And everyone's irritation with Amazon becomes crystal clear

[BlsdMama]

Hey - happy birthday Olivia - your gifts didn't show up.

 

 

I went to track my Amazon order.  Lucky me - it will be here tomorrow.

 

I guess I'm going shopping today?  Wasn't in my plans, you know, since I have Prime and all, but I'll just adjust those to the whim of the Amazon shipping fairy.

 

And finding a way to contact those people in under five minutes requires some kind of gymnastics to click on the right sequence of carefully placed buttons.  Aggravating.

[gingersmom]

That stinks.

 

I had an order due yesterday by 8 that is now being delivered by Saturday.

 

Why did I pay for prime shipping?

[Tess in the Burbs]

Prime has gotten steadily worse

[catz]

Yes, stop telling me it will be there in a day or 2 if it will be much longer!  I had to reorder something recently because it never showed.  I think that was a shipping and not an amazon issue, but I couldn't re-order until it had been a week.  And it was a birthday gift for DS's friend and it was the PERFECT thing.  We sent it late!

 

I have been known to tell my kids they are opening a birthday gift a day or 2 late if push comes to shove, but I'm mean like that. 

Edited June 29, 2016 by WoolySocks

[Guest]

Yeah, what is up? I ordered something around 10 AM Monday and the 2 day Prime delivery date was stated right on the site as Thursday?? I'm no math genius but....

[Ravin]

We get same day delivery where I live. And Amazon directly delivers some things.

 

I think a lot of it has to do with the limitations of the shipping company and your distance from a warehouse.

Edited June 29, 2016 by Ravin

[OhanaBee]

We get same day delivery where I live. And Amazon directly delivers some things.

 

I think a lot of it has to do with the limitations of the shipping company and your distance from a warehouse.

 

I agree.  Ordered a book for my family out in L.A. and it arrived the next day.  Tried to get a book to my mil in upstate NY.....it took a week. 

 

Admittedly she lives in the boonies.  But I now know I have to order from Amazon well in advance if I'm trying to get something to her by a certain time.

[marbel]

That stinks.

 

We have often given our kids late birthday gifts.   We call it extending the celebration.  Cake and some gifts one night, leftover cake or a new dessert and more gifts a few nights later.   It works once a child is over a certain age (not sure what that age is). 

 

 

[....]

:D   So...a few nights ago, our Australian Shepherds got ahold of my one and only pair of shoes...and ate them.  Good thing I didn't have anywhere to go until Thursday, because I ordered a new pair on Amazon prime and they're not here yet... :mellow:

 

 

[....]

I think a lot of it has to do with the limitations of the shipping company and your distance from a warehouse.

 

I am literally 10 miles away from their facility!  lol

[BlsdMama]

Yes, stop telling me it will be there in a day or 2 if it will be much longer!  I had to reorder something recently because it never showed.  I think that was a shipping and not an amazon issue, but I couldn't re-order until it had been a week.  And it was a birthday gift for DS's friend and it was the PERFECT thing.  We sent it late!

 

I have been known to tell my kids they are opening a birthday gift a day or 2 late if push comes to shove, but I'm mean like that. 

 

 

I decided to "spin" it, lol.

 

I asked if we could spread her birthday over two days - cake, ice cream, meal tonight with one gift and the other  two come tomorrow!  Two days of gifts! ;)

 

She's good.  Her sister just finished up her cake and I think that's what she's most excited about anyway.  The other gift is happily sitting in my closet in a gift bag.

 

 

 

But YES! Stop telling me TWO days is Prime membership when you don't really mean it.  :/

[Sk8ermaiden]

Yeah, I live in a major metro and even have access to Prime Now (same day), and have never, ever had a prime item come late before this year. Now at least 25% of my Prime items are coming at least a day late. It's frustrating. We get at least a few deliveries a week, so we have a lot of opportunities to witness the slide.

 

I ordered some of those sinking torpedoes for the swimming pool, Prime. On the day they were supposed to be delivered, I checked and they had not shipped yet! I cancelled and bought them at Walgreens.  :glare:

Edited June 30, 2016 by Sk8ermaiden

[Tanaqui]

Yes, stop telling me it will be there in a day or 2 if it will be much longer!  I had to reorder something recently because it never showed.  I think that was a shipping and not an amazon issue, but I couldn't re-order until it had been a week.  And it was a birthday gift for DS's friend and it was the PERFECT thing.  We sent it late!

 

Haven't had that problem, but I did have this:

 

Ordered a keyboard, so $200 outlay. Keyboard came in the mail within a week, and then three days later I got an email "Your keyboard is ready to ship and will be there next Wednesday!"

 

I spent several days worried I had a second keyboard coming, and man, return shipping was going to be some hassle!

[Forget-Me-Not]

I had that issue with birthday gifts too. Items were supposed to arrive by 8 pm on a Friday, but didn't. I went to my order history and found that it had been changed to Monday (I had emails from them saying Friday). No email saying it would be late. I was furious and opened a chat with them. They managed to reorder the items and have them overnighted to arrive Sunday afternoon. They were supposed to tell the shipping company to return the original order but they delivered it on Monday so I had duplicates. At least they paid for a UPS pickup and return shipping so it wasn't too much of a hassle to return it.

Then something else arrived late. And again I chatted with them. This time they extended my prime by a month for free.

Both times it was On-Trac doing the shipping. They are terrible. I'm going to continue to pay close attention to shipping promises/times and hold Amazon's feet to the fire over it.

Edited June 29, 2016 by Forget-me-not

[LucyStoner]

With the exception of taking a chance and ordering far too close to Christmas or a marketplace seller who flaked, we get everything very fast.

 

I'm still not that happy with them and feel a bit guilty about using them.

 

My favorite Amazon shopping story is pre-prime. My textbook went from my state to Ohio before arriving in Seattle, their headquarters and at the time where most of their books were shipping from. I did get it when promised though, it jus went on a little trip before coming to my doorstep. That was back before Amazon sold everything there is to sell.

Edited June 29, 2016 by LucyStoner

[BrittanyM]

Prime is not what it used to be here either. Before I got things in 2-3 days (because I live in the boonies as well), now it is minimum 3-4 days. Most of my NON prime orders come quicker or in the same time frame. I will not be renewing prime when it expires.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[blondeviolin]

Everything takes forever to get to AK so we haven't noticed much shipping difference. Is it Amazon not processing orders and getting them out quickly enough or is it just the shipping taking forever?

[gardenmom5]

granted I'm in amazon country  - but stuff still arrives when it says it will.  (including same day if I get my order in early enough.)

 

it's only been the very odd item that has a delay.  I've also had "item delayed" messages and the item wasn't delayed.

[Ewe Mama]

I used to get Prime items the next day occasionally. That never happens any more. If I order things on Wednesday morning, half of them won't arrive until the following Tuesday.

 

If we didn't use the Prime streaming, I would ditch it.

[TravelingChris]

WE only have had one item late and it was delivered the next day.  Otherwise, we are getting everything in two days.  We order quite a lot of things so we get several packages a month.

[perky]

Well, in the days before we had prime, it would take 2 to 6 weeks before we got anything from Amazon.  So I'm happy to have prime.  I usually get stuff in a week or less, which satisfies my desire for semi-immediate gratification.  

[SJ.]

The only times I have ever had a problem getting my orders on time are when I find them in my mailbox the next day (or two, or three) instead of on my doorstep delivered by UPS.  How does that work?  Does UPS take some deliveries to the post office?

[VaKim]

The only times I have ever had a problem getting my orders on time are when I find them in my mailbox the next day (or two, or three) instead of on my doorstep delivered by UPS.  How does that work?  Does UPS take some deliveries to the post office?

Yes. It is called "smart post" or something like that. I don't like it one bit! I also recently had something that specifically said it was "out for delivery" on UPS, and they ended up dropping it at the post office, so I didn't get it until the next day. 

 

However, Amazon's customer service is still pretty awesome here. I ordered a Kindle the other week and the tracking said it had been left on my porch. Well, turns out it was the wrong package. Some kind of dog toy and a jar opener. I contacted them and they told me to just keep that stuff and they sent me another kindle right away. 

[QueenCat]

The only times I have ever had a problem getting my orders on time are when I find them in my mailbox the next day (or two, or three) instead of on my doorstep delivered by UPS.  How does that work?  Does UPS take some deliveries to the post office?

 

Yes, UPS contracts with the post office for some deliveries. But I still get my 2 day Prime deliveries on time, even when through the post office. Pretty rare that I don't.

[tm919]

Amazon is doing some of its own shipping now as well. I had one package delivered by them and it was the worst. It said it was out for delivery for 5 days, and then they sent a note saying "Let us know if you don't receive it by Saturday."

[Ali in OR]

More often than not, my prime orders come in 2 days. But many do not. Some don't even pretend to...they say "prime" when I'm ordering them, but they're by a 3rd party and the arrival date they give me can be a week later.

 

So let this be a lesson to everyone--order those Christmas gifts before Thanksgiving! That's the moral of the story to me.

[Carol in Cal.]

I hate it when companies lie to me.

I didn't sign up for Prime for two day service, but having offered that they should provide it.

Plus, before I had Prime, Amazon used USPS or UPS, both of which drop packages off; but with Prime, they use Fed Ex, which requires a signature and won't attempt deliver more than once.  So with Prime, most of the time I don't know when the package will arrive, AND, if I don't happen to be immediately available to sign for it I will have to go pick it up somewhere.  It's pretty irritating.

[Shellydon]

I have zero problems with Amazon, everything is always on time.  One small town over however has stuff always late.  Different post office and they, ever deliver on time.  Not Amazons fault at all.

[Farrar]

It's just gotten so uneven. I wish it were more transparent. I don't mind 90% of the time if it takes longer. I do mind if they tell me one thing and deliver another.

[foxbridgeacademy]

Where I used to live, rural but 30 minutes from a gigantic Amazon distribution center with another one only 1 hour away in a major metro area, Prime would consistently take 3-4 days.  Now we're in another state also about 1 hour from major metro area but I get next day delivery including Sundays for at least 1/2 of the things I order..... I don't get it but having a package delivered on a Sunday, by the USPS, was extremely odd.

 

ETA: Just to clarify I think the problem in my situation isn't Amazon but the post office.  That little rural town's USPS was Sloooooooow and surly.  The driver got Sh*##y with me because she had to get out of her truck and come to my door to drop off a package that was too big for her to cram in the mailbox.  I'd look at tracking and it would say out for delivery and then the package wouldn't show for another day..... Where as now I live in a MUCH bigger town.

Edited June 29, 2016 by foxbridgeacademy

[JudoMom]

I ordered a Nalgene water bottle yesterday morning. It was offered as Prime through 2 different companies (the one that was a few pennies more was Amazon.

 

I chose the very slightly less expensive one. I went to check out and the arrival date was Tuesday. On no planet in the universe is that two day shipping.

 

So I went back and chose the one that was pennies more expensive and sure enough, arriving tomorrow.

 

I've also had packages late (including one yesterday) and I've had to return over half of the books I've ordered because they were packagedso poorly they were damaged in shipping. Norms and Nobility was thrown in a huge box, loose, with big bottles of vitamins, and another book was literally folded in half to fit in a box that was too small.

[6packofun]

Sorry!  Yes, Amazon extended the birthday celebration for our 10yo this year, too.   :huh:

[Jan in SC]

On Friday, I ordered two books from my Prime account.  I paid extra for overnight shipping.  One arrived on Saturday, but I received an email that the other one was delayed and wouldn't arrive until Tuesday. Apparently they put it in my box sometime on Sunday, but I  didn't check until the mail came on Monday.  I called to ask for a refund on the overnight shipping portion of the book that was late.  The customer service rep couldn't believe that I wasn't happy, because according to her, it arrived earlier than scheduled. Crazy!

 

[wendyroo]

I have one outstanding order sitting in my account right now whose tracking says "Expected by June 28th".  Since I purchased it Prime on Thursday (June 23rd), Tuesday the 28th didn't really seem to meet the 2-day shipping promise.  But at this point, I just really wish they would change or get rid of that taunting "Expected by June 28th".  Come on, guys, I think we all know that you don't really expect that it will get here by June 28th at this point.   :glare:

 

Wendy

[AmandaVT]

Everything takes forever to get to AK so we haven't noticed much shipping difference. Is it Amazon not processing orders and getting them out quickly enough or is it just the shipping taking forever?

 

In our case, Amazon is taking longer to process. If I order something on Friday, Amazon will usually tell me it'll arrive on Thursday now and won't ship until Wednesday. In the past, ordering Friday would result in a package delivered on Monday. 

[chiguirre]

I have one outstanding order sitting in my account right now whose tracking says "Expected by June 28th".  Since I purchased it Prime on Thursday (June 23rd), Tuesday the 28th didn't really seem to meet the 2-day shipping promise.  But at this point, I just really wish they would change or get rid of that taunting "Expected by June 28th".  Come on, guys, I think we all know that you don't really expect that it will get here by June 28th at this point.   :glare:

 

Wendy

That happened to me recently and the package never showed. It disappeared somewhere in Mississippi according to the UPS tracking. They issued an automatic refund when it was 3 days past due.

 

Other than that, I haven't had any problems....

Edited June 29, 2016 by chiguirre

[rdj2027]

I ordered my daughter's presents in early June, we are still waiting.  She claims it's because it was her 13th birthday and she is doomed to a year of bad luck. :cursing:

[Seasider]

I have found for years that two day shipping via prime is dicey if I order Wed thru Sunday. But I have had good luck reaching them on the phone. They are quite willing to send out replacement orders, but that doesn't change the fact that a deadline may have been missed by the initial late delivery.

[Guest]

I'm a big Amazon shopper. I have only had one item in the recent past that was supposed to arrive on a Sunday that showed up on Monday. I chalked it up to an overwhelmed Sunday delivery person; this was right when our deliveries changed over to Amazon delivery. We did get a package this last Sunday, so that was good. I was nervous when they started doing the Amazon delivery in our area, but so far so good. It is kind of weird that I have Budget rental vans outside our house all the time now, though. I loved my UPS deliveries. I'm still having everything Prime delivered in two(ish) days. ;)

 

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

[happypamama]

Wow! I have only had a few items not arrive in two days via Prime, and usually those have been the ones that got turned over to my PO. Some of you have had some really big issues with Amazon! That's unfortunate.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I rarely have an issue with them.

 

Now Zullily, don't get me started with them. 

[happi duck]

I guess not everyone is irritated! :)

 

The one time I was less than happy Amazon chat came to the rescue and also extended my prime membership by a month.

 

.

Edited June 29, 2016 by happi duck

[Katy]

It's the switch from UPS to the postal service. For some reason the post office is no better at Amazon deliveries than they are 3rd class mail.

[Arcadia]

It's the switch from UPS to the postal service. For some reason the post office is no better at Amazon deliveries than they are 3rd class mail.

I don't have Prime. However the ontrac delivery is so much better than USPS. The ontrac guy delivers before 8am while USPS could be two days after it reach the local USPS parcel sorting station.

 

Our parcels mainly come via UPS or Ontrac thankfully. I get Amazon deliveries on Sunday by USPS.

 

Ironically USPS is great at delivery times with media mail but my books would arrive slightly bumped unless the packer has put an extra cardboard sheet top and bottom, and bubble wrapped the books.

 

ETA:

We are in the Amazon 2hr delivery service area. Hubby's colleague who has Prime does get deliveries in 2hrs.

Edited June 30, 2016 by Arcadia

[JudoMom]

I don't consistently have any issue with OnTrac, FedEx, UPS, or USPS.  They are all reasonably consistent in delivering when Amazon promises (I'm guessing this really varies by area).  My problems stem from Amazon not actually offering 2 day shipping on a consistent basis.  

It used to be if I ordered on Wednesday, FedEx would deliver on Saturday.  Now if I order on Wednesday, sometimes they'll have USPS deliver on Sunday or it won't be scheduled for delivery until Monday or Tuesday.

They've expanded their carrier list--I assume in order to save money, going with the cheapest option for them, which in theory I don't have a problem with.  My complaint comes in that the cheapest option they pick is often not actually 2 day shipping.

[Kalypso]

I don't trust the 2 day shipping promise anymore and don't even get me started about OnTrac. I can't believe how many late shipments and problems we have had in the past year.

[Guest]

I decided to "spin" it, lol.

 

I asked if we could spread her birthday over two days - cake, ice cream, meal tonight with one gift and the other two come tomorrow! Two days of gifts! ;)

 

She's good. Her sister just finished up her cake and I think that's what she's most excited about anyway. The other gift is happily sitting in my closet in a gift bag.

 

 

 

But YES! Stop telling me TWO days is Prime membership when you don't really mean it. :/

I did that once with a Christmas gift for my kid. It was the year Swine Flu was rampant. I was actually so delighted with my well-crafted letter from Santa, to my child, explaining how the dreaded R1N1 virus (Reindeer Flu) had caused a serious delay in deliveries coming from The North Pole.

 

I saved that letter.

[TravelingChris]

I haven't had any deliveries by on track.

[ItoLina]

I live in Hawaii so even with prime thugs seems to take at least 2 weeks to get here...which I am sort of used to by now, but the frustrating thing for me is when the thing sits in my cart saying it "preparing for shipment" for 2 weeks before it even gets mailed.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Forget-Me-Not]

And another free month from Amazon for me.  3rd late package this month.  This time it was USPS "Smart" Post (what misnomer).