I recently had a very large Amazon order go missing in transit. 4 total packages and a value of over $500. I did get a full refund. A couple days after getting the refund, I got this email
" Hello,
A careful review of your account reflects that you’ve ordered with us a number of times, but we’re having difficulty getting your packages to you. Lost packages have been reported multiple times on your account.
It’s very important to us that our customers receive the products they purchase from Amazon.com. We appreciate your business and regret that these items haven’t been delivered to you. Certainly, such lost shipments are inconvenient for you and costly for Amazon.com.
Please keep in mind when Standard Shipping is chosen on an order, we may use the U.S. Postal Service, UPS, Federal Express, or DHL when shipping your order. Unfortunately, it isn’t possible to choose a specific shipper for orders.
When unusual account activity such as this comes to our attention, we’ll evaluate each account on a case-by-case basis to determine if additional action or closing of the account is necessary.
Continued failure to comply with our policies may result in the removal of both your Amazon.com buying and selling privileges.
Please write back to us directly at cis@amazon.com if you have any questions.
We appreciate your cooperation and understanding.
Best regards,
Account Specialist."
Am I going to get banned if something goes missing again? I have looked this up, and found horror stories of people getting banned for filing too many claims for packages going missing, or receiving damaged products.
Sounds like a very genteel and paperwork-oriented variation of a pizza place that refuses to deliver to the bad part of town because the drivers keep getting mugged.
Is it really ok to order something on Amazon worth $500 with no verification of delivery whatsoever?
No signature, no requirement that the package is left with an actual person or otherwise some other proof of purchase?
If I were Amazon, (or any seller) such arrangements would be at the buyer’s own risk. I would get some form of proof of sending, and after that - if you don’t receive it, well tough shit.
Continued failure to comply with our policies may result in the removal of both your Amazon.com buying and selling privileges.
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What are they talking about? “Continued failure to comply”? And the failure is theirs. So, if they keep fucking up they’re going to ban themselves from doing business with you?
The bizarre thing about this letter is that in no way describes any policies that have been violated or that could be complied with, so the last sentence is a complete non sequitur.
As a seller I had a particular customer who has a rather expensive package go missing, tracking# showed delivered but fair enough I replaced it. They ordered again after some months, sent registered mail at my own expense with sig confirmation. Two separate packages mailed days apart due to stock issue, delivered days apart, tracking showed delivered, registration confirmed, signed for. Customer just flat claimed they didn’t care what I had to prove it, they did not get either package period.
I cancelled a further order they tried to make months later, they were angry and said I must think they were a scammer and it wasn’t their fault. I said I am not accusing you of anything, and I don’t know what happened to the packages, but I will not take a further order from you because something is going on and I don’t need the hassle or possible problems with my paypal account because of claims. I just think it best we stop doing business because of whatever the issue is.
Anyway my point here is that this letter sounds very much like that, Amazon just isn’t interested in continuing to ship to the OP’s address because it could very well happen again.
Sounds like some CS guy with a very rudimentary understanding of English copy-pasted two generic prepared emails together and sent it to you. What policies?
Anyway the point should have gotten across that they’re going to ban you if they keep losing money off of you. And last time I checked, an account banned for any reason loses all access to digital content, including Kindle purchases, so watch out if you have any sort of investment there.
Amazon does not give you a choice of shipper. You only get to choose speed, and the options don’t guarantee any particular shipper.
I’ve had expensive stuff stolen from my doorstep at Christmas time because either Amazon didn’t request a signature or UPS and FedEx ignored the request. If they had given me the option, I would have requested USPS since their deliveries go into a locked personal mailbox and can’t get stolen.
And e-mail and automatic communication from Amazon is notoriously bad. I had 8 e-mails begging me to complete my application with them and/or offering me other possible jobs with them. Problem was they had hired me two weeks before these e-mails started and already paid me twice. Ooooops. I would try one of the CS phone numbers and see what an actual human there makes out of all of this.
I had a friend who was renting a second story apartment, not in a terrible part of town, but right next to a bus stop that unfortunately sometimes had less than savory sorts hanging around it. The way his building was structured (these were smaller low rise apartments) he had a “front door” that opened to the ground level, that was at the base of a staircase, then a second “front door” at the top of the stair case that opened into his apartment proper (the staircase was private, it opened to no other apartments or floors.)
When he knew deliveries were coming, he would beg the shipper to open that first door that opened to his entry staircase and drop the package there, because he figured at least then the package wouldn’t be sitting out in plain view of a busy street with a bus stop across from it that faces directly to his outer door. Since the internal door had a heavy deadbolt and etc he would still be protected from intruders/burglars. Sure, if someone saw it dropped off they could just walk over and open the door and steal the package, but it was at least out of sight of anyone who wasn’t watching the moment it was dropped off.
Sometimes if he got in touch with the shipper they would listen, but most of the times not. Most of the time they would knock on the external door, and if no answer they just dropped the package and walked off. He had a ton of Amazon packages stolen. Eventually they did this warning letter OP has received, and then went a step further when stuff was stolen again and basically marked the address in their system such that he could no longer get deliveries there. He eventually got a UPS Store box set up, where deliveries are delivered there and he can go to collect them. Much more costly, but he didn’t have any other options.
I suspect if this keeps happening this could be what happens to OP, Amazon will flag your address as a place they will no longer send packages to, and you’ll have to make other arrangements.
Yes, if you do things like accept credit cards. The delivery company is the seller’s contractor and any failure before delivery is the responsibility of the seller, not the buyer. If the seller chooses to be ignorant of whether the package was given to a person, that’s a business decision they have to own if it goes wrong.
Retailers send things without confirmation, even though it’s at their risk, because almost all packages arrive and spending a buck or two extra on shipping isn’t usually worth it. If you send out 100 packages worth $50 each, taking a loss on one of them is cheaper than getting 100 signatures. And almost all of the customers are happier because they didn’t have to drive across town to get the package that came when they were at work.
Amazon is the 800-million pound gorilla of shipping right now. Sunday deliveries happen in urban areas solely because of Amazon. Late night deliveries happen in urban areas solely because of Amazon. They’re rolling out one hour deliveries in Seattle and NYC. People rely on them for all their non-perishable groceries now, and much more. If they cut you off because they think (even without proof) you’re scamming them over lost deliveries, oh well, it’s not going to cost them enough to make it worth the effort to do something different to keep you. Even media reports about ambulances standing by for heatstroke victims at their warehouses and other labor exploitation didn’t stop the Amazon juggernaut or affect their bottom line in any way, so your complaints to friends and family won’t do anything appreciable either. They’re worse than Walmart. They don’t have to care about any individual customer and they don’t.
It’s a horrible reality, but this is the trade off for the “convenience” of being able to buy things from a huge online company that sells everything and has one click ordering and blah blah Amazonconvenience blah blah.
We don’t get USPS mail delivery to private homes and most businesses. It can be a real hassle for us. I have a USPS box. I don’t like having things delivered to my home as it’s hard to find, and if you need a signature… well. In the winter you must have a 4 wheel drive.
I used to just ship to work, but that becomes a problem sometimes. It’s a small community, and if it was shipped USPS it often got delivered to my work USPS box even when the address given was the street address. (pissed me off to no end). It was a real crapshoot.
Fed up, I ended up getting a UPS box at the UPS store and just ship everything there. They will take anything. Fed-x, DHL, UPS (of course) and oddly, even USPS delivers to that box. It’s crazy but it works. They even email me when ever I get a package.
Works so well that recently we had the UPS store forward on a package overnight shipping to a hotel we where staying at.
We have something sort of similar. The USPS has 24/7 lockers available. It’s free, if you have a USPS box. (PO Box). It won’t hold big items though.
Thing is, if it’s shipped UPS, Fed-X or anything but USPS they won’t take them.
Though I have found out that if something is shipped UPS AIR, UPS will take it to the USPS, and USPS will process it for you. Total crapshoot if you don’t know how it’s going to be shipped.
I think people are misinterpreting this a bit. People are assuming that “continued” means “you’ve already started - if you keep going on like this…” I think it’s supposed to be a more general rule: “if someone fails repeatedly…”, not necessarily saying you have or have not already begun to fail. Just, as a policy, they don’t act after one incident, but only after a pattern has emerged.