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Originally Posted by jswinden
From the comments above, it does seem that Amazon treats Prime members and non-Prime people differently when it comes to free shipping. I've had Prime for several years now, and I get orders on time in most cases. I routinely get my 2-day orders on time, and I get most of 1-day and same day orders on time. I guess being a Prime member must help, and quite frankly, it should. Hardly worth being a Prime member at $99/year plus tax if non-Prime people get the same privileges and treatment you get. Just saying. If a shipment is late, I can call and complain and I usually get a $10 or more credit, and they make sure the item arrives soon thereafter.
As far as late shipments go, there are several reasons for delays. Here are a few: - Items are shipping from different warehouses. Even though you add on another item to hit the minimum amount necessary for free shipping doesn't mean that item is already in the same warehouse as the other item(s) you ordered. If not, some items may arrive on time and others might need more time.
- Item states it is Prime but won't ship for a number of days. I've gotten burned by this a few time due to not paying close enough attention to the item page. Technically, the item when it ships will ship Prime 2-day delivery, or whatever it was stated to do, but due to other circumstances it won't ship immediately. They do have that CYA statement, but it is easy to overlook and rather deceptive IMO with that big Prime label. So be careful with these.
- Your location matters. If you live near Amazon warehouse hubs, which usually means within a large metropolitan area, you can expect more timely deliveries. If you live in a rural area or have a PO Box address, you might have a lot of delays in deliveries.
- Weather related. We have to understand this happens sometimes.
- Amazon or carrier screw ups. This happens too. I had a recent order delayed one day. I called to ask why, and Amazon admitted they had screwed up and delivered the package to UPS rather than USPS. UPS was confused because Amazon had already put a USPS shipping label on it. First and only time this has happened to any of my shipments. But I got it the following day after it was supposed to arrive, so UPS stepped up to the plate and got it delivered even with the Amazon screw up.
- Deceptive 3rd Party sales. Not all 3rd party sales companies play nice on Amazon. They can be really deceptive. I've ordered at least one item that was supposed to be a 2-day delivery, but it actually shipped from China. No way that would have arrived in 2 days! There was no indication of the company shipping from China. I complained, Amazon pounced on the company, and bottom line was I got the item a few weeks later but it was free. Amazon cancelled the order mid-shipment, refunded my money, found another company shipping from USA with true 2-day delivery, and substituted that for the original order. And I got $10 credit. So I wound up with two of the items. One was normal cost, the other was free, and I got a $10 credit. Inconvenient as heck, but Amazon made it right and in a timely fashion.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fanboy of Amazon. I think there devices like Kindles, Fires, Alexa devices, etc. are rather lackluster and not the best deals out there. I get frustrated with their streaming video and music. Again, it is lackluster. But the one thing they seem to do well, at least in my experience, is shipping. And if nothing else, they shook up the retail industry and caused the competion to rethink business and shipping fees. So I look at Amazon as good in retail and shipping, and lackluster, perhaps even a suckfest, in electronics. |
Oh yes, the third party sellers. Look very closely at the arrive date on the free shipping.
I have had to get a couple of refunds myself because of 3rd party sellers.
Now there is one other reason an Amazon or any other order is late. The delivery vessel might have been in an accident. Be it the UPS truck or UPS trailers on a train. (Google it. That actually happened. )(That one could also have fallen under weather related. )