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God that subject line just sounds like click bait doesn't it... and it is.

So what gives!? Anyone else noticing that Amazon Prime isn't its same usual peppy self? It used to be that Prime orders were shipped out REALLY fast, and got here in a decent amount of time. Now, I've ordered many items on the 23rd that haven't even "Prepared for Shipping" today, the 27th.... what the hell? All of these items are in stock and sold or fullfilled by Amazon. Many of these items I've purchased before and was met with the item at my door within 3-4 days from my order, which is great. Now they haven't even left 4 days later....

Amazon shipping facility in my mind right now.

https://youtu.be/DfGs2Y5WJ14?t=10s

I will say over the past year or year and a half it hasn't been as good as it used to be. Having said that, if I choose the Free 2 day shipping, which I usually do, it rarely (if ever) fails to be at my door on the guaranteed 2 day date. Have you been experiencing something different? You didn't specify which shipping speed you chose.

Yep, its Amazon Prime, so the default is Free 2 Day-Shipping, and I've checked to make sure that is what its set to when I order stuff. I'm also fairly adamant about it being Prime capable packages otherwise it can cost me quite a bit to ship here.

Ohhh and I even choose to ship as soon as possible and to NOT bundle things together. If you order things together or before they ship out Amazon will actually package them into a larger single box rather than individual. This makes sense for their cost and for the environment, ect. However it slows down shipping and I tend to reuse the heck out of the boxes. I've been checking to ship as quickly as possible.

Hmmmmm, maybe it's an Alaska thing? The places I have lived while having Prime make it pretty easy for me to get things. (Austin and Boston)

I haven't noticed anything, in fact as of late (most recent order was last week) since the opening of the fulfillment center in Chattanooga shipping has been faster to Georgia, like a whole day faster. What normally took 2 days on Prime now just takes one. I guess its all relative to how close you live to a fulfillment center and IF you are actually buying from Amazon proper. (not some Mom and Pop store shilling its wares on Amazon)

Welch wrote:

Amazon shipping facility in my mind right now.

I don't have Prime, and save-up my orders until I cross over their $35 free shipping barrier, then always select the free shipping button. Amazon sits on my orders for 2 or 3 days, leaving them in "Preparing your order for shipping" state, then ships them exactly the same way as other's who have Prime.

Bezos is extremely passive-aggressive. So am I. If I need something *now*, I'll drive to MicroCenter or BestBuy. If I want it cheap, I can wait 3 days.

Edit: Westchester, NY, and I have my local UPS and Post-Office direct numbers on speed-dial

Naw... 31 pages of people seem to have the same issue.... I think something else is up. Perhaps if your right next to the center your given a pass, who knows.

http://www.amazon.com/forum/amazon%20di ... WN61JJHOM2

Welch wrote:

Naw... 31 pages of people seem to have the same issue.... I think something else is up. Perhaps if your right next to the center your given a pass, who knows.

http://www.amazon.com/forum/amazon%20di ... WN61JJHOM2

Yeah, I agree with you. Like I said previously, it's definitely not as fast as it used to be. They also seem to be using wayyyyyyyy more shipping carriers than they used to, also attributing to varied delivery times. The shipping was the main reason I got prime years ago (they didn't have all this video/music stuff back then), so I really hope they rectify it.

It's even worse if you don't have prime. I live in one-day shipping range of two warehouses and so my order sits for four days if I pick free shipping. Definitely timing their shipping so you don't get more than you pay for. Hate buying from them anymore.

Wait, I thought just a little while back, we all loved Amazon?

They do seem to be getting a bit slower for me as well. (I'm in the Willamette Valley, Oregon.) Generally fine though (I have Prime). But still taking longer to ship things out. And things are actually showing up on the estimated dates, not earlier. One real issue I had though - I ordered a cable with one-day shipping on Sunday, and they said Tuesday at checkout. Should be quicker than that, but OK. And I'm occasionally impatient. But when the confirmation email came, they said Wednesday. I had to call and argue with customer service, and they seemed very quick to try and shift the blame elsewhere - oh, we told you it was Wednesday (yeah, not when I checked out and paid), and oh, we'll tell the courier to expedite it. Guess what? The courier can't do a damn thing about it when the item hasn't even left your warehouse. (And if they can ship something they haven't received, well, I'll be mightily impressed.) I told the guy that and he couldn't really answer it, just wanting to blame someone else, and finally refunding my shipping to get me off the chat. Sheesh. What ever happened to doing what I paid for? They did actually get it to me Wednesday, but only shipped it at the absolute last minute. Seems like they sold me something that they were running out of (went out of stock soon after), and then had to rush to get it elsewhere. A quick search shows that the cable in question is still out of stock actually, for some reason. Amazon basics 6ft HDMI/DVI cable.

On the other hand, I had an aftermarket iPad cable that recently abruptly failed 6 months after purchase, and Amazon happily refunded the entire thing without me asking (I just said it went defective, can I get a replacement?). Go figure.

At least in my case, it usually seems to be OnTrac shipping.

DancinJack wrote:

it's definitely not as fast as it used to be.

I agree, but I support this. It's been quite a while since either Amazon or Newegg shipped something directly to my door. Seems that where possible, they initially ship to an intermediate (UPS or DHL) that then hands it off to my local USPS. This usually adds a day or two, but I don't mind giving the USPS a 'cut' of the shipping.

Amazon has been great about refunds or reshipping items that went missing thanks fo the USPS. One order was 500 bucks worth of Crucial SSDs, the latest was a brake rotor for my wifes car... went one that arrived like it should have and the second one was shipped later for some reason and came 1 week later than it should have, but didnt show up. Somehow they confused a 1 lb book with being a book and an almost 17lb rotor.

I don't expect them to ship things faster than what I pay for... but I do expect things to be shipped out of your facility to the carrier with approriate shipping speeds to what I paid by end of next business day at a minimum. There are a lot of places that claim same business day, and if you put in order in at the end of the day they will ship it out first thing in the morning before 10am. Would be nice to know that if I order something that it will start its 2 day shipping journey the next day, even if at night.

Ohh and if you look at their shipping range ESTIMATE, its just that, not a guarentee. I had a support person tell me that after I asked why ky new mouse hadnt gotten here, took it almost 2 weeks and was outside of the estimate. I was told it wasn't a gaurentee but that they would refund me the shipping anyhow (I'm prime) so they gave me something like $6-$7

I think im a little suspect of large companies now after the Samsung debacle... Feel like they go out of their way to be really sweet on the first dates just to be abusive later behind closed doors.. Damn man, there should be a support group for this stuff

They don't seem any slower than usual to me here in Portland, OR. I always get the items by the guaranteed date unless the courier screws up, and the guaranteed date is usually the same or earlier than the estimated date.

Are you guys paying attention to the option that lets them hold all your stuff until the last thing is ready? "Combine items into the fewest shipments" or something like that. That's bad. You want them to ship each item as it becomes available. It should still give you an accurate shipping date though.

Melvar wrote:

They don't seem any slower than usual to me here in Portland, OR. I always get the items by the guaranteed date unless the courier screws up, and the guaranteed date is usually the same or earlier than the estimated date.

Are you guys paying attention to the option that lets them hold all your stuff until the last thing is ready? "Combine items into the fewest shipments" or something like that. That's bad. You want them to ship each item as it becomes available. It should still give you an accurate shipping date though.

Yep deffinently changing it to ship as soon as possible. I go through almost a minimum of 2 grand a month with Amazon, rarely do I ever not see an amazon box in front of my door in the week.

I think USPS is the problem as long as your buying from Amazon or a third party which uses Amazon to fill the order.

Welch wrote:

I think im a little suspect of large companies now after the Samsung debacle... Feel like they go out of their way to be really sweet on the first dates just to be abusive later behind closed doors.. Damn man, there should be a support group for this stuff

You're just now suspicious of large companies?

I usually have my packages within 24 hours, except for the rare instance I order on friday/saturday...

Plus, I can choose 1 hour shipping now (or schedule any other time) because amazon is just a hair shy of magic.

I've noticed some orders are slowing down also...
Recent rain storm did the coup de gras for the external antenna amplifier for my TV.
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OGOKQM8/
I ordered a new one 5/20/15 and it qualified for Prime. I've been waiting 7 days now for it to arrive. It "shipped" 5/22/15 Amazon keeps moving the arrival date. Its now slated to arrive 5/29/15.

They've definitely gotten slower. 2-3 days to wait for the confirmation e-mail that it shipped. I've only come up with 2 reasons to be holding them up:
1/ Intentionally for the people like myself who don't pay for prime to get them to pay for it. Just like the "free shipping" want away on anything under $35.
2/ They are understaffed in their DC's and there is a 1-3 day backlog of orders to pull.

I hope it's not #1. But it's been more than a few months so #2 seems less and less likely.

I haven't noticed much difference, but they did just build a big warehouse right over the border in Wisconsin, and I believe another is up or going up in-state. Are you guys telling them to group shipments together? That could be part of the reason for a delay on going out.

I've seen a couple of their Prime listings saying "ships in 2-3 days" or something. But when it says "guaranteed delivery by so-and-so date", I don't remember missing that by more than a day... Maybe I've been lucky?

Twice I've gotten a completely wrong item with "Fulfillment by Amazon". The little label on the side of the item says the name of the thing I ordered, but the label was attached to the wrong thing. Amazon blamed the third-party supplier (that I guess ships their stuff to Amazon warehouse) for wrong labeling

I'm referring to Prime shipping only.

I'm also only talking about items shipped under the included free 2 day shipping (the speed at which they ship once on carrier).

The speed slow down is not referencing the speed once to carrier, but the lack of speed to getting items out of their warehouse and into a carriers hands.

The "gaurenteed by" date is never on standard Prine shipping. It is simply for items you purchase before a certain time of the day and pay additional flat fee shipping to increase the speed of shipping to overnight. Amazon is very big on making this clear if you call them and tell them things are not arriving like they should of. They will tell you it was not gaurenteed, but an estimate.

Based on all of that, they are slower than ever by a long shot.

I've never had issues with them sitting on a Prime order. My most recent order hit the carrier the day after I ordered it and I ordered it in the evening.

I use Prime frequently, and it is always on time, or even a day early. I think they have a distribution center in St Louis which is only 2hrs. away. Lucky me, as I buy everything I can online, and Amazon usually has very competitive prices.
I also love Prime Music now! It's a freebie that kicks Pandora's ass. Oh, and Prime video. It's all worth the $ easily.

Welch wrote:

Yep, its Amazon Prime, so the default is Free 2 Day-Shipping

It's actually NOT the default sometimes...you've gotta watch it. Sometimes it'll default to something that's still free, but is 4-5 days or 5-7 days.

I haven't had any issues when ordering Prime items. I did an order late Monday night that was around 15 items. Since it was late Monday night that meant they didn't ship out until yesterday morning...some of the items arrived today. The Subscribe and Save option is awesome, too...I don't have to worry about remembering to pickup certain items when I'm out shopping. They just show up at my door on a regular schedule.

I order tons of stuff from Amazon, and as a Prime member it typically it arrives the next day or day after, even Saturdays and Sundays.

When something doesn't arrive on time, and I was counting on the "guaranteed delivery by" date, I get in touch with Amazon support and they take care of me. From the few times it's happened, I usually have my Prime membership extended for a month for free and one time they gave me a $10 Amazon voucher.

I'm not trying to "punish" Amazon as I think they provide great customer service and actually seem to care about their customers, but I usually pick my shipping by when I need it. So if it's late, I let them know and expect them to uphold their guarantee.

Sometimes it doesn't ship for a day, and then they'll send it express overnight. But 98% of the time it arrives on time or early.

NeelyCam wrote:

I've seen a couple of their Prime listings saying "ships in 2-3 days" or something. But when it says "guaranteed delivery by so-and-so date", I don't remember missing that by more than a day... Maybe I've been lucky?

Any time they miss a "guaranteed by" date I get in touch with customer service. Every single time they apologize (as it is a guaranteed delivery date) and they issue a partial refund.

I must be in the minority in that Amazon has never once let me down on any issue. Sure, some Prime items have longer processing times, but it's always noted on the product page. The majority of the time they beat the estimate for me, and I don't exactly live in the mecca of civilization.

Well, someone at amazon has a bit of explaining to do:
http://i.imgur.com/wW4AHRR.png
http://i.imgur.com/pKeYNqq.png

(And huh... apparently if you do spoiler and put img inside it, it ignores the spoiler. What?)

So I'm not delusional here - looking back at the cable that they said would ship one day, then changed it to a day later in the confirmation. They are literally lying to my face and not giving me what I paid for. What the hell guys? You don't have to try and lose my business, ya know?

Edit: I got on chat, and they switched it right to one-day shipping - so the order now says guaranteed arrival on Friday (what I paid for in the first place). They said they were sorry and would forward it onto the technical team. Hmm...

Also: I have Amazon prime, and used Amazon smile here (I actually remembered this time).

localhostrulez wrote:

Well, someone at amazon has a bit of explaining to do:
http://i.imgur.com/wW4AHRR.png
http://i.imgur.com/pKeYNqq.png

(And huh... apparently if you do spoiler and put img inside it, it ignores the spoiler. What?)

So I'm not delusional here - looking back at the cable that they said would ship one day, then changed it to a day later in the confirmation. They are literally lying to my face and not giving me what I paid for. What the hell guys? You don't have to try and lose my business, ya know?

Edit: I got on chat, and they switched it right to one-day shipping - so the order now says guaranteed arrival on Friday (what I paid for in the first place). They said they were sorry and would forward it onto the technical team. Hmm...

Also: I have Amazon prime, and used Amazon smile here (I actually remembered this time).

Ummm if you click on the details, the "Guarantee" you were seeing will tell you IF you order in the next 17 hours and 39 minutes WITH priority shipping. This is exactly what I mentioned earlier, those are not guarantee if you just purchase the item out right with Prime and free shipping options. You selected a free options, which I'll give you does say by the 2nd, which is crap regardless of whether its free or not to say "Yeah it will be here by this date" and then suddenly switch-a-roo and it shows 2 days later.

Nope, my Prime has never defaulted to a slower than the standard prime shipping, and believe me I check it every single time. Granted, shipping to AK it is not a 2-day shipping it is actually 3-7 day... which I've totally understand. The issue isn't with the speed of shipping, its the speed or lack thereof when it comes to processing and getting it to the shipper.

I seriously think that the website counts on most people not knowing, or caring or even deciding to do anything about a day or two delay in getting their item. Hence when people like us call about 2-3 day delay they quickly "make it right" and rush ship or refund part of it. All in an attempt to keep the squeaky wheel greased. The majority of people though won't notice or care and they take advantage of that allowing them to get things out the door slower.

I really don't think with how fast Amazon is growing that they have the man power to keep up right now. That is why they are rushing to build all of these new distribution centers to try and meet demand. Its probably also why their prices aren't as godly amazing as they used to be. I find at times they don't play the cheapest on the block anymore and will actually charge more than others like Newegg.

Welch wrote:

Ummm if you click on the details, the "Guarantee" you were seeing will tell you IF you order in the next 17 hours and 39 minutes WITH priority shipping. This is exactly what I mentioned earlier, those are not guarantee if you just purchase the item out right with Prime and using Prime base shipping.

If that is the case (I need to check), then that's a really scummy way of writing it. Guaranteed on the 2nd, say that the shipping I picked will get it on the 2nd (though not writing guaranteed down there), and then immediately saying the 4th when the confirmation email is automatically sent. Even the latter 2 numbers don't match up, and neither of those says guaranteed.

And at any rate, the 4th (Monday) is still very much on the long side for 2 day shipping, particularly considering what I've seen in the past.


Edit: Nope. That date shows guaranteed if I pick 2 or 1 day shipping, with the same date listed right next to the shipping options. The details link to this page: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/help/custom ... Id=3510241 If I pick slower shipping, it's not guaranteed.

So yes actually, they are flat out lying to my face. Selling me "guaranteed" shipping, and not doing it. Since I paid for it, you bet I'm going to hold them to it.

localhostrulez wrote:

Welch wrote:

Ummm if you click on the details, the "Guarantee" you were seeing will tell you IF you order in the next 17 hours and 39 minutes WITH priority shipping. This is exactly what I mentioned earlier, those are not guarantee if you just purchase the item out right with Prime and using Prime base shipping.

If that is the case (I need to check), then that's a really scummy way of writing it. Guaranteed on the 2nd, say that the shipping I picked will get it on the 2nd (though not writing guaranteed down there), and then immediately saying the 4th when the confirmation email is automatically sent. Even the latter 2 numbers don't match up, and neither of those says guaranteed.

And at any rate, the 4th (Monday) is still very much on the long side for 2 day shipping, particularly considering what I've seen in the past.


Edit: Nope. That date shows guaranteed if I pick 2 or 1 day shipping, with the same date listed right next to the shipping options. The details link to this page: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/help/custom ... Id=3510241 If I pick slower shipping, it's not guaranteed.

So yes actually, they are flat out lying to my face. Selling me "guaranteed" shipping, and not doing it. Since I paid for it, you bet I'm going to hold them to it.

Yep yours actually shows the free options with Prime as guaranteed. They know my local so I'm only given 1 free shipping option under Prime which is 3-7 days. All other options cost, like $6.99 (or 7.99) for 2 day shipping, and then something like $11.99 for next day. It will on occasion show me the guaranteed arrival date... if clicking on the details it would reveal that the date was only good if I choose the next day shipping. It's most likely that it sees my default shipping address and accounts for the difference in shipping terms. But yes, I've never had an issue with the customer service taking money off even when I didn't ask for it.

The only major suck issue I had with Amazon was I screwed up, and my other card got cancelled by BoA due to the famous "Your card was compromised........ again" thing. In which case it defaulted to my debit card . Unbeknownst to me I charged almost $5,000 worth of hardware and Christmas gifts to my checking account, which had the cash in it lucky enough. Sounds stupid but I really wanted the miles for it and didn't want to have the cash missing that soon. I was trying to have Amazon basically charge my credit card the full amount NOW and once that cleared to refund my checking account. They said the only way they could do it was if I shipped everything back and then repurchased it.... . Crazy as my solution seemed very simple and any risk to them would be minimal even with the possibility of someone attempting a charge back. Air miles up here are like gold, we have to fly everywhere to get out of the state, and 5k miles is 1/5 of a plane ticket to pretty much anywhere in the states that Alaska Airlines goes.

While that had me a bit peeved, I realized it was the results of a damn BoA security breach and my own stupidity of not checking the card. So I removed all cards from Amazon except the one that I actually want charged.