Amazon Prime? Not so much.
3So I finally concluded my quest for a bicycle to enjoy the lovely spring weather yesterday, although I had to go to a neighboring state to find what I wanted. On the car ride home I shopped for accessories on Amazon. Since I a eager to get started on my new bike adventure, I finally bit and signed up for the 30 day free trial of Amazon Prime, so my bicycle helmet and other accessories would get here by tomorrow. I have heard that Prime ain't what it used to be, but this is ridiculous!
Are they shipping my bike helmet via Pony Express? Some of the other items like the basket and the weather cover will get here on Monday, but it's going to take them a month and a half to send me the one thing I can't ride without. My first taste of Prime is not promising.
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Did you buy the helmet from Amazon or a 3rd party "marketplace" seller?
Oh man, that's bad. Did it mention delays on the product page at all?
@Thumperchick @nadroj I did see that it was a third party seller, so I thought that it might take a regular amount of tie to ship instead of two days. Like maybe a week. It's possible there was mention of delay on the page, I was using my comparatively small phone in the car. I'll have to go and look. I don't buy a lot from Amazon, I can usually find better prices on EBay. I went to Amazon because I wanted the helmet ASAP and I'd been unable to find one that matched my bike locally (even in the town I visited in the neighboring state to get the bike). But the Chinese vendors I buy from on EBay don't usually take more than three weeks to get me my stuff, there's just no place on Earth it should take 6 weeks to ship a modest sized box from.
@moondrake if it's a third party seller and doesn't specifically say 'Prime' on the page, who knows how long it will take. if you see a price that's a lot cheaper, chances are, it isn't prime.
@moondrake Sounds like You had a 3rd party seller doing their own shipping. Stuff from china often tracks as taking 6 weeks until it gets through US customs, but it still shouldn't actually take that long. To get the most out of prime, only buy items that have "prime shipping"
@moondrake That's like blaming craigslist because you used it to buy a house and it got set on fire by a crackhead
@MrGlass ... ... Usually this has to do with processing which isn't included in the guaranteed delivery date but rather 3 days after process (which usually takes a day or two at the most). I've found that DXL will attempt to keep with time of delivery if your lucky to have been picked.. The others will stay within that 3 day once they actually receive and record the package.
@moondrake Such a long shipping time probably means that it's being shipped from China. Usually Chinese sellers put in ridiculously long estimated shipping times as a CYA measure, "just in case." But most of the time it should arrive before then. Case in point: on January 22nd, I ordered some quadcopter parts from a Chinese seller. They shipped the items within 24 hours of me placing my order. When the items shipped, the email said that my estimated delivery date would be between March 4 - 23. But I actually received the parts today (Thursday, February 5.) So it actually took only about two weeks.
@er1c just to fix my analogy up a bit, that crackhead is also the person who sold it to you.
I've had really good luck with prime. In october they delivered my roku on a sunday.
@Headly
@Headly They've been rolling with the Sunday deliveries for over a year now... 20+ cities I believe. Gotta love that
@heli0s I got something delivered on Sunday last week, and I'm not Prime and not in a major city. I was surprised.
I've never had a problem with Prime. I love it. The four other family members I'm allowed to have on it love it, too.
Just make sure it reads fulfilled by amazon and shows will arrive two days from the current date...
@moondrake How's the rest of retirement for you?
@dashcloud Awesome. And super busy! Tonight I carved out a little time for the computer for the first time all week.
No issues with prime here, but the key is you have to buy items sold by (and sometime fulfilled by) Amazon to get the shipping perks... 3rd party guys are just using amazon like a fancy ebay.
I will say that they have started being very odd with the "Guaranteed by" shipping lately, that is when the order is submitted it will show me the items "guaranteed" to show up by date, then when I look at the order in my account later many of them change to "expected by" and a few stay "guaranteed by"... and then when I check it later still it will change to "Arriving tomorrow" etc. I still get them on time, just odd that the system presents the order one way at the time of purchase, and another way once it's processed, then a third way when its close.
The item you listed there had to have told you of shipping times before you added it to the cart... I have seen some very long estimates with 3rd parties but the good news is they almost always come in before the deadline, with the exception of some shipped from china things which I have seen take 2-3 weeks. The 3rd party guys bend over backwards to get amazon items shipped out fast so they can maintain their rankings with amazon.
@thismyusername ... Beats the hell out of eBay which at times even beats amazon's prices but takes up to two months to reach you. I bought two very affordable rings but with a March 25th delivery date) free deliery and the max period relates to the earliest you can complain about snail mail from China..
@thismyusername Regarding your point on making sure you buy items sold by Amazon... I've been lately using a tool called www.sortbyprime.com to do my Amazon searches -- by default it only searches Amazon items, and it has search and sort features not available directly on Amazon (like sorting by Prime price, excluding Pantry items, etc)
@thismyusername I noticed that recently too. I just ordered something yesterday and I wondered why the tracking said "expected" instead of "guaranteed". My guess is they are tired of people complaining about missed deliveries.
Prime = good, no complaints, they refund me cost of same day shipping when I elect to pay it and they miss delivery estimate, 98% of packages make estimated delivery time.
Third party seller = bad, I avoid at all costs.
HOWEVER,
Third party seller with their product warehoused and fulfilled by Amazon AND having Prime = BEST POSSIBLE SOLUTION FOR ME (sales tax savings as I live in a State that Amazon charges sales tax in, easier returns - and Amazon always pays return shipping, the third party sellers can't hold you hostage). Usually arrives in one or two days with two day Prime shipping.
Just my experience, and I order almost daily.
@Pavlov If they mess up on the 2day you get a free month of prime (if you have the patience of dealing with customer care anyway).
@thismyusername Yup - and I have hit my max. free lifetime months! I did hear they were stopping that practice, I haven't tried again in some time since they told me I had banked a year of free Prime.
@Pavlov I had an order get eaten by the UPS machine... I emailed them and said "hey does this qualify for a free month?" they then proceded to give me a $5 credit... I wrote back saying thanks... but where is my free month? They then gave me the free month... so it seems they are still doing it, but are rather confused about it hehe
@thismyusername to be fair, a $5 credit is roughly what the price of prime was (1 month) before they raised it.
@thismyusername When I've had damaged boxes from UPS, Amazon will give a credit for about 25-50% of the purchase price. I don't think I've ever received a free month.
@metageist yea you gotta ask them.. and it has to be "guaranteed delivery" which they have been odd about. The item can still show up it just has to be on the far side of the delivery window.
Anyone else notice that ever since UPS and FedEx switched to dimensional rate pricing on ground, a LOT of Amazon Prime items have a new icon that says "Amazon Prime 3-day" and "Amazon Prime 5-day" ... it's a totally new icon that I never saw before 2015, and now it's cropping up quite a bit. Almost always on large bulky items that do not weigh much, for example I recently ordered outdoor seat cushions. HUGE amazon box, but less than 5lb.
Also, FWIW, I used to get about 50% of my Prime packages via UPS, 40% USPS, and 10% OnTrac/FedEx/Other. Since 2015, It's been about 80% USPS and 20% OnTrac. I don't think I have had a single order come via UPS since the new dim-weight pricing kicked in.
@Collin1000 I have seen them moving a lot to USPS in the last year myself.
@thismyusername @Collin1000 They have some deals going with USPS right now. Its part of why THeyre now doing Sunday delivery (which is only through USPS)
@MrGlass Yeah, Sunday delivery during holidays was awesome, but I used to get a fair amount of UPS as well. In the past month it's been a dramatic shift away from UPS.
@Collin1000 I order a ton for work and have not seen the 3 or 5 day Prime label, in fact, I'm seeing a lot more next morning options (no additional fee). When I am in Seattle and a few other markets, I get same day options on some items., though I have never used nor trusted it.
what kind of stupid post is this? Amazon prime rocks! How can you mess up ordering from Amazon prime?
@unixrab I was going to say something similar. Prime has been flawless for me for many years.
@moondrake.. It's a must that you note "Prime' in blue letters with a little orange check after the price else the guarantee can not be honored. The only time prime applies without this orange check/blue icon is on add-on items (with $25.00 buys) reason for this is the very small price of the add-on. I like prime as other than the many perks, once you become a member you can invite one other guest to also use your prime thus you can virtually split the member ship cost with the guest (who can also use the other perks by using your email/pass word access).
@unkabob I believe it's four guests. At least I have four other people using mine.
@pooflady .. You're probably right as I didn't research it all myself, thanks.
Your entitlement is justified. If they had a VMP program you would have already had your helmet.
@moondrake If you give us the ASIN we can take a look and help you understand the reason behind the delay.
Wow did meh buy out Amazon or something?! Even in that case 37 days seems a little ridiculous...
I loved amazon prime before, now I just like them as they are taxing Illinois now. Word of advise, If you have an issue with any order or complaint, chat with them at night when they outsource their inquiries to India. Very helpful, and do their best to keep you happy (if you know what I mean). In the morning, if you chat, good luck, still nice but no freebies. I know because of the names on the other side of the chat. So, chat at night, and you have better chances of having pleasant experience with whatever your complaint is.
@bluetide Look for third party sellers that warehouse their items directly with / at Amazon which are eligible for Prime delivery. NO TAX is collected in that scenario. Same great Amazon service. Available on a lot of items.
@Pavlov I noticed that too, 3rd party sellers fulfilled by Amazon prime. But usually most (not all) good deals are directly sold by Amazon.
@bluetide I actually pay the same as Amazon or just a few pennies more in these instances - I mostly shop photo / video and professional video, and misc. electronics. Not sure with other items; it might be different by category.
Was that item marked as prime? Not all products are prime eligible. There is at least some responsibility on your end.
also, in the checkout process it gives you the estimated delivery dates for each item, in the case of prime eligible items it gives you a guaranteed delivery day.
That is nothing, try watching a video from prime. Per Amazon if I want to watch something in HD I need to change all of my equipment at home.
No Amazon Chromecast app.
Casting a tab from PC is only allowed in low def.
Not to worry Amazon has a solution. I can buy a different equipment, and they sent a link to a TV sold on Amazon. I was too pissed to seriously conciser adding to my equipment setup at home, so I rage quit prime. Fuck you Amazon, if my TV, Chromecast, PC, and Android tablets are not good enough your DRM protocols. I actually hate DRM but that goes without saying.
@caffeine_dude Amazon and Chrome (read: Google) do not play well together. Streaming on my PC is via Firefox (Silverlight) as getting Chrome to do silverlight is nigh impossible... ...
oh yeah... and everyone (including meh.com) hates Paypal
@caffeine_dude you can force a tab to cast in 720p, anything higher then that tends to lag anyways.
@unixrab Oddly, no issues with Amazon Video in Chrome on my Mac. On my Win tablet, however, different story… crash city. Which is a shame, because only your default browser works in Metro, gets all kinds of irritating.
Any of you Amazon members back in the 1990's when they violated their own TOS and sold all their member information? I was. Never bought since then.
Do you realize in all these years, they technically still don't earn a profit? Even though their shares keep going up. Are they 'too big to fail'?
@Cerridwyn Profit earned. http://www.businessinsider.com/why-amazons-stock-is-going-nuts-2015-1
@Cerridwyn Amazon has always made everything right with me. anything I've ever purchased from them that was wrong/broken/delayed/crap has been fixed/returned/credited quickly and to my benefit. Things have changed since the 90's... chalk it up to teenage rebellion and give them another try .. it's been 20 years!
NOTE: earworms! no charge.
@Cerridwyn Along with the insane overworking of the warehouse crews for hardly any pay. Amazon can die.
@editorkid au contraire!!
http://mentalfloss.com/article/61249/13-secrets-amazon-warehouse-employees
I can't argue with this one. Shipped and delivered same day. It was a $20 water resistant phone case so I didn't have to worry about my phone when skiing.
I'm happy with Student Prime. Cheaper than VMP and no address verification problems.
@TerriblyHuang Me too. All you need to remember is that you should give a projected graduation date of five years from your signup date, and life is good.
When are they gonna roll out the Meh Prime slightly delayed streaming video service? I hear they got the rights to Mork and Mindy, Homeboys in Outer Space, Caveman, Joanie Loves Chachkis, Growing Pains, Knightrider, and the jews in their crown, that Fonzie spin off from Happy Days, Punkie Brewester I think it was.
@miko1 no The Young Ones? Deal breaker.
@miko1 What about Red Dwarf?
I hate amazon
@somf69
@unixrab
@unixrab
@BigBalzac That' guy is a ... .. master
My wife has been an Amazon prime member for 3 years and has maybe bought 5 things in that time period. I can't believe that is cost effective. She always is saying "if you need anything from Amazon, remember I can order it with my Prime account and we get free 2-day shipping" (particularly as Christmas, her birthday, our anniversary, etc are approaching). I'm convinced that the only reason she signed up was an attempt to know what gifts she is getting at the time they are ordered instead of, you know, actually waiting to receive them.
@DrWorm does she use the free music, free video on demand, free unlimited photo storage and stuff?
@unixrab Not music, video , or photo. but I am sure she has taken advantage of some free eBooks
This is not prime available: http://www.amazon.com/JL421-Badonkadonk-Land-Cruiser-Tank/dp/B00067F1CE/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1423242250&sr=8-3&keywords=badonkadonk
@alacercogitatus If I only had a spare $21k. Damn you!
@alacercogitatus But this is, at a mere $120k: http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-UN105S9-Curved-105-Inch-Ultra/dp/B00L403O8U/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1423247641&sr=1-1&keywords=samsung+105+inch+tv
@moondrake - If you purchase something marked as "Prime" (You will see the Prime logo), it will be shipped 2-day (Unless there is a note under it notifying you of potential shipping delays). Things to note, though:
Your item is "Shipped" 2-day, this doesn't mean that your order is processed immediately. Some times, in my experience, it can take an extra day or two to process an order. For instance, if you place an order on Friday at 3pm, it wont actually be processed until Monday, shipped on Tuesday, and received (maybe) on Wednesday, but definitely by Thursday. Yes, this may look like 6 days total, but you have to understand 2 days of that aren't business days, so nothing actually happens. 1 Day to process your order, then the two days to ship.
If your marked "Prime" item takes longer than 2 days to ship, call Amazon and complain. You are paying for a service that you did not receive and they will, if you push enough, give you additional free months of Prime for the delays.
I've been a prime member for almost 4 years now. Now a days, if my wife and I shop for something, we look it up on amazon as well to price compare, if it's on Prime, and cheaper, and we can wait 2 days, we'll order the item while sitting in some B&M shop. It's saved use thousands over the years and totally worth it if you use it wisely.
A CAUTION: You can find that you buy too much on amazon because it's cheap, and you can get it in 2 days. FWIW.
Oh yeah, Also keep an eye on where the item is being shipped from - Amazon proper or a 3rd party as the return policy may be different. Our experience though is if it's prime, it's amazon return policy which is fantastic.
Good luck with your cycling.
@Bogie Totally read that as "S&M Shop".
@Bogie It can also save you money. For example, I was going to buy the Gold Box deal today, but it was "sold out" when I got back to my desk. Now I have a reference price stuck in my head that's low enough that I'll probably never buy one. Unless it shows up some place like meh. :D
@Bogie
Aint that the truth!!!!!!!!@nadroj I haven't tried this site but it was mentioned somewhere else for following prices: http://camelcamelcamel.com I think it only works on Amazon...
My most recent Amazon order has an estimated delivery status I hadn't seen before:
"Delivery estimate: We need a little more time to provide you with a good estimate. We'll notify you via e-mail as soon as we have an estimated delivery date."
(It's been like that for about 10 days, so pretty vague with what "a little more time" means)
@matthew I've had that happen before, most often with items that are hard for any retailer to stock due to popularity or (and more often the case with things I order) because although Amazon may have the item in their warehouse and list it for sale on their Website, the product has not been released by the manufacturer for shipping (release dates on cameras, etc.). It is a bummer, because Amazon isn't good about relaying WHY there is a delay in most instances, just that you're experiencing one, which you already know. Amazon is TERRIBLE about doing this with DSLRs (and mirror-less ILC's) and prosumer and professional video gear.
My item in question is seasonal, and the season is waning: ice auger
@matthew Two likely outcomes: 1) You'll get the Ice Auger in time for next year. 2) They're waiting for someone to get back from their ice fishing trip and return one for you.
10 days later, no status change
@matthew fishusa has been shipping a bunch of them. I have no idea about prices or brands or anything else that might be useful.
@matthew Surely someone in that building has Bezos phone number and can call him. I mean, there's not that many people at Amazon and he handles everything himself, right?
UPDATE! My new estimated delivery date is: Monday, March 30, 2015 - Tuesday, April 28, 2015. I guess that's a slightly more precise estimate than "dunno."
UPDATE TO THE UPDATE! "Due to a lack of availability, we will not be able to obtain the following item(s) from your order. We've canceled the item(s) and apologize for the inconvenience."
jeff@amazon.com
206-266-1000
Due to my situation I find Amazon rather important: rural+low income+no transport+rare disability *adding the personal as it is the reason for the post...
I made 2 large purchases recently *always go with the "Sold By" or at least "Fulfilled By" Amazon! One fitness item was a mess & I tried to work it out with the company but it turned into MORE chaos! Crazy this company is so big.
Amazon CS was cool and all but I still wasn't getting certain things answered or the bigger picture looked at.
I wrote a short email (I had read online that Bezos actually gets them (doubtful) and when they really bother him puts a "?" in the subject line and it gets the ball rolling.
I couldn't believe how fast I got an answer! I sent the email at 4pm East Coast time and if it really went to Seattle (???) then someone worked very late as I got a response at 4am! It was an excellent resolution $$$…
My larger point was still not addressed so, wth, I called the headquarters # and spoke with the operator. Told her I got a email response from an exec customer relations and wondered if I could speak to someone in that dept. She said "Sure" and transferred me. I got a voice mail. Left a msg asking them to call me at a certain time frame, if possible, along with the other info... IT WAS CRAZY within a few mins of the time I asked for someone to call me I had an exec calling me back and spent a lot of time going over my issues.
If you have a real issue that isn't getting addressed then see the top! After it all I was very pleased and believe my voice was heard.
in the search, you can narrow by prime only, but that isn't always cheapest option for the item.
I have prime and use the slower shipping option. They give me $1 per shipment towards kindle books. Just got 50 Shades of Gray for free. That's probably what it's worth, but all the other moms have read it. I need to fit in.
We got this last year for $1159.00, free shipping with Prime. Other online places charged a couple of hundred dollars for shipping. The Prime paid for itself. (The next week, they raised the price. I wonder why?)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000O576Z8/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Speaking of Prime, has anyone had this problem. Just got a Smart TV, watching my first movie tonight through Prime. Had to ratchet the volume up to 99 and still couldn't hear a lot of the conversational voices. Admittedly, I'm somewhat hard of hearing, but I don't have that problem on ordinary TV.
I ordered new shoes on Thursday, and I have Amazon Prime... I believe both pairs of shoes will not arrive to me today. Even though they said they shipped Thursday night. At what point do I raise a stink?
I'd say bug them now.
@Thumperchick It's all good, they came today. Wondering if I should raise a stink about how Amazon Prime took 3 business days instead of two.
@BillLehecka Did the order say Gaurenteed delivery date? I've had that happen where it didn't say gaurenteed and it showed up a day late. Usually Amazon is really good with their customer service however, even if it's not their fault.