[jpr703]

Ok, I'm PO'd with Amazon.com and I just have to rant. Several months ago I placed an order for a handful of CDs from Amazon.com. I qualified for free shipping, but didn't select the "ship them all at one time" option and I wound up getting three different shipments and a shipping charge for each one. Well, I was mad enough to stay away from them for a while until last week when I decided to give them a second chance.

I placed an order for 7 CD's on Jan 29 and since it qualified for free shipping, I thought I'd be smart this time and check the "ship all at once" block. Well as of tonight I still hadn't gotten anything in so I found the "Where's My Stuff" link and decided to check on my order.

Guess what, the order placed on Jan 29 was scheduled to ship between March 2 and March 16! I hadn't ordered anything out of print, any imports or anything else that you would expect a delay with, nor did Amazon ever give me any indication that it would take that long. Amazon advertises that free shipping as a method to entice you into placing a larger order. I guess you have to wait 6 weeks if you want it to be genuinely free like you'd expect.

That's the last straw for me. I cancelled the order and Amazon.com now has a permanent position on my sh!t list.

 

[zotjen]

Depending on the order, it can take Amazon at least a week to ship items with free shipping. As far as the seven CD's you ordered, are you sure everything was in stock? On the page for each item it does indicate how long it will take for each item to ship. Sometimes it does show 3 or 4 weeks. When you select free shipping, it usually takes longer than what the shipping time indicates.

 

[asmox]

Sorry to hear about your experience.

I rarely use Amazon itself, but I always shop through their marketplace sellers and I've never had anything bad to say about any of them.

 

[saturnine]

It usually takes Amazon over a week to ship anything via the free shipping offer. If you bump the shipping up, they will process your order much faster.

 

[jpr703]

Quote:

Originally Posted by asmox Sorry to hear about your experience. I rarely use Amazon itself, but I always shop through their marketplace sellers and I've never had anything bad to say about any of them.

An 8th CD that was on the same order came from a marketplace seller and arrived in just a few days. Of course I wound up paying a seperate shipping charge for it despite the fact that "My Order" qualified for free shipping.

As for the rest of the CD's, I never order anything from anybody that's shown as being out of stock. If Amazon had given me any indication that any portion of that order would have taken 6 weeks to deliver there is no way I would have placed an order that item.

 

[TMHBAT]

My experience is that Amazon usually has pretty accurate ship time estimates for each item and that they update these as soon as they find out they've changed. You do realize, I assume, that if any one of the seven CDs you ordered had a 4-6 week shipping estimate (regardless of whether they were imports, etc.), the whole order, as per your own instructions, would be delayed that long? Selecting the "Free shipping" option would have added only a day or so to the ship time. I can see why you're frustrated, but it's not clear Amazon has actually done anything wrong here.

I've had mixed experiences with Marketplace sellers. Of the big ones that have listings for most items, generally the only one I order from is Import CD Specialists. I've placed dozens of orders from them and the service has always - every single time - been absolutely perfect. DVDLegacy are complete dicks, and slow shippers, and Caiman are useless if you ever need service. I've had generally good experiences with the miscellaneous other sellers I've ordered from.

 

[TMHBAT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpr703 An 8th CD that was on the same order came from a marketplace seller and arrived in just a few days. Of course I wound up paying a seperate shipping charge for it despite the fact that "My Order" qualified for free shipping.

The separate shipping charge for the Marketplace item was clearly shown on the checkout page before you finalized your order. Amazon's Free Shipping policy clearly states that it applies only to items shipped by Amazon, not to Marketplace items.

 

[jpr703]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TMHBAT The separate shipping charge for the Marketplace item was clearly shown on the checkout page before you finalized your order. Amazon's Free Shipping policy clearly states that it applies only to items shipped by Amazon, not to Marketplace items.

Yeah it does, and I'm sure that's good enough as far as the lawyers are concerend. I'm also sure that if you took the time to find and read the appropriate policy, it would be stated in there too. However, calling it "My Order" and then breaking it out into seperate categories the final stage is still deceptive in my book.

 

[jpr703]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TMHBAT My experience is that Amazon usually has pretty accurate ship time estimates for each item and that they update these as soon as they find out they've changed. You do realize, I assume, that if any one of the seven CDs you ordered had a 4-6 week shipping estimate (regardless of whether they were imports, etc.), the whole order, as per your own instructions, would be delayed that long? Selecting the "Free shipping" option would have added only a day or so to the ship time. I can see why you're frustrated, but it's not clear Amazon has actually done anything wrong here.

I think that was pretty clearly covered in my post directly above yours: "As for the rest of the CD's, I never order anything from anybody that's shown as being out of stock. If Amazon had given me any indication that any portion of that order would have taken 6 weeks to deliver there is no way I would have placed an order that item."

 

[TMHBAT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpr703 I think that was pretty clearly covered in my post directly above yours: "As for the rest of the CD's, I never order anything from anybody that's shown as being out of stock. If Amazon had given me any indication that any portion of that order would have taken 6 weeks to deliver there is no way I would have placed an order that item."

I guess I'm just saying that not being "out of stock" doesn't by itself mean that the item was due to ship right away. Amazon uses a large network of warehouses and distributors. The only items that are actually "out of stock" according to Amazon are items that are OOP or marked "Special Order." Everything else just has some estimated ship time or other between 24 hours and 8 weeks. If you're saying that you ordered items that all said "Usually ships within 24 hours" and it turned out that one of them was actually two months away, that is indeed a drag. I would have thought a shipping estimate change of that magnitude warranted an e-mail notification of some sort.

 

[SemperFidelity]

I've always received a notice from Amazon if an item will be delayed; and they request re-authorization of the order in that case.

 

[fante7]

I agree with TMBHAT completely. You should have read that free shipping does not apply to marketplace orders, that bit is very clear in their policies. I also don't recommend putting a marketplace order through on the same order as amazon.com items - there is no need to and it only confuses things. I have ordered a large amount of merchandise from amazon.com and only once did an item take longer that promised, and I received an email telling me this and asking if I wanted to cancel the order. I've also had orders with free shipping be split up and shipped separately for free, without any initiative from me. You are overreacting, and it is partially your fault anyway.

 

[iSleipnir]

I never have problems with Amazon. I almost always choose free shipping and I get them within two weeks. Sorry things arn't going great for you.

 

[iSleipnir]

I never have problems with Amazon. I almost always choose free shipping and I get them within two weeks. Sorry things arn't going great for you. I hope they ship soon

 

[Head Creep]

I had just the opposite experience today. I ordered 5 CDs, and one of them was going to take 5 to 6 days to ship, and the rest 24 hours, so I let Amazon split the order up into two shipments. Today I got the CD that was supposed to come later, 2 or 3 days before the rest are supposed to arrive. Very unexpected, but I'm not complaining one bit.