Anyone else having problems with Amazon.com?

At Christmas time, my MIL bought me an item off my Amazon wishlist, a CD. It didn’t ship in time for Christmas. Or New Years. Or at all. They eventually told her it was out of stock and they weren’t planning on getting any more in.

Over a week ago I ordered six items that were supposed to arrive in 5-6 days. Instead of receiving my order, I’ve received an email telling me that two of them will ship today. All six items are listed as “In stock, usually ships within 24 hours.”

Incidentally, the CD from Christmas is STILL listed as “in stock”.

I don’t order from them that often, for pretty much this reason. I’ve yet to go into my local bookstore, see a book, and be told I can’t buy it. PLus, I got a thing for instant gratification and not paying shipping. Plus I think their website is ugly and stupid. But it seems like the few times I’ve ordered previously, I didn’t have this problem. Did I just hit a run of bad luck? It seems to me that having screwed-up quantities on 66% of an order just ain’t right.

I placed my last order with them on March 1st. On March 3rd I got an e-mail saying it had shipped along with a UPS tracking number. For the next few days, on-line tracking just said “Billing Information Received.”

An email to Big A revealed that my order had indeed shipped. Of course their definition of shipped was that it had left the fulfillment center. Apparently it was en route from the warehouse to the UPS office. Finally on March 8th, UPS received the package and I had it two days later. Hmmm. Five days to reach the shipping office?

But apart from that, my experience with them has been okay, and I tend to order about once a month from them.

I have never had problems with Amazon …

… until about a week and a half ago. The web site seemed to get less user-friendly, I got a recommendation for a “Good Buy” if I purchase another book with the one I was looking at - for a grand total that equaled the combined listed price of the individual books, I put something in my shopping cart and before I could purchase it it went out of stock, I tried to use a promotional code and the sale would NOT go through, …

After several increasingly pissed off emails, I asked for a phone number. At this point, I had a $500 order that I was willing to walk away from.

When I called, I explained to the nice lady that I was already upset and it wasn’t her fault that I was upset but she was going to need to help me anyway. (In retrospect, I think it was being nice to the phone lady that was most influential in getting my problem resolved.) She thanked me for letting her know that I wasn’t mad at her, agreed that the situation was unacceptable, and convinced a supervisor, while I was on hold, to give me everything I wanted the way I wanted it and at the price I expected.

After that, everything went great, we got our new Palms pronto, and got the free promotional stuff that went with them.

So on balance, it was a pain in the rear, but I’m pleased that I stuck with it.

I actually wrote in to complain this morning.

Every time before, I’ve had great service with them - I order things, they arrive reasonably quickly.

3 weeks ago, I ordered 3 items - two were to ship within 24 hours, the third was labeled 3-4 days. It’s been 3 weeks. They haven’t shipped yet. Who knows if I’m every going to get my order.

how did you find a phone number?

I’ve been Amazoning for about three years and have only had three sorta bad incidents:

  1. Last year I bought the Electric Light Orchestra’s Flashback box set. There was a small crack in the third disc of the set (not Amazon’s fault, BTW). I e-mailed them and they sent out a new set right away. It took them about three weeks(!) to send a return label for the defective set, but it didn’t cost me anything.

  2. Last month I ordered Batman: Mask of the Phantasm DVD. When I opened the package I was surprised to see Billy Crystal’s Forget Paris! I e-mailed them and they OVERNIGHTED the correct copy. This time they included the return label with the new DVD.

  3. Just last week, I ordered The Good Life Vol. 4 DVD from Amazom.com UK. I ended up with the unlikely title Salsa Inferno, a dance instruction DVD!! Again, I e-mailed them and they told me that, since returning the disc was cost prohibitive, I could keep the incorrect disc and that they would ship out the correct title right away. I got an e-mail today letting me know that the correct title had “dispatched” today and I should receive it next week.

These are very minor problems which were quickly corrected to my satisfaction.

As much as I like to browse bookstores, I really enjoy buying from Amazon.com.

So, Mr. Blue Sky, when will you be dancing the forbidden dance next? :stuck_out_tongue:

I’ve only had a couple of problems with Amazon (one of which I think was really UPS’s fault, but Amazon corrected it anyway, to their credit) – a used book shipped instead of a new one, and a missing shipment. Both problems were quickly remedied.

This isn’t a problem, but it is weird: I once had a seven-book order that, for whatever reason, shipped as seven separate packages (even the ones that shipped on the same day). I had checked “ship as one package,” so I didn’t pay anything extra for the shipping.

I got an Amazon phone number by emailing them and saying that I would walk away from a $500 order if I didn’t get to speak with someone, that I would give them one more chance to fix my problems but that it would involve my speaking to a person.

I guess they looked in my shopping cart and believed me, and I got an email with a number the next day.

I’d be happy to look up the email and provide their number tomorrow when I get back to work. I’ll check with the mods before I post it, although I can’t imagine why it wouldn’t be ok. If it’s not, I’d be happy to email anyone who wants it.

The other thing I would try, if I didn’t already have the number somewhere, would be to call the 800 number directory and ask for Amazon’s custmer support number. The toll-free directory is free to call, I believe, at 800-555-1212.

I just put in a big order at Amazon. I’ll let you know if they screw it up. But in the past I’ve been pretty impressed by their service. A few good things they’ve done for me:

  1. Ship elements of my order separately, as they become available, even though I requested one shipment when the order was complete. They paid the extra shipping costs to send me some of the stuff early.
  2. They’ve sent me empty CD cases, unrequested, when they noticed that there was a crack in the case of the CD I ordered.
  3. I ordered a double LP that arrived missing one of the discs. They immediately sent a replacement.
  4. At Chrsitmas they sent me a coffee mug. And I don’t even have to moderate a darn message board! (Although I know that the SDMB coffee mug has more caché than an Amazon mug.)

Their bundle deals no good, in my experience. There’s no additional savings if you buy the extra item, so it’s just a gimmick to get you to buy a recommended item.

I’ve only ordered a couple of times, but I’ve had nothing but good experiences with them. ::eagerly awaiting my lastest book order::

My only troubles involved a return of a damaged item. However, the problem may have been at UPS’ end. Weeks after UPS picked it up for return, Amazon would ask me to arrange a pick-up. Even after I gave them the confirmation number I got from the UPS guy.

I knew it was really bad when my UPS guy–the exact same one who had picked up the item and gave me the confirmation number–asked if he was supposed to pick something up for reshipment to Amazon. This is when I thought it might be as much a UPS problem as an Amazon problem.

Oh… One more thing…

As you may be aware, Amazon offers “associate” relationships where an organization (or person) gets a portion of any sales that result from a link on their page.

I mention that for those of you who order from Amazon a lot. Please consider starting your Amazon journey from one of those places. You can still use the recommendations and one-click (Amazon still recognizes you) but Amazon gives the organization credit for the referral and sale. That way, the money you were planning to spend anyway can also help a non-profit!!

For example, a webpage called The Daily Drool (part of a mailing list for basset hound owners) has a link like this. Each quarter they get a check from Amazon based on the sales generated from the link, and they disburse the money to two Basset rescue organizations. They choose two new ones each quarter. Pretty neat.

I’ve ordered exactly once from Amazon, and they goofed it up. I ordered a book, and they sent the wrong one. Oddly enough, the book that they did send was another one that I wanted, but cost much less than the one I was charged for, so I just sent it back, rather than try and get the charges corrected.
I’m by no means a technophobe, but I’d simply rather buy stuff that I can actually get my hands on before purchasing. If there’s a staggeringly good deal online, I’ll do it, but I much prefer brick and mortar, especially if it’s a small, independant retailer.

My latest order was about 2 weeks ago. I’ve never had a problem.

Well, per feedback from the mods, I’m not going to post the customer service number Amazon sent me.

However, I just tried calling the 800-number information service, requested Amazon.com’s customer service number, and got the same number that Amazon gave me originally. For all I know, they do have the numer posted somewhere on their site. I just never could find it.

The fist time I ordered from Amazon, I was thoroughly shocked to find my book in my mailbox three days later! That was so fast! I thought it was marvelous.

Mid-February this year I decided to use a gift certificate to buy a book that said it would ship in about 4 weeks. Yesterday, I checked my e-mail and it said that the expected delivery date was April 16! That’s almost 8 weeks after my order! I’ve mailed packages from Toronto to Australia that have taken only 10 days. Are they sending it by carrier pidgeon?

I assume it has something to do with their drop-shipping system.

So here’s a question: when they say it “ships in 4 weeks” does that mean that there’s a 4 week delay before the order is processed and the book isn’t sent until then? Or does it mean I can look in my mailbox 4 weeks later and expect to see it?

I’m not in any particular hurry, but I was still a bit surprised. I can walk to blocks to the big bookstore on the corner and get it right away without the shipping charges.

Now you all have me worried that on April 16, I’ll be opening up a box that has Richard Simmons’s “Sweatin’ to the Oldies.”

ahem I meant “walk two blocks…” I’ve been making that and the “too” typo all week! (As well as writing “the” as “hte”.)

A completely satisfied Amazon customer! I’ve ordered from them several times and have always received items as promised (and often faster than promised). I had a toy arrive broken, and emailed them. It was close to Christmas, so they sent the replacement via Overnight mail. I put the batteries in it, and danged if it wasn’t broken, too!

Upon further investigation, I realized that I’d assembled it incorrectly, and both toys were fine. Emailed them to let them know of my blunder, and to ask what to do. They told me to keep both, and thanked me for doing business with them. Even though I made it clear it was my fault!

This was at least five years ago, and perhaps they’ve changed policies since then – but, dang, that was cool treatment!
And the ordering transaction goes so smoothly. Wow.