A few days ago I ordered a few books and a DVD set (Shogun:) from Amazon.com.

In Europe we have Region #2 DVD decoding, but the DVD I actually ordered was for Region #1. Yes, Amazon did warn me (great personalization, BTW) about this before I finalized my order.

But still I didn't listen and ordered anyway (even if I can't watch it on my DVD I can still do it on my laptop, at least until I get a "region-free" DVD player).

Then I did some more research and found out that US DVDs also require different TV encoding. This was a surprise. Even though I might be getting a new DVD, I have no intention of getting a US television.

So I go back to Amazon.com, login and try to cancel my order, since it still hasn't gotten to the shipping phase. BTW - Isn't it great that Amazon let's you cancel your orders before they're shipped? An excellent added value for the customer ...

Anyway, their system wouldn't work and I didn't even get far enough in my account to be able to cancel the order. I tried doing that a few times during the day, but no luck --- they kept telling me they'll resolve their system issues "very soon".

Well, that's great, but I still would rather not receive a Region #1 DVD (and yes, I know it's perfectly my fault). So I drop them an e-mail asking them to cancel my order. And don't you think that's easy to do: they hide their contact information (definitly a minus) more than your average spam fearing citizen.

Unfortunately it was already too late. My order just entered shipping phase.

A couple of hours later I finally get a reply from Amazon, with their deep apologies ... and telling me that my order was already shipped and can't cancel it anymore.

That's a shame ... and they thought so too. So they recommended I decline accepting the package so that I can send it back free of charge to me and get a full refund from Amazon.

Wow!

That was a surprise.

OK, their system was having some problems so I couldn't properly cancel my order. But still, it was perfectly my fault. And now they're giving me advice on how to return the order without any cost to me (but with cost to them) and claim a full refund ... basically because of a mistake I made.

That's excellent customer service! If only others would be the same and show the same respect to the customer.

Naturally, now I won't be returning the product and I definitly will accept the order. Yes, their customer service was so good!