To wonder what the hell has happened to Amazon?

[CanisSapiens]

I used to love them. I have spent thousands with them over the years, and they never let me down before. But they seem to have lost the plot.

May 6th, I ordered 2 childrens books for a school project. popular, mainstream, buy them anywhere books.

May 14th, I check my orders, and see that they are scheduled to be delivered sometime in June - bollocks to that, I need them for the project - I get onto live chat, who have previously always sorted any problem out for me straight away. They apologise, and promise to despatch that day for delivery Friday 15th.

Today (well, yesterday now), Monday 18th, still no books, not despatched. I contact live chat again, who promise to despatch today. Very sorry for the inconvenience and all. I've been checking my orders all day, at 8.00 pm the order was still not despatched, not even 'preparing for despatch'. I have spent the whole evening in increasingly desperate live chats, and they are just lying to me now. At 11:30 pm, an operator was still swearing that the order would be sent that day, and they despatch up til midnight (really?). I pointed out that there was only 30 minutes left, and the item wasn't even preparing for despatch. He still swore up and down that it would happen. At midnight, the date of dispatch changed over to the 19th. The next operator cheerily quoted this to me, and refused to respond when I said I'd been promised despatch the day before. He then cut me off. The next operator did the same.

Do Amazon still deliver books? I feel like I could scream. 12 days! and the project won't get done.

Have Amazon gone crap? :(

[LovelyWeatherForDucks]

Agree, Amazon is rubbish now. When DS arrived 2.5 years ago we had prime and it was a godsend - now they've put prices up I didn't bother renewing, and now it's too much hassle (too many third party sellers, free postage options confusing, etc)

[changenaming]

Another disgruntled amazon-user here. The £20 spend for free postage is just ridiculous and the past couple of things I've ordered have been messed up due to the new delivery company attempting to deliver to my office courtyard (closed on a weekend) firstly on a Saturday and then again on a Sunday. All this despite me contacting Amazon upon receipt of an email saying my order will be delivered on Saturday and telling them the courtyard would be locked. When they used Royal Mail there was never a problem!

Won't be using them again.

[LL12]

I've found that I can get some items from a third party seller inc del on the Amazon website for the same price or maybe 10p more than getting It from Amazon themselves and having to pay extra for postage as it is under £20

[Delphine31]

Another vote for Wordery here. Book prices are competitive and often cheaper than Amazon! Automatically defaults to free delivery and so far I've been impressed with delivery times.

[Andrewofgg]

Orangutanhihio I read German and need German books. There used to be one foreign language bookshop in London and a small selection in University towns. Now with amazon.de I have as wide a choice as I want. I know they are not in business for my health but don't tell me I get no benefit from them - I do.

[marshmallowpies]

DH has Prime & I used to use it a lot but then got guilted into boycotting Amazon when I read about the tax stuff and what it has done to local book shops (& the shocking deals Amazon forces onto publishers).

I have 3 really good local bookshops and a good charity bookshop nearby, and I haven't bought anything from Amazon since 2012 I think. Mainly use eBay for other non-book items but I do shop around to compare prices where I can.

DH still has Prime and we use it for TV stuff but I don't consciously buy anything from it myself. I had no idea the delivery service had got so bad, it sounds dreadful!

[madhairday]

I've been noticing this lately too. I ordered a gift card for a b day present on the 12th which they said would be delivered on 13th. I got an email that it was out for delivery but it never arrived. Have messaged them today and got some convoluted message back blaming the courier (was only a gift card, not a parcel ffs). Also ordeed a few bits last week which should have arrived by now and not even dispatched. I refuse to pay for prime and seems I'm being made to pay for my refusal.

I'm buying more off ebay and independent sites now. Good thing - I feel uncomfortable with the whole tax evasion business anyway.

[GatoradeMeBitch]

Book Depository are owned by Amazon now?? They kept that quiet!

Right then, Wordery...

[GatoradeMeBitch]

Ah, sorry, you all know about the £20 thing. I should have read the thread before commenting

[GatoradeMeBitch]

I placed an order with them today and noticed I would have to spend £20 to qualify for free delivery, it was £10 before wasn't it?

I use Book Depository for book orders now. They're often cheaper for new books and you get free delivery as standard.

[Corygal]

I've also spent thousands - and now stopped giving Amazon a penny.

They owed me 70 quid for a refund for boots I cancelled after ordering, and it took 32 phone calls to sort out. Amazon lied and lied - just refusing to repay money they owed.

Thugs who are killing British publishing too, one of the planet's best industries.

[sarascompact]

Ah, Amazon Prime next day delivery service. The one which takes 10 days to arrive.

No, Amazon, you can stuff your Prime.

[TracyBarlow]

I hate the bloody thing where you think everything you've ordered is cheap or free delivery, you get to the checkout page and here's about a tenner's worth of postage on there but they won't tell you which item it is that's costing so much.

I thought it was just me who was missing something obvious. Glad there are others who have noticed.

[carbolicsoaprocked]

I stopped using them after the tax evading thing. I'm skint and have to pay tax so why shouldn't they? I was also put off by they way they treat their staff. I use Waterstones for books, the service I get there is always great (love the recommendations I get from the staff) and I use their loyalty cards, the stamp one is great.
My sister got caught out with the automatic Lovefilm - Prime switch too.

[orangutanhihio]

Amazon are tax evading thugs who bring no benefit to anyone except themselves. I'd rather use a local bookshop.

[maggiethemagpie]

Yesterday for example I saw a book in waterstones at £10.99. I was going to buy it but instead bought it on amazon via prime for £7.50. It was waiting for me when I got in tonight.

I think amazon is only worth using with Prime, it saves me money in the long run as I buy things cheaper from there than the high st.

Then again maybe I have just fallen for all their marketing con tricks.

[maggiethemagpie]

I have prime and am happy with it. I've heard that their marketing model/strategy is to make people buy prime so that they will then buy stuff on amazon in order to justify spending £80 on prime in the first place. So they get the £80 and they have created a way to make you use them in order to get your money's worth. It's very clever!

[BigRedBall]

£20 minimum order for free delivery on some products! F that! I've been using Amazon for years and years. Yesterday I was going to order something for £10 and p&p was £6!! They were asking me to buy more to get free delivery. Ridiculous.

And it's funny when I use the free super saver delivery the products arrive the same day as they would if I paid for 1st class delivery. .

[firesidechat]

I use Amazon a lot and still love it.

I used the Prime trial for the first time last week and it arrived the next day as promised. It is perfectly clear on the website that you are signing up to Amazon Prime and that you need to cancel to avoid charges. I don't see how they can make it any more obvious.

The only time something failed to arrive, they sorted it straight away with no arguments.

It's a great service.

[TheIronGnome]

I don't think I've ever had a problem with them, and their customer service has always been excella to when there's been a problem they've sorted it out really quickly etc.

[smallpaperbag]

I've not found it getting much worse tbh and I use it a few times a month. I've don't bother with Prime any more as I'm happy enough getting it within a few days and not next day (tend not to buy things I need urgently, if I want something that quickly I can go out and get it pretty easily - am in London so can get hold of most things).

The delivery service is far better than most other online stores - Amazon has a box on the website where I can enter the security code of my apartment building, so if I'm not at home the courier can just leave it safely outside my flat door. With other companies I end up having to chase things up all the time and couriers claiming not to find my building at all - this hasn't been an issue with Amazon.

I really liked their Amazon locker service though which allowed me to pick up parcels from my local Co-op - it was free delivery for some time but now they're charging £1.99 for it so I've stopped using it.

[AyMamita]

YANBU, Amazon are crap these days. I placed an order of 4 things on Sunday (including 2 small things I don't really need but can use, to hit the £20 minimum) and as soon as I checked out it Amazon split it into 2 orders! If they are going to process it like that what is the point of the £20 minimum?! And it should all have dispatched yesterday but it isn't even preparing for dispatch yet.

[Celeriacacaca]

I order less too these days because of the minimum charge and now try Ebay as many sellers sell their stuff there too. I used to take in loads of Amazon deliveries for neighbours etc but have hardly taken in any since the start of the year. Having said that, they have been brilliant for big Christmas shops in the past few years.

[cuphat]

I've been finding the super saver delivery very hit and miss lately.

Sometimes they dispatch the same day and I receive the order the next day via their courier. But other times (and more frequently recently) the order stays as 'not yet dispatched' past the dispatch estimate and I end up having to contact them before they dispatch the order. And yes, I am only talking about items where Amazon is the seller.

I have ordered quite a bit which should arrive before my c-section date next week but as half of it is stuck on 'not yet dispatched' it's looking unlikely. I'm kicking myself for not taking up my second Prime trial. I'd cancel and reorder if it didn't mean double authorising the funds from my account.

I've had payment problems with them recently too; a few items were supposed to be delivered directly by Amazon in one order. They sent an email confirmation that it was one order (sometimes it's split if it's in different warehouses) and they authorised the amount. On the order section they kept splitting the order (under the same order number) so some items were preparing for dispatch and others were not yet dispatched, yet it was never dispatched. I contacted them and they said the payment hadn't been authorised (when it had - it came off my balance and my bank confirmed it had) so they applied for a second authorisation which meant that two lots of money were held from my account. I did then receive the order eventually. I notice that they've split a current outstanding order (coming from one warehouse)to two statuses so I hope I don't have the same problem again when I won't be available to sort it out.

[Allwayslookingforanswers]

I used to use prime and got a fab service but now it's gone up to £79 a year And I no longer buy nappies I cancelled it and the service is so bad I don't use it except for Kindle.