This is one person's frustrating exchange with Amazon.co.uk's customer support. How can a simple question be so hard to answer? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hi, After reading your page on online CD retailer's policies I thought I would let you know of my experience trying to get an answer from Amazon.co.uk. I sent this email to them: "I am thinking or ordering the four new Kevin Ayers remastered CDs Joy Of A Toy (ASIN: B00008Y2IU), Shooting At The Moon (ASIN: B00008Y2IV), Whatevershebringswesing (ASIN: B00008Y2IW) and Bananamour (ASIN: B00008Y2IX). But before I do I would be grateful if you could tell me if they are copy protected or not as you don't give this information for every copy protected CD you sell. It would be helpful to clearly label all such discs so that people can avoid purchasing them if they so wish." And this was their reply: "Dear Customer Thank you for contacting us at Amazon.co.uk. The only information we can give you about a particular CD is that which we display on the detail page for that CD. On many detail pages, in addition to the artist and recording label, you'll also find links to track listings, reviews, customer comments, a biography of the artist, a list of musical influences, and other CDs by that artist. All of these links appear in the left-hand margin. We know that sometimes the amount of information we have may make it difficult to make a purchasing decision unless you already know something about the CD. Our editorial staff is constantly increasing the amount of information we provide about each item in our music store, and we invite you to add to this information by submitting customer reviews for your favourite (or not-so-favourite) CDs. If you'd like to find more information about this CD on the Internet, you might try posting your question to an appropriate music newsgroup, such as one of the following: rec.music.progressive rec.music.country.western rec.music.classical We hope this information is of help. Thank you for shopping at Amazon.co.uk. Warmest regards Amit Gosain Customer Service Amazon.co.uk" So unhappy with this fob off I sent this reply: "Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately your reply did not have any relevance to the question I asked. I asked if the following CDs are copy protected or not: Kevin Ayers remastered CDs Joy Of A Toy (ASIN: B00008Y2IU), Shooting At The Moon (ASIN: B00008Y2IV), Whatevershebringswesing (ASIN: B00008Y2IW) and Bananamour (ASIN: B00008Y2IX). I feel this information is central to any purchasing decisions I make." And this question got an even sillier reply: "Dear Customer Thank you for contacting us at Amazon.co.uk. Rest assured, all the music CD's we list on our Web site are copyright protected. As previously informed that the only information we can give you about a particular CD is that which we display on the detail page for that CD. On many detail pages, in addition to the artist and recording label, you'll also find links to track listings, reviews, customer comments, a biography of the artist, a list of musical influences, and other CDs by that artist. All of these links appear in the left-hand margin. We know that sometimes the amount of information we have may make it difficult to make a purchasing decision unless you already know something about the CD. Our editorial staff is constantly increasing the amount of information we provide about each item in our music store, and we invite you to add to this information by submitting customer reviews for your favourite (or not-so-favourite) CDs. We hope this information is of help. Thank you for shopping at Amazon.co.uk. Please let us know if this e-mail answered your question: Warmest regards Aman Gupta Customer Service Amazon.co.uk" Copyright protected I ask you . Anyway being a persistent little bugger (and rather annoyed at being treated like dirt) I sent another (slightly sarcastic) reply: "Once again thank you for your totally useless reply. I did not ask if the CDs are copyrighted. I asked if the CDs contain copy protection. You know the thing that prevents it working properly on computers and some other devices. It is a simple enough question. How do you expect people to make informed purchase decisions if such basic information cannot be supplied? Surely an organisation as large as yourselves should have one or two copies of the CDs in stock. Would it take a person of exceptionally high intelligence to look at the back cover to see if it does contain copy protection or not? If I were to purchase it and it did contain copy protection that prevented me playing it on all the CD playing devices I own could I return it to you at your expense for a full refund? It is listed as a CD on your web site. If it does contain copy protection it does not conform to red book standards and therefore cannot be called a CD. This must surely be mis-selling as The Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 states that goods/materials should be as described. It seems to me that you like to sell faulty products with the hope that people don't notice or cannot be bothered to return them. I would have expected far better information from a company that is normally regarded very highly for its customer service policy. I am reaching a stage now where I feel I can not buy any further CDs from you because I can not be sure if they will work or not and you seem loathed to give out any information that would put my mind at rest. If you cannot help me with my query please give me the email address of someone higher up the management chain so I can take the matter further." This received no reply so I sent it again. Still no reply so I sent it every day for 4 days. Eventually After mentioning at the top of the email that I had sent it so many times I received this reply: "Dear Customer Thank you for writing back to us at Amazon.co.uk. I am very sorry to hear the previous responses you have received have not adequately answered your question. Please accept our apologies, but unfortunately we have been unable to find the information you require on this occasion. We do try to provide as much information of the web site as possible to help our customers make an informed choice. We do appreciate that sometimes the amount of information we have may make it difficult to make a purchasing decision unless you already know something about the item. Please know that our editorial staff are constantly working on increasing the information we provide about each item as it becomes available to us. I will be sure to pass your message on to the appropriate department in our company for consideration. Customer feedback like yours is very important in helping us continue to improve the selection and service we provide. Please be assured that we will be happy to research any future enquiries you may have. Warmest regards Sandeep Sandher Customer Service Amazon.co.uk" Then another reply turned up matching the above message word for word but with a different signature. So still not wanting to give up I sent this rather terse reply: "Look it is a very simple question. Do the following cds contain copy protection or not: Kevin Ayers remastered CDs Joy Of A Toy (ASIN: B00008Y2IU), Shooting At The Moon (ASIN: B00008Y2IV), Whatevershebringswesing (ASIN: B00008Y2IW) and Bananamour (ASIN: B00008Y2IX)? All you have to do is examine the packaging to find out. It is entirely reasonable to want to know if the discs will work on my system or not. As a consumer don't I have the right to know what I am buying? Please send me the contact details of your manager so I can take the matter further." And this is as far as I have got at the moment. ... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ** Update 9-Jul-2003 ** Jim Peters wrote: > I also asked Eliza about the CDs you mentioned, and she provided > almost as much information as Amazon: > > http://ukcdr.org/issues/cd/retail/20030707-eliza.txt LOL. Unfortunately though Eliza seems to make more sense than Amazon. I just received a reply to the last message on the transcript and it seems I've gone full circle. Feel free to add it to the page. "Dear Customer Thank you for contacting us at Amazon.co.uk. The only information we can give you about a particular CD is that which we display on the detail page for that CD. On many detail pages, in addition to the artist and recording label, you'll also find links to track listings, reviews, customer comments, a biography of the artist, a list of musical influences, and other CDs by that artist. All of these links appear in the left-hand margin. We know that sometimes the amount of information we have may make it difficult to make a purchasing decision unless you already know something about the CD. Our editorial staff is constantly increasing the amount of information we provide about each item in our music store, and we invite you to add to this information by submitting customer reviews for your favourite (or not-so-favourite) CDs. If you'd like to find more information about this CD on the Internet, you might try posting your question to an appropriate music newsgroup, such as one of the following: rec.music.progressive rec.music.country.western rec.music.classical We hope this information is of help. Thank you for shopping at Amazon.co.uk. Warmest regards Harmeet Singh Customer Service Amazon.co.uk" - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - For more details on the "Online Retailer" campaign, see here: http://ukcdr.org/issues/cd/retail/