Loosing Faith In Amazon Venders

In the last month I have only order 3 things from Amazon, one was an Aquarium Chiller which arrived DOA and appeared to have returned by a previous customer. The second item was a pair of rear speakers for my truck, and go a car audio receiver instead. It's not even an expensive one I could use. If the third item shows up next week as broken or the wrong item I'll be giving up on Amazon.

 

I placed 17 orders in the last 30 days (70 in 2018) and the only issue I have is a current order being shipped by a 3rd party (for fry food). I've had very little issues with Amazon and they've always made things right with minimal pain, if any.

 

I have ordered all types of things from eBay and other sorces for car parts, reloading supplies and never had to return an item in 10 years. I've only ordered 3 things from Amazon total over the years, so far the success rate is at 33%. both returns within the same week.

 

I asked Amazon if they could or would ever separate their crappy movie service from their two day shipping service? "No" was the answer. I've also asked them numerous times to use USPS. Their inattention to that request has caused us grief with missing packages to our rural address that I finally gave up and wound up saving $100 per year in the process. Now and then I use Amazon to make certain a part fits our vehicles or read reviews of something I'm looking at on Ebay, but in the end I gave them a chance to keep us using their service and they let us go instead. That worked out for the best and I am happy with Ebay sellers most of whom have the same deal on shipping for free without the $100 per year fee.

 

I asked Amazon if they could or would ever separate their crappy movie service from their two day shipping service? "No" was the answer. I've also asked them numerous times to use USPS. Their inattention to that request has caused us grief with missing packages to our rural address that I finally gave up and wound up saving $100 per year in the process. Now and then I use Amazon to make certain a part fits our vehicles or read reviews of something I'm looking at on Ebay, but in the end I gave them a chance to keep us using their service and they let us go instead. That worked out for the best and I am happy with Ebay sellers most of whom have the same deal on shipping for free without the $100 per year fee.

You rather use USPS? Wow, that's not something you hear often. I'm personally not a fan of USPS

 

USPS I believe gets a bad rap (I'll refrain from the political aspect of this) We've had the same mail lady for over four decades. We have a large mailbox here in the mountains of northern New Mexico. That mailbox is so convenient that the UPS delivery people put what they are supposed to bring to our door in that box. We already have a great system with our mail service. I believe we need to support them in every way. Haha that's my two cents.
Here is a tracking example from this morning. This happens to be Fed Ex:

FedEx tracking #61299535449122087000

• Jul 21, 2018
• 07:48am PDT

• Delivered - Package delivered by U.S. Postal Service to addressee
• SAPELLO, NM 87745

• Jul 21, 2018
• 07:27am PDT

• At U.S. Postal Service facility - Accepted by U.S. Postal Service - Tracking ID 9261299535449122087000
• LAS VEGAS, NM 87701

• Jul 20, 2018
• 23:17pm PDT

• In transit - In transit to local Post Office - Allow two to three additional days for delivery
• ALBUQUERQUE, NM 87121

• Jul 20, 2018
• 07:37am PDT

• In transit - In transit to U.S. Postal Service
• ALBUQUERQUE, NM 87121

• Jul 19, 2018
• 03:59am PDT

• Shipment information sent to U.S. Postal Service
• 87121

• Jul 19, 2018
• 02:24am PDT

• Departed FedEx location
• FEDEX SMARTPOST AURORA, CO 80011

• Jul 18, 2018
• 18:31pm PDT

• Arrived at FedEx location
• FEDEX SMARTPOST AURORA, CO 80011

• Jul 17, 2018
• 02:42am PDT

• Departed FedEx location
• HENDERSON, CO 80640

• Jul 16, 2018
• 20:07pm PDT

• Arrived at FedEx location
• HENDERSON, CO 80640

• Jul 15, 2018
• 11:37am PDT

• In transit
• COMMERCE CITY, CO 80640

• Jul 14, 2018
• 19:02pm PDT

• In transit
• ELLIS, KS 67637

• Jul 14, 2018
• 06:58am PDT

• Departed FedEx location
• HUTCHINS, TX 75141

• Jul 13, 2018
• 23:34pm PDT

• Arrived at FedEx location
• HUTCHINS, TX 75141

• Jul 13, 2018
• 18:21pm PDT

• Left FedEx origin facility
• TEXARKANA, AR 71854

• Jul 13, 2018
• 15:20pm PDT

• Arrived at FedEx location
• TEXARKANA, AR 71854

• Jul 13, 2018
• 12:44pm PDT

• Picked up
• TEXARKANA, AR 71854

• Jul 11, 2018
• 10:46am PDT

• Tracking number pr

Can you believe the amount of places this went just coming from Arkansas to New Mexico?

 

USPS I believe gets a bad rap (I'll refrain from the political aspect of this) We've had the same mail lady for over four decades. We have a large mailbox here in the mountains of northern New Mexico. That mailbox is so convenient that the UPS delivery people put what they are supposed to bring to our door in that box. We already have a great system with our mail service. I believe we need to support them in every way. Haha that's my two cents.
Here is a tracking example from this morning. This happens to be Fed Ex:

FedEx tracking #61299535449122087000

• Jul 21, 2018
• 07:48am PDT

• Delivered - Package delivered by U.S. Postal Service to addressee
• SAPELLO, NM 87745

• Jul 21, 2018
• 07:27am PDT

• At U.S. Postal Service facility - Accepted by U.S. Postal Service - Tracking ID 9261299535449122087000
• LAS VEGAS, NM 87701

• Jul 20, 2018
• 23:17pm PDT

• In transit - In transit to local Post Office - Allow two to three additional days for delivery
• ALBUQUERQUE, NM 87121

• Jul 20, 2018
• 07:37am PDT

• In transit - In transit to U.S. Postal Service
• ALBUQUERQUE, NM 87121

• Jul 19, 2018
• 03:59am PDT

• Shipment information sent to U.S. Postal Service
• 87121

• Jul 19, 2018
• 02:24am PDT

• Departed FedEx location
• FEDEX SMARTPOST AURORA, CO 80011

• Jul 18, 2018
• 18:31pm PDT

• Arrived at FedEx location
• FEDEX SMARTPOST AURORA, CO 80011

• Jul 17, 2018
• 02:42am PDT

• Departed FedEx location
• HENDERSON, CO 80640

• Jul 16, 2018
• 20:07pm PDT

• Arrived at FedEx location
• HENDERSON, CO 80640

• Jul 15, 2018
• 11:37am PDT

• In transit
• COMMERCE CITY, CO 80640

• Jul 14, 2018
• 19:02pm PDT

• In transit
• ELLIS, KS 67637

• Jul 14, 2018
• 06:58am PDT

• Departed FedEx location
• HUTCHINS, TX 75141

• Jul 13, 2018
• 23:34pm PDT

• Arrived at FedEx location
• HUTCHINS, TX 75141

• Jul 13, 2018
• 18:21pm PDT

• Left FedEx origin facility
• TEXARKANA, AR 71854

• Jul 13, 2018
• 15:20pm PDT

• Arrived at FedEx location
• TEXARKANA, AR 71854

• Jul 13, 2018
• 12:44pm PDT

• Picked up
• TEXARKANA, AR 71854

• Jul 11, 2018
• 10:46am PDT

• Tracking number pr

Can you believe the amount of places this went just coming from Arkansas to New Mexico?

We had the same mail lady for a long time and we loved her before she retired. Now it just seems that USPS service has gone down. But it could just be my area also

 

Agreed, it is all about the people out there on the front lines.

 

I have had Amazon Prime for many years now. My go to for purchases. Have had issues a few times. But those were when they started using their local delivery services about 1 year ago. Since then no problems, in fact I just ordered on Friday night and received package Sunday afternoon. Their customer service is "Good" for the most part. In my area they use a combination of UPS, USPS and local delivery. Just started using Ebay, it appears to be hit and miss at times. Recently had a package tracking update stating it was delivered. Contacted seller was told as far as they were concerned it was delivered. It was but to the wrong address. Luckily found it on my neighbors porch.
Just my .02.

 

I've been an eBay member since '99 and Amazon since '05. I resisted Amazon as long as I could and still begrudgingly paid the original $60 annual fee. When they raised it to $99, I canceled my Prime account. It was inconvenient but not too bad. There was a %50 off for joining Amazon Prime for new members and since I quit more than a year prior, I was considered a new member. I'm still not happy with the $100/yr fee as I don't use any of their other services but even just for the 2 day shipping, I think it's well worth it as I now place over 120 orders a year and their return/replace policy is painless and reliable.

Every once in a while, I poke around the other Prime services and have never really stuck to using any of them.

 

My Amazon activity went down from ~100 orders a year in 2011-2013 to mere 10-15 orders, maybe max 20 over the last few years.

I used to NOT have ANY issues with them at ALL, I think I had my first return well after 100 completed orders. I had Prime for a few years back then in 2011-2014.

The first nail in the coffin was when they started charging sales tax in NJ where I lived back then. This alone cut my ordering with them almost in half over the first year as most of the time (especially for common items) it was now easier to just grab them at Target with 5% discount using a RedCard, then to bother with Amazon.

And it went really downhill over the last 2 years - I think I had all possible issues with them in a very short timeframe - missing packages, wrong items delivered (I once had a $300+ industrial transformer (30+ lbs) delivered to me instead of a $50 fishing reel (~2 lbs)), damaged items, items visibly used/previously returned coming to me (even though the description stated "New" and sold by Amazon). Delayed packages are a norm now and most of the time "Guaranteed delivery" literally means nothing - the last time a few weeks ago I ordered some time-critical stuff with a "guaranteed delivery" on Tuesday using my friend's Prime account, and the package showed up on FRIDAY! Part of the blame goes towards USPS, but a huge part goes to Amazon as well as they only shipped an item Monday evening and quietly changed the estimated delivery without any apologies.

But my biggest issue is about the abundance of fake reviews and shills promoting crappy items sold through Amazon everywhere - it is technically not Amazon's "fault" - it's just a marketplace - though they implicitly, through their rules and policies, encourage such a behavior.

Something useful (in case you don't know it already):

3 Camels - camelcamelcamel.com - this is a great free service to track prices on items sold through Amazon - you can always check if you are getting a decent deal or if an item is on its price peak
FakeSpot - fakespot.com - absolutely amazing service that hints you if a certain product is plagued with fake reviews. When I see something having "F" rating on FakeSpot, I just close the window and never come back there for obvious reasons

 

I haven't ordered from a third-party seller in years. Can't trust the quality or the sellers anymore! I would be happy to order stuff directly from Amazon, but they never have what I'm looking for, buying local or from other sources has been cheaper and easier. I miss the early days when they really did have everything!

 

You have to take online ordering with a grain of salt sometimes. The thing with online orders are that there that the overhead for the companies are much lower than the ole brick and mortar stores but in exchange of saving a few bucks here and there we don't get to see the quality of the item and get to feel it, try it on and look at it with our eyes. Certain things you can buy online that doesn't require it but other items like clothing are another thing.

However shopping on the internet while it's been around for the past 20 odd years it's ramping up faster than ever. Costco never did online sales, didn't even do much, but since they started their service the past 2 years they've seen sales go up...also they have such a good return policy, like Nordstroms.

You just got to do research...it sucks but that's how we live today.

 

I guess I've been pretty lucky. I've never received something I didn't order and never got a used product. Delivery can be iffy but it depends on where you live and your local USPS/UPS/Fedex. My USPS is the best, UPS is pretty good and Fedex kinda sucks. They used LaserShip for a while but they absolutely sucked and they stopped using it. I recently ordered from walmart and they used LaserShip and no issues though so they might've gotten better.

Online tax is hit and miss. It is the law to collect state tax but not everything from Amazon is taxed.

Camelcamelcamel is awesome. I have alerts for low prices and it has saved me quite a bit in the last few months.

 

I am starting to dislike amazon because their shipping is horrible and now a lot of stuff they sell they will not ship to Alaska where I live. Once I order something it takes them a week just to ship it out. Some times they even send it parcelpool which I like to call "snail mail"because it takes like three weeks to get my package. I always rejoice when they send it UPS because In my experience is the fastest delivery service.

 

I am starting to dislike amazon because their shipping is horrible and now a lot of stuff they sell they will not ship to Alaska where I live. Once I order something it takes them a week just to ship it out. Some times they even send it parcelpool which I like to call "snail mail"because it takes like three weeks to get my package. I always rejoice when they send it UPS because In my experience is the fastest delivery service.

I think being in Alaska has a lot to do with your specific shipping issues.

 

Yeah I know it does but they used to be able to ship certain things but now they will not. I understand not being able to ship hazardest chemicals and lithium batteries. But they will not even ship some things that are just made out of plastic. I also noticed they will not ship ph control.