I’m just curious as to whether I’m just unusually unlucky when it comes to ordering stuff and having it arrive on time without any problems.
I do not have Amazon Prime–it just isn’t worth it for me. I feel as if Amazon plays games with anything I order. If it’s over about $50–right now, I think it’s any amount–you get free 6-8 business day shipping. Every time I order from Amazon, I get a million prompts to join Prime. They seem to hold the orders just so it will take at least six business days. I’ve ordered about 10-12 times and had problems with 5 orders–not including the times I was notified a product was delivered and it was really delivered 2-3 days later, sometimes well beyond 8 business days from date of the order. So, after having a particularly bad Amazon experience with one grandchild’s birthday this fall, I ordered from Walmart for the next grandchild’s birthday the following month. Free 2 day shipping and everything was fine.
So, for Christmas, I went back to Walmart DOT com Just about every small toy was “only available in store.” Several of the most popular somewhat larger toys weren’t available. So, I went to Target. Free 2 day shipping for anything over $25. Some of the popular toys weren’t available. I ordered several items and deliveries were made 2 days later, but…although the packing slip said 2 items were in one of the boxes, only one was. Luckily, my adult kid read the packing slips and knew something was missing. The whole “fix this order” email and website assumes you are returning an item because it’s broken or pieces or missing. I had to call. Target says a replacement has been shipped.
I ended up having to buy some things from Amazon. One shipment came quickly. The others say they will be delivered 8 days after I placed my order–which is fine if they actually are delivered then. But judging from past performance, that’s unlikely.
Am i just unlucky or is anyone having problems with about 1 out of every 3 orders?
I rarely had problems with Amazon shipping and maybe it is because I have Prime. On the other hand, D2 uses the same account as me and she lives at a college apartment in NYC. Her apartment has no doorman and she has had a lot of problems. She would see it being out for delivery, but the item would never show up. There was one particular item, a vacuum cleaner, which took 6 tries over 3 months period before it reached D2. The merchant kept on shipping it out, and it would get lost some where. She actually gave up after 3 weeks the first time and then re-ordered it recently - same thing kept on happening. I told her that someone in that area must really like the vacuum.
I’ve been ordering things primarily from Amazon and never really had any issues. If anything, it’s the UPS that’s causing me some headaches, the latest being that the driver keeps delivering my neighbor’s packages to my house, making me then deliver the packages to my neighbor, someone known to have pulled a gun on someone who rang his door bell.
The only issue we had with Amazon was a $40 shovel. It required a signature - why?!! Even after I repeatedly told Amazon they can simply throw the box in the ravine, and no one would steal it from there. I just ignored the “we missed you” notices from delivery folks. The shovels (all 3) went back to Amazon… I went to HD and bought one there (not the same, but close enough). Hope I did not jinx my luck.
I have never had a problem with Amazon Prime. Everything comes on time.
I live in a suburb of NYC, but Amazon has been prompt with shipping to my son in his more isolated college town, too. If it arrives after his school’s mailroom is closed, he may need to wait until the next morning to get his package, but that is because of the school, not because of Amazon.
Honestly, the only time I seem to have trouble with delivery is if I order from an off-price retailer. Sometimes such deliveries have come packed in what my kids call “sketchy” box sizes, proportionate to the size of the item(s) inside, and so will be mashed at a corner. I do not often do this, though.
Our Walmart online shopping experiences seem to differ, jonri. I cannot understand how so many of their items are simply never in stock (revealed after I have paid) and ready for shipping alongside other items in the same order. I also find Walmart interminably slow, as I do almost all retailers now since using Amazon Prime. Declared delivery times of 'withing 6-7 business days" seem acceptable when I hit the ‘submit’ button, and then I feel like I am waiting forever. I’m ruined by Amazon.
I don’t think you’re finding your shopping experiences to be radically different than that which most people have, or will have, encountered, though. There is always the chance for human error in each of these interactions.
I only order from Amazon and so cannot speak of Walmart etc. I have never had a problem ordering or receiving packages, and I think that over the course of a year, Amazon Prime is good value - free shipping and returns on everything, free movies, free books, free magazines etc…I use he term free loosely, as we pay the Prime membership!
Fir those of you will college kids / college email addresses, Amazon offers a free 6-month Amazon Prime membership, and the fees are reduced for 4-years thereafter - one family can use the same Amazon Prime account - a very good value!
Some shipping companies tend to be mistake prone when delivering to residential (as opposed to commercial) addresses. Mistakes as in finding a package addressed to someone else in the neighborhood on your porch.
I dislike Walmart. Had to return a TV stand with a broken glass shelf once (awkward in the trunk)- at least did not have to ship it. Ordered a safe- they took the order but did not fulfill it for several days, finally saying so because it became out of stock. Would rather deal with other companies. It came back on sale online and I was able to price match at Target retroactively (and haul it home myself).
Do not wish to pay for Amazon Prime so accept deliveries that are slower and cheaper. Excellent return policy with Amazon, once they decided a very small ticket item wasn’t worth their costs of returning and just did the refund (that object had been added to another to meet free shipping).
Have found not all goods in a store are also online. Even the order online pick up in store variety. Was able to get the online ink price at a store that said there was none at that location. Central computers don’t always seem to be updated I gathered from the clerk.
Pet peeve is getting free shipping when one goes to the store and they are out of stock for the item- but can’t get free shipping with the online order. Wasted trip. Or order at store but not online for free shipping. I guess they think you’ll buy more once in the store. Not me.
DD opened a student Amazon Prime account that we all use. Never had a problem with a shipment unless it was a non amazon retailer and even then they reshipped and made it right.
I have had occasional problems with Amazon, but have prime and almost everything is delivered when promised. @Oldfort, my D uses “locker” when ordering from Amazon. Loves it.
Another Amazon Prime user here. Love being able to return items (double check to see if something is fulfilled by Amazon though–doesn’t work exactly the same with 3rd party sellers). Only hold up in shipping is UPS sometimes. One year I got every single package of my neighbors delivered to me. Not fun but I knew what they were up to! You’re probably being kicked to the end of the line by not having Prime–during Christmas even Prime members with 2 day shipping will end up with longer wait times.
Easy to get spoiled fast.
I like the free movies and TV shows too.
I was missing an item from Target pkg once also. I called them, they replaced the item and then another package arrived later and I ended up with two. Other than that, shopping on the Target site was great.
Walmart’s on-line site is all over the place. Things from different sellers at different prices, some in store, some not. A lot not available or out of stock. I gave up even looking.
I bought one thing from Best Buy this year (used them in the past often) and it took me forever on their site–I almost gave up. Then the item was out of stock with no set delivery date–it arrived two days ago, so about 3 weeks or more. But they did inform me it was just delivered–and lo and behold it was sitting on my porch. That was nice.
I try to buy most electronics (the big stuff like a TV) from Sam’s. I can take it back to the local store and don’t have to worry about returns.
We mostly have problems with USPS. Recently we had an Amazon Prime shipment that was delivered via USPS and the packing envelope was completely empty. Didn’t look like it had ever been sealed. I agree with OP, the return site is not really set up for items that are missing. Even trying to figure out how to contact customer service at Amazon takes some searching around on their site. They have really hidden the Contact Us links compared to how it used to be.
Why, oh why, do the delivery folks for my neighborhood NEVER ring my doorbell? A package will be sitting on my front porch, directly under the doorbell, but the drivers never ring it.
The problem I’ve had in the last few weeks is ordering items online, then a few days later receiving an email that the product was “unavailable.” Online retailers should be able to track if an item is sold out and mark it as such.
Watching Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is worth the price of Amazon Prime alone. The free shipping is a bonus.
Yes, they don’t make finding customer service easy but I’ve had great customer service from them recently. One book ordered did not arrive in 2 days (took 5 days). I complained and they refunded the full price of the book without any prompting from me. Typically, they just give you an additional free month or a $5 credit.
“Why, oh why, do the delivery folks for my neighborhood NEVER ring my doorbell? A package will be sitting on my front porch, directly under the doorbell, but the drivers never ring it.”
That seems to be the practice these days. Drop and dash. The delivery companies are very short staffed in my area. Many online retailers do send me emails letting me know my package was delivered. I think that’s the equivalent of the doorbell ring in 2018.
Back in the dark ages I would go to Walmart or Target with a shopping list and would be able to buy everything on the list. Now in the odd event I go to a store four or five items that I need are out of stock. Then it takes multiple people to look at a single 50 cent coupon when my total order is over $100. Obviously I am a scam artist.
I have Amazon Prime and my orders arrive as soon as the same day or in two calendar days. I have found that Walmart delivers in two business days. So if you order on Saturday the soonest it would arrive is Wednesday. I haven’t had much success with the Target ‘buy online and pick it up in store’ model. On some orders Target has sent an email that my order it ready for pickup, then on the way there they send a second email that some of the items were not in stock.
We have Amazon Prime. Never had trouble until they started shipping via USPS instead of UPS/FedEx for many of our orders. USPS tracking is a joke, packages take at least two days longer to arrive and they’ve been damaged multiple times. I would pay extra if I could be guaranteed they’d use UPS/FedEx.
Walmart shipping is generally as fast as, if not faster than, Amazon. I liked using them a year or so ago, but more items seem to be shown on the website but only available for purchase in store. Sometimes they’ll show a single unit unavailable for shipping but will sell a three or four pack of the same item for free delivery. My biggest gripe is that they’re the worst at sending the wrong size or color, or just the wrong item. Then getting their mistake corrected is a pain due to dealing with offshore customer service reps who can barely follow their scripts.
Target’s deliveries have been slower than Amazon or Walmart, but their customer service has been good when we’ve had problems. Their biggest problem seems to be with order fillers who fail to pack things well, so stuff gets damaged easily in shipping.
We learned years ago to install security cameras and they’ve paid for themselves over and over by providing proof of non-delivery or of damage caused by careless handling. The local P.O. manager knows me by sight now since I’ve taken him print outs of screen shots of several substitute mail carriers throwing packages from their trucks and doing other things that damaged the contents.
I’ve had Amazon Prime for almost three years now and have literally never had a single issue. In fact, I must live near(ish) a warehouse, because a couple of times I ordered something basic in the morning and it was at my front door THAT EVENING.
I’ve not had issues with Target but never bought anything from Walmart that needed to be shipped. Target’s slower than Amazon Prime for sure, though.
The free shipping is a bonus.