Thursday, October 4, 2007

Amazin' Amazon.

Yesterday I had to go to the seventh ring of hell--T-Mobile--and replace a lost cellphone for my 16 year old. Of course the service sucked. Of course we felt bound and gagged by our extortionate "service" contracts. Of course we were subject to bait-and-switch pricing. And of course, even while in the T-Mobile store, we got messages on our phones saying things like "call not allowed," "service not available," and worse.

It would cost us $800 to get out of our T-Mobile contracts, so we remain--though they don't fulfill their contractural obligations by actually supplying service.

Then I got home and had an email from Amazon. Before I go into its content, I'll admit that I am probably one of Amazon's better private customers. I probably buy 75 books a year or more from them.

Here's what the email from Amazon said: I get a refund of $2.11 on a book I just bought because in between the time I bought it and the time they sent it out to me, the price went down.

$2.11 doesn't mean that much to me. But that's all it cost for Amazon to buy my loyalty.

Screw all the bs about Web 2.0 or 3.0 (now, I'm actually seeing 4.0). Amazon engages in Good Business 101. That's what it's about.

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