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? :(

[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.

[sarascompact]

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

No, Amazon, you can stuff your Prime.

[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.

[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.

[GatoradeMeBitch]

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

[GatoradeMeBitch]

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

Right then, Wordery...

[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.

[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!

[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.

[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.

[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

[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.

[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)