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Amazon Locker weirdness

Mon Jan 30, 2017 6:57 pm

So I've used Amazon Locker several times over the past few months, as there's a location in a 7-11 store right by my office and I know the package won't sit out in the rain/snow if nobody is home when it arrives. Everything's been fine until last week.

Last week, I got a notification e-mail that my order had arrived. Except the code to open the locker wouldn't work (system told me the code was invalid). Called Customer Support and they couldn't figure it out, so they issued a refund and told me to just re-order (they also offered to expedite but I declined since it wasn't anything urgent).

Today I get a notification for the replacement order. I punch in the code, and it tells me I have *two* packages (in two lockers). This is not unusual, since orders frequently get shipped piecemeal from different warehouses. I pick up both packages... then discover (after leaving the place) that one of them belongs to someone else. One of the packages had my complete order in it, the other package does not belong to me.

If anyone else here uses Amazon Locker, beware -- they seem to be having issues lately!
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Kougar
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Re: Amazon Locker weirdness

Tue Jan 31, 2017 2:08 am

What the heck, first I'd even heard of this service. There's even a dozen of them spread around town... going to have to remember that option if I move back to an apartment.
 
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Re: Amazon Locker weirdness

Tue Jan 31, 2017 2:44 am

Did you inform Amazon of this problem?  If I were them, I'd want to know immediately if there are delivery problems.
 
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Re: Amazon Locker weirdness

Tue Jan 31, 2017 7:52 am

Pwnstar wrote:
Did you inform Amazon of this problem?  If I were them, I'd want to know immediately if there are delivery problems.

Tried to call them on my way home (sitting on a bus), but got stuck on hold, and it was a bit noisy to talk on the phone anyway. Had other things to deal with when I got home. Will try calling them again this AM.
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Re: Amazon Locker weirdness

Tue Jan 31, 2017 9:33 am

Kougar wrote:
What the heck, first I'd even heard of this service. There's even a dozen of them spread around town... going to have to remember that option if I move back to an apartment.

Same here. Heck, I would consider it if I had any concern about packages being taken if delivered while I'm at work.

Also, didn't we have someone talking about Amazon delivery weirdness just a week or two ago? Why didn't you tell him about this, JBI? :lol:
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Re: Amazon Locker weirdness

Tue Jan 31, 2017 9:46 am

Works great for me here in the UK - except it can never scan the barcode off my iPhone 5S screen (#firstworldproblems).

There are three within 5 minutes drive of my house.
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Re: Amazon Locker weirdness

Tue Jan 31, 2017 10:20 am

excession wrote:
Works great for me here in the UK - except it can never scan the barcode off my iPhone 5S screen (#firstworldproblems).

There are three within 5 minutes drive of my house.

There isn't one near my house, but there's one a 5 minute walk from the office. Given that UPS tends to just chuck stuff on the front stoop where it is exposed to the weather, I use the lockers for small items that will fit in them.

Yeah, the barcode scanner sucks. Works maybe 1 time in 5 with my LG G4. I just punch in the code; it's only a 6-letter code, not a big deal.

They asked me to return the mis-delivered item. They are e-mailing me a shipping label; I just need to drop it off at the nearest Post Office.

I also suspect the problems with the lockers continue; I have one other locker package that has been showing as "Out for Delivery, will arrive today" since Sunday. I suspect they've lost it.
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Re: Amazon Locker weirdness

Tue Jan 31, 2017 11:16 am

I suspect they have some sort of corner case software glitch that they haven't sorted out yet. The rep I spoke to earlier this morning said it is very difficult for the person stocking the lockers to screw things up, because they scan a barcode on the package and the system opens the locker the package should be placed in. So if the system is functioning properly, the only way stuff like this could happen is if they scan one package, but put a different package in the open locker.

My suspicion is that the system is mis-associating different peoples' orders with each other. If you have multiple orders, entering the code for ANY of those orders will unlock ALL of the lockers that contain stuff ordered by you. So I'll bet someone else got my original (MIA) order from last week when they went to pick up their order, and the guy who ordered the stuff I got by mistake is probably standing there punching in his locker code going "WTF, what do you mean the code isn't valid?"

Amazon did say they would contact the other buyer to let him know his order got fouled up, and ship him a replacement.
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Re: Amazon Locker weirdness

Tue Jan 31, 2017 11:24 am

Ooh... it gets better. Now one of the (correct) items in the order that I received is marked as "Return started - Your refund will be processed when we receive your item" in my Amazon order status. :roll:

Called them again, the answer was basically, "Yeah, since you didn't order the item you're returning, that was the only way we could create the RMA ticket, so just ignore that." :roll: :roll:

Sounds like their system doesn't handle "item shipped to wrong customer by mistake" very well. :lol:
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Re: Amazon Locker weirdness

Tue Jan 31, 2017 11:43 am

Why would they add that option when the system clearly doesn't make mistakes. <_<
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Re: Amazon Locker weirdness

Tue Jan 31, 2017 12:54 pm

I've thought about using locker as a tool to one day a package to somewhere I know I'll be a day or two later. Just haven't had the need yet.
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Re: Amazon Locker weirdness

Tue Jan 31, 2017 4:27 pm

just brew it! wrote:
Tried to call them on my way home (sitting on a bus), but got stuck on hold, and it was a bit noisy to talk on the phone anyway.

I find that chatting customer support is easier than calling.
 
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Re: Amazon Locker weirdness

Tue Jan 31, 2017 4:52 pm

Pwnstar wrote:
just brew it! wrote:
Tried to call them on my way home (sitting on a bus), but got stuck on hold, and it was a bit noisy to talk on the phone anyway.

I find that chatting customer support is easier than calling.

Does that work for locker issues? I tried the e-mail support, but they replied with a message that I had to call a special Amazon Locker support number for problems with the lockers since the regular support people don't have access to the locker system.
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Re: Amazon Locker weirdness

Tue Jan 31, 2017 5:11 pm

Sounds like I need to order more stuff to Locker so I can break it too :lol:
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Re: Amazon Locker weirdness

Tue Jan 31, 2017 5:24 pm

In an amusing coincidence, one of my co-workers worked on some of the software for the Amazon Locker system. I mentioned the issues I've been having to him, but he apparently wasn't involved in any of the back end database stuff (which seems to be what's getting fouled up here, assuming it isn't just simple incompetence on the part of the person putting the packages in the lockers).
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Re: Amazon Locker weirdness

Sun Feb 05, 2017 11:37 am

...and the package that was stuck at "out for delivery" is indeed lost. They're giving me a refund plus a $5 credit for my trouble.

WTF is with the lockers lately?
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Re: Amazon Locker weirdness

Sun Feb 05, 2017 2:32 pm

Forgot to mention, the customer service rep also admitted (volunteered the info, even) that they have been having an unusually large number of delivery foul-ups lately.
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Re: Amazon Locker weirdness

Sun Feb 05, 2017 2:41 pm

just brew it! wrote:
Forgot to mention, the customer service rep also admitted (volunteered the info, even) that they have been having an unusually large number of delivery foul-ups lately.

"If the brass won't listen to us employees, maybe they'll listen to pissed-off customers". Neither the first nor the last time that bus has left the garage.
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Re: Amazon Locker weirdness

Tue Feb 07, 2017 8:33 am

just brew it! wrote:
Forgot to mention, the customer service rep also admitted (volunteered the info, even) that they have been having an unusually large number of delivery foul-ups lately.

Yeah, sounds like they need some professional auditing of their locker software system. Seems pretty darn hard to foul up such a simple concept, I'd hazard a guess as to some flaws in the code or someone figured out how to exploit the system for a profit. 
 
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Re: Amazon Locker weirdness

Tue Feb 07, 2017 9:11 am

I feel like you guys are experiencing something that's going to be news soon. Later in gonna do some poking around to see how common this is.
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Re: Amazon Locker weirdness

Tue Feb 07, 2017 9:36 am

Dunno if enough people actually use them for it to be particularly newsworthy. There's never been anyone else at the lockers when I've gone to pick stuff up. Though I've gotten the "that locker location is currently full" error enough times that someone else has to be using them! (Maybe that's a glitch too? :lol:)
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Re: Amazon Locker weirdness

Mon Jul 03, 2017 7:42 am

Latest weirdness:

So what does it mean when you receive a locker pickup code for an order, then a day later (before you've had a chance to pick the order up) another notification for the same shipment indicating that it has been delayed, and won't arrive until later in the day?

Guess I will get to find out...
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Re: Amazon Locker weirdness

Mon Jul 03, 2017 9:31 am

Well, all of the packages were there. So whatever.

Picking up packages that had a status of "in transit" probably caused some explosions in Amazon's internal tracking systems. Not my problem! :lol:
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Re: Amazon Locker weirdness

Mon Jul 03, 2017 5:16 pm

just brew it! wrote:
Latest weirdness:

So what does it mean when you receive a locker pickup code for an order, then a day later (before you've had a chance to pick the order up) another notification for the same shipment indicating that it has been delayed, and won't arrive until later in the day?

Guess I will get to find out...


It's amazing the **** these companies have going on with their logistics software. Sounds exactly like when I bought four tires online from Walmart.com (because oddly, they stocked the specific model/size tire I wanted at a much much cheaper rate than tirerack). So I get notified 3 of the 4 tires shipped and there's an issue shipping the third... eventually I get an apology email about the delay and separate notices it shipped, but the tracking info given for this lone 4th tire gets weird and stops updating a few days after the 3 tires arrived at the store. Keep in mind the tracking info for the lone tire originated from some Walmart store in Arizona, the others came from somewhere on the east coast.

I waited as long as I could on the pick up hoping the last tire would arrive or be found before going in, because obviously there's not much sense in having just three tires installed and I didn't want to lug them around. It turns out they had all four tires the entire time waiting for pickup and they had arrived together as originally ordered, so wasted over a week on that one.
 
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Re: Amazon Locker weirdness

Tue Jul 04, 2017 8:34 am

Oh, and one other minor (and mildly amusing) oddity at the locker location near my office...

They recently doubled the number of lockers. But the second set of lockers is along the opposite wall (behind you) when you're facing the screen where you enter your pickup code to unlock the locker. The software that runs the kiosk apparently has no concept of "behind", because it says "your package is in the locker to your right" when it is in one of the lockers along the opposite wall. I suppose it's sort of to your right if you turn right and keep following the wall, or rotate to the right 180 degrees. :lol:
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Heiwashin
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Re: Amazon Locker weirdness

Tue Jul 04, 2017 9:41 am

As long as it's technically correct. 8)
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Re: Amazon Locker weirdness

Tue Jul 04, 2017 9:56 am

Heiwashin wrote:
As long as it's technically correct. 8)

https://xkcd.com/1475/
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Re: Amazon Locker weirdness

Wed Jul 05, 2017 9:33 am

Looking for Knowledge wrote:
When drunk.....
I want to have sex, but find I am more likely to be shot down than when I am sober.
 
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Re: Amazon Locker weirdness

Wed Jul 05, 2017 9:37 am

A lot of things get patented that never see the light of day IRL. They're hedging their bets; on the off chance that the concept does take off (heh...), they want to be able to shut down anyone else who tries to copy it.
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Heiwashin
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Re: Amazon Locker weirdness

Wed Jul 05, 2017 10:26 am

Well the thing that keeps coming to my mind is, can you really patent the shape of a building.
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