good after-sales service

Amazon is often held out as the example of good practice - and it is a notion that is hard to argue with. Here is another example [see also why online retail works]. This time I made a purchase on Amazon Marketplace [where Amazon host other sellers' online offerings, reather like an offline consession] - and a couple of days after the purchase I got this email:
Excellent stuff - I can think of a lot of companies who would have put my money into their bank account straight away - refunding it if the order fell through for any reason. OK, so it's not that big a sum of money, but multiply it by thousands - or millions - or purchases and you have a significant amount of interest being gained over those few days.

Footnote: I used the Amazon email to reply to the seller and received an automated reply saying they would look into it when they were back at work [I sent it at the weekend]. On the Monday morning I got an email from Amazon and one from Millet Sports - both confirming the product had been despatched.

bad search result - or selling out?

In many instances I promote Amazon as the flag-carrier for online retail. However, while on their site today I came across a worrying search result. I was thinking of buying a Sam Cooke CD, and so put in the name of the song I particularly wanted to be included - 'a change is gonna come'. And look what came out on the top:I had a look at the the 'Casket Letters' Amazon page and guess what - no mention of the term 'a change is gonna come' [except at the bottom of the page where it informed me of my latest search details].

So ... was this a hiccup in Amazon's search algorithm or are they accepting payments to 'feature' certain artists? I hope it was the former - if it was the latter they are gambling with their brand name.