. They should maintain the records of the items and the item tracking number for each and every parcel in the database. If the customer contacts the nearest branch, that branch employees should clarify the customer doubts immediately and they should provide enough information to the customers. Then only the customers will be attracted and they feel happy about the service.
➢ If the employees couldn’t able to reach the customer residence means, they may contact the mobile number of the customers and they will meet them directly to give the parcel. U may also send the SMS to the customer before u reach the customers residence.
If Yodel implements the above suggestions, this will help to improve the customer service and it also won’t affect the reputation of Amazon. Amazon reputation is associated with the Yodel’s delivery service to the customers.
References
Aol(2013).Money.http://money.aol.co.uk/2012/08/24/amazon-customer-uproar-over-delivery-service/ Retrieved on January 21st 2013.
Amazon (1996).
http://www.amazon.com/ Retrieved on January 21st 2013.
Sitepoint (2013).
http://www.sitepoint.com/satisfaction-7-steps/ Retrieved on January 21st 2013.