American Express Concierge 2

Last Monday we looked at using the American Express concierge service for scheduling a tuneup on my car. This week we will try something else. I have been looking for radiometers to send as a corporate gift to some of my clients. (A radiometer looks light a light bulb but instead of a filament it has metal vanes that spin in the sunlight.) Unfortunately most of the ones I’ve found for sale were packaged for kids science experiments. The radiometers are fine, but the packaging doesn’t look very “corporate”.

I figured this sounded like a job for super concierge, so I called them with a request. I explained what I was looking for and in particular asked them to find a radiometer with packaging that didn’t look like it was designed for kids.

Initially the responded with a very nice handmade radiometer, that was well outside of my stated budget. It seems they had misunderstood and were looking for a really classy radiometer instead of a normal radiometer in decent packaging. Emailed back explaining this.

Several days later they replied with:

Dear Mr. Shead,

I hope your day is going well. As you requested in your email to American Express Concierge, I have researched some additional options of a radiometer. I have detailed these online options below for your review. What a great promotional item for you to give to your business colleagues. As it sits on their desk, they can wonder at seeing thermodynamics in action with this wonderful Crookes invention, and they will be reminded of your business at the same time! I have included the shipping options for 10-20 items, and also detailed the previous suggestion we sent you.

Vendor: American Science & Surplus
Address: Online
Phone: 888-724-7587
Website: http://www.sciplus.com/singleItem.cfm/terms/7793
Item: Radiometer – Item #3817P1
Price: $10.95
Details: Another oldie but goodie. 5″ high evacuated clear glass stand 3″ in diameter at the top. A four bladed vane is balanced on a needle inside the sphere. Because opposite surfaces of the vanes are black and white, incident radiant energy is absorbed or reflected to a different degree. The result is a spinning vane. The brighter the light, the faster it spins. Simple, but compelling. Brief explanatory instruction sheet included.
Shipping: $5.95 for 1 item; $15.95 for 10 items; $18.95 for 20 items
Payment: American Express not accepted

Vendor: Science Stuff
Address: Online
Phone: 800-795-7315
Website: http://www.sciencestuff.com/prod/P-c/0525
Item: Radiometer – Item #0525
Price: $11.99
Details: 4 vanes, black/silver 3,000 rpm in sunlight
Shipping: $8.35 for 1 item; $10.18 for 10 items; $12.11 for 20 items
Payment: American Express accepted

Vendor: HobbyTron
Address: Online
Phone: 800-494-1778 or 801-434-7664
Website: http://www.hobbytron.com/Radiometer.html#4761
Item: Radiometer – #GEN-100
Price: $8.95 On Sale
Details: You have seen them on the science shows and marveled at them in museums, and now you can own one too. The Radiometer is a glass bulb with four suspended vanes inside. The vanes are blackened on one side, and they rotate when exposed to strong light. Just place the bulb in the sun, or next to a lamp, or any other healthy light source, and watch the vanes spin faster and faster according to the light’s intensity. No batteries are required – the light makes it go! Learn the mysteries of light, mechanical, and heat energy (but most of all have FUN) with the amazing Radiometer.
Shipping: $9.48 for 1 item; $9.57 for 10 items; $10.31for 20 items
Payment: American Express accepted

Vendor: Edmund Scientifics
Address: Online
Phone: 800-728-6999
Website: http://scientificsonline.com/product.asp?pn=3116000
Item: Hand Made Glass Radiometers – #3116000
Price: $49.95
Details: See the science and beauty of the power of the sun come together in this exquisite hand-blown, hand-crafted glass radiometer.
The highly sensitive vanes carefully balanced inside the radiometers take on energy when struck by the molecules heated by sunlight.
The vanes’ shiny sides reflect the heat, which is absorbed by the dark sides. Energy is released as the heated molecules kick away at great speeds, causing the vanes to revolve within the vacuum; clear, blue or amber glass; 8 x 3 “; gift wrapping available for $4.95 each
Shipping: $8.95 for 1 item; $39.95 for 10 items; $39.95 for 20 items;
Payment: American Express accepted

Please let me know if you need further information about these products, or if I can do anything else to assist you. Let us know if there is anything else we can assist you with, whether around the house, at work, or with travel information or weekend plans. We are here 24 hours, 7 days a week

Not bad. They didn’t look up the packaging and much of the information has obviously just been copied from the e-commerce websites, but they did included pricing and the shipping information. Also they show if each place can take American Express. The concierge can place the order at places that accept the AmEx card.

They did find a good deal, so I emailed back telling them to purchase one of the selections and asking that they locate a different box I can put it in.

Please order me 20 of these. Also I checked with the company and the packaging isn’t quite what I want–it is aimed at kids. Can you find some other type of packaging for the item itself?

Mark

They replied with:

Dear Mr. Shead,

Thank you for your email. I spoke with Hobby Tron and the packaging of these items is a simple yellow and black so I do not believe it will appear childish to the recipients. There is an issue with our making the purchase on your behalf however; Hobby Tron does not accept American Express directly though payments can be made though PayPal. American Express concierge is not permitted to may purchases utilizing PayPal due to security concerns. Hobby Tron will accept other credit cards directly but not American Express. I am sorry that we cannot place this order on your behalf.

Vendor: Hobby Tron
Address: NA
Phone: 800-494-1778 or 801-434-7664
Website: http://www.hobbytron.com/Radiometer.html#4761
Item: Radiometer – #GEN-100
Price: $8.95 each
Details: Packaging is simple black and yellow box.

Please let me know if would like us to find alternative sources for this product, or if I can do anything else to assist you. If you need assistance with any Valentine’s Day plans we would be happy to assist you.

Ok they say the packaging isn’t going to have a bunch of smiling kids on it, but I have to order it myself. I can do that. A week or so later, I got the order. I opened the large box and was greeted by the smiling faces of many children holding radiometers. This isn’t the concierge’s fault. They called and were told that the packaging was just a simple two color box. Now I’ll ask them to find a different box for me….