Kitz Forum
Chat => Chit Chat => Topic started by: tiffy on October 02, 2019, 08:21:48 PM
-
Having recently hijacked sevenlayermuddle's topic here (https://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php/topic,23865.msg402839.html#msg402839), thought it would be best to start my own to continue the saga.
As there was still no confirmation that my pending Amazon order was dispatched and the projected delivery date was still Wed. 9th Oct., order having been placed on Sat. 28th Sept., basic free delivery, non-Prime, decided to try and investigate further and try to get an answer as to why the "free delivery" time appeared to be becoming longer with every order.
Amazon don't make it easy to enquire/complain but with a bit of patience on the web site managed to reach a "ring me back" option and after entering a few details and my phone number pushed the button.
Was quite amazed with the speed of response, phone rang almost immediately, then after a relatively short wait on pick up was greeted by an Indian gentleman.
Basically asked why I had to wait so long for dispatch of an order which all items were in stock and directly supplied by Amazon and why the dispatch/delivery time on the "free delivery option" appeared to be increasing all the time.
He repeated all the expected answers from his script and basically said as I had opted for free delivery what did I expect, he stated that he could not do anything to expedite the order further unless I upgraded to paid delivery or Prime service.
When we got tired of this he offered to pass me on to his supervisor.
When the supervisor eventually answered we went through exactly the same script again just a bit more forcefully.
He also repeated that he could do nothing to expedite the order other than upgrade my delivery instructions at a cost.
Would not/could not comment on any perceived increase in dispatch/delivery times with respect to "free delivery" orders.
I politely terminated the call.
Received a "confirmation of order dispatch" e-mail from Amazon 5 minutes later advising delivery on Fri. 4th Oct.
Wasn't that a strange coincidence ?
-
Well that was a most strange coincidence.
I have Prime, and generally don't have any issues, I always check delivery time scales, sometimes prime is next day, sometime two days. I mainly have Prime for the films/series and my daughter uses the music, so I think we get value for money.
I don't buy everything from Amazon, depending on what I'm buying I'll often buy elsewhere.
-
Sorry to hear you had a bad experience. Yes I think that was more than a co-incidence it was despatched so soon after. .
Like Ronski I have Prime and can't really fault the delivery times. Most of my deliveries come via Amazon logistics which I find are good - unlike Yodel they used to use years ago before I had prime.
I've also found their customer service quite good on the occasions I have used them. In fact I can't complain because I've usually ended up with freebie stuff.
-
I fully accept that Prime is a good facility for those that can justify the cost and are making use of the other services other than free, fast(er) delivery, I can't and don't require the other services.
I have every expectation of waiting 5 days or even longer, weekends or bank holidays intervening, for free delivery without extra cost, however, I do object to being pressured into something I don't require or want by making the normal dispatch/deliver service deliberately longer than it has to be which I believe to be the case with Amazon.
-
On a more positive (for me) note about Amazon, has anybody noticed the tracking now sometimes includes real time geolocation of the van?
Twice in the past three or four weeks (not prime), by pure coincidence I’ve checked the status of a an item that was out for delivery, only to find myself presented with a map showing the van a few hundred feet away, at one of the houses further up the lane. So I walk to the end of the drive and sure enough, I meet an Amazon delivery van coming the other way. :)
That’s actually useful if it stops a big van driving all the way to the house, as turning space is limited. It’s useful to the driver as it avoids a difficult manoeuvre, and it’s useful to me if it avoids a van ripping the guttering off of the garage whilst turning. Which happened once, but wasn’t Amazon. :)
-
I presume that was Amazon Logistics, because they do track their drivers real time.
Glad to hear they are also using them for non prime too.
Yodel which they used to use were dreadful. You never had a clue when your parcel would arrive and it could be anytime up to about 9pm and thus leave you hanging around all day wondering it is it going to turn up or not. :(
-
Many thanks to the 3 patrons (including the boss) who expressed their views, noted they are all Amazon Prime subscribers.
As mentioned earlier, I have absolutely no doubt that Amazon Prime service is very worthwhile and offers excellent value for money to those who submit frequent orders, are willing to pay extra for quick delivery and/or make use of the other services offered with the package.
However, I can only state from my experience as a non-Prime Amazon, relatively light user of postal services only that the service I receive is constantly degrading with respect to delayed dispatch of goods I order.
Possible reasons:
1/. Purely coincidental
2/. With an increasing volume of Prime/paid delivery orders, free delivery orders (to expectation) are at the back of any queue.
3/. Amazon are deliberately holding back free delivery orders to "encourage" non-Prime customers to sign up.
Would like to think it's not reason 3 but not so sure.
While I currently have no requirement for subscription to Amazon Prime services I don't like the perception of being "encouraged" to join the club to obtain enhanced services which I don't require, can't justify, perhaps can't afford as the only option to obtain the reasonable standard of supply and delivery service (for a free P&P customer) I have previously received from Amazon.
Have any other non-Prime Amazon patrons had similar experience ?
-
I don't order that often from Amazon, and then only for single items, and so far have experienced no problem. I'm not sure about ordering multiple items, and requesting a composite delivery, if that is what tiffy had done, as itis a bit like holding self to fortune.
-
One thing I have noticed, during my accidental Prime membership is, on some product pages...
Note: Available at a lower price without Prime delivery from other sellers.
Usually, the ‘other sellers’ turn out to be merchants, all of which I tend to avoid. But on one occasion, another seller was Amazon.co.uk themselves, with a different listing of same product. The thing I was looking at was around £15 with Prime, or £11 with free delivery, without prime. Only difference with the cheaper listing seemed to be a very pessimistic delivery estimate, weeks instead of days.
I’m struggling to remember what it was I was looking at so can’t provide any evidence. Feel free to disbelieve me. :D
-
I believe you :)
The one thing I dislike about the 'other sellers' notifications is that they are quite often based abroad (ie China) and can take weeks for your order to arrive. It is annoying that it isn't always immediately clear that you are ordering from a supplier outside the UK or you are actually buying through Market Place.
I have fallen for this several times then wondered why my item was taking so long to arrive. I think these external suppliers may have 2 methods of shipping - either direct to you or they ship to Amazon in bulk who dispatch on their behalf. One item I can particularly recall falling for was a silver designer type bangle that I'd ordered for a friend for xmas which needless to say didn't arrive in time. It was only after I'd ordered that I saw it was really coming from China :(
Fairly recently I ordered a cat tree scratching post, which again I initially thought was supplied by Amazon but closer inspection showed it was coming from the Netherlands. I did notice that one before placing the order, but since it was only a delay of 3 days and it was about half the price of those in Pets at Home, I was OK with that... but I do remember thinking at the time it wasn't very obvious I wasn't really purchasing direct from Amazon.
-
I have also discovered, the hard way, how easy it is to accidentally order from a Chinese trader. >:(
But I dislike marketplace traders in general, even local UK ones, as I have in the past found them to be somewhat uncooperative when I need to return goods. I have also been irritated by a tendency to abuse (my opinion) the customer contact channels, spamming me with requests to review.
Buying from Amazon direct, neither of above has ever been a problem.
Emphasise again though, the only real reason I am anti-Prime is that they make it so easy to accidentally sign up, and I have not the slightest doubt that is deliberate. I have been tricked that way twice and on the first occasion, though I’m ashamed to admit it, I actually got debited a couple of months before I noticed it on the bank statements. :(
-
Well, my moan to Amazon in this instance has produced results, big improvement from the original delivery date of 9/10, received goods this morning via courier, normally Royal Mail with my usual, free delivery choice, even received a pre-delivery e-mail and was able to track the delivery live to the door.
Looks like I had a temporary Prime upgrade on this order despite the Indian call centre gentlemen stating that nothing could be done to expedite the delivery unless money changed hands, I have and will continue to check that I have not migrated to Prime service without my consent, not so to date.
-
re accidental Prime sign-ups: when I did it recently (after years of diligence avoiding it), I cancelled it immediately. This saved the hassle of remembering to cancel. To my surprise, I still had Prime for a month. Sadly, I could think of no use for it.
re delays for free delivery: my experience, for some reason, is the opposite. They tell me the thing will arrive in 5-6 days, and .. it arrives the next day! I speculate that it is actually a hassle for them to delay things. (I don't rely on this. It is just as much a nuisance for me to be in on a Monday as the following Thursday, or whatever.)
Another aspect: quite often I see something at a good price, and then find this is exclusively for the Prime elite. Nasty, but I suppose that's up to amazon. (The effect is, I feel really p'd off, look elsewhere, and often find it at an even better price, inc p&p.)
OTOH, if I suspect something is too good to be true, and turns out to be rubbish, I feel confident I can just send it back to Amazon, whereas some other outfit might be troublesome.
-
OTOH, if I suspect something is too good to be true, and turns out to be rubbish, I feel confident I can just send it back to Amazon, whereas some other outfit might be troublesome.
Point taken on that, ironically enough, the order item which prompted this moan has turned out to be faulty and the makers on line support service is non-existant, no response, can't even register the warranty as the year of purchase option on the pull down menu only extends to 2013.
As you have said, I don't anticipate any issues with returning the item and getting a full refund as I fully intend to do, replacement is not being considered in view of the non-existant product support, other sellers on e-Bay were quoting no returns for the same item at a very similar price, obvious the e-Bay warranty would still apply but would likely be more hassle.
-
Good luck with the return Tiffy. I have never had a problem returning goods to Amazon when purchased from Amazon, so I hope it goes well.
Amazon Marketplace traders of course, different entirely. I’ve had real struggles a couple of timed, getting them to refund for goods that were faulty or not as advertised. >:(
-
Yodel... :no: just, :no:
-
As the device in question was still acting up I got on the chat line today to Amazon.
Fairly knowledgable lady who went through the very basic trouble shooting stuff which I had done alteady of course.
She then phoned the manufacturers and myself, certainly had more luck that I did with support, connected us together for a technical chat, convinced them that the unit was indeed faulty.
Against my earlier judgment, decided to go for a replacement unit, this was arranged by the Amazon lady, delivery expected on Thursday, old unit packed up for return.
So, perhaps Amazon is not so bad after all, certainly no issues with replacement, lets hope the new unit works or it's definately a refund after that !