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? :(

[Totality22]

I'm still pissed off they made a minimum delivery charge and have things that you can only buy as add ons.

Have the free trial of Prime but only because I wanted cheap nappies which could ONLY be ordered with Prime.

I check everywhere else before I order with Amazon these days.

[Uhplistrailer]

New £20 minimum is disappointing.

Things aren't arrivibg as quick as the used to, and I keep finding that the only delivery option on some things is express or next day. Really annoying.

[GemmaTeller]

Amazon bought Fabric.com a few years ago and they have gone spectacularly downhill (as I know to my cost).

If I have a spare 5mins and want a laugh I read their 'posts to page' on fb.

[EhricLovesTheBhrothers]

I won't use them any longer if there is a minimum £20 delivery charge. I was already annoyed by the add on nonsense which was frustrating but charging for orders under £20 is ridiculous. I will just go elsewhere.

[PrettyLittleMitty]

I used to swear by Amazon for everything but I hardly use them at all now. They just want everyone to pay for prime! Nappies are expensive and a lot of smaller items can now only be ordered as add in items. Very disappointed.

[SoupDragon]

How many companies offer free delivery though?

[EhricLovesTheBhrothers]

Loads! And a company the size of Amazon can absorb free delivery as a marketing tool. They will lose a lot of business this way so it's a false economy.

[EhricLovesTheBhrothers]

Although of course their agenda is forcing people to pay for prime so it could work out for them if it works.

[homebythesea]

I have Prime and am constantly amazed at the speed of deliveries

Are you sure your items come from Amazon itself and not an affiliate seller?

[ifgrandmahadawilly]

The only being able to buy certain things as add ons is the dumbest thing. I hardly use Amazon at all now. I'm another one who got tricked into getting prime but luckily managed to cancel before getting charged.

[crazykat]

I've not had much problem with orders arriving in a decent time. I have noticed that a lot of things I've wanted to buy have had a long delivery time at checkout so I cancel and find it somewhere else, these things tend to be coming from China like a fair bit of things on eBay but it's not as easy to see on amazon.

The new £20 free delivery is a bit rubbish but it's only gone back to the limit they had years ago where you had to spend £19 for free super saver delivery. I just wait till there's enough that I want to take it over the limit, or add a few stocking fillers for the dcs.

I refuse to pay for prime though as I've had the free trial and didn't have time to watch much on prime TV and don't order loads to make it worth it.

[TSSDNCOP]

Yes I noticed the free delivery £20 threshold for the first time the other day and I have Amazon Prime. Not impressed.

[bruffin]

Ive never had a problem with prime deliveries,they always arrive the next day even on a sunday. The £20 min for free delivery doesnt apply to prime either

[getbusyliving]

I'm sure i heard somewhere that Amazon recently stopped using royal mail to set up it's own delivery service ( i'll check later), that would explain the decline in service.

[hagred]

I pre-ordered a book on Amazon for delivery as soon as it was released. I had an opportunity to get it signed by the author at a private reading. When I realised it had not been dispatched in time I contacted them and they told me that they wouldn't be able to deliver it for another 2 months as the publisher had not made enough copies.
I called the publisher, they explained that Amazon had ordered only 10 copies, with a preorder of another 10 the following month. They had 1000s made but this was how Amazon did business as it saved them money.
I went back to Amazon and explained this. They said that the publisher was lying and suggested I buy the kindle version instead. I don't have a kindle and this cannot be signed by the author.
When I asked to cancel my order they miraculously found a copy and got it to me within 2 days.
I will never buy from them again.

[poshfrock]

Play . com still offer free delivery on orders of any size and you can get most books and DVDS etc on there that you can get from Amazon. You also get Nectar points if you want or cashback via Quidco. Delivery times are very good. Prices often cheaper than Amazon too. I recently ordered a book for less than £ 7 which was over £13 on Amazon.

[PoppyAmex]

Same here. I've been a Prime costumer for a long time; they used to be completely reliable and a joy to deal with.

In the past 4/5 months the service has collapsed and I've complained repeatedly only to be offered free extensions of my prime membership.

On a separate note, I was told that the reason my next day delivery didn't arrive was because I'm not based in mainland UK. I live in central Scotland and the guy wouldn't be persuaded to trust the merits of my geography knowledge

[Bakeoffcake]

Maybe they're trying to save money so they can pay proper taxes

[PurpleSwift]

That's the thing though - they are giving those paying for prime a good service. But if you've been a loyal customer for years but can't afford prime then you're screwed and the service has gone massively down hill. Deliveries (for non prime members) that used to take days are now taking weeks and a new minimum of £20 for free delivery. They're just punishing customers who won't or can't fork out for prime.

[WankerDeAsalWipe]

I buy loads from them including stuff this week and I don't have any problems. I don't have Prime, I use free super saver delivery apart from Friday night when I needed something urgently so used next day and it turned up Saturday morning and I'm sure it was less than 4 quid.

[Twirlwirlywoo]

I have noticed how shit they have become too.

They used to be my first port of call for everything but not anymore.

[PerspicaciaTick]

Amazon have gone Tesco. Trying to wringing every last penny (plus a few extra if possible) out of every transaction while assuming that customers are too dim to notice. I suspect their profits are going to go the way of Tesco too -sharply downhill.

[Tanith]

Their Market Place really is buyer beware, isn't it? Very much hit and miss these days - I'm getting so tired of having to return stuff that was clearly broken or damaged stock in the first place. It's worse than Ebay!

However, the main site has started doing it, too.

I've noticed that some items, usually quite cheap ones, are being sold for astronomical prices - it's on Ebay, too. I'm talking £100 for a baby's bib!
Why on earth?!
Or is it a front for something else?