Amazon Logistics (rant)

pete3x

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]After reading all this discussion, and also many other sites on the web about Amazon logistics, I see I am not alone. Over the last few months the Amazon delivery service has gone into total decline. I notice this has happened since they stopped using DPD and Royal mail in my area. [/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]I have just had to have an order replaced which never turned up, but which Amazon kept me waiting for 10 days. It was ordered next day delivery. They refunded the cost of delivery, but one feels this is only to fob one off.[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]As others have said here, they respond very courteously when you contact them. But it is clear that this is only to pacify you as a customer. From what we have read here and elsewhere, they treat their own staff and the delivery people very badly. So their courtesy to customers means little.[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]It is clear that dropping the excellent service of DPD, with its one hour delivery slot, was a very bad move, and clearly to save money with a second-rate service with self-employed drivers treated like dirt. I gather the same has happened in America.[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]I asked Amazon not to use Amazon logistics for any deliveries to me, but to use any other carrier. They say they cannot do this for an individual address. This means they cannot offer the service I ask for and used to have, yet they expect me to remain a loyal customer, and endlessly repeat how much they value my custom. But not enough to give me the service they used to give, because they value saving on costs rather more than good service.[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]I mainly buy books from Amazon, a lot of books each year for teaching. Since the service is no longer reliable, I have to look for alternatives. There are two main options:[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]1. To use Blackwells on-line book service, which uses Royal Mail. This is a good option because the postman always delivers properly, or leaves parcels with a specified neighbour, or leaves a card for arranging an alternate day to deliver, which you can specify on-line.[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]2. Only buy from alternative book sellers on Amazon. You soon find which of these are reliable, and the cost is no more than Amazon. Often books are cheaper than Amazon through the marketplace booksellers. This same policy can be used for any other product. These sellers use DPD or Royal Mail, so they are more reliable than Amazon. But also you are supporting the good delivery companies, and not supporting bad employment policies and exploitation of low wages. Amazon are not cheaper than other on-line sellers any more, so we have no advantage in using their poor service.[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]I need hardly mention that Amazon Prime is a total waste of money.[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]It would be a good thing if Amazon got some real publicity about their poor and exploitative delivery service, on TV or radio consumer programs. [/FONT]

racey

The other alternative is to use the "click and collect" service if it's available. I've used this several times since having problems with Amazon Logistics. Deliveries are sent to the local Post Office by Royal mail and it's been 100% reliable. It also means you can collect at your own convenience.

HornetSaver

I tend to have the opposite problem to most on here - Logistics have a 100% on time record for me. But if I go for "no rush delivery" (between £1-3 digital credits for Prime members, amount depends on how desperate they are to tempt you out of free same or next day delivery), Royal Mail often deliver late - though that goes for letters too so I'm not inclined to blame Amazon.

To be fair to both companies, with the amount of volume they shift, even a 99.9% delivery success rate will leave a significant number of people requiring further help - such is life. The important thing is what they do when a problem is raised. On that front Amazon are surprisingly good, and Royal Mail are... Royal Mail.

My tip for Prime members let down on next day delivery - always make a note of what you would have gotten for downgrading to no-rush delivery. Make the point when first reporting the delay that you'd have gotten £1-3 if you'd asked for it to arrive later than next day, and therefore would like a gift voucher to make up for being let down. You'll usually (though not always) get the item faster than if you'd gone second class straight away, plus a voucher is more versatile than a digital credit.

Same principle holds true for most companies that let you down. If you make the point that you shopped with them in the way you did for a reason, and give them a reasonable non-cash solution to keep you happy, most will jump at the opportunity (and most of the rest are a nightmare to deal with even by customer service standards). I'm not saying not to go for delivery refunds where appropriate - a voucher is no use if you've decided you won't shop somewhere again - but in my experience it takes much more time, has a lower success rate, and often doesn't get you as much as you could have gotten via voucher.

jonny7227

Just been onto Amazon as parcel out for delivery yesterday never arrived, although I noted it was out for delivery again today and apparently was delivered an hour ago. Only thing is, there is no sign of it. Not anywhere.

I had a similar issue last week when a package was apparently delivered and signed for by myself. Only I didn't receive or sign for anything and they used the wrong name for my apparent signature. Amazon did refund me the full cost of that order but appear to have complained to Royal Mail and got my friendly reliable postie into trouble even though it was their own logistics doing the delivery.

Admittedly we are not the easiest house to find (the street is numbered backwards so No1 is at the far end which doesn't help) but why lie and say the package was delivered when it so obviously hasn't.

I have agreed to wait and see if a neighbour has my parcel tomorrow but given that last week's parcel (the one that someone with a name curiously similar but not same as mine signed for) has never appeared, I'm not holding my breath.
Looks like I will be taking my business elsewhere. I would rather pay a few pounds more for the security of knowing I am actually going to get my stuff.

Can't we get some publicity going around this - it really is quite unacceptable.

kevin1988

amazon is crap

GreatBeyond

jonny7227 wrote: »

Just been onto Amazon as parcel out for delivery yesterday never arrived, although I noted it was out for delivery again today and apparently was delivered an hour ago. Only thing is, there is no sign of it. Not anywhere.

I had a similar issue last week when a package was apparently delivered and signed for by myself. Only I didn't receive or sign for anything and they used the wrong name for my apparent signature. Amazon did refund me the full cost of that order but appear to have complained to Royal Mail and got my friendly reliable postie into trouble even though it was their own logistics doing the delivery.

Admittedly we are not the easiest house to find (the street is numbered backwards so No1 is at the far end which doesn't help) but why lie and say the package was delivered when it so obviously hasn't.

I have agreed to wait and see if a neighbour has my parcel tomorrow but given that last week's parcel (the one that someone with a name curiously similar but not same as mine signed for) has never appeared, I'm not holding my breath.
Looks like I will be taking my business elsewhere. I would rather pay a few pounds more for the security of knowing I am actually going to get my stuff.

Can't we get some publicity going around this - it really is quite unacceptable.

Was it actually signed for or did it just say the name of the person who was named on the address (or a similar name to that on the delivery address). I was told by Amazon that they will only ask for a signature if the parcel was over a certain value - although they wouldn't say what the value was, understandably.

I would imagine that if your house is hard to find that the driver has simply made a mistake with the deliveries and has delivered them to the wrong place.

I don't think the drivers or Amazon for that matter would have anything to gain by lying about your parcel being delivered when it hadn't been. I'm just glad that I work in a job where if I make a mistake I don't get accused of lying or worse.

If the service is that bad you should look at possibly finding a retailer that is better suited to your needs.

Pennywise

I order loads from Amazon Prime for my business. Only had one missing parcel which said online it had been delivered but which I hadn't received. I filled in the online form on Amazon's website and they replied within a couple of hours (even though this was their busy time a couple of weeks before Christmas) and sent the order again which arrived the next day. No quibbles, no arguments. A couple of days later, a neighbour brought the original parcel round as the driver had delivered it there when I was out. The only complaint is that the driver didn't leave a note to say where he'd left it.

Contrast that with the ridiculously stupid and incompetent Royal Mail, who still havn't managed to deliver a parcel that they first tried to deliver 2 months ago. All our regular posties and the staff at the sorting office have seen it - they've admitted as much. It keeps turning up and then they lose it again. I've got eight cards from them through my door to say they've tried to deliver it when I'm out. When I phone to arrange redelivery, sometimes they can't find it, sometimes they can, but then it seems to get lost in a van and isn't delivered. Then a few days later, the damned card through the door again when I wasn't expecting it. I've driven to their sorting office a few times to collect it in person, but despite the card saying the number of hours before I can collect, and I go after that time, it's never there for me to collect. I've got almost a personal relationship with the sorting office manager and their complaints centre as we've been in contact countless times. The sorting office manager has even told me he's seen it and put it in the pile for the early van delivery (special before 9am) himself but it still didn't turn up!

At the end of the day, it's down to the workers at the sharp end. Some workers for some firms are useless, others are brilliant.

mcjordi

i had a lot of missing stuff over christmas which was supposidly delivered by AL was it hell.. amazon were quick to refund and assured "an investigation"
I had no issues at all when it was the likes of DPD and Royal Mail...
im still waiting for something that was dispatched on friday..

GreatBeyond

Pennywise wrote: »

I order loads from Amazon Prime for my business.

Just a heads up - Prime is for personal use only so make sure you don't mention to Amazon that you use it for your business!

ExpectNowt

I am now suffering the "Amazon Logistics experience" after a year of good Prime Service from other couriers. I have complained to Amazon and encourage everyone to do so.