Sometimes calling customer service just leads to theater of the absurd. Earlier today, reader Will blogged about his recent interaction with Amazon customer service. He writes that when he called up Amazon to find out the location of a missing package. The rep informed him that the package had been eaten by an alligator.

Will was confused. He writes:

I swear, I am not making any of this up.

So I ordered a computer part from Amazon. We have Amazon Prime, and the part was supposed to show up yesterday, but never did. I called Amazon’s 800 number this morning (actually 866-216-1072, if you want to note it for future reference), and got a female rep with not-so-good English. After quite a thrash getting my information, she allegedly called the shipper (long time on hold for me) and came back to say they had told her my package would not be delivered…

… because it had been eaten by an alligator.

Again, I swear, I am not making this up.

I made her repeat it about five times. “It may have been a different animal” was as far as she’d budge off of this story.

I called the shipper after I got off the line, they said, “WHAT?!?”, and went on to tell me the package is on the truck and should arrive today. So I called Amazon back, and kept at it until I reached a native English speaker. He said, “WHAT?!?!?”

Acording to both the shipper and the non-alligator Amazon rep, the package is still on its way, and allegedly does not have any large tooth marks. I may not ever get the part, but at least I’m giving people some good stories to tell today…

Our theory: the customer service fabulist who told another reader that DSL would burn his house down quit Verizon and is now making life strange and exciting for Amazon customers.

“Your Package Has Been Eaten By An Alligator” [Will Collier]

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