It’s that time of year when our kids start making lists for Santa and bugging mom and dad about every little toy, device, gadget and gizmo they’ve ever wanted for the Christmas holiday season. Buying gifts for your family can be super stressful at times. What do you do when the ONE thing your child has always wanted but you could never afford FINALLY goes on sale?
You know that moment when you find a great deal on a gift that your kid has been agonizing over for a long time? Something they’ve been wanting desperately but it just wasn’t in your budget? How about having it ripped out of your hands just as you place the order? Ever had that happen? I have, and it was pretty heart-wrenching. But don’t worry, this is a story of bad customer service gone good!
Finding the deal
A few weeks before Christmas I saw a great deal on a battery-powered ride in car for kids on Amazon; it was one of those daily deals that only last an hour or so. I was ecstatic! It was finally within my price range too!
My 7 yr old son who is autistic is OBSESSED with the motorized ride-on toys. He watches them on YouTube channels all the time and has begged me to get him one for over a year now. Whenever we go to Wal-Mart he drags me over to the toy department and looks longingly at each one; each time he would beg me to buy one for him. I have tried telling him it’s just not in our budget. He still won’t leave the area. I finally would say “Let’s take a picture of the one you want and send it to Santa.” Seriously it’s the only way I can get him to leave the toy section.
Testing out the ride on cars at Wal-Mart
Well, tonight I was SO excited when I saw a friend mention that they had one on sale on Amazon.com and after the promotional discounts it would only be $89.99!! I also had some Amazon gift cards I earned from work, so that brought the price down for me to only $64.98, I was SO excited! My order also said it was available for Prime shipping within 3-5 days, so I rushed to place the order before the discount went away. Then when I was on the final screen before I placed the order, it gave me two VERY different shipping dates. The radio button you usually choose for your shipping speed clearly stated 3-5 business days via Amazon Prime, yet in the highlighted text under the order details, it quoted an estimated delivery date between Dec 24-January 4 !
I was SO looking forward to seeing the magic of Santa in his eyes on Christmas morning.
Bad service, bad advice
I quickly contacted customer service via chat to see if there was anything that could be done to expedite my order. Then I checked my order after placing it, and it said the estimated date of Jan 6-13. So now they’re giving me THREE different dates?
She told me that if I canceled my order, it might give me a better delivery date when I redid the order. Instead, what it did was made me LOSE my discounts all together as the promotion ended! UGH! Her solution was to go ahead and place the order, and she would forward an email to another department to request a refund for the difference.
Hmmmm…….So let me get this straight, you want me to pay the full price and wait around for a “possible” refund for a price I should’ve had in the first place if I hadn’t of listened to your terrible advice? I don’t think so!
The best the first rep could/would offer me was a measly $5 discount when I originally had a $120 discount. It wasn’t until I asked THREE times for a supervisor that they offered a $60 discount which is only half the amount of discount I originally had. All because I was told by Amazon’s customer service rep to cancel the order and start over to get a better shipping date. Grrrrr!
This has been the worst customer service to date I have EVER received from Amazon. I had a similar issue with a Kindle order the prior month as well!
What bothered me more than anything was that I LOVE Amazon Prime! With the convenience of their site and a wide variety of products, and who doesn’t love two-day shipping? Overall I’ve had mostly good customer service from Amazon, but it was so incredibly disappointing to have this happen just before Christmas.
So there I was thinking about how my son would no longer be getting a ride on car at all because this was the ONLY way I could afford one. We were on a tight budget since my hubby started with a new trucking company and was between paychecks, in addition to medical bills stacking up needing to be paid. With the additional stress of not knowing if my hubby would even be home for Christmas, this was just becoming too much to bear.
Bad Customer service gone good!
That’s when I decided to do something I normally don’t do; vent on Facebook. I lamented to my friends what happened and got lots of suggestions including to contact Amazon by phone or email to expedite it even further, which I was getting ready to do until another blogger buddy of mine stepped in.
Courtney from Fave Mom found out my dilemma and sent in a good word to her contact at Step2.
When she told me that a “Spin & Go Extreme Cruiser” was on its way from Step2 and would arrive by Christmas, let’s just say I was OVERWHELMED with emotions! They were more than happy to make MY son’s Christmas magical! All I had to do was write a blog post and do social media shares. I was in absolute shock when she told me! Such a blessing!
Well, the day had come when it arrived, and it was a full week before Christmas. (Thank YOU Step2 for expediting it wow!) There was NO WAY I could hide this box from him for that long! I asked my brother-in-law if he wouldn’t mind not only storing it but assembling it for me as well. He even helped keep it a secret from my husband (his brother)! I wanted to see the shock and surprise on my husband’s face just as much as my son’s! The reaction on their faces was PRICELESS! Both of my son’s eyes were as wide as saucers too!
My youngest son was speechless; he just grinned ear to ear as he jumped in and took off! It was a moment to cherish for sure!
Make sure you watch the video so you can see his reaction as well as my husbands. Hilariously adorable!
He has had a BLAST with his new cruiser and hasn’t had any issues with maneuvering it all! Stay tuned for a follow-up post and I’ll tell you all about this cruiser and what it can do!
Special thanks to Step2 and Fave Mom for making my son’s Christmas wish and mine, as well come true!
He even added some Christmas lights for some extra bling which I thought was super cute!
Every cruiser needs a little bling right?
The Spin & Go Extreme Cruiser is no longer available from Step2 but as you can see they have PLENTY of fantastic ride on toys to choose from here!
This awesome cruiser was given to my son to fulfill his Christmas wish in exchange for an honest product review. I was not compensated in any other way. All opinions expressed are my own.
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As the founder of Why Not Mom; a unique online directory of mom-owned boutiques and mom-invented products, Tonia has strived to create a unique organization of female business owners, creating a diverse network that assists each other in driving more business to one another, in addition to providing tools and resources to achieve success in their business endeavors. It is her passion to make Why Not Mom the world’s largest online directory of women-owned businesses in the pursuit of strengthening families and supporting small business owners worldwide.
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