Have you ever needed to click that “contact us” link?

I had 2 issues over the last few weeks that required “remote assistance” to resolve.

The first was with Amazon! I know your eyes just rolled or your head nodded in the affirmative but in truth we’ve never had any issues with Amazon.

Conceptually it’s a brilliant service, but we are fully cognizant of the “Buy Canadian and Locally” sentiment, so for me, it’s often guilt purchasing. Having said that, it’s 2025, E-tail is ubiquitous. Gotta get over it!

Okay, here comes story 1.

I bought replacement BBQ grills from Amazon. They cost about $100 and were delivered the next day. Nice! I decided to try stainless steel grills and when they arrived they didn’t fit very well and I didn’t really like them. So, I ordered cast iron grills (like I should have in the first place). They arrived the next day and fit like a glove.

The stainless steel would go back. I printed my return label, boxed up the grills and took them to a drug store Purolator drop off. I don’t do this much if ever, so I never got a receipt or an email tracking number. (Turns out they don’t give those out at Purolator anyway) Literally the next day I get a message from Amazon saying that my grills have been received and my CC is reimbursed.

Oh well………I never gave it a second thought until I get another message from Amazon telling me that they have not received the grills and I have until Aug 4th to do so or my card will be charged??? Oh ya? Annoyed DK!! I searched for that message from earlier and sure enough, it was clear as day about Amazon receiving them. I clicked a link to see my “status” of the order. It confirmed all was good and I should receive the refund soon??? That should have been a sign as I’ve already received the $100 but I basically ignored it. A few weeks later I get the message that my card has been charged again!! Oh ya??? DK annoyed!

Here’s the fun part. As my opener asks, “ever try to contact us”?

Good god!!!

I started with the “chat” feature but it was automated at first and after 10 back and forth Q&A’s, I finally got an Agent on chat. I explained the whole story and frankly was feeling ok about moving this forward to resolution. The chat agent was honestly pleasant and polite and wanted to help. They told me they would send me an “incident report” email and all I had to do was fill it out and send it back. Sure enough, the email comes through right away and again I’m kinda ok with how it’s going. I filled out the report but they asked for a “tracking number”. Oops!!!! Remember I said I didn’t get one from Purolator? And I didn’t keep that “return label” they send on email after they told me my money was credited. Mistake! I answered with N/A at that question but everything else was in order. I send, and minutes later I get the return of “incomplete”. No tracking number! This was AI driven for sure. I refilled the report with an explanation and the same friggin answer comes back!!! Incomplete. Argh!! DK annoyed again.

I took a break and decided to find a way to phone them the next day with a fresher attitude. Good God!!! Once I FINALLY found a phone number, (They don’t make it easy on purpose I’m sure) I called and was connected immediately, but I had a 5 minute back and forth with a voice activated agent. They finally ran out of “Press #” options and FINALLY said they would transfer me to a representative!!! Ok good!!! It’s about time!!!!

Well, many many minutes of background music passed and at last, I hear the voice from a call Center (off shore guaranteed) and I hunkered down as I knew it would be challenging. No judgement on a call Center employee who is underpaid and over worked I’m sure, so I’m never an A-Hole to them. Even though we made a connection, her resolution was to send me that “incident report” and to fill it out again!!!! I said I didn’t have a tracking number but she said the instructions to find it will be in the note? Ok, says I!!! Have a nice day!!

Well you know where it’s going right? I get the email and click my “order number” and crickets to find the tracking number. Argh! DK annoyed yet again!

One more time the next day to try the call Center again. Same drill but my agent this time was more helpful in a way. She sort of assured me that the tracking number is there on the order. I sort of assured her that I looked behind and under every click and it wasn’t!!!!! So I said thanks and she sends the same incident report.

I said out loud that I give up and I’ll eat the $100. But it was less about the money and now more about the run around.

I make one more try to find that tracking number and wouldn’t you know it……I find a link for the shipping label to Purolator and guess what? It’s on there!!!!! Just so you don’t think I’m a complete doofus, I do know my way around these things. I’m relatively sure that link wasn’t there before!!! Maybe a new return was added?

Well I have it now, I fill in the incident report for the 4th time with the tracking number and guess what? No it was good news this time! An Automated response said thank you, your case is under review and we’ll be back to you in 2-3 days.

It took 2-3 MINUTES and I received an email saying my card will be reimbursed. DK pleased, NOT annoyed.

I’m keeping all the notes this time.

Conclusion, very satisfied with outcome but the process was ridiculously complicated. Lesson learned about Amazon purchases and more importantly, RETURNS! I’m giving the people a thumbs up!! They tried hard to help me.

“Contact us” Story 2

Most of my friends know I take photos and I print a lot of them on my Canon Pro-1000 Image graph printer. I bought it in August of 2021. I’ve printed dozens if not hundreds of photos with it. Although it’s costly to operate with Ink prices, it does an amazing job. Better than any on-line service I’ve used for sure and not expensive “per print”…….the only caution flag that came with it (outside of high ink prices) was that you have to use it often. Don’t let it sit idle for extended periods as the components like the print head and sprayers may dry out. That’s never been a problem. I use it a lot!

Ok here we go!!!

Several weeks ago, I set up a photo print job that I wanted to gift to someone and when it was ready, I hit send and it gave me an “error message”. Check printer Screen. That happens. Sometimes the paper size or print size are mismatched and it’s an easy adjustment. I checked and everything was in order. “Ready to print”. I checked the ink cartridges, some were very low, so I refilled them all! $$$$$$ I replaced the maintenance cartridge and I did some general maintenance tasks!! Ok, “Ready to print”….said the message on the printer!

I went back to the Program on my computer, I hit send for the print job and the same error message came up???? WTF???? DK Annoyed Part 4 here. Alright says I, check the USB connection, all good, check the print settings on the printer and on my computer. All good again. Hit send, same message. DK annoyed Argh!

This has never happened in 4 years! Time to go to the Canon Website and look for notices or driver updates or Firmware updates. I connected the printer to my home wifi for the first time ever and a message came on and said there IS a firmware update available. Oh, ok, that must be it. I downloaded it and that didn’t help. Same thing. I downloaded the other drivers I saw, and even un-installed and re-installed the software on my desktop. Surely this must be the answer?

Nope same error message!! Argh! DK Annoyed yet again!

I tried to print a test page from my computer on Letterhead (not photo paper) and lo and behold, it PRINTS!! WTF! It also said the on the test page that the printer was installed successfully. So it will print letterhead but not my photos!! Argh! DK puzzled!

OK, I’m going to try and find some support on-line on the Canon Website. Like Amazon, its not easy to navigate between “Consumer’ “Business” “Sales” and “Support”. I finally found a link for support, but no phone number for support so I sent them a long email explaining my issue. I DID get an automated response with a case number so I was feeling sorta ok about the odds of tracking this down. Sound familiar? 7 days had passed and the deadline for a follow up had come and gone! Argh!! DY Annoyed again! I even decided to call Henry’s where I purchased the printer and they were unhelpful. Not rude, but merely “keep bugging Canon”. Ok thanks for nothing.

I followed up with Canon basically asking if “this thing is on”? In a note, not snarky, just following up.

In the interim my son was over and I was telling him about the problem and he suggested we go to ChatGPT. That was a good idea as they came up with many suggestions but 90% of them I’d done already. So not really helpful, but interesting at least!!!!

Sure enough a few days later, I get a note that tells me this issue needs some live telephone support with an agent.

Please call this number……Hooray!!!!

I immediately called and got the lovely BG music and the message that “all our representatives are busy helping other customers but stay on the line as your call is important”. I’m sure it was!!! There were some funny information blurbs in between the “please wait” notices. “Did you know most printer problems are a result of a needed re-set of your printer or modem……please unplug your printer or modem now” In other words, did you know you’re basically an idiot or 85 years old and all you have to do is re-boot your equipment. Well, the joke was on them because I did all that. I hung on for about 15 minutes. Then BOOM “Hello this is Arshil, how may I help you?”

Holy cow, a person! I’m excited.

He was a nice guy in Toronto (because I asked) who listened to my story and asked a lot of questions and finally wanted to access my computer for a remote look around. I was totally cool with that. He gave me a link and a password and I activated it but guess what?

He was having problems with his computer!!! Of course he was!!!

His shift ended at 5p and it was 4:50p so he apologised but said he would call me first thing the next day. So close, but so far away!!! He confirmed my phone number and said he’d call in the morning. I received a confirmation that I spoke to him and if the issue was not resolved to call them back! Well it wasn’t but I was hopeful.

Next morning I was set up on the printer software with a print job ready to go and my computer was logged into the remote link just waiting for a call and a password. I was expecting a call between 9:30 and 10:00 and when 10:10am arrived I wasn’t hopeful. Just then the phone rings and it’s Arshil!!!! Yay!!!!! He DID call!!!!!! Wow!! DK pleased, not annoyed!

We spent about 5 minutes on the system, trying to print a photo and seeing the message, unplugging the USB etc. He then checked my File Explorer to find the printer in settings, confirmed it was all good and we went back to the printer software. Tried again and same message. He had one more idea and navigated to a Printer setting in the software and when he activated it, the message said it was communicating with the computer!!!!!! 22 updates loaded!!!!! Holy cow! That has to be it! We tried another print job and VOILA!!!!!!!

DK VERY pleased, not annoyed!

Like the Amazon experience I was really happy with the resolution (even more so with this problem). Arshil was very friendly and helpful and patient and fixed the problem!!!!

I know this blog is now longer than War and Peace but one final anecdote. I asked him if I could inquire about something else? (Unlike going to the Doctor), he said sure. So I queried him about a low light pixelation blip on some of my photos. “Is that a sensor issue”? He was looking through some info I could tell and asked about the camera etc. He then said that camera’s were not his specialty but he’ll transfer me to a camera specialist. Holy cow!!! DK VERY PLEASED!! I said goodbye to Arshil and thanked him very much.

I’m now dealing with a lovely lady named Mohana. She’s fantastic and is very engaged in either fixing or diagnosing my pixel problem. She wanted sample photos as Canon has software that will determine if there’s a problem or a setting issue. I’m excited either way!

2 thumbs up to Canon support!

1 thumb up to Amazon support but only for their accessibility challenges.

If you need to access “contact us”, my advice is to do it!!! But get ready!!

Thanks for reading. If you still are!😅