Amazon Saves the Day - USPS Doesn't

We really dislike the postal service. Delivery is sketchy at best. There are at least two instances that our building did not receive mail delivery. We complained, and it really doesn't make any difference. On the other hand, we rarely, if ever, have issues with UPS. In fact, we wrote letters of commendation for a particular UPS delivery person in our neighborhood. He not only enters the building, but goes to the specific unit to deliver a package rather than leave it in the common mail area. But I really want to extend cudos to Amazon. We were expecting a package on Sunday when we received notice that it wasn't delivered because no one was at home. We were not only at home, we saw no truck, and there was no notice left to reschedule. So I contacted Amazon to complain about the USPS service in this area, and they shouldn't use USPS for delivery. Within an hour, we received a response from Amazon in the most customer friendly terms, and that they would credit our shipping cost for the inconvenience. We also rescheduled our package delivery for the next day - before 11 AM. Did it arrive before 11 AM? Of course not. It did, however, arrive with the rest of the mail in the afternoon.  All I can say is one company is quite successful while the other continues to make excuses for terrible service. I don't know if it's because we live in DC because we never had issues with the post office in Milwaukee regardless of the ice, sleet, blizzards, and snow. All I know is Amazon is wonderful, and they stand by their customers. 

AT&T Data Plan Change a Good Idea?

A couple of months ago I switched our AT&T unlimited data plan to a reduced plan for a lower cost every month. The main reasons were to have Mifi, and after evaluating the amount of data we traditionally use, we never really used a lot - until recently. I needed to Mifi because whenever we travel, and I have digital art work to do and need to communicate with my customers. Using an iPhone is too small and I need access to everything on my iPad. My iPad is only Wifi enabled and does not have a cellular option. However, whenever we travel, and I use google maps, the data usage spikes. AT&T is very good about warning us about the per cent data that has been used, and we do everything we can to minimize using any more. But it just doesn't seem to help. So I was a bit surprised when we received a notice that we would get a $30 credit related to the overage charges last month. After all, we have been their customers forever, and I also have an automatic data plan set up on my mom's iPad because she has no wifi in her house. I'm beginning to wonder if changing the plan was a good idea. It is a lot less per month, and these occasional overages are tolerable - but certainly not appreciated one bit. I'll take the credit for last month but I have a feeling we'll never see it again. 

Comcast Credit?

It seems like a long time ago, but back in October we were having Comcast cable and Internet issues. We had intermittent cable over a week or so, and then lost several HD channels we routinely watched. I also spent a long time on a service phone call with them that resulted in nothing, which I knew was going to happen based on what she was suggesting I do. We finally ended up with a service call. The guy even came before the appointed time, was not able to fix it, but called in additional help and promised it would be taken care of - and it was. Both of these incidents of the failed service call and the successful restoration of our HD channels were blog entries. Our only disappointment was that we were not reimbursed for the days, time, and inconvenience of the service we didn't have but paid for. Yesterday we got the bill and there was a credit on it. I checked the detail and can only assume that the credit had something to do with the complaint. I usually don't make an issue about these types of things, but am happy I did. Someone responded from Comcast when they read about the not so great service and left a name and number to contact, and someone must have responded about paying for service we did not have. We also received a few phone calls from their management team. I heard somewhere that blogging about these sorts if things can result in some positive action. I can say it happened twice.