^^^I don’t know, @dietz199 : I ordered something which was to be delivered by UPS and it never arrived. I called and spoke with a manager, who called the driver on the route while I was on the phone. The driver was nearly belligerent - was temperamental, insistent, unwilling to consider how something could have gone wrong, even got thiscloseto calling me a liar. Claimed he remembered the house at which he’d delivered the package. Didn’t sound like my house.
That particular order was never fulfilled at the delivery stage, though the retailer shipped out another to me.
Weeks after the numb-skull driver claimed to have delivered the first package, a mom whose child attended school with my child called the house and told me she’d found a package at the door of the home of her neighbor who had been traveling, and would be for months. She had gone over fearing there had been a disturbance on the property. When she picked up the package that had obviously been laying there for a while she was surprised to see my name on it, and so called to see if I was missing a package. Yep, had been.
Is the OP using prime? Because you pay for prime, even if the shipping is “free.” So sure, I’d complain if I was actually paying for it through prime, but not if it was truly “free.”
Hmm–not sure if your shipment was coming from a snow area–Not the actual beginning place but had to go through an airport that has had weather. My Zappos order was to arrive days ago. Many flight were canceled here as if the planes did land they would be stuck here. Amazon could be similar.
Still, Amazon does mess up from time to time.
Also, many times Amazon delivers to our difficult house down a steep hill and then a single car
lane in an unmarked car. It is always weird to me when I see them. Otherwise, it is UPS backing
up or walking down the 3 house lane.
I do need to give a shout out for Zappos as I ordered a gift certificate for DIL to be delivered today.
They sent me an email confirming but she did not receive it as it turned out I missed one letter in
her email address. Goodness, within 4 minutes of calling their phone number they had made the correction
and notified her. H and I wonder if some other gal also got a nice gift today. But if so, that is just their
amazing customer service.
I have amazon prime. Here they use UPS for delivery. A few months ago I had a delivery that took 5 days instead of two. I had had many UPS prime deliveries to our home recently. They sent an email saying that my address was ‘not an address and could not deliver it’. I called amazon/ups cannot remember which. Oh amazingly ,without changing my address it was delivered and they found the house. Also, once in sending a package to my D, UPS lost it. I had receipts and they did reimburse me. But still.
I now exclusively use Fedex for sending of packages and important mail. I trust them much more than USPS and UPS. They do not appear more expensive to me and I have never had a problem.
I’m an Amazon Prime customer. I ordered books for a Christmas present on the Sunday after Black Friday. They were supposed to be delivered 3-7 business days later. On business day #7, they still hadn’t been shipped. Although they were all books from the same series, they had been separated into 3 groups, 2 of which had estimated delivery dates of 5 more business days and one that said basically, “we have no idea when it will ship”, even though their website said it was in stock. I called to complain, the person on the phone said they’d fix it. but 9 hours later, nothing had been shipped yet. I cancelled the order and ordered from a different company who delivered it within 24 hours. Amazon is off my shopping list.
I do think OP should get something for the delay. Maybe OP chose to order from Amazon because of their one day guaranteed delivery instead of going with a cheaper option at a store. I am a prime member. I know a lot of products with “free shipping” are more expensive than from a store or other websites with shipping fees. I would often choose to buy from Amazon for the convenience and guaranteed shipping. So in a sense I am paying for shipping indirectly when I order from Amazon.
If I were OP I would do a search to see if the same merchandise would have been cheaper with shipping fee or at a local store, and ask Amazon to refund you the difference. I have received store credits when things I ordered didn’t arrive on time, even if it were shipping company’s fault.
If they offer it, they need to stand behind it. I’d at least ask for a discount if for no other reason than to keep them honest and let them know customers hold them accountable. But if they declined I’d let it go and chalk it up to the season.
On the other side of the coin, I ordered dog food from Chewy.com around dinner time. They offer free 2 day shipping with $49 purchase. I had it < 24 hours later! Not the first time they’ve shipped that quickly. This company has FABULOUS customer service - time and time again they exceed expectations. Cannot recommend them enough for pet supplies!!
Once something is shipped, it’s out of Amazon’s hands.
Their “guarantee” is a promise to refund shipping costs or offer Prime members a one-month extension.
I get a lot more from Prime than just free shipping- mostly streaming media. I also definitely get my money’s worth on the free shipping.
I think it’s unreasonable for anyone to expect that 2-day shipping is always going to work. Most of the time I get things within a couple of days after ordering them, but I wouldn’t order something I needed right away online.
One thing I really like about Amazon is Sunday postal delivery. That is something that didn’t used to even exist… so it’s definitely nice when a package shows up on my doorstep on a Sunday.
When a mess up costs money or really creates s problem (arrives after the birthday, when the school mail room is closed for a break), it’s fine to want to recover your costs. Otherwise, give feedback on the survey and let go. Life is short.
Sounds like that’s where OP ended up. In my experience, Amazon does a great job.
I know in the future I will NOT do Cheesecake Factory Plastic gift cards if I expect timely arrival. I ordered 8 cards on 11/27 and received 2 on 12/13 and 3 on 12/15! They are holding up my holiday gifting and it was WAY less stressful in prior years when I just went with e-gift cards that I printed out. They do not answer their toll-free line often and NEVER return calls when you leave a message. I’m very disappointed and take my money elsewhere.
^^^^^
This is nothing new. Ask my ups driver who in this month literarily runs to drop off my packages. I’m not sure how much they make now, I know drivers did well before but just like auto workers, I think they make less than before.
Has nothing to do with Amazon, in fact I would say that on line shopping and Amazon have saved USPS, ups and all delivery services.
Sorry I’m not going to paint Amazon as some big bad company.
From that LA Times article – it seems like the driver profiled works for LMS, not Amazon – and whatever complaints he has about not being paid overtime, etc., are issues with his employer (the LMS courier company) --not Amazon. I am sure that market pressures from Amazon have probably led to LMS essentially underbidding the job, in turn placing undue pressure on its employees — but that doesn’t make Amazon the employer.
The Amazon Flex service, also mentioned in the article, is different because that involves Amazon contracting directly with the drivers – so then Amazon can run into the problem of whether those drivers are properly classified as independent contractors.
However, this thread started because of CC poster & Amazon customer being peeved at a missed delivery window … we all want to get our packages within 2 days, and none of us want to see our Amazon Prime membership fee being raised again, do we? So in a sense we consumers are the ones creating all of that pressure, especially around the holiday season.
Maybe that’s something to think about before we complain to Amazon about a package arriving a day later than anticipated.
My brother used to work at UPS during the holiday season as a ‘driver’s assistant’. Believe me, they went above and beyond to get people packages, usually working 12-15 hour days the week before Christmas. One year we had a huge, huge snowstorm starting about Dec 20, and everything was shut down for 2-3 days. They then worked the week after Christmas those crazy hours. He said they’d sometimes park in the center of the street and hike through the snow to the house or store, and then hike back to the truck.
A former coworker had been a UPS driver for many years. She said during the holiday weeks, she’d show up and her truck would be packed from top to bottom, with only room for one driver and nothing else. She had a few customers who would let her unload and store stuff at their places, so she’d go there, unload everything and sort it, pack half and go deliver it, and then go back for the rest. She said otherwise she’d have delivered something and find another box for the same customer in the back of the truck.
I wouldn’t complain or request a discount. At this time of year, a little leniency in expectations should, in my opinion, be the case. Although there may not be weather issues where you are, are you sure that wherever the item is originating is also in a weather-free area?
As others have said, when Amazon packages arrive late, they give me another month of Prime free. I have had in general very good experience with Amazon. They set the bar for others, imo.
I have had issues with Best Buy promising fast delivery of items ordered, then tell me a few days later item is out of stock. This year, it happened again. I ordered an item they promised delivery on Friday. Friday I got an email saying item would be delayed and delivered Jan 17. Then 3 hours later, I got another email saying product was just shipped. I will believe it when I see it.
I received an email today from Amazon saying my package has shipped. Didn’t remember ordering one yesterday so I clicked on the email and it was for a package I ordered days ago and received yesterday. I guess they’re not being as efficient as they usually are. I’m giving them a little slack this week.l
I hate hate hate the “Sure Post” and the like where a lot of companies, including Amazon, use the USPS for the end delivery of my package. It always adds a day or two to delivery, the mail lady crams it into the box or doesn’t attempt to deliver it (I work from home–almost always here), and leaves the dreaded orange slip. It’s a 25 mile trip to the post office.
I live on a state highway, not exactly uninhabited lands. UPS is great here. They are pushed pretty hard by corporate, but I think that’s true about many if not most jobs. I am trying Prime for the first time, but also have horrid ice conditions right now, and would give holiday slack anyway for slight delays.
