Amazon: Service level declining?

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

This one is really weird. I ordered an item from Amazon yesterday, in stock, sold by Amazon LLC with prime 2 day delivery. Looked this morning and it says delivery estimate - Thursday, Oct 2nd - Monday, Nov 10th. Holy Cow!?! I sure hope that is a mistake.

Originally Posted by Blossom

That's about right for me when I order on a weekend which is why last week I was shock to get my ordered in actually two days. It's almost time to order Kitty Litter again here hoping the on time delivery continues.

For both of these - doesn't Amazon tell you when you order what the delivery date will be? I seem to remember that when it's an Amazon prime item that they give you a guaranteed delivery date on the last page before the order is finalized. I learned to always pay attention to that after being surprised at a delivery date two weeks in the future once.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

For both of these - doesn't Amazon tell you when you order what the delivery date will be? I seem to remember that when it's an Amazon prime item that they give you a guaranteed delivery date on the last page before the order is finalized. I learned to always pay attention to that after being surprised at a delivery date two weeks in the future once.

For me, here in Germany, the checkout always shows absurd delivery dates.
I'm in my shopping basket on Friday 4pm and the checkout tells me "order within the next 6 hours for delivery on Saturday". It definitely won't happen on Saturday, but on Monday, that much experience I've got in the meantime.
In my opinion, the shopping basket is based on calendar days. Order on Friday = delivery on Saturday (Prime = 1 day in Germany), no matter what time on Friday it is.
I simply don't rely on those schedules from Amazon anymore, I've got my own experience now which is pretty accurate.

BTW: The order confirmation by email after checkout shows the correct date, most of the times one day later than originally stated in the check-out. I can live with that, but I don't understand why they show such absurd schedules in the shopping basket. Oversight or strategy?

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

For both of these - doesn't Amazon tell you when you order what the delivery date will be? I seem to remember that when it's an Amazon prime item that they give you a guaranteed delivery date on the last page before the order is finalized. I learned to always pay attention to that after being surprised at a delivery date two weeks in the future once.

Yep they do. It's never two days though which is why I was surprised to get these last two packages early.

[Purple Lady]

My experience the past year or two has been much better than before that. It used to be that if I ordered late on Friday delivery would be the following Wednesday - two business days. So I rarely ordered on the weekend and quite often never ordered what I had been thinking about once Monday came. I have ordered late on Friday and gotten delivery on Sunday recently.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

For both of these - doesn't Amazon tell you when you order what the delivery date will be? I seem to remember that when it's an Amazon prime item that they give you a guaranteed delivery date on the last page before the order is finalized. I learned to always pay attention to that after being surprised at a delivery date two weeks in the future once.

If it does, I've never noticed it. I normally try to make sure it says "in stock", 2 day delivery and filled by Amazon. Normally, it doesn't show the expected delivery until after I click on the one click.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

If it does, I've never noticed it. I normally try to make sure it says "in stock", 2 day delivery and filled by Amazon. Normally, it doesn't show the expected delivery until after I click on the one click.

I always look because it should tell you how many hours and minutes you have left to complete you order to get it by a specific day. Some items you can order until 10:00 pm and still get it within two days others you have to order by 3:00 pm to get it in two days.

[MarciaCat]

My latest shopping experience was quite nice, Tuesday evening I ordered flea medication for my cats plus a couple add-on items I needed and selected free super-saver shipping. When I got the notification Friday that it had shipped I noticed that it promised delivery Sunday by 8 p.m. I thought surely that must be in error, I thought Amazon's Sunday delivery deal with the USPS was only for Prime customers but, lol and behold, my package arrived today at 1:30 p.m. That makes it four days and 20 hours from order time (Tuesday 5:30 p.m.) to delivery (Sunday 1:30 p.m.), pretty good for free shipping I'd say!

[JSWolf]

We now have one of those package/large mail sections in our community mailbox. We've had USPS come to the door a number of times for packages. If they do, they come in the afternoon sometime. Also, we've had the pink slip to go collect the package as well even though someone's been home.

I've had to call UPS once to get them to come back because the tracking on their website said they made a delivery attempt when I know full well they did not because I was home when they said they tried to deliver the package.

We've had a problem when UPS used to use these home drivers who just left a very important package in the public entryway (in the apartment we were living in at the time) and it was stolen. We were in and waiting for it and the buzzer was never rung. The seller was able to get us another item sent out via overnight FedEx and we got it in time. But if we had not, I was seriously considering legal action against UPS.

I've seen a package from FedEx arrive like they bashed it every which way and the contents were pretty broken.

One silly thing was that I ordered a Logitech Wireless mouse online from Staples (was $9.99 and I had a 30% off coupon and free shipping) and yes, it came on time via Staples own shipping company. But, the silly part was the size of the box for a small mouse package.


Then there's the wait in for the package and it doesn't arrive until nearly 7pm. That was UPS. Now UPS gets it here by 5pm.

You cannot let any of these delivery services get away with some of their nonsense. You have to keep on top of them and keep a watch on what they do and what they say they do. Otherwise, fool on you.

[MarciaCat]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I've had to call UPS once to get them to come back because the tracking on their website said they made a delivery attempt when I know full well they did not because I was home when they said they tried to deliver the package.

<snip>

One silly thing was that I ordered a Logitech Wireless mouse online from Staples (was $9.99 and I had a 30% off coupon and free shipping) and yes, it came on time via Staples own shipping company. But, the silly part was the size of the box for a small mouse package.

I've had a similar problem to your first problem only it was the USPS; I knew by their tracking info a package was out for delivery and might need a signature so I was waiting for a knock/doorbell, when I saw the postal truck coming up the street I was waiting inside, just the other side of the door when I heard the (what turned out to be a substitute) mail carrier come to the door, pause and put the mail in the box but no knock or bell so I figured no signature was necessary fine. Soon as she walked away I went out to get the mail and there was no package, just a signature needed, attempted delivery notice. Lucky for me I was able to catch her before she pulled away from the curb; she actually claimed to have rung the bell twice which was a bald lie, it worked perfectly the day before for someone else and for me minutes after I retrieved my package.

I'm also familiar with the oversize box issue, today's Amazon package could've held a dozen boxes of the flea medication rather than just the one; it along with the stylus nibs and small cat toy were dwarfed by the air-pacs in the box. I also had a mouse come shipped in a box big enough for half a dozen of 'em!

[Anthem]

I just checked my account and it turns out that I have only purchased two (2) physical products from Amazon in the entirety of 2014 thus far! Holy crap. There was no delay in service or shipping with either of those items. And, as usual, Amazon was very communicative concerning what part of the process the items were in.

Everything else that I have purchased/licensed from Amazon this year has been digital products. A big shift in my purchasing habits regarding Amazon.

[library addict]

I think the packaging has gone downhill.

I had ordered some CDs, pill pockets for the dog, etc and they came today in a box which was much too big. One of those air pocket packing bubbles was in the box, but all of the CDs have huge cracks in the cases. According to tracking the box should have arrived on Saturday, but it didn't arrive until today. I normally wouldn't care as the CDs are probably undamaged, but this is the third time I've gotten CDs or DVDs with damaged cases on what is supposed to be new items direct from Amazon so I am going to exchange them. Sadly that means a trip to the UPS store as Amazon no longer does exchanges for USPS which is much more conveniently located. I was tempted to do the UPS pickup option, but there is a ton of road construction near me and you can only get to my house taking backroads at the moment. So UPS has been having trouble finding us the past month or so

[Anthem]

Originally Posted by library addict

I normally wouldn't care as the CDs are probably undamaged, but this is the third time I've gotten CDs or DVDs with damaged cases on what is supposed to be new items direct from Amazon so I am going to exchange them.

Whenever I used to order physical books from Amazon they almost always would arrive with some kind of damage to them. New, of course.

I moved my physical book purchases to Barnes & Noble and the problem went away as if by magic. But Barnes & Noble sent me extra copies of books by accident. I took them in to a local BN and asked them to take them back (I didn't get charged). They said that they wouldn't take them back because they don't stock those items in-store.

They told me to just give them to my friends or something. I told them if they aren't going to take them back I'll just go home and throw them away. They looked startled, but those aren't my books, so I didn't keep them.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by library addict

I think the packaging has gone downhill.

I had ordered some CDs, pill pockets for the dog, etc and they came today in a box which was much too big. One of those air pocket packing bubbles was in the box, but all of the CDs have huge cracks in the cases. According to tracking the box should have arrived on Saturday, but it didn't arrive until today. I normally wouldn't care as the CDs are probably undamaged, but this is the third time I've gotten CDs or DVDs with damaged cases on what is supposed to be new items direct from Amazon so I am going to exchange them. Sadly that means a trip to the UPS store as Amazon no longer does exchanges for USPS which is much more conveniently located. I was tempted to do the UPS pickup option, but there is a ton of road construction near me and you can only get to my house taking backroads at the moment. So UPS has been having trouble finding us the past month or so

It's very important to leave packaging feedback. I have done that several times and I know they read it because the next time I order the same item. It came marked fragile and other cautions.

The worst I ever had was when I ordered this floor brush. It came (I kid you not somebody at the warehouse had to have done this on a dare.) It came wrapped with at least 3 rolls of saran wrapped in all different directions. It was wrapped so tightly that when I would get one piece off the other went in a different direction and it was pieces they used not a continuous roll. I had to locate where it started each time and there like over 500 pieces of wrap. I swear three people must have been wrapping it all at the same time to get it like that there's no other explanation. It took me two hours to get it all off. it was too tight and strong to get even scissors or a knife underneath it. I should had taken a picture and reported it. Somewhere I imagine three workers having a laugh at my expense.

[Anthem]

Originally Posted by Blossom

It's very important to leave packaging feedback. I have done that several times and I know they read it because the next time I order the same item. It came marked fragile and other cautions.

I ALWAYS leave packaging feedback for all of my purchases from Amazon and while I'm sure they read them, I can say that they have never done anything to ensure my packages arrive safely and undamaged in the future.

I have a whole shelf of damaged books purchased from them over the span of 10 years that no amount of packaging feedback helped.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Anthem

I ALWAYS leave packaging feedback for all of my purchases from Amazon and while I'm sure they read them, I can say that they have never done anything to ensure my packages arrive safely and undamaged in the future.

I have a whole shelf of damaged books purchased from them over the span of 10 years that no amount of packaging feedback helped.

That's has changed. They have revamp the feedback page in the last few months. The times I left negative feedback the next time I ordered the item things I ask for was there like No FedEx and put plastic around the container next time and mark it fragile.