So this is the story of how I called three airline customer care numbers in one night — and then Zappos.
And then I understood.
Now, I don’t recommend calling multiple airline customer care hotlines within the span of an hour. They’ll make you mad. At the first airline, it took me 15 minutes to get on the line with someone — and that’s only after pressing every button on my phone five times just to figure out the secret code to get to an actual human. At the second, the customer care rep actually snarled at me over the phone. By the third call, I was numb.
Airlines have gotten pretty good at replicating the in-flight experience over the phone, it seems.
Then I called Zappos. And this is where all the happy-smiling-elves, over-the-rainbow stuff that I’d been hearing about Zappos comes into play.
Last month, I decided to buy two pairs of boots on their site. I found the ones I wanted. Clicked buy. Got the confirmation email that they’d been sent. And for three days, I checked each morning to see when my shoes would be arriving.
I was weirdly excited for these shoes. I’ve never owned a pair of decent boots before. The thought of looking all professional was… kinda cool, actually.
Anyway, it’s Thursday, and I check the UPS site. The package had been delivered, it said. I walked home, walked to my mailbox… and nothing.
I went to my apartment. Nothing sitting on my door.
I took a loop around the apartment building. Then outside.
Nothing.
I call the landlord. Anyplace else I should be checking?
Nothing.
So I call Zappos. And they tell me: Yeah, it’s not all that uncommon that around Christmas that people steal packages. But that’s alright. UPS insures everything we send. When we get your shoes back in stock, we’ll just send you a new pair.
Sweet!
Two weeks pass, and I check the Zappos website. One pair of my shoes is in stock. I give Zappos a call.
Just as before, a human picks up quickly. She’s cheery, pleasant. Even makes small talk about state abbreviations.[1. “MO! I’d never heard someone pronounce your state’s abbreviation as a word before!”] I tell her about my issue. She looks through it, tells me not to worry about the stolen shoes. Tells me she’s happy to refund the money for the pair of boots that isn’t in stock, and she’ll send me the other boots right away.
And, just for being patient with us: We’re upgrading you to VIP status, so you can get way faster shipping.
Sweet!
I get the confirmation email from Zappos this morning. The boots will be here this very afternoon.
Really sweet!
And this time — I’m not taking any chances. I’m having them shipped to work.