Is Amazon slipping?

[Bimwad]

Put aside their tactics in dealing with the book publishers and studio home video divisions.

I'm talking about their direct to consumer service.

I've dealt with Amazon CS a fair number of times before, and have always found them helpful, accommodating, and ultimately willing to go the extra mile and make it up to the customer.

Even the Billy Idol soundalike in their UK call center that I spoke to a few years ago was pleasant to deal with, even though we sharply disagreed on certain things.

You got the feeling that they valued you as a customer.

I can't say the same for my last encounter. CS wasn't rude or anything, but what struck me was they were quite average, and now no better than anyone else.

The automated system gave no indication that there was a problem with the order, and the courier they chose with the less-than-stellar reputation has always been lax with their status updates, so it was hard to tell what was going on, after the expected delivery time came and went.

It's in the hands of the carrier now, I don't know anything more than you do, get back to us if it doesn't show up in the next couple days, and we might comp you another month of no-longer-so-Prime service, bye (without saying goodbye). A virtual hang up.

First world problem, I know, and in fact the carrier is apparently the one at fault, but their choice of carriers reflects poorly on them. The old Amazon would have shown some concern, rushed out a duplicate shipment, but now, it's not really our problem, we'll just return your money if it doesn't show up in time for your trip. End of story.

Ok service, and certainly within the terms of their fine print, but no longer great service, or the sign of a company that still cares.

[davemchine]

The only problem I've had with Amazon are the "Prime" items that don't actually ship right away. I've even had Prime items that shipped from china (taking six weeks to get here). I've started being very careful to select items that are actually fulfilled by Amazon if I need them to arrive on time.

[Chakravartin]

davemchine wrote:
The only problem I've had with Amazon are the "Prime" items that don't actually ship right away. I've even had Prime items that shipped from china (taking six weeks to get here).

I'm not sure why this happens, but sometimes a "free shipping" item from a marketplace seller will pop up when I click on a link to an item that has the "Prime" logo on it and the actual "Prime" product link will show up in a sidebar instead of as the featured product.

I expect that's what happened to you and you completed the purchases without noticing the lack of "Prime" two-day shipping.

Alternate theory: Some "Prime" items have notices just under the item descriptions indicating that they won't ship for x number of weeks. Possible that you didn't notice one of those messages?

[davemchine]

When I shop Amazon I perform a search for whatever I'm looking for and then I click the prime button on the left hand side so I only see prime items. I've learned that if the seller isn't "fulfilled by amazon" that I need to check what the estimated delivery date is before placing my order.

I've also learned that if there are color options (I recently bought a bean bag for my daughter) that changing the color will sometimes remove the prime logo. That's a little tricky since I would have clicked on a prime item initially, am still getting the product from the sale seller, but changing the color changes the shipping charge and the shipping date. Have to be careful.

[space-time]

sorry davemchine, I think you're not 100% clear what PRIME means. Only the items fulfilled by amazon are PRIME, the freeshipping coming from china in 6 weeks has nothing to do with PRIME.

[Filliam H. Muffman]

Amazon has moved up to the next step to try and keep ahead of the likes of Newegg. I wonder if Walmart* will be able to survive... :RollingEyesSmiley5:

[davemchine]

space-time, I may not have explained myself very well. I'm saying that some items have the Prime logo next to them but are actually being shipped from china. It is very deceiving and I've had to cancel orders over that issue because I didn't look at the delivery date. No item being shipped from china should have the Prime logo on it because it could never arrive on time.

I also disagree that only items fulfilled by Amazon can be Prime. There are LOTS of items with the Prime logo that are not fulfilled by Amazon. They should only be fulfilled by amazon though!

So I am saying that Amazon is playing pretty loose with the Prime logo.

[GGD]

davemchine wrote:
There are LOTS of items with the Prime logo that are not fulfilled by Amazon. They should only be fulfilled by amazon though!

So I am saying that Amazon is playing pretty loose with the Prime logo.

Can you give a link to an example? I've never noticed this behavior.

I have seen third party sellers with their own "free shipping", but not listed as "Prime". I've only seen the ones Sold by or Fulfilled by Amazon listed as Prime.

[Zoidberg]

Agree with what davemchine is saying; Prime does not necessarily mean overnight or two-day. The logo used to mean if you ordered it this was the case but, as the program has expanded, that's changed.

Ditto on the logo; it shows up next to non-Amazon sellers as well. Some are "Sold by YYZ, fulfilled by Amazon" and some seem to be part of the Prime program because they offer free shipping.

It's a clustercuss lately; I have many times ordered something with the "Order today, get it Tuesday!" notation only to have the order drag on for a week or more before it actually ships, even if it's not marked as "not in stock, order now and we'll ship it when it arrives".

Double ditto; Amazon is playing pretty loose with the Prime logo these days.

[Bill in NC]

I (as a buyer) tried to get Amazon to live up to its "A to Z" guarantee and they just strung me along for months.

Fortunately I was eventually able to fix the item I ordered.

Next time I'll just do a charge-back immediately.