The first step in resolving a customer service issue isn’t to email the CEO of a company, but if nothing else works, why not? Lia used Consumerist’s Executive Email Carpet Bomb listings to get in touch with Jeff Bezos of Amazon and lo and behold, success!

Lia writes in to share her tale of a Kindle Fire she received as a gift. She didn’t like it, and contacted Amazon about returning it. A customer service agent set her up with a return label and assured her that it was the correct method. So she sent it back, and waited for a refund.

Fast forward three weeks later and no refund for Lia, so she tried to contact Amazon over chat and was given the runaround between customer support, returns and Kindle support. Agents kept asking for the order number, which she’d then explain, again, that she didn’t have, as it was a gift. Turns out the Kindle hadn’t been marked as a gift return, so the money had gone back to the gift giver.

That’s when Lia decided to escalate things with an EECB. She searched Consumerist and found the executive customer service address, and threw in an email to Jeff Bezos as well. She received the below email this morning:

Hello Lia,

I’m Greg Roberts of Amazon.com’s Executive Customer Relations. Jeff Bezos received your e-mail and asked me to respond on his behalf.

I’m sorry about the trouble you had with your return. It looks like our Customer Service didn’t prepare your return label correctly when you contacted us. I’ve addressed this with the appropriate management teams, and we’ll make sure to provide any additional training that might be needed. Thanks for letting us know about this.

I’ve applied a Gift Card to your account for $199–the cost of the Kindle Fire. You won’t need a claim code, and if you’d like to see it on your account, you can check here:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/css/gc/balance/

I’m sorry again for any frustration, Lia, and I hope this helps. Please feel free to let me know if there’s anything else I can do.

As Lia says, “Another success story for the Executive Email Bomb!”

Never hurts to try, right?

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.