Amazon Prime $72 for the year (normally $99/year)

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Great, I let my Prime membership lapse in December since they upped the price and also my state started charging tax on Amazon. I'll take it back again for $72, it's worth it for the streaming services alone.
 
Amazon Prime (One Year Membership) is not available for you to purchase because you are either a Prime member or you are buying Prime with 1-Click ordering. Please delete this item to continue.
 
Be warned that Amazon has started using cheaper shipping services, at least in my area.

They either use the smartpost or whatever its called, where FedEx will promise two day delivery to your post office, but then your local USPS can take as long as they want and have no exact tracking from that point on.

Or they will use USPS outright, and in my area even though I live in a nice neighborhood with a covered patio, they won't deliver anything that won't fit in the community mailbox (or even better yet, they FOLDED a package labeled FRAGILE all over it to cram it into the box) and will not attempt delivery to your door (even though no signature is required).

At that point you go to your subdivisions community mail box to notice the "failed delivery" notification, go to your car and drive down to the post office, wait in line 30 mins, pick up your package, and drive home... ruining the convenience of Prime. And for Prime streaming, usually anything that is good or recent, you have to pay for anyway. Like say you want to watch Grimm... sure its free if you want to watch season 2, but if you want to watch the episode that just aired? No problem, pay for it.

So I will not be renewing my subscription, even at $72, because anything with prime shipping IS ALREADY FREE SHIPPING, you save literally $0. You are only paying $72 to upgrade your usually 3-day ground shipping to 2-day shipping.

Here's the third package this month that USPS refuses to deliver, and I refuse to drive to go pick up again, and have been back and forth with Amazon on refunding my purchase since its not making it to my actual house:

(they stopped updating at this point and have been called four times asking to deliver it to the door, which only the first time they had the audacity to call it a "special delivery arrangement" as if I made some really unusual shipping request asking to leave the package at my house instead of the post office)

January 14, 2015, 11:41 pm, ? TX A carrier delay has occurred
January 13, 2015, 11:51 pm, ? TX A carrier delay has occurred
January 13, 2015, 9:51 am, ? TX Special delivery arrangement requested by customer which may delay shipment
January 9, 2015, 7:22 am, ? TX US Delivery attempted
January 8, 2015, 11:48 pm, ? TX A carrier delay has occurred
January 8, 2015, 9:48 am, ? TX US Out for delivery
January 8, 2015, 9:38 am, ? TX US Package arrived at a carrier facility
January 8, 2015, 6:11 am, ? TX US Package received by carrier
January 8, 2015, 6:05 am, ? TX US Package arrived at a carrier facility
January 8, 2015, 12:51 am, ? TX US Package has left the carrier facility
January 7, 2015, 1:21 am, ? TX US Package has left the carrier facility
January 6, 2015, 6:45 pm, ? TX US Package arrived at a carrier facility
January 7, 2015, 1:21 am, --- Package has left seller facility and is in transit to carrier
 
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Be warned that Amazon has started using cheaper shipping services, at least in my area.

They either use the smartpost or whatever its called, where FedEx will promise two day delivery to your post office, but then your local USPS can take as long as they want and have no exact tracking from that point on.

Or they will use USPS outright...

So true. Between the switching of the shipping services and the sales tax, it's becoming less and less cool to buy from Amazon. About the only nice thing is here in D/FW I can get Sunday deliveries.
 
Some of the sorry USPS deliveries that come to my place are also folded and crammed in the mail box. I grumble every time too.
 
Amazon Prime (One Year Membership) is not available for you to purchase because you are either a Prime member or you are buying Prime with 1-Click ordering. Please delete this item to continue.

Purchase it as a gift, then once your subscription expires, use the gift on your amazon account. Should work like that.

Amazon can't really be blamed for carriers going full retard. I've never had an issue like that with Amazon, but have had lots of issues with USPS.
 
Be warned that Amazon has started using cheaper shipping services, at least in my area.

Yes, we may have already passed the peak of the Amazon days. One of the big reasons it was always good to shop with Amazon was their consistently excellent return policy and customer service (at least in my experience). Yet has anyone else noticed that in the last couple of years it seems like Amazon.com is selling/shipping less and less themselves?

It seems to have increasingly become another one of these "mall sites" where MOST of the products you look for do not even have an Amazon.com buying and/or fulfillment option, forcing you to go elsewhere or buy from the 3rd party via amazon but NOT have protection under Amazon's return policy and/or CS. Not to mention, if it is not fulfilled by Amazon, the shipping is slow, not free, and does not utilize your expensive Prime subscription if you have one.
 
I'm not getting on the hate train, sorry.;)

I wanted to hate Amazon a few months back when they started to charge taxes. I contacted their customer support telling them I would start shopping elsewhere. Well..........

They had the best price on this expensive shake powder I use. I ordered 4 canisters, $100+ worth. One popped open during delivery and a dusting was all over the inside of the shipping box but still very usable. I contacted customer support. They told me to keep it and they sent an entire new order free. Basically 50% off deal for me in the end. :)

Then they (USPS) topped it off by starting to deliver Amazon Prime orders on Sunday! I"m renewing my PRIME. Thanks OP!
 
Just got off the chat with Prime and can verify new customers only. My Prime is up in a week but they extended me another month for asking about the promotion. I might just kill mine and have my wife buy it under her email.
 
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Select "This order contains a gift" before checking out and send it to yourself in email just before your Prime Expires :)
 
Just got off the chat with Prime and can verify new customers only. My Prime is up in a week but they extended me another month for asking about the promotion. I might just kill mine and have my wife buy it under her email.

Buy it as a gift and use that to extend your current membership when it expires?
 
Buy it as a gift and use that to extend your current membership when it expires?

This would almost certainly work. If you want to be safe, just create a new account when you renew. you'll get 30 days free on it too.
 
I'm not getting on the hate train, sorry.;)

I wanted to hate Amazon a few months back when they started to charge taxes. I contacted their customer support telling them I would start shopping elsewhere. Well..........

They had the best price on this expensive shake powder I use. I ordered 4 canisters, $100+ worth. One popped open during delivery and a dusting was all over the inside of the shipping box but still very usable. I contacted customer support. They told me to keep it and they sent an entire new order free. Basically 50% off deal for me in the end. :)

Then they (USPS) topped it off by starting to deliver Amazon Prime orders on Sunday! I"m renewing my PRIME. Thanks OP!

Yessir! I love it when they tell me "don't worry about shipping it back, but you'll get a replacement in two days" :) Almost makes me wish more things showed up messed up but salvageable hahah

OH! And for the students, don't forget to show a quick shot of your class schedule or ID or just about anything showing you're a student to get it for $50
 
I went ahead and bought me the gift for $72 and will use it in March when my sub runs out.

I really like Amazon's customer service, they have always been great.
In December of last year, I ordered the HAF-XB EVO case and it had a $20 rebate.
After I got the case, I went back to the HAF-XB EVO page but didn't see the rebate forms, so I called up Amazon and asked them where to find the rebate forms for the case and they apologized for the inconvenience and just credited me back $20 instead.
 
Yessir! I love it when they tell me "don't worry about shipping it back, but you'll get a replacement in two days" :) Almost makes me wish more things showed up messed up but salvageable hahah

OH! And for the students, don't forget to show a quick shot of your class schedule or ID or just about anything showing you're a student to get it for $50

I never had to verify I was a student...just had to give them a .edu email address I think. As far as they're concerned I'm on a 20 year plan :)
 
I never had to verify I was a student...just had to give them a .edu email address I think. As far as they're concerned I'm on a 20 year plan :)
Same, all they needed from me was an .edu. If you go to a small college or JC that doesn't give out .edu emails then you may need to verify that you're a full-time student by showing them a transcript or class schedule but for people going to university you should be fine :)
 
Damn! I forgot this was happening.

Oh well, I have yet to have a bad experience with Amazon and the carriers in my area seem to be pretty good about not damaging anything. The customer service is one of the main things that keeps me coming back to Amazon time after time.
 
Ordered 4GB HyperX Predator 2666 RAM for $84 from Amazon Warehouse Deals, disappeared somewhere in the ether (~two weeks no update on status at UPS).
Contacted support, got a new order for the same price, this time unused (because they were out of the used ones at Amazon Warehouse), and refunded my previous order.
Few days later, both appear in my mailbox. Magic.
 
My experience with Amazon (and Prime) in general has been mixed. Thus far, I haven't had any customer experiences that made me go "wow!". If anything sometimes it's a pain in the butt. Like I ordered two 120mm pwm noctua case fans from them that was fulfilled by them but ordered from some other company. I receive 2 really small ones instead, that were totally not the size I ordered. I couldn't even return it through their system automatically, I had to go through their contact customer support process because apparently they couldn't believe that I could ever receive the wrong thing from them. Apparently they thought I was trying to... do a swap-out or something to get my money back? And they had to "investigate" me getting the wrong item.

All this for a 2 pack of 120mm noctua fans. What the hell? Where's the preferential Prime treatment? I know it isn't officially part of the package, but come on, it should mean something right?

I gave them one opportunity for a "wow" customer experience when I was buying a "Like New" pair of T1 earphones. Right after I ordered them, the prices on all of the used T1's dropped by like 50-100$ or something. So I asked if I could be credited that back. Nope, won't even do that. I mean I guess it's kind of expected and I can't 100% fault them for it since it depends on what customer support agent you get but... overall Prime doesn't do much on top of what Amazon already gives. Considering I'm mostly into Touhou and some slightly more obscure music, the Prime Music means nothing to me. I don't watch TV, either. So that's useless. Netflix has more anime than they do. It's literally just 2 day shipping. That's it. Which may or may not be worth the 100$ each year. We buy a lot from them so it's kind of worth it.


On the upside, I haven't had too much issue with delivery on my end. It's usually there at about the predicted times. Recently got something and it was there in 1 day.

And the other upside is that... well, generally speaking it is still better than any other alternative. So...
 
Not sure how that wall of text fits into a hot deal thread. People know what Prime is. If you don't like it, don't subscribe.
 
My experience with Amazon (and Prime) in general has been mixed. Thus far, I haven't had any customer experiences that made me go "wow!". If anything sometimes it's a pain in the butt. Like I ordered two 120mm pwm noctua case fans from them that was fulfilled by them but ordered from some other company. I receive 2 really small ones instead, that were totally not the size I ordered. I couldn't even return it through their system automatically, I had to go through their contact customer support process because apparently they couldn't believe that I could ever receive the wrong thing from them. Apparently they thought I was trying to... do a swap-out or something to get my money back? And they had to "investigate" me getting the wrong item.

All this for a 2 pack of 120mm noctua fans. What the hell? Where's the preferential Prime treatment? I know it isn't officially part of the package, but come on, it should mean something right?

I gave them one opportunity for a "wow" customer experience when I was buying a "Like New" pair of T1 earphones. Right after I ordered them, the prices on all of the used T1's dropped by like 50-100$ or something. So I asked if I could be credited that back. Nope, won't even do that. I mean I guess it's kind of expected and I can't 100% fault them for it since it depends on what customer support agent you get but... overall Prime doesn't do much on top of what Amazon already gives. Considering I'm mostly into Touhou and some slightly more obscure music, the Prime Music means nothing to me. I don't watch TV, either. So that's useless. Netflix has more anime than they do. It's literally just 2 day shipping. That's it. Which may or may not be worth the 100$ each year. We buy a lot from them so it's kind of worth it.


On the upside, I haven't had too much issue with delivery on my end. It's usually there at about the predicted times. Recently got something and it was there in 1 day.

And the other upside is that... well, generally speaking it is still better than any other alternative. So...

I liked the wall of text so much, I quoted it. And no I do not dislike Amazon...I just believe their trajectory has gone off-course when it comes to how much they can offer consumers. Has it reached a point of no return? No. Hopefully they turn back around in the right direction. Also, your first experience is exactly why I take issue with their recent increasing focus on third-party sellers.
 
I'd be interested in hearing, mostly just out of curiosity, if any recently expired Prime members were able to successfully re-subscribe using a self-gifted $72 Prime membership.
 
I'd be interested in hearing, mostly just out of curiosity, if any recently expired Prime members were able to successfully re-subscribe using a self-gifted $72 Prime membership.

I'm going to try it on the 31'st. Freebie runs out on the 30th. I'm re-upping regardless of the outcome, just one way is $27 cheaper.
 
In my opinion, Amazon is clearly the best. I've had so many great/wow experiences with there customer support that I still don't believe it.

I've had multiple times where the problem was the manufacturer not contacting me back for warranty support, but Amazon has helped me throughout each and every process by either offering me assistance, a partial refund, or an entire refund. There is not one store I can drive to that will give me the equal service that Amazon gives me. I'm a hoarder and I buy a lot. I've been to 100's of malls throughout the US, department stores, Ma and Pop stores, etc... Amazon just amazes me how such a big company can also have A+ service.

They're worth every penny for Prime and all my purchases with them.
 
I liked the wall of text so much, I quoted it. And no I do not dislike Amazon...I just believe their trajectory has gone off-course when it comes to how much they can offer consumers. Has it reached a point of no return? No. Hopefully they turn back around in the right direction. Also, your first experience is exactly why I take issue with their recent increasing focus on third-party sellers.

Is that really the case? They've always had 3rd party resellers...well for at least 5 or 6 years (probably longer). Most of the time, the selected seller is Amazon. There are exceptions, but they're normally really cheap items and most of them aren't prime eligible.

To me the issue is the decline in standard shipping. If they're sitting on an order for 2 or 3 days, just to make Prime look better, that doesn't make me want prime, it makes me wonder who else has this product at a similar price.
 
Is that really the case? They've always had 3rd party resellers...well for at least 5 or 6 years (probably longer). Most of the time, the selected seller is Amazon. There are exceptions, but they're normally really cheap items and most of them aren't prime eligible.

To me the issue is the decline in standard shipping. If they're sitting on an order for 2 or 3 days, just to make Prime look better, that doesn't make me want prime, it makes me wonder who else has this product at a similar price.

They know they have you by the balls because everyone else is going to have a $100 minimum order or charge $9 in shipping.
 
I order 2-3 packages a week from amazon and have never seen a prime item ship via smart post.

Now I do hate the USPS but that's not the fault of amazon. I have a fat lazy fuck that delivers here sometimes that just won't get out and deliver to my door. He'll just mark it undeliverable and drive on if he can't stuff it in the mailbox...

That said I was on the wife's prime and wanted my own for the music streaming so I bit. Accidentally paid full price because I forgot I had one click ordering on and did the wrong offer but within a few hours I had the difference refunded no questions asked.

So shipping USPS sucks but their customer service is top notch every time I have had to deal with them I was very happy.
 
Damn...I just renewed at the new rate a few days before this offer :(

How often do they run a "sale" like this?
 
I can't believe I forgot about this. I should have set a reminder. :(
 
I order 2-3 packages a week from amazon and have never seen a prime item ship via smart post.

Now I do hate the USPS but that's not the fault of amazon. I have a fat lazy fuck that delivers here sometimes that just won't get out and deliver to my door. He'll just mark it undeliverable and drive on if he can't stuff it in the mailbox...

That said I was on the wife's prime and wanted my own for the music streaming so I bit. Accidentally paid full price because I forgot I had one click ordering on and did the wrong offer but within a few hours I had the difference refunded no questions asked.

So shipping USPS sucks but their customer service is top notch every time I have had to deal with them I was very happy.

I've seen smartpost from Amazon. Maily I see UPS 2 day Air, Ground (if in the next state over), and OnTrac for same day. Smartpost I usually see for Prime Two Day where the item is already in my city (we have a distribution center here).
 
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