jjcool

When were these dvds supposed to arrive? How were they shipped?

story

Ordered Tuesday, shipped Wednesday, arrived in town Friday, received notice of delay on Friday, delivered on Monday. Shipped via UPS.

jjcool

When were they supposed to arrive? And how were they shipped? Ground, 3-day, etc?

fumanstan

And many of us aren't sheep and get more then our money's worth for Prime as I and others have broken down in the last few pages, so again the point is your generalizations are often baseless.

bsmith

I have no use for Prime and have pretty much taken my business elsewhere, but I have to agree with you about such generalizations that have no basis in fact. It's a poor excuse for trying to make a point.

EinCB

Certain video games, such as Grand Theft Auto V, will now only be available to Amazon Prime members.

http://www.videogamer.com/ps4/gta_5/...deo_games.html

Rex Fenestrarum

What is Microsoft charging monthly for? XBox Live? Isn't that annually? is there a monthly option? If so.... so? Are you talking about Office 365? Because you can always just buy something like Office 2016 Home and Student and be done with it. Office 365 is an annual (not monthly) subscription, and it includes free upgrades to the latest version of Office, 1TB of OneDrive space, and 60 free Skype minutes per month (and other stuff, but that's the big ones). It's more compelling for me, but it might not be for you. Am I "wrong" somehow?

Strapped4Cash

Not a complaint per se, but I had pre-ordered a book which was released April 5th, shipped on the 9th, and arrived on the 11th. Late last night (the 22nd) I was notified and refunded the Pre-order price protection amount of $4.32.

Which seems a lot later than they usually refund, unless I am misremembering?

joe_b

I'd ordered an item last Saturday night with the free economy shipping. The delivery window was April 22-27. It entered the "Shipping Soon" stage on Monday, but it sat unchanged all week. It was then updated to "Expected to ship on April 22", but that passed. This morning it changed to "Shipping Today", but nothing had shipped by this evening.

At 10PM, I contacted customer service to ask what was going on. I knew there was no way I'd have the order by April 27 when it hadn't even shipped yet. The told me they discovered "a problem that was preventing your order from shipping", but they had corrected it now. I received a shipping notice three minutes later showing a scheduled delivery for Monday. I guess they just upgraded me to Two-Day shipping to try to speed up the process? Doesn't mention anything on my account page, but they obviously have ways of pushing an order out the door asap.

b2net

I believe orders go "Shipping Soon" so fast to discourage shipping rate changes as well as price matches if an item drops before its actual ship date.

Viper187

Why is it impossible to get proper international shipping from European Amazon sites!? I ordered a couple blu-rays on the 13th from Amazon UK. The 6-10 day shipping option estimated delivery at June, and the 2nd more expensive option is 5-10 days and did the same. I complained and they did the 5-10 day, but it still comes bullshit UPS Mail Innovations (i-parcel). It finally showed up, but it took 3-4 days from the time they created the tracking number to the time they actually handed it over to i-parcel. WTF is that!?!??! If I pay $15 shipping on an order from play-asia or another Japan site I use, I get my order in 4 days!!! Last time I ordered from Amazon JP, I got my order OVERNIGHT. Europe needs to step up their fucking game. What does it take to get proper UPS/FedEx Eco!? Hell, I'd settle for Royal Mail at least. I made another order, and it shipped ASENDIA. What the shit is that!? Grooves inc used to ship German releases ok, but their inventory is lacking compared to Amazon DE.


What I really want to know is why they refuse to ship games to the US, especially now that they're region free anyway this generation! It can't be a legal issue, because I've gotten games from Zavvi, so WTF is it? Another bullshit policy they refuse to change. Just like not being able to actually choose your shipping carrier after all these goddamn years. Amazon DE ships games to the US, but not UK or JP. Assclowns.

Alan Smithee

The same could certainly be said for Best Buy! Wish I could corner the market on something I don't like and then pull it away altogether!

davidh777

I can't see them dropping the service altogether. They can just make it their last priority, or go to straight third-party sellers. Just provide the platform and rake in the commissions.

AaronSch

I consider Amazon an unreliable source for media at this point. I have ordered a number of items in the recent past that ended up being cut-outs with slash marks through the bar code, repackaged and/or damaged goods. Unless it is a relatively new release, purchasing is a gamble. Yes, you can return and ask for replacement if you can understand the accent of the CSR—but do it enough times and they won't let you order any longer. I will only order from them when its something I just can't pass up—and that's rare these days. I will occasionally order from marketplace sellers because I can ask them specific questions about the items they are selling. But Amazon is no longer my primary source for media. I consider paying $100 for Prime a joke. That's my opinion and others may disagree. But I find their practices akin to extortion. I have no doubt that they sit on product for days when you elect "free shipping" even when it's in stock. That does not sit well with me and I think they have grown way too big for their own good. Just like Walmart, I try to avoid Amazon whenever I can shift purchases away from them. I look forward to reading future articles in the business journals heralding their decline—mark my words, it's coming.

PhantomStranger

I think the studios and media suppliers have given Amazon far too much power as the de facto sole retailer for many niche labels. There are no healthy alternatives left to compete with Amazon. Brick and mortar stores stopped servicing the bottom 80% of the media market, which gives Amazon monopoly pricing power and the attendant service that goes along with a monopoly.

dino88

What labels are you referring to? As far as I can see, Best Buy carries all the same movies as Amazon. I've never come across anything I want that Amazon has and Best Buy doesn't, unless of course it's an Amazon exclusive (which are rare fortunately).

Solid Snake

If we're talking BB B&M vs. Amazon...

You must like a lot of the mainstream stuff more. Otherwise... I don't know the BB site much. It's an iffy site too.

dino88

Why would anyone compare a B&M to Amazon (an online store) without taking into account the B&M's website as well? That makes no sense to me.

davidh777

I haven't had that experience.

I think it's always been pretty clear that if you're ordering free shipping, your stuff won't ship right away. Pay for two-day shipping (or Prime) or wait for free shipping--that's not a conspiracy theory.

AaronSch

Well, you are fortunate. I recently received three cut-out titles that they distributed on behalf of a third party seller. Nowhere was it indicated that these items were inferior or marred in some way.

No , you are incorrect. It's not as you put it, "a conspiracy theory," it's their practices. I'm speaking from many years of experience. In the past, when I ordered DVDs, HD DVDs and then Blu-rays from Amazon, this was never the case. In fact, one of the reasons I never found it necessary to pay for "prime" was that things arrived quick enough for my needs. So this policy change is fairly new and it's basically extortion. They offer "free shipping" as long as you purchase $50 in merchandise—presently double most other online retailers—okay, fine. But to sit on product that is "in stock" for many days with no good reason other than to motivate you to pay for "prime" is a joke. They don't want my business any longer—that's quite okay with me—there are far better sellers in the marketplace and buying direct from individual distributors tends to be a better experience overall. In my opinion, Best Buy and, believe it or not, Deep Discount do a far better job in servicing their customers. In fact, I get rewards from Best Buy and as an "elite member," fast, free shipping. I've shifted my purchasing to Best Buy because they appreciate my business and they do not charge me for the pleasure of buying from them. This is a "prime" example why it's better to spread your money around. Buy from the retailer with good pricing—not the SOBs who simply price match when prompted. Why people continue to be apologists for Amazon's shoddy practices is beyond me.

Cellar Door

Were they "and Fulfilled by Amazon" or were they simply third party sellers? I have had problems sometimes from third party sellers, but not when "Fulfilled by Amazon."

Mike86

I'll agree that the Amazon of today isn't what it once was but I think overall they're still decent. I know with pricing they were once more competitive and would often price match preemptively rather than us having to ask. Overall I think they still price things decently though. I haven't had many issues with my items arriving in good shape either. I received one of my Scream Factory Blu-ray's last week and the plastic on the actual case is torn and will have to be replaced but that's not a common thing for me. I guess also aside from this last Scream Factory sale I haven't had issues with my items shipping either. The stuff I ordered in the last sale was marked out of stock when I ordered so while a tad irritating I knew beforehand that it may be a while.

MooMooMooMoo

Other than the shipping (which is a total rip off in most cases) & the sales tax (which they have no control over), I'm still ok with Amazon.

davidh777

Third-party seller can be a different experience from Amazon direct.

So you're telling me I'm incorrect because I don't know what your personal experience has been? What the fuck ever, dude. Before I got Prime I would place my orders via free shipping, and I'd wait a few days before they shipped. That was supposedly to prioritize paid and Prime shipping, but I wasn't in a rush so I didn't care. Now if you were getting the equivalent of two-day shipping without paying for it, then that's great. And if they suddenly changed their policy for you, so now they're the devil, I say whatever.

Strapped4Cash

About 1/3 of 3rd Party items fulfilled by Amazon have been crap ime. "Factory Sealed" without any shrinkwrap at all, or clearly sliced open, etc. Always that way. I just dispute, return, and get refunded.

With Free Shipping based on whatever the minimum orders are, then it currently takes a few days to a couple weeks for me. Has been that way for a couple years, before that they briefly experimented with taking a month or more.