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Amazon Has an Honesty Issue

bentasker.co.uk

31–40 of 151 posts

Re: Amazon Has an Honesty Issue

#31

Amazon code that renders tracking seems obviously broken in places. They shipped a thing to me (MT) from NY, and the post office mistakenly routed it to Puerto Rico. At some point in this saga the Amazon order tracking page went from "it's running late and if it isn't there tomorrow you can get a refund" to "likely it was delivered on or around Dec 1 and you can't get a refund". Meanwhile the tracking (number copied…

You can probably still get a refund if you open the support chat, experience of the blog writer not withstanding. They always have more options than the shipping page will give you.

Re: Amazon Has an Honesty Issue

#32
Amazon took something like 30 days to deliver me an iPad (Pro, so $900) that was supposed to be “Prime” delivered.

I asked them to cancel the order after seven days, and repeatedly asked them to cancel, but they wouldn’t.

They seem to follow the old Ferengi adage of “Once you have their money, you never give it back”

Edit: I returned it for a refund, but was out a decent amount do money for a while.

Re: Amazon Has an Honesty Issue

#33

Amazon (US) has really gone downhill in the past ~5 years. I signed up for Prime a over decade ago because of the reliable 2 day shipping. It worked pretty much as described. It was great. Shipping is no longer 2 days on most items - "Prime" shipping can now take 7 days. Amazon advertise same or next day shipping, but it's really only for big ticket, occasional purchase items. Most everyday purchases now take 3-7 day…

Maybe it varies by location because in Chicago it's extremely rare for things to take more than 2 days. In fact they've been stepping up next and same day delivery for a lot of items.

That being said, I'm actually moving in the opposite direction since that creates a lot of waste. Unless I really need the item quickly I use Prime Day delivery so it all comes in one box. If my whole family didn't share the account I wouldn't pay for Prime.

Re: Amazon Has an Honesty Issue

#34

Amazon (US) has really gone downhill in the past ~5 years. I signed up for Prime a over decade ago because of the reliable 2 day shipping. It worked pretty much as described. It was great. Shipping is no longer 2 days on most items - "Prime" shipping can now take 7 days. Amazon advertise same or next day shipping, but it's really only for big ticket, occasional purchase items. Most everyday purchases now take 3-7 day…

What I dislike the most is how unreliable "Amazon Day Delivery" is.

Several times I've bought something that I don't need that week, so I chose Amazon Day delivery, which allows all of my packages get delivered during the same day the next week.

I expected those packages to arrive, e.g. buying something for a gathering I'm hosting that weekend, but they are often days late and don't arrive in time.

Amazon was great for a few years, but it looks like something happened. They still claim they are customer obsessed and "Day 1" thinkers, but anyone can see the delusion. I wonder if Jeff Bezos sees that Amazon has gotten worse; it seemed like he truly believed in the company until his departure a few years ago, but maybe it was always just about the money.

Re: Amazon Has an Honesty Issue

#35
post #27

Amazon (US) has really gone downhill in the past ~5 years. I signed up for Prime a over decade ago because of the reliable 2 day shipping. It worked pretty much as described. It was great. Shipping is no longer 2 days on most items - "Prime" shipping can now take 7 days. Amazon advertise same or next day shipping, but it's really only for big ticket, occasional purchase items. Most everyday purchases now take 3-7 day…

Curious about where you live. How far are you from a major Amazon shipping hub? Here in the broader LA area, it is mostly all next day, and even same day shipping. It's all Amazon's in house delivery service too.

One of the biggest cities in the US.

The shipping ETA problem seems to be very hit-or-miss. I've spent more time than I'd like to admit sifting through pages of "prime" results trying to find something that can arrive sooner than 3-7 days out.

And then sometimes every search result shows same/next day--but you absolutely can't rely on it because the packages have a ~50% chance of "running late" and get assigned a new ETA of what the non-prime shipping would have been. For order after order.

Re: Amazon Has an Honesty Issue

#36

Fwiw...this reminded me I had a package ($90) not show up this week. I used their completely automated system and got refunded in 5 minutes. Message even says "if you find the package you can keep it." I think you need a lot of examples to draw any conclusions and self-reporting is going to be almost entirely negative experiences.

I'll share my anecdote: a few weeks ago I ordered hooks for hanging up lights ($25). The package was marked as delivered, but nowhere to be seen. I don't have a problem with package theft, so my guess is that it was delivered to the wrong address or something.

I went to Amazon's site and tried to report the issue, but, at least for that item, there was no automated way to report a package as "not delivered".

Re: Amazon Has an Honesty Issue

#38
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

USPS is considered safer, because of federal charges. Some wise people suggested to use priority/express mail, along with insurance, if one wants it more secure in the USPS system.

I have had 3 watches stolen out of my secure neighborhood parcel locker. Each time the package was scanned to show delivered, and each time it was not there. It’s just watches (which are marked as such on the customs form), and despite numerous complaints, USPS refuses to do anything about it. I’ll believe Federal charges when I see them.

I agree with you here. One time, I didn't receive a check for $8k for two months for work I did. I complained to the sender, who sent me the image of the cashed check. So, I filed a complaint with USPS about stolen mail, and that too was supposed to be delivered to a PO Box. No response whatsoever from USPS postal inspectors, who are busy with priorities of their political masters. So, it took another three months to sort out this mess through alternative means. At least, USPS should have contacted me about my complaint; no, they didn't care.

Re: Amazon Has an Honesty Issue

#39

Amazon (US) has really gone downhill in the past ~5 years. I signed up for Prime a over decade ago because of the reliable 2 day shipping. It worked pretty much as described. It was great. Shipping is no longer 2 days on most items - "Prime" shipping can now take 7 days. Amazon advertise same or next day shipping, but it's really only for big ticket, occasional purchase items. Most everyday purchases now take 3-7 day…

What I dislike the most is how unreliable "Amazon Day Delivery" is. Several times I've bought something that I don't need that week, so I chose Amazon Day delivery, which allows all of my packages get delivered during the same day the next week. I expected those packages to arrive, e.g. buying something for a gathering I'm hosting that weekend, but they are often days late and don't arrive in time. Amazon was great f…

[flagged]

Re: Amazon Has an Honesty Issue

#40
post #21
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

USPS is considered safer, because of federal charges. Some wise people suggested to use priority/express mail, along with insurance, if one wants it more secure in the USPS system.

Postal inspectors take this sort of thing very seriously.

Only when they want to investigate your case. Most of the time, postal investigators don't care. Maybe, they care if the package is insured/priority/express mail.
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