My faith in large corporations customer service capabilities was restored by this uplifting story I heard the other day.

An expensive on-line tread mill was purchased through Amazon.ca.  The product included a one year manufacturers warranty.   The purchasers received the product, shipped and as when expected.  It was set up and the exercising began, to everyone’s satisfaction.

Having some home exercise equipment can be very help to keep ones self in shape.  Personally I am not a big practitioner of home exercise preferring to exercise by walking at least 10,000 steps a day (A goal which I consistently exceed).

For about four months the tread mill performed as expected and then, alas it stopped working.   The manufacturer was called (toll free) and a conversation ensued.  It turns out the original manufacturing company went under chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States and was sold.   The purchasers canceled all existing warranties.   Unfortunately that included the warranty on the machine in question.   The option was to purchase a $700 part and install it themselves.  It might fix the problem or it might not.  The part could not be returned, so it was a crap shoot.

This led to a call to Amazon.  Just a, “hey, bought a large item through your service and it broke, warranty was canceled due to bankruptcy, is there anything you can do.

After waiting for some time well the service representatives briefed their supervisor, the response came back.  Amazon offered to pay for the part and follow-up in four weeks to see if it worked and if not would consider future assistance.  They were asked if it would be okay to use the $700 to purchase another tread mill and give up on this one since it was not clear if it could be repaired.   After further consultation with a supervisor this arrangement was approved.  And the part cost reimbursement went through.

So, there is only one thing to say – kudos to Amazon.