Amazon Prime Sheninigans

Amazon started using Lasership for a while, they must have had problems though because they've switched back to UPS. First package I got from LS was marked as delivered the day before it actually showed up, I got pissed at that cause I spent 10-15 mins outside at night with a flashlight looking for it. It wasn't due until the next day anyway so I didn't make a fuss. The second package I got from them didn't have any issues, but UPS is great in my area and much more reliable.
 
The King of Pants said:
I got the Fedex/USPS horseshit for the first time a couple weeks ago, box finally showed up two days late from one state away. Best advice I can give you is to call and bitch. They get enough complaints they may end this stupidity.
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Whats the matter with Fedex or USPS? Ask anybody who sells on ebay if they ever use UPS (hint, No. They are far more expensive than USPS)...

I much preferred fedex back when newegg used them. They're faster, and what helped me was you could go pick up the package at their terminal the same evening you missed it with ease. With UPS you had to jump through hoops.

Plus it just seems lots of UPS drivers are shady. Many times they've pulled the ol, claim to have attempted to deliver the package (customer not home excuse on online tracker) when I waited all day for it and know for a fact they didn't, or get here at like 8-9PM (which I guess I'm at the end of my UPS guy's route because he ALWAYS delivers at that time, not his fault I guess but a little weird)
 
Shark974 said:
Whats the matter with Fedex or USPS? Ask anybody who sells on ebay if they ever use UPS (hint, No. They are far more expensive than USPS)...
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I believe he is referring to Fedex Smartpost where Fedex picks up the package and delivers it to the postal service, who then delivers it to you. In my experience, this method is slower than bike messenger delivered from 5 states away. Smartpost has similar delivery timelines to the Hong Kong Post packages I get from Meritline.
 
I live in the cleveland area and my prime items usually come via ups. On rare occasions it has come via prestige. The first time a prestige delivery was set to arrive they called my house phone to ask where i lived and for me to give them directions to my house.
 
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So Prime no longer counts for purchases under $25? That was the big selling point of prime, IMO.
 
Tax coupled with Prime changes has really reduced my purchases. I actually bought something from Newegg for the first time in years, and something from Superbiiz as well.
 
Flogger23m said:
So Prime no longer counts for purchases under $25? That was the big selling point of prime, IMO.
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Really? Then what is the point of prime? It's free shipping over $25 anyways. Maybe that is why the non-Prime free shipping is so slow to ship now.
 
Flogger23m said:
So Prime no longer counts for purchases under $25? That was the big selling point of prime, IMO.
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Where did you see this? I just checked and it let me checkout with a $17.99 item that qualified for free 2 day.
 
Spidey329 said:
Really? Then what is the point of prime? It's free shipping over $25 anyways. Maybe that is why the non-Prime free shipping is so slow to ship now.
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Yes, but the non-Prime free shipping is not 2 day. I've found that in general when you buy upgraded shipping anywhere online, you are also getting quicker time to ship. So while free shipping might mean they will wait 3 days to pack the item and get it to the delivery service who will then take 3-7 days to deliver it, any form of paid shipping will be shipped the next business day. I'm sure this is done to encourage people to pay for shipping.

Neb said:
Where did you see this? I just checked and it let me checkout with a $17.99 item that qualified for free 2 day.
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Its not everything.... yet.
 
The "Addon" program sucks. I tried to buy a $15.00 item and two $5.00 items yesterday. It literally would not let me buy the two $5.00 items. I had to buy $10 more in non-addon items before it would let me. So you can't just pop on and order your stuff like we used to be able too. Now it saves all the addons until you buy $25 in regular stuff.

So I went to Wal-Mart and bought it all. Fuck that. I won't be renewing my Prime subscription.
 
I just met my first add-on item. I'll have to see how many items are part of this program when it is time to renew as it definitely sucks.
 
SilverSliver said:
Tax coupled with Prime changes has really reduced my purchases. I actually bought something from Newegg for the first time in years, and something from Superbiiz as well.
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Ditto, just bought a digital Schlag deadbolt from HomeDepot online instead of Amazon, since they were the same price.

The other thing pissing me off about prime, is that sure its technically 2-day shipping, but with third parties if it doesn't get shipped for a day or two then that's moot. I complained to Amazon and they just said "sorry", but nothing they can do for me even though its been repeat occurences and they can see that from the package tracking.

The other problem is that they've gone from using stupidly large boxes which must have cost them a fortune, to tiny tiny boxes barely able to hold what htey are shipping, and with little to no bubble wrap. So second order of cat food now from Amazon has had dented cans.

They are good about returns, but its still a hassle to drive to the UPS shipping center to return and reorder, so I stopped buying bulk cat food from Amazon too.
 
Knock on wood, I haven't noticed any of these shenanigans yet, but I will be on the lookout for them. Everything I've ordered Prime has come via UPS and usually in the 2 day window. The only time that hasn't been the case is when I order something from a 3rd party seller with Prime, then it sometimes will take a day or two to ship, but is still delivered in 2 days via UPS. I live in rural southeast PA, FWIW.
 
Here's some added screwy-ness. Add on items can only be purchased with other items. As in, I added an add-on item to my cart, and there is no way to buy just it. I'm not even given an option to pay for shipping. If an item is add-on, it cannot be purchased by itself. Period.

I also noticed that on the More Buying Choices page, if you choose Prime Offers Only, add on items do not show up.

I can see absolutely no benefits to the customer to the add on program. It just allows Amazon to not ship the cheap items using my prepaid shipping (aka my annual membership dues).

If they are going to keep doing stuff like this, I hope they go to a monthly subscription option instead of annual. I'd rather pay them $7 monthly so they can't make money on my money for worse service.
 
Lethal said:
I had an Amazon/OnTrac package delivered the other day (Los Angeles) and they literally threw it at my door. After hearing the thud, I got up to see the OnTrac truck driving away.
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Ugh, I really despise Ontrac. The worst shipping company I've ever dealt with. We had some jerk off pull that move and my wife went outside to ask him to not chuck our packages at the porch from the street. He started screaming at her in some Euro-trash accent and I had to run outside and start screaming at him at which point he split.

After complaining to both Ontrac and Amazon we were left with the impression that neither company particularly gave a fuck. Hurray for excellent customer service. :rolleyes:
 
TechLarry said:
Ain't that the truth. I think LaserShip is a Red-Headed step child of DHL.
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And just like DHL it's notoriously inconsistent. Back in California, LaserShip was totally shitty and never delivered on time; moved to Maryland and they're super fast at my new place...
 
I have purchased several things that are prime.
Then 2 days later no product so I go look and the item is no longer a prime item.
I have emailed them to say this is bullshit.
They never reply to the emails.
 
sparks said:
I have purchased several things that are prime.
Then 2 days later no product so I go look and the item is no longer a prime item.
I have emailed them to say this is bullshit.
They never reply to the emails.
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Try live chat.
 
Fulfilled by Amazon orders should ship directly from amazon warehouses, I don't know why there would be a delay unless they allow inventory for items before they arrive at the warehouse. Doesn't make sense. Or maybe it's been scanned in at the warehouse, in transition from being unloaded and re-packaged in amazon's packaging?

As for Amazon Add-on: According to their help section, it says it's for items that used to be only available in large multi-packs (12pack, 24pack, 3lb, etc) now offered individually. As long as it stays that way I'm semi-ok with it. Most of the items I would buy from Amazon are singular items that don't have multipacks. It concerns me about future item selection, but as long as they follow the idea behind it, it should be ok. They need to distinguish the items better however. It would be better if the items didn't show up in the search results at all except in their prime-eligible state (pack of 5, etc) and put an icon next to it letting you know that you could buy quantity of 1 for less, for purchases over $25. This would be more appealing to customers.
 
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-PK- said:
As for Amazon Add-on: According to their help section, it says it's for items that used to be only available in large multi-packs (12pack, 24pack, 3lb, etc) now offered individually. As long as it stays that way I'm semi-ok with it. Most of the items I would buy from Amazon are singular items that don't have multipacks. It concerns me about future item selection, but as long as they follow the idea behind it, it should be ok. They need to distinguish the items better however. It would be better if the items didn't show up in the search results at all except in their prime-eligible state (pack of 5, etc) and put an icon next to it letting you know that you could buy quantity of 1 for less, for purchases over $25. This would be more appealing to customers.
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From what I've seen, I suspect there are already some items that used to be fully eligible for Prime (in the under $10 range) that are now add-on items. As of now it doesn't seem too unreasonable, but if stuff in the $10-20 range starts joining the list, the appeal of Prime will drop quite dramatically IMO.
 
I wish I could ask for fedex over ups, fedex comes earlier before I have to go to work, ups comes pretty late in the day...and they won't leave the package(which is fine if its an expensive item, but $10 items?). I have seen prestige a number of times too, an unmarked minivan, kinda weird.

Amazon is still better than everyone else.
 
MavericK96 said:
As far as shipping times, I think I've only had one instance where 2-day shipping did not get delivered in two days (it was only one day late IIRC), so I'm still satisfied there for now. Also, packaging has been adequate so far.

Mine almost always come UPS.

*knocks on wood*
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Same
 
I don't have prime, but it doesn't sound like the current service is that good. I already get my items in 2-4 days and the only reason to do it would be to get 2 or less on small orders. And even then, i don't think it's worth $75.00/year unless I watched a lot of free videos.
 
nilepez said:
I don't have prime, but it doesn't sound like the current service is that good. I already get my items in 2-4 days and the only reason to do it would be to get 2 or less on small orders. And even then, i don't think it's worth $75.00/year unless I watched a lot of free videos.
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It's worth it if you buy a lot of stuff. Especially bigger things.
 
Realistically Prime shipping isn't worth it unless you run some sort of business or home office thing where you regularly need items only a few days from now. Otherwise standard shipping usually takes around a week which isn't going to kill anyone.
 
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