Why I like svp.co.uk and Amazon
Some online stores seem to have “just got it right”. Svp and Amazon are a couple of those that I use and will continue to use.
Svp.co.uk are a great source of blank media and the only place I’ve found that will sell Duracell Procells to the public at sane prices. They are also friendly and responsive when contacted (including replying to a ticket I raised with them at 9:30pm within a few minutes!) and have taken the decision to not spend a fortune on advertising and to ask their customers to post about their views (good or bad!) instead. Consider it done.
Amazon aren’t quite in the same league as svp. In fact, they probably take more in a minute than svp do in a year and I’ve been using them for years (order history shows back to May 1999) and I still order stuff from them even if they aren’t the cheapest as they have become a kind of “safe bet” on the big evil intermahweb.
I ordered a load of books the yesterday. As some of them were for Christmas presents I didn’t want to take the risk of the free postage and as their premium service was only a quid dearer than normal 1st class I figured I may as well. As promised, less than 24hrs later I had a box of books. However, unlike most orders I’ve placed with Amazon, the books were just loose in the bottom of a box with a load of air bubble thingies (most of which had popped) to try to stop the books rattling around. Normally Amazon are wrapped in shrink wrap to a piece of card to stop them moving around in transit.
As this seemed a bit crap (a couple of the books had been bent a bit - nothing major) I dropped them an email pointing out that I wasn’t looking for a refund or wanting to return anything, just that their packaging seemed to have gone down hill somewhat.
9 mins later I get a reply that at first I thought was an auto response but no, it appears to be a real message apologizing and answering all of my points (it really doesn’t appear to be a standard response - it even has a word missing!).
Please accept our apologies for the condition in which your items arrived, and for any disappointment caused.
Normally, in such circumstances we would create a replacement order for a damaged or defective item right away, to be dispatched to you as soon as possible at no additional charge.Since you are not planning to return these items and interested in keeping the damaged items, and based on the condition in which it arrived, we wish to offer you a refund of 20% of the purchase price of this item, equivalent to a discounted price of 13.00 GBP. If this is acceptable, please reply to this message and we will request a refund to your payment card as soon as we receive your response.
Wow. I’d explicitly told them I didn’t want to return or a refund and I really didn’t even expect a reply (beyond an auto response anyway). Impressive.
I replied this afternoon and this evening I get another email confirming the refund and telling me that I’ll get yet another email to check up that the money has appeared on my card ok and to check I’m still happy. Again, I’m impressed. This second email does however go a little far - almost to the point of being cringeworthy…In particular, the last bit is just a tad over done for my liking 
I would like to thank you for your ongoing support and continual purchasing throughout the years. Your purchase history is outstanding and I would personally like to keep your patronage. You are certainly the type of customer that we would like to retain. We hope that you will allow us another opportunity to prove the quality of our service to you in the future.
Well done amazon, but please don’t try too hard - if you get to ASDA levels of “have a nice day” then I’ll be going elsewhere
Oh, and knock the price on the Amazon prime down a bit - 50 quid is just a bit too high. A bit lower and I’ll be seriously tempted. Mind you, one click unlimited next day delivery of books and cds would be a serious threat to the health of my wallet - maybe it’s best it stays expensive
