Amazon prime delivery method has yours changed recently ?

Kite2010

I'm going to order a £2.99 CD, select "FREE One-Day Delivery : get it on Saturday, January 8" and lets see what method they use.

shaun_from_Africa

Their line is that the T&C don't actually guarantee next day delivery, and the wording is too woolly to really push them on.

What I see as being the biggest problem is that they offer 1st class delivery, for which they state "up to 2 business days", but they also offer "FREE One-Day Delivery:" which at the moment, in many cases is also being sent out via 1st class delivery.

So in one instance, Amazon are refering to 1st class as a 2 business day service whilst at the same time are giving customers the option to choose "one-day delivery" despite stating that the postal method they will use is anything but a one day service.

Doc_N

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

What I see as being the biggest problem is that they offer 1st class delivery, for which they state "up to 2 business days", but they also offer "FREE One-Day Delivery:" which at the moment, in many cases is also being sent out via 1st class delivery.

So in one instance, Amazon are refering to 1st class as a 2 business day service whilst at the same time are giving customers the option to choose "one-day delivery" despite stating that the postal method they will use is anything but a one day service.

Their answer to that (and they do have an answer ready for everything!) is that 'one-day delivery' is handled more quickly by Amazon, so it goes into the post on the day of order.

Nilrem

Doc_N wrote: »

Their answer to that (and they do have an answer ready for everything!) is that 'one-day delivery' is handled more quickly by Amazon, so it goes into the post on the day of order.

Which has always been the way.

IIRC even Supersaver can use next day courier or first class once it has been posted depending on a variety of factors (including how big/heavy the item is* and how close they are to the estimated delivery time).

Prime basically means it's dispatched as a priority and always sent via a nominally next day service (with RM that tends to mean Tracked** which is I believe basically SD without the signature instead relying on PDA scans at delivery).

First class - sent via a nominally next day service usually but may not get dispatched for a day if they are busy.

Super Saver - sent via whatever is the cheapest delivery method, and dispatched when they have spare capacity before the end of the dispatch window.


Basically they are charging in part for the speed of their handling - Prime puts you in the front of the order queue, whilst SS is "when we get a chance", and part for the increased shipping costs, whilst First Class is basically charging mainly for the increased shipping costs.

That certainly hasn't changed in the past year for me, with the exception I think of SD going in favour of Tracked - and Tracked is fairly new from RM but as I say is meant to be basically a "franked" version of SD (same sort of service, but with a better bulk discount).


*It can be cheaper to send some things courier than RM - especially when you're getting the sort of bulk discounts of shipping Amazon do.

**IIRC it's a business only service for companies shipping over 60k items a year, and has a similar SLA to SD but at a fraction of the cost.

pinkteapot

Two issues with the way it's presented on the site:

(1) As previously mentioned, the fact they distinguish between One Day and First Class. I don't know any other shopping site that describes dispatch by RM First Class as "One Day".

(2) The fact that items eligible for Prime say "Get it by XX" and give the following day's date. "Get it by" which implies "at the latest", not "It might arrive on XX if you're lucky."

As I've said before, I have never had a Prime item sent by First Class post until the last month. Even a low value book/CD/DVD has come by SD in the past. If Prime simply means paying Amazon to do their job (ship in stock items in a timely manner) then I won't be renewing.

shaun_from_Africa

Prime basically means it's dispatched as a priority and always sent via a nominally next day service (with RM that tends to mean Tracked** which is I believe basically SD without the signature instead relying on PDA scans at delivery).

But that's the whole point.
At the moment, Prime shipments aren't getting sent by "a nominally next day service". They are getting sent by regular, untracked, unsigned for 1st class post. (well, this is what has happened with my last 2 shipments, and from reading this thread, has also happened to many other Prime customers).

Royal mail don't refer to 1st class as a next day service, so why do Amazon?

Nilrem

Did the packages have anything on them along the lines of "no signature required" and a small/thin barcode?
I ask as that is the only sign that an item is "tracked" on the package, from memory the last few items I received from Amazon via prime that were delivered by RM were all tracked but it would be very easy to miss that as it doesn't say "tracked". and doesn't have the obvious pull off orange or red sticker that SD and Recorded have (I would post a pic of a "tracked" package, but I went to the tip yesterday and took the packaging with me).

I'm currently getting a little annoyed about some packages I've got coming from Amazon, but not with Amazon, but with the delivery companies - I've currently got several sent via tracked that are late, and several sent via normal courier that are also late (it took 3 working days for I think it was Fed-Ex to deliver one package), mind you I also haven't had the RT for tomorrow, and very little other mail so strongly suspect that RM is still screwed up in some areas.

pinkteapot

My last one to arrive said "PRIME LARGE LETTER" and was simply franked with a "1" (i.e. first class). No tracking was available in my online account.

It took a week to arrive.

Doc_N

pinkteapot wrote: »

My last one to arrive said "PRIME LARGE LETTER" and was simply franked with a "1" (i.e. first class). No tracking was available in my online account.

It took a week to arrive.

There's a barcode on the packages, and they're tracked from that. The tracking is only between Royal Mail and Amazon, though - it isn't available to the customer.

It does mean, though, that Amazon do know when something's been delivered, even though there's no signature from the customer.

Kite2010

Kite2010 wrote: »

I'm going to order a £2.99 CD, select "FREE One-Day Delivery : get it on Saturday, January 8" and lets see what method they use.

Okay, the latest is that the item has been sent "using Royal Mail.", no tracking number.

If it doesn't arrive tomorrow, I shall be making a complaint to customer service, I will make up an excuse like the item was meant to be for a birthday present, now thanks to you I have to buy another gift.