I wondered when I started this blog if I would be able to come up with new ideas for the next post, and then the next post, and then blah, blah, blah.

New story ideas just seem to happen as part of a normal week. Sometimes these “things” are pretty interesting. Things than make you go “Hmmm”. There in lies the basis for this story having dealt with a weird situation trying to access my Amazon account to order some 3/8 inch Walnut dowels. Yes, this really is a wood shop story I promise, and maybe a little extra about how technology actually DOES improve our lives.

Let’s make this story a linear timeline of fun and excitement with a little back story shall we?

I come from the technology world. My entire adult professional career was spent with computers & software and for a decade, working for one of the coolest and largest software companies in the world.

Though I came from a Detroit based, working class family I busted my butt in order to pay for college and it took me seven years of working full time and taking classes part time to do it. That blue collar upbringing, the appreciation for a hard earned dollar and a technical background gives me a unique perspective to tell this story.

Because of my technical background I was invited to be a beta user of Google and Gmail and was an early adopter of Facebook and Twitter and online retailers like Amazon. By comparison, Amazon provided a unique and cool technical service especially for products that might be hard to find locally. Search for it, buy it and it arrives on your doorstep. This was a great service. Twitter and Facebook? “No really, ping me again to tell me you’re heading out to buy more eggs, I’ll be glued to my phone.”

While others had initial qualms about buying pretty much anything from this new mall killing monster, I was all in. I bought things that you would normally want to see and try on first like shoes and sweaters, and branched out into other things I needed like tools and other goodies for the wood shop. Jewelry for my wife was a slam dunk for birthdays, and I also outfitted my entire YouTube audio/video/lighting equipment from Amazon too.

Then as a matter of due course, I simply needed to buy some Walnut dowels. Um, yeah.

The Customer Experience

As a frequent user I was surprised to see that my Amazon login initially failed. A message popped up asking to send a confirmation code / text to an old work cell number that I had forgotten to change. Since that number was no longer in service (3 months had passed since I left the company), I tried to log in again asking for the code to be sent to my registered email address. That failed as well. Weird. It’s my email address and it is the basis for my Amazon account. The error message said I needed to call the customer service “800” number to resolve the issue.

The customer service agent was nice enough, and tried to verify my account information. I was asked for my full name, my current address, the registered credit card number and expiration date and my email address. After I provided that information correctly there was a long pause. The agent read back the wrong email address to me and I corrected him. Another long pause.

“Sir, I’ll need to ask you about your last three purchases in order”.

“Do you mean just me or from the same Prime account I share with my wife? I’m not sure I can recount what she might have purchased”. Another pause.

“No sir, just your last three purchases”.

Here’s where I apparently had trouble in getting that information correct. I mentioned three recent purchases, all of which should have been under my account but then my Amazon world gets skewered.

“Sir, I’m sorry but the system is telling that there is a problem with your security answers. I cannot grant you access to this account, but I can help you open a new account if you like”.

“Uh, wait a minute. Why would I set up a new account using the same email address I’m currently locked out of, and what about the account relationship I have with my wife and our Amazon Prime subscription?”

“You would have to open a new account and then open up a new Prime subscription attached to that account”.

“With my existing email address, like the one you’re locking me out of, as the new account ID?” There was another long pause.

Frustrated, I ended that call. I’m sorry man, the technology to verify me and my account information has been in place for more than 20 years. You want me to accurately detail my last 3 purchases without me being able to look at my purchase history? I might have, maybe, gotten that right. Maybe. Those questions being the only basis to verify that I am the account owner and no other verification method? Really BAD technology.

Within 5 minutes, I received an email to my regular email address from Amazon customer service fraught with spelling errors, telling me again that I failed the security screening and that I would have to set up a new account, with some new email account I don’t have I guess. Be sure to notice that they sent this communication to the email address that was supposed to be the problem.

Reviewing What Happened

So at what point does a technology company in the retail sector cease to be considered on the forefront of technology? It’s funny to me really. I can call my financial institution from my cell and using my voice print I get immediately verified so that a customer service agent has my account information up on his screen. It’s pretty cool actually. “Hello sir, you’ve been verified. How can I help you today?” That technology has been in place for more than 5 years.

Even if I have a login issue like a forgotten password, I can use the web or my phone to respond to a verification code sent to a phone or my email account. Simple.

Not Amazon. No access. No way to verify it’s me because I got something wrong on a scripted series of verbal questions and answers. “Would you like to open a new account now?”

“No.”

I waited a day to settle down and try and be fair with my assessment of the situation and then revisited the series of events, including my history with this retailer. Amazon for years has been a sound and vital product delivery service for my family especially during the COVID years. But, the side effect across these same years has led to a dwindling of the human interface and the personal touch of customer service. Do I really want to buy shoes without trying them on first? Not really. It was just easier to press a button and have them show up at my door. Returning them however was a pain. Did I really need to buy Walnut dowels from Amazon? No, it just would have been easier and I never would have needed to leave the house.

My regular supplier of specialty hardwoods and things like 3/8 inch Walnut dowels is now 100 miles away since we’ve moved. I don’t have to go there for things like Red Oak and Maple, Pine or Cedar. I can get those species locally. 100 miles is where I have to go for exotic South American or African hardwoods and apparently, Walnut dowels. Now that I’ve made the trip and have those dark brown beauties sitting nicely on my work bench, it was a good time to take stock in why that whole experience was simply better.

The Human Interface

Never underestimate the value of getting out of the house. Today was a glorious sunny day and a balmy 25 degrees in Mid Michigan; A veritable heat wave. Too cold to point your face and bare chest to the sky to soak up some Vitamin D, but sunny enough to make a 100 mile drive sort of special even if you’re wearing a parka. I got to see my regular sales/service guy at the counter. This is the same guy who helped me with laying out the number of White Oak board feet I needed for my monster dining table. The same guy who talked me into snagging some of the pretty Quartersawn White Oak for the same project. I browsed the live edge section and spotted a snaggletooth piece of Olivewood that’s been there for months still calling my name. I exchanged pleasantries with another woodworker who was looking at the supply of Cherry and groaning over the price. “I feel ya, man”. We actually made eye contact and laughed.

In the end it turned out to be a 200 mile round trip for a $20 purchase and I loved the whole day.

As with all things there needs to be balance. There will always be a need for speed of product delivery and that often comes with improved technology to support that speed. Amazon’s technology in my opinion no longer provides the premium customer experience they were originally built on. Try resolving a situation where your notification says the Amazon package was delivered, but the picture shows it on somebody else’s porch. There is no automated resolution option for that one and best of luck reaching someone who can do anything other than suggest a refund and return of the package not in your possession.

Amazon’s process in my opinion is slowly losing it’s usefulness to the consumer given the advancement of their competitors and other service based companies. My login/lockout experience was ridiculous for a guy and a family that has been an Amazon customer for over 20 years with the same email addresses and account IDs in place. I’m sure Amazon still invests in the continuous improvement of the actual “Pick-Pack-Ship” process and driver route efficiency. I’m sure consumers will continue to lean on Amazon for everything from baby formula to band saws. They will remain the bull in the china shop for a while anyway, and I’m sure Amazon will be around for years. Bristled at my whole customer experience, Amazon will no longer be my first choice for product shopping. I guess I don’t have an account I can access anyway.

Human interaction and the support of local business is something I will look forward to building up again, not because it’s a fashionable thing to do; You know, farm to table, “Shop Local” and all that, but because it is the “balanced” thing to do. We’ll continue to need delivery speed for certain things that is true, but I think we still need the tactile and interpersonal benefits of getting away from the computer and getting out into the world to see, feel, and buy things. We will need to see people, make eye contact, commiserate on the cost of pretty much everything and in my own case, talk about wood shop stuff.

Quality of Life

So as stated at the top of this piece, technology or more specifically BAD technology really did help to improve my life. Not in the way technology was intended but because of a situation where bad customer service technology motivated me to step out into the world and make a road trip on a rare sunny day in February.

That visit to one of my favorite specialty wood suppliers benefited multiple people and businesses. I bought gas along the way. I stopped at a local doughnut shop for a cream filled, chocolate covered monstrosity that made up more than half of my recommended daily calorie intake. Yummy though. I spoke to five different human beings and remembered what it was like to be nice and “human” again. It gives those local business people purpose. It gave me purpose. Imagine a human being walking down an aisle saying something like, “Hey, I think we have that. You said 3/8 inch Walnut, right?”

“Yes, thank you very much”.

“Hey, how did that Oak dining table turn out?”

“Really awesome, thanks for your help on that. The quartersawn is ridiculously pretty”. Imagine that, a real interaction with someone who remembers you and treats you like the valued customer they think you are.

Technology? Not required for this highly satisfying customer experience.