Amazon Echo Club

[Blossom]

Alexa has dust build up in the little holes on top. Any idea how to clean that?

Sent from my XT1528

[CRussel]

Suck it out with a vacuum. Best with a little brush attachment, but really anything should work. Key is you want to suck it into the hose, not knock it down into the device.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

No problems so far with it being plugged in full-time? If not, that's definitely the sort of price that would get me to bite. Thanks!

What about this one from GoGroove? I have the earlier non-Bluetooth model, which I keep plugged in all the time and use in my kitchen. Decent sound, but I'm not too fussy.

[tubemonkey]

Amazon Alexa devices can now send you notifications

A little over a month ago, Amazon announced that notifications would be coming to Alexa devices like the Amazon Echo and Echo Dot. The feature is now live, at least for Amazon’s own shopping notifications. Notifications from Alexa skills don’t seem to be available just yet.

Amazon has published a new help page for notifications on Alexa devices. When you receive a notification, all of the compatible Alexa devices will beep once and give some form of visual indicator that a notification is available. For the Echo and Echo Dot, the light ring will pulse yellow, just as it does if you have an unheard message. For the Amazon Echo Show, a banner will be displayed at the top of the screen and a notification card will be added to your home screen rotation.

To hear your notification you can say “Alexa, read my notifications” or “Alexa, what did I miss?” You can move forward and back among your notifications by saying “Alexa, next” or “Alexa, previous” and you can delete all notifications by saying “Alexa, delete all of my notifications.“

Last night I had a same-day package get delivered to the wrong house, two houses down from mine. I received a text message that it was delivered, could not find it, was annoyed by their foreign CS office with heavy accents that are difficult to understand and a lot of background noise from dozens of cubical chained CS reps talking on the phone, got transferred to a USA Amazon delivery rep, that rep discovered that the delivery guy had been parked two houses down, so she assumed that was where he left the package. She told me she could verify where he went and where he was parked via GPS tracking. (Kind of cool.) She was definitely not happy with him and said she would make sure that never happened again. I could tell by the tone of her voice she was frustrated with the delivery guy. I walked down to the neighbor's house and sure enough my package was there and they were trying to figure out why it got delivered there. So I got it because I quickly called CS and they got to the bottom of it in just minutes. The detour through the India CS center was a complete washout though, as usual. If I had merely entered a "Where is my package" complaint I would have gotten the canned message that if it doesn't arrive by a certain date contact us. By calling, demanding a transfer to USA CS center, and talking in person to a rep, I located the package within 15 minutes.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Last night I had a same-day package get delivered to the wrong house, two houses down from mine. I received a text message that it was delivered, could not find it, was annoyed by their foreign CS office with heavy accents that are difficult to understand and a lot of background noise from dozens of cubical chained CS reps talking on the phone, got transferred to a USA Amazon delivery rep, that rep discovered that the delivery guy had been parked two houses down, so she assumed that was where he left the package. She told me she could verify where he went and where he was parked via GPS tracking. (Kind of cool.) She was definitely not happy with him and said she would make sure that never happened again. I could tell by the tone of her voice she was frustrated with the delivery guy. I walked down to the neighbor's house and sure enough my package was there and they were trying to figure out why it got delivered there. So I got it because I quickly called CS and they got to the bottom of it in just minutes. The detour through the India CS center was a complete washout though, as usual. If I had merely entered a "Where is my package" complaint I would have gotten the canned message that if it doesn't arrive by a certain date contact us. By calling, demanding a transfer to USA CS center, and talking in person to a rep, I located the package within 15 minutes.

I had to do that one day too.
I saw the UPS truck go by as I was letting the plumbers in at that moment. Within 15 minutes another UPS driver found it and delivered it to my door. He had been doing the pickup at a UPS drop off center.

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

I had to do that one day too.
I saw the UPS truck go by as I was letting the plumbers in at that moment. Within 15 minutes another UPS driver found it and delivered it to my door. He had been doing the pickup at a UPS drop off center.

I've had several incidents with UPS, but they usually figure it out. I had one guy stop in front of my house, and I could tell he was searching for the package. He looked confused. He made a phone call, then drove off. I called UPS and basically asked, "WTH!" They said his truck manifest showed the package, but he couldn't find it, so they would bring it around the next day. I was upset because I thought they had basically lost my package, a rather expensive radio purchased from an individual. I raised heck with them. An hour later the UPS guy was back with my package, and he embarrassingly admitted he had the package on his truck but just didn't see it when he looked. At least I got it. But if I hadn't immediately called and complained there is no telling how long it would have been before I got the package.

However the package from yesterday was listed as: Carrier: AMZL US. That is Amazon's own local delivery service. I think they use a bunch of contractors, and they are not always that good at what they do. I think I'll call Amazon today and complain loudly about the whole incident. I want the company to know how badly the local delivery service screwed up. They are probably contracted out to another company. I know Amazon has cancelled contracts with some of them in the past due to bad performance.

Here are a couple of strange Alexa wake up stories:

• A few days ago my Echo in the study awoketo, "Alexa, damn to tour france" LOL! I was in there at the time and no one nor any device said anything to her. Maybe she was dreaming about the Tour de France. Yuk!
• The other night my Dot in the living awoke about 4:30am to the word, "Rupaul." Again, I'm not sure what she was dreaming about, but WTH! Maybe the cats were asking her weird questions...

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by jswinden

I've had several incidents with UPS, but they usually figure it out. I had one guy stop in front of my house, and I could tell he was searching for the package. He looked confused. He made a phone call, then drove off. I called UPS and basically asked, "WTH!" They said his truck manifest showed the package, but he couldn't find it, so they would bring it around the next day. I was upset because I thought they had basically lost my package, a rather expensive radio purchased from an individual. I raised heck with them. An hour later the UPS guy was back with my package, and he embarrassingly admitted he had the package on his truck but just didn't see it when he looked. At least I got it. But if I hadn't immediately called and complained there is no telling how long it would have been before I got the package.

However the package from yesterday was listed as: Carrier: AMZL US. That is Amazon's own local delivery service. I think they use a bunch of contractors, and they are not always that good at what they do. I think I'll call Amazon today and complain loudly about the whole incident. I want the company to know how badly the local delivery service screwed up. They are probably contracted out to another company. I know Amazon has cancelled contracts with some of them in the past due to bad performance.

Wait until Monday.

[booklover6]

DiapDealer, this one looks good - Link - 4 hours left to claim the deal.

24 Hour Bluetooth Speakers TaoTronics Rock Portable Stereo Wireless Speaker (with Linen and Leather Covering, Bluetooth 4.2, Voice Guidance and Built-in Microphone).

19.99 while supplies last.

(I ordered one-snuck it into a dog food order-so I can report on it later FYI)

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by booklover6

DiapDealer, this one looks good - Link - 4 hours left to claim the deal.

24 Hour Bluetooth Speakers TaoTronics Rock Portable Stereo Wireless Speaker (with Linen and Leather Covering, Bluetooth 4.2, Voice Guidance and Built-in Microphone).

19.99 while supplies last.

(I ordered one-snuck it into a dog food order-so I can report on it later FYI)

SOLD OUT

[DiapDealer]

Besides being sold out, it seemed to be a portable unit with a rechargeable battery. I'm primarily looking for an affordable powered bluetooth speaker (though I'm accepting the recs of portable models that people have first-hand experience with, and can vouch for their ability to remain on the charger indefinitely while turned on with no problems).

[tubemonkey]

Prime Day Deals Sneak Peek

In addition to tens of thousands of Lightning Deals throughout the 30-hour shopping period – with new deals starting as often as every five minutes – Prime members will find curated Spotlight Deals beginning at 6pm PT / 9pm ET. Below is a Prime Day deal sneak peek.

• Save 50% on Amazon Echo, only $89.99
  
• Save $15 on Echo Dot, only $34.99
  
• see link for additional deals

So far Prime Deal Day is rather lackluster, as usual, at least as far as the stuff I would be interested in. I browsed the Camera and Electronics sections, mostly junk and the same stuff they always discount throughout the year. A few good deals on stuff I wasn't interested in, but nothing that made me hit the Watch This Item button.

I don't think I bought anything last year during Prime Deal Day, and I only bought a few inexpensive items during the first Prime Deal Day. Black Friday through Christmas is when the better deals usually occur.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by jswinden

So far Prime Deal Day is rather lackluster, as usual, at least as far as the stuff I would be interested in. I browsed the Camera and Electronics sections, mostly junk and the same stuff they always discount throughout the year. A few good deals on stuff I wasn't interested in, but nothing that made me hit the Watch This Item button.

I don't think I bought anything last year during Prime Deal Day, and I only bought a few inexpensive items during the first Prime Deal Day. Black Friday through Christmas is when the better deals usually occur.

I wouldn't expect any great deals at this time. Prime Day doesn't officially start until tonight at 6:00 PM PT and ends tomorrow at 11:59 PM PT.