Amazon delivery drivers put me off making high value purchases from Amazon

[threeunrelatedwords]

I’m planning to buy a MacBook. It’s 10% cheaper if I buy it from Amazon. It would be a pain to have to travel to the nearest Apple Store or to John Lewis.

But Amazon don’t employ their own drivers and the white van guys that make the deliveries seem sketchy. I appreciate it’s a terrible job for them too, maybe that’s another reason why the company shouldn’t be supported.

They also often leave items outside the house where anyone can see them. Some Amazon items don’t come packaged either which makes theft more likely.

There have been stories of delivery drivers stealing high value items or replacing them with printer paper etc. Amazon or the credit card company will eventually refund but it can take weeks.

It might also increase your chance of being burgled as these sketchy randoms will now know what you’ve purchased.

AIBU for this to put me off Amazon for high value items? Am I better off paying the extra £150 and buying in person from John Lewis or the Apple Store?

Very true! But I mean if he's looking furtive or nervous - maybe looking for signs of whether the householder looks vulnerable or is a massive rugby player before deciding whether to try it on.

OK, it's not proof in itself, but you can often tell the difference in the behaviour between a scammer hoping to pull off a fraud and a regular honest, confident delivery driver with nothing to hide.

You can get cheaper refurbs and returns on Macs from Amazon Warehouse.

But I would never recommend holding on to a Mac that long, it won't be receiving any security updates whatsoever. You'll be amazed at how good they are now compared to the one you've got as well.

Thanks for the advice.

Yes I agree getting it delivered to the nearest shop, and filming the unboxing there, would remove all of the awkwardness. I’d feel like a right wally / Roger Cook wannabe filming the delivery driver on the doorstep. But the nearest shop is a neutral third party.

Still it sounds like buying in person from John Lewis makes most sense with their Amazon price match and getting it straight away.

Yes I did see 2019 MacBook Airs for sale for very little, but they’ve got Intel chips not the new M chips so I think they’re a lot slower.

Amazon customer service is excellent. We have a safe place set up for all parcels to be delivered to.

They always side with the buyer.

We have had some deliveries go awry and because they didn't deliver to the safe place, Amazon ask that you wait three days and then they refund.

They also pay out generous compensation. We had one driver trespass onto our property, he even ignored all of the signs warning about the dogs which include a Doberman, Rottweiler and a Malinois.. Thankfully the dogs were out with me.

He opened a garden box and placed the package inside but didn't close the box so that when it rained the contents got wet. Box contained gardening stuff and Amazon paid compensation immediately.

Order with confidence but make sure you set up on your account the EXACT safe place for them to leave it.

You make a good point that this is a problem for any retailer. The issue is about who they get to make the deliveries the last 10 miles or so from the final distribution centre.

I just mentioned Amazon as it looks like they’re currently offering the cheapest headline price for MacBooks which is what I’m looking to buy. But yes could be any retailer that home delivers valuable items.

Take a code and if anything does happen which is u likely, Amazon will refund you. Their customer service is actually really good and quick.

It is still updating OS and, I assume, for as long as it does that, all the security updates are current. I use mine every day for professional design work and it does absolutely everything I need it to do so I don't anticipate being blown away by the differences in new ones.

I hope at least he ate the biscuits !

^^this

As a secondary maths teacher, who also delivers for Amazon during the holidays to make a bit extra, I'm really loving the judgement from the OP.
Honestly if you're that worried you are better off going into a shop and buying it in person. Any online delivery company carries risks of being muddled up, lost in the post, broken, stolen etc. I mean I could turn this around and complain that I almost lost my drivers account due to customers who I hand parcels too, then say they haven't been delivered so they can get their goods for free. I'm just an honest person trying to make an honest days wage and I can assure you, from a drivers perspective, Amazon always sides with the customer. Why would we take the risk of loosing our income? It's senseless

Thanks for your perspective! Obviously you wouldn’t be the type of driver I’d worry about :). Anyway yes clearly I’m too fearful / judgemental to order it for delivery so I’ll just go to John Lewis.

It's a ridiculous cop-out for companies to say you should check the items on delivery - and if you don't and it's faulty, that's on you.

Even if you do insist on opening the parcel whilst making the driver wait there... yes, you can clearly tell if it's a couple of bricks instead of an X-Box; but what if it's been knowingly replaced by an old broken identical-looking one? Similar scam as when people buy a new item to replace an old broken one and then try to return the old one for a refund, claiming that's the one they just had delivered?

What type of driver are you fearful about? How can you tell who is shifty and who isn't? You can't tell if the pp is a maths teacher as well can you?

No. It depends on what the person is going to be using it for, and personal preference for which operating system etc you prefer.

If the laptop is for you, then get whichever you prefer, but on the off chance you're buying for someone else, then please find out what they'd prefer. There may be certain programs they need that only run on Windows and vice versa.

Drivers who have only been employed by Amazon for 5 minutes and are doing it in order to steal stuff?

Are your judgy pants all the way over your head OP?

This is a bizarre and distasteful thread. Woman with big purchase fearful of being burgled by delivery Oiks.

I had a gaming laptop delivered a few weeks ago, had to give a code. I've never had any problems with amazon delivery

OP - you can currently get a 2022 MacBook (refurbished) from Curry's Clearance on ebay for under £700 that is sent via Royal Mail if that makes you more comfortable?

Do you have a ring? Open it in front of the driver.

Apple uses DPD.

Delivery in general seems to have good and bad aspects.

One of my neighbours seems to get a lot of deliveries from different companies and you can see those drivers who simply ring the bell and go.

Others insist on a photo being taken of it being handed to the person.

I had a recent delivery that was simply left outside all day in plain view. It wasn't high value but it was easily "nickable".

I get drivers are on poor conditions and rushed time schedules but why would you do that?

I recently had a high value item left outside my back gate in a public area at 9pm at night. The delivery photo shows this. It was not there when I went out to get it in the morning. So either a neighbour had taken it (very unlikely in my tiny quiet close of pensioners) or the driver took it.
I got a refund because it had been left in a public space but I will never buy anything worth a lot from amazon again.
Their drivers are extremely patchy in competence.

John Lewis price match with Amazon on some goods, it's on the JL website and tells you which retailers and goods

I generally try and get expensive stuff from JL delivered to Waitrose in case it gets lost on the way, then it's on them to find it and refund

@threeunrelatedwords make sure who’s selling the item you’re buying (eg Amazon rather than a third party) and it will almost certainly be a recorded safe drop that requires a code, photo of the item and/or signature. Never had any such issues. Also make sure it says ‘free returns’.

Maybe they have to return any undelivered goods to the depot at the end of their shift, and they just want to get home?