Amazon DROPS next day delivery amid Cyber Monday MADNESS Amazon has suspended next day delivery in Blighty after reporting its busiest day on record. This decision could mean the families of last-minute present hunters will go without gifts on Christmas Day, said a Reg source, who says he was told express delivery would not begin until the New Year. Amazon denies this and claims the …
That's going to be fun for their customer service staff then :)
I don't see the connection to BF either. Why would a massive 1-day sales spike mean they cannot do next-day delivery for the whole of December - surely the BF sales are the problem not their normal day-to-day stuff?
I do note Amazon are now offering two new delivery options:
No Rush: it takes longer but they GIVE YOU money
Scheduled: pick a specific time for it to arrive
Won't be renewing my prime next year, not because of this, but due to the general poor quality of the 'next day' delivery.
More than once (this weekend included) I have been tracking a package, waiting inside for the delivery, only to see the status change to 'failed' despite no-one trying to make a delivery. Also, seeing it changed to 'delivered and signed' when no attempt has been made, only to find that it has been delivered next door. Thankfully I have honest neighbours (at least on one side)
That's the fault of the couriers operating in your area, or more specifically the individual drivers, not anything specific to Amazon.
I am only a member for free next-day delivery - joined before they rolled out video streaming and jacked up the price. I'm not sure we'd stay at the higher price but if it's not even next-day shipping, what exactly is the point?
Have you reported this to Amazon? It happens sometimes, and they've generally been quite good at providing compensation when they fail to meet the delivery times on (what is effectively) a paid option - even when the failure is outside of their direct control.
To be honest, the whole Prime thing might be a little bit mis-sold.
It's not so much a next day delivery promise, as you get the cheapest paid delivery option free. Usually, that is a next day delivery. In some cases, it's an "expedited" delivery that may still take 2-3 days. (I think this means they are unable to physically ship it on that day, but it will go on a "next day" delivery service.
I don't necessarily have a problem with them pushing back the promise in times of high demand - it's more important that they are honest about what you will be getting at the time, you can't always anticipate every peak, every weather event, every service disruption ahead of time to ensure that you can always provide a next day delivery.
I'm not entirely happy with them mixing the "next day" and "expedited" services in general use - at least not in terms of marking an item as "prime eligible". It's too easy to see something as being "prime" and expecting to get it the next day, without noticing that it was only ever going to arrive in 2-3 days. They need to be much clearer about that - possibly splitting the markings to "Prime eligible" and "Prime next day".
But also, it's not much of a guarantee. I placed an order last week, that was shipped on Royal Mail with no tracking code. It should have arrived on Saturday, it still hasn't as yet. It's a bit early to chase up on a "where is it", but I'll be giving them hell in a couple of days about their failure to put it on a guaranteed next day service.
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Have I been asleep for a long time, or is it still four weeks until Christmas?
In which case the rush delivery of this Thursday doesnt mean that anyone will be dissapointed by the late delivery of presents.
yebbut it is my wife's birthday on Wednesday. What do you get the lady who already has a car air-freshener and plenty of screen wash?
Slavery my arse.
I remember all the breathless articles in the Daily Mail and others when Amazon's Rugeley distribution centre opened, about the indignity of people working as temps on minimum wage, walking around a warehouse and putting boxes on a trolley as instructed by a terminal.
Everyone I know rolled their eyes, temp 'order picking' is bog standard (and easily available) low level work* around here. Maybe it's shocking to metropolitan cappuccino-sipping journalists.
*Yes, I've done it. Still got the agency-branded high vis vest.
A friend is currently doing 60 hour weeks at Amazon with dynamically varying shift patterns. His social life is suffering - but he's looking forward to spending the overtime payments after Christmas. He sees it as a "make hay while the sun shines" seasonal opportunity.
However - at least some of that overtime has been mandated as "compulsory" - and some of the abrupt shift changes are poorly communicated/organised. That doesn't sound employee friendly.
"However - at least some of that overtime has been mandated as "compulsory" - and some of the abrupt shift changes are poorly communicated/organised. That doesn't sound employee friendly."
@AC:
Let me guess - he's working for an agency (rather than Amazon directly) who are using "compulsory" overtime because they (the agency) didn't hire enough temp staff for the busy period.
He is free to leave though, isn't he? His overtime's probably not compulsory if they don't have him chained to a wall...
"Let me guess - he's working for an agency "
No - he's permanent staff now. He was glad to get the job after being unemployed for 6 months - even though it is a long commute every day. He does find it annoying to turn up for work only to find that they have changed his shift at the last minute without telling him - a wasted journey. When he was agency staff they used to text him about any sudden changes.
Time to consult legal types, then...
That should read:
"Time to consult the terms and conditions I agreed to..."
Availability of One-Day Delivery and other delivery benefits depends on stock availability, order deadlines (which may vary) and in some cases on the delivery address.
Those terms and conditions don't mean much when they are not delivering what the headline feature of the product is.
They sold it as free next day delivery. Now it's three days for me to get a hat from them. I was planning on leaving when this period ran out anyway (the instant video is nearly worthless to me without it on Android tablets* or chromecast), this just made it certain.
Shame, I used to like Amazon.
Those terms and conditions don't mean much when they are not delivering what the headline feature of the product is.
They sold it as free next day delivery.
Wrong. You were sold a service with the caveat that, at certain times, one-day delivery isn't possible.
This is the usual "We'll try and get it to you next day" which sometimes goes awry. That's fair enough.
This is "We're not actually going to even pretend to get you your stuff in the timescales you've paid for. We won't tell you either."
You _can't_ even choose actual next day delivery, so they've basically admitted that the service you've signed up to is not being delivered. Fie on the terms and conditions, they can write what they like in them, I don't care. It's all about what they sold, and they're no longer delivering on that.
I've not had an email saying "Sorry, this has happened" or even seen a notice when I placed an order. Nope, they've basically just removed the product I paid for.
Fie on the terms and conditions, they can write what they like in them, I don't care. It's all about what they sold, and they're no longer delivering on that.
You know what you should do?
Write them a strongly worded letter, and threaten to withdraw your custom if you don't get your hat by "next day" delivery.
That'll teach them.
Indeed, they read:
"We will not be held responsible for any delay or failure to comply with our obligations under these Terms if the delay or failure arises from any cause which is beyond our reasonable control. This condition does not affect your statutory rights."
and:
"For One-Day, Express and Evening delivery please see their respective terms and conditions."
lastly, from the One Day T&Cs:
"If you choose One-Day Delivery, your order will be dispatched with the intention that it's delivered one day after dispatch" (emphasis added)
I think more than enough scope for a Get Out Of Jail Free card, although IANAL and I have no idea how many of their conditions are legally acceptable. But, the One Day conditions do state:
"We use a range of carriers to provide our One-Day service and delivery time frames may vary by carrier, but all deliveries will be attempted by 21:00."
All of those T&Cs mean they give you the option to choose the next day, pay the delivery company to get it there the next day, get the van loaded at the time required so that the delivery company can deliver it by the next day. The delivery company might not deliver by the next day however Amazon did everything they could do to get the article to you in one day.
But if the option isn't there or Amazon pay the delivery company for a 2-3 day delivery, then they are breaking their own T&Cs.
Not if you live in a flat with buzzer entry, which apparently is an utterly alien concept to them. Even better, their collection depot nearest to me is open Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm. They don't seem to understand why I don't think this is much use......
Like many people I signed up for 30 days free of Prime to do my Christmas shopping. Won't be paying for it seeing as I'm not getting next day delivery and the offerings on Instant Video are pretty poor.
"So who gives a rat's arse if it doesn't arrive next day, as long as it's in the next few days?"
Nobody.
But it doesn't sound nearly as apocalyptic if you say it like that.
Realistically.. Anybody who waits until December to get stuff delivered for Christmas is asking for trouble.
Not really. Almost-always next-day delivery has rather changed my whole approx to buying stuff. If I am working (doing programming or on a DIY project) and find I need something, the fact I can just buy it and it turns up the next day is a massive boon. Compared to the old fashioned "wait and see when it will arrive" approach.
...so as long as they deliver it "one day"....they will have hit their promise.
If the had said "next-day" or "next business day" then that would have been a different matter.
I guess if they delivered an order across more than one day (ie multiple consignments over more than one day), then that might get them in hot water too.
Ho hum..
I ordered a bunch of stuff on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday (yes, yesterday). In each case, with the Free "whenever you like" delivery.
It's all been dispatched already. And I don't NEED any of it today. If I did, I would go to a bricks & mortar store.
Prime seems to be a good way to tax the impatient, to me.
However, it would be nice to understand why Amazon stole my daughter's £10.33 gift card balance... I don't think that the cash paid for the cards expired, so why should the cards?
Prime used to be next-day, then it became one-day. It used to be £49pa, then became £79pa. They used to use Parcelforce, then they adopted Yodel and "Amazon Logistics".
None of those changes were for the better, and certainly in the last 18 months if you've actually needed something the following day, Prime delivery was not reliable enough to be sure it'd be there.
I only order from companies using Parcelforce, UPS and DPD these days.
UPS has a track record with not delivering to my place. I live at the end of a route and their drivers just want to get back to base.
So I get the' deliver or collect' note.
with Parcelforce there is an office a few miles away.
UPS? 30 miles
DPD? 25 Miles
Amazon? Where are they? The moon?
Sometimes it is actually better to go and buy the stuff yourself.
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