Amazon - No Longer Useful

[RvNaut]

Over the last few months, Amazon has become useless and pointless. Every order I have place has taken at least two weeks from the time I order, to the point of shipment, and sometimes longer.

Two days ago I ordered a starter for my generator. I could have ordered it on Amazon, and waited roughly 3 weeks for it. Because I ordered it from a smaller Distributor, I will have it tomorrow.

So I urge everyone to let Amazon know they are no longer useful and to seek out the stuff you need from other vendors that have retained some concept of customer service. Two day shipping is pretty much useless if it takes two weeks for them to just fill the order.

 

[wayne49]

Depends on the item, and if it's stocked in an Amazon warehouse, and the location of the nearest warehouse that has the item, etc.

Living near Las Vegas, I get a lot of stuff quickly, if the item is in stock at Las Vegas.

Check eBay for the same item.

Weird thing within the last year or so, is that some eBay sellers are also Amazon sellers. No more price or delivery variation between the two marketplaces in that case.

Funny Amazon thing this week was an item that was scheduled to arrive on Friday arrived on Wednesday, and the item that was supposed to arrive on Wednesday is now scheduled for Friday.

 

[RvNaut]

Last month I order a part on the 15th... it didn't ship until the 3rd and arrived on the 6th. It was in stock. Everything I have ordered since last Nov has taken at least two weeks before it is shipped and sometimes longer.

The people around me that I camp with expereience the same issue.

..and yeah, I have taken the time to talk directly to Amazon about it, but it is about as useful as pissing in the wind.

 

[Camper]

I guess I've had hundreds of orders with Amazon and never had one lost or late yet. Infact, they usually are a day or two early.

 

[WanderingRose]

I am not having difficulty with Amazon, either, but have noticed that the more I resist purchasing Prime the more they wait until close to the projected shipping/delivery date to ship my order.

Which is fine, as I usually don’t need things next day.

 

[Morgana]

I get that sometimes, but I still get enough good deliveries to keep me hooked.
@#$%^& hope you find a good alternative b/c that svcks.

 

[VanFan]

When Amazon and I had a trail separation a few years back, I was willing to pay just a bit more to buy an item directly from the vendor or through ebay. Of course, some of the items purchased through ebay came in Prime boxes since some sellers were buying through Amazon anyway. Oh well. The last thing I bought was listed on both at the same price, but ebay had free shipping whereas Amazon did not. Amazon and I have had a few desperation dates, but no steady relationship.

 

[deryk_the_gypsy]

I have had some negative experiences with Amazon, generally when it's involving 3rd party shipping it, usually then it's from china add a month. when I goof like that I find someone else on amazon with the item here in the US, cancel first order because how long it will take, purchase 2nd item. Try to buy items that are in stock in Amazon's warehouses

 

[INTJohn]

Last remaining person in Murahka, I guess, to NEVER have used Amazon and don’t ever see why I would start……
But then ag…..no, I’ll never start.

ciao
intjonny

 

[user 29855]

Over the last few months, Amazon has become useless and pointless. Every order I have place has taken at least two weeks from the time I order, to the point of shipment, and sometimes longer.

Two days ago I ordered a starter for my generator. I could have ordered it on Amazon, and waited roughly 3 weeks for it. Because I ordered it from a smaller Distributor, I will have it tomorrow.

So I urge everyone to let Amazon know they are no longer useful and to seek out the stuff you need from other vendors that have retained some concept of customer service. Two day shipping is pretty much useless if it takes two weeks for them to just fill the order.

Because I order items for my part-time job as well as for myself, I'm a Prime member. I probably order 30 to 40 items a month for a total of 10 to 12 shipments. Never had a problem except with two orders which were not Amazon stock. Been doing this for 3 years.

 

[Zerpersande]

Over the last few months, Amazon has become useless and pointless. Every order I have place has taken at least two weeks from the time I order, to the point of shipment, and sometimes longer.

My experience is very different, both with Japanese and US stores. They are occasionally late. This happens most commonly with Chinese sellers. But even though sellers have started giving more realistic delivery dates and that have delivery times of 3 to 4 weeks. Of the 30 orders or so I have placed since the beginning of February all of them have been on time except a couple that were maybe a day late or they didn’t meet the timeframe for that day that I set.

My complaint is usually quality/function. At which time I return it based on ‘Defective’ or ‘Not as advertised’.

so we’re having different experiences.

 

[maki2]

I have not had any issues in the last few years but I do not order frequently. I did order several h things this month as I was camping in Yuma AZ for several weeks and there are lockers here. Fortunately some good sized lockers in the sets so that was a bonus that allowed me to order something I had needed to put off buying earlier this winter due to locker sizes. Sure I could have gotten it elsewhere but I was paying for it with an Amazon gift certificate

I also ordered a couple of gifts for my friend in Seattle’s dog. That was pretty much next day delivery since there is a big warehouse and also lots of delivery people in that city.

 

[Zerpersande]

I also ordered a couple of gifts for my friend in Seattle’s dog. That was pretty much next day delivery since there is a big warehouse and also lots of delivery people in that city.

That’s a very good point. The purchases I mentioned in another post were all made from a location about 30 mins drive from the 2nd largest city in Japan with a major warehouse just outside the city on the near-side to me. And there is a delivery hub the the Japanese equivalent to UPS 5 mins from my house.

But the international deliveries are reliable. Of course they made a wise decision to open that delivery window a good bit wider bc the packages used to miss by a couple or 3 days. Now they arrive about a week ahead of the final date.

 

[Gr8ful]

I use Amazon alot & am a prime member. Last week I had 2 orders that had a code for over 1/2 off both were under $ 3 ea w/tax delivered next day a day apart. They come from South Bend which is about an hour away. How can they make money like that? It says on the page when it will deliver but I try to buy things that Amazon sells & ships. I've had great service from Amazon.

 

[MotorVation]

Amazon takes two weeks to deliver to my box in Ehrenberg. Back home in Florida, it's a whole different story. Sometimes I can get same day, overnight or...if it's not in their local warehouses a few business days. I stopped ordering from them out west. I bought some things off Ebay and other merchants and received them in a normal amount of time

 

[khantroll]

It depends largely on what you order and where you are. My best friend lives in a slightly smaller town about 20 minutes east of me my home base, and due to the location both Amazon and shipping depots he can't get anything sooner then three days and most things take 1-2 weeks even with prime.

most of my stuff is 2-3 days. It used to be 1-2, but they've shut down a nearby hub.

I probably shouldn't use them as much as I do, but at this point it's "pick your evil". Amazon, Walmart, AliExpress...

 

[bagabum]

I'm a Prime member, get a lot of my stuff the next day if ordered in the morning. If something doesn't work, put it back in the box, print out return label and drop off at mail center, no questions asked. Lost my money twice with ebay, so no more of that. Amazon is great for what I call gadget items, but items like caulking, adhesives, paint, etc no bargains there, just get them at the hardware store. I had to redo the fasteners on my deck, I purchased ten 5lb boxes of real magnetic free SS screws from Amazon and saved about $400. Can't complain about them.

 

[jacqueg]

My biggest problem with Amazon is the search function. Waaaayyy too many times, I get things I didn't search for at all. Sometimes I think their algorithm is to return 500 hits, no matter what you search for. Boolean terms used to work reasonably well, but no longer. Sometimes when I try to specify "not X", I get hits for dozens of X.

 

[Happy Camper]

Everything posted here says the same thing. How close are you to Amazon's delivery mechanism?

Amazon handles most of their own delivery now. And the focus is on delivering a full van of product from the closest warehouse that has that item.

When you order an item that isn't at an Amazon warehouse. You are relying on a third party to ship in a timely manner.

When you to an address they doesn't get a lot of Amazon delivery traffic, they probably schedule for the full van to make that delivery run feasible.

It's not magic, it's money. So when you say,

Amazon takes two weeks to deliver to my box in Ehrenberg. Back home in Florida, it's a whole different story. Sometimes I can get same day, overnight or...if it's not in their local warehouses a few business days. I stopped ordering from them out west. I bought some things off Ebay and other merchants and received them in a normal amount of time

It's not that the entire West has a slow delivery problem. It's that you're in the middle of nowhere, delivery wise for it to make sense without waiting for a full van to make the trip. But if that's the only place you are when you're in the west, it probably makes sense to order elsewhere.

Amazon is a logistics company. They do the fastest shipping they possibly can, as long as it doesn't cost them. Paying for a driver, gas, maintenance, etc, on a half full van doesn't make logistical sense to them. And most likely, the small amount of unhappy customers in those locations doesn't matter to the algorithm that makes these decisions.

When they did a lot of their last mile delivery via USPS it was different. But it's extremely rare for me to get an Amazon package delivered via mail these days. But Amazon saves money this way.

Sucks, but that's how it works.

 

[laura anne]

Amazon clearly states on items when you can expect them. I'm getting a car vac by Sunday that i ordered today. The only things I have bought that took a while were things I really wanted. Dog food at a better price than pets mart and Walmart and wide baseball cap that came all the way from china but has the plastic clips instead of the awful Velcro that doesn't work in the wind.