Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

Could that fact, which is probably "damned lies" as statistics are wont to be, possibly have any modicum of relation to Amazon's tactics of raising and using a Big Stick?

Many people have traded in convenience for price these days (foremost among them those pesky Millenials). Amazon definitely has capitalized upon this fact. It rubs me, as a value-minded consumer the WRONG way.

There are still 24 hours in a day, and some of us are able to see past Amazon's latest ploys.

Same idea goes for using grocery store coupons effectively. I spend less than 20 minutes per week and save probably 1/2 on my grocery bill. It's just about being savvy and intellgently using all resources out there. That's time well-spent in my eyes.

Amazon is "easy" and convenient, but it's expensive, they know it, and the glory days are over...

I'm enjoying my Kool Aid... not grape-flavored, most fortunately!

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

Wow...did I hit a nerve or what. Now who needs to lighten up. :)

Who exactly called my post "bullshit" that followed it up with anything of relevance to dispute it. I might have missed it. Did they counter a re-response from me?

And please enlighten me on what I stated that was "bullshit", using your terminology.

Oh and I really like your latest technique of quoting something that at a glance appear to be coming from me when in fact it is your own interpretation. And this coming just after you accused me of speaking for others and you turn right around and attempt to speak for me. Laughable at best. :)

As for your interpretation:
- Yes, I spent over $6000 at Amazon last year. guilty as charged
- Yes, I have taken 90% of that Amazon business elsewhere because the free-shipping service is more appealing elsewhere
- Yes, I am a Costco member because i find the cost of the service justified for the value i am getting, and no i do not feel the same way about Amazon Prime. However, i have never disputed the value it may bring to others. guilty again.
- No at this time I do not agree that if Amazon took away their free shipping that others would follow suit, especially given that they are now probably getting more business as a result of Amazon's changes, but only time will tell.

Somehow it comes across differently when in my words then your, but I will let others make their own interpretation. And nothing like selective picking to try and make a point. You had to go back almost two months to pull out the information used in that post. What's wrong you didn't find anything in any of the more recent posts to your liking?

I also enjoyed how you used your 2 out of 3 scenario as a statistic about what is helpful and not helpful to slant in a negative fashion. Unfortunately, I have to disagree again (my opinion of course) since i would say that number 3: "They have the best intentions and their facts are right" are of a much higher percentage than the other two options combined, especially when it comes to people purposely having having bad intentions. But i guess i am more of an optimist then you. :)

All this back and forth and yet nothing to actually dispute my observations or findings. Except of course to say "bullshit", which of course is such an effective argument. If your intent is to get under my skin or misdirect the conversation, it isn't working, but it has been interesting.

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

Bsmith, how many orders was that $6000? I don't order nearly that much, about 200 orders at mostly $5-10 each. Most of those orders gave me $1 digital credit. Almost $200 worth of free ebooks, music, and movies more than pays for Prime in my mind, not even factoring in all the other Prime benefits.

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

I went through my orders for the year of 2015. I spent about $6172 on 129 orders. While I can see how someone might be able to capitalize, I don't externally stream, do digital books, or download music.

What I do have is my own Synology NAS that I use to stream digital content I own based on physical media I've purchased. And even in that case it is generally content to stream to family iPads. For myself that consists of content of either lesser video quality or that i would have difficulty finding time for to view in my theater room for several years. I prefer viewing in the theater room whenever possible, and I am not setup to stream there.

I have over 350 TV series and 2000 movies on physical media. Mostly pre-70's.

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

Wow, that's almost $48 per purchase. What exactly did you buy?

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

At a quick glance about 250 DVD/Blu-ray purchases (some individuals, some sets, some TV seasons) About $4500

About $300 for my Synology server (box and drive)
About $500 in Livescribe echo pens
About $200 in books
About $100 in music
About $600 under other miscellaneous items.

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

Also, remember I'm into free-shipping so I had to always be over the $35 minimum of last year. With the new minimum my average would probably needed to increase to around $62 a year.

Just to put something in perspective about the $6000 that was re-brought up with no frame of reference to its initial intent. Earlier in the thread some were making the point that Amazon would not miss non-PRIME customers if they went away because obviously they don't spend enough if they didn't see value in the cost of PRIME, if for nothing else then the free shipping. I knew I spent a fair amount to be a valued customer, so I went and totaled my 2015 purchases. I presented the $6000 amount not for any type of bragging rights but just to present that non-PRIME customers may be providing more value to Amazon then some realized.

Now I can also see where some might think, "you spent almost $6200, what's the big deal to another $100 for PRIME". My response to that is that I shop for best deals like many frequenting these forums, so my goal is to maximize what I am getting for my dollar. This means waiting for price drops and special deals, and free-shipping. While only $100, it is still $100 that I could use to buy another 7 to 10 DVDs/Blu-rays. It just goes against the grain of shopping for deals. This is my opinion, and not to insinuate others can't benefit from the services of PRIME.

Price saving is my chief concern (items cost + shipping). Raising the minimum for free-shipping from $35 to $50 has had an impact on my ability to build orders while maximizing savings. Shipping times is the least of my concerns. The reality is that i had become complacent with Amazon. These changes forced me to go back and more aggressively search out deals. While doing this I came to realize Amazon's price was not as competitive as before and there free-shipping slower than in the past. I didn't reduce my shopping at Amazon due to slow free-shipping, but it did become an observation and now an extra benefit provided by the other vendors I've been using.

The only reason I came back into this thread was to state my observations about differences I've noted between how free-shipping in being handled by Amazon now versus just a few years back. I would have been done several posts back, except "ctyankee" seemed to have issues with my motives that needed further clarification.

Re: Amazon discounts and deals on Blu-ray
 

Agreed. Your mistake.

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

I know this is the complaint thread but just a heads up. As of yesterday if you bought e-books from Amazon between April 2010 and May 2012 you should have some Amazon credit on your account due to the settlement of price fixing done by Apple.

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

I think I only bought one ebook in that period and it only $0.99, so it looks like I'm SOL on that front.

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

I got 35 bucks back :up:

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

I got a whole $9.42.

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

I got back $11.62.

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

Second annual Prime Day is July 12th

remember that crock of shit? haha

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

I'm getting Prime Pantry offers instead of digital credits again, so I'm just using fast shipping out of spite. :lol:

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

That's what I do. That happened a few times this past week but the digital ones came back yesterday and today, so I'm good.

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

We've just about used up the 55 gallons of water based lube we got last year for Prime Day, so it looks like it's time to get a new one.

https://nyoobserver.files.wordpress....0-53-00-am.png

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

Did something change with Amazon's free shipping? I ordered two items last Sunday night and they didn't ship until yesterday Friday afternoon. I remember they used to ship about two days after the order was placed.

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

What, no subscription rate?

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

I was a bit bewildered when I chatted with them recently. I had received a New book that was beat up enough in shipping, despite being pretty well packaged, that I wanted to exchange it. But they are/were out of stock with no notice about getting more in. All I wanted to ask about was whether they'd stock more, but the rep. didn't want to talk to me unless I verified my name, e-mail and full address. I spoke with a supervisor who confirmed that they "needed" it, though neither could explain why I needed to give all that info for a general question.

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

Was this over the phone? Why not just do it by email? They'll already have your info linked to the order by order # - hell, even a live chat option would be better. I'm glad they're that strict over the phone, it really is for the customer's protection that they verify who you are.

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

It's known that Amazon puts all their customer service calls through computerized voice analysis - looking for signs of stress or deception in the caller's voice. Your voice's stress level readings possibly indicated something was up.

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

It was through Chat, that I initiated after verifying and logging into my account on the same computer that I have used to access Amazon on every transaction for at least the last 6 years. So no phone, though some of that is interesting to hear.

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

I can't tell if you're joking or if this is true...

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

100% true. It's not that uncommon for the largest multi-national corporations that deal directly with consumers over the phone. In corporate parlance it's an extension of CRM.

Companies are also now scanning their internal emails for possible threats.

http://fortune.com/insider-threats-email-scout/

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

Amazon is in the process of no longer showing the discount from list price. I have noticed this and recently there was an article in the NY Times about it. Amazon is switching to showing discounts from previous prices it has charged instead of from list price which it rarely if ever charged. Much more honest, though I now check other sites to confirm price is a bargain. I usually check Amazon when I get discount info from Best Buy and Fry's to confirm the prices at those sites are cheaper than ASCAP. The discount they mention is almost never as much as they clain when compared to the Amazon price.

Media seems to be one of the few retail items that does sell at or near list price. Criterion and Warner Archive for examples.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/04/bu...st-prices.html

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

What was weird was that I had a music-stand case in my shopping cart, and that showed digital credits. Excited, I dumped that and put a DVD in my cart and got... Prime Pantry. Same with a CD. But then a pharmaceutical item (pill splitter) also had Prime Pantry, so it wasn't as simple as "all entertainment media items get Prime Pantry so we can convert them, while all other items get digital credits so we can convert them." I don't know if there was a system or if it was just random. I'll just keep checking back.

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

Ooooooh! Prime Day!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CJ_hOiaUMAAFSrW.jpg

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

Prime Day will likely be another huge disappointment for many customers. Amazon is still largely resting on the rep and brand it built up during the 00s. I'm sure it will be great for those people that want $10 off a Kindle or something similar.

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

I'm so goddamn tired of Euro Amazon sites. Ordered something from Amazon UK again yesterday, and the delivery estimate for "5-10 day" shipping on an in stock item shows up at the 21st. That's damn near 20 days. They mark things as dispatched and tracking shows they sit in Amazon's warehouse for 3 fucking days before being handed off the the shipping carrier. WTF? If I order from Amazon Japan, I get my order overnight for the same shipping cost I'm paying these assholes in Europe to screw around for 3 weeks. Amazon DE and FR are the same, and they all use fucking i-parcel, asendia (WTF is that?), and DHL. After all these years they still refuse to let people choose their shipping carrier. It's ridiculous. Then UK still won't ship games to the US for no logical reason that I can find. DE will ship games, but not FR or UK. What really pisses me off is these bullshit amazon fulfilled sellers blocking international shipping on things for no fucking reason.

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

I noticed that a few weeks back. While it's a annoyance I just use camelcamelcamel to verify lowest historical price and get the MSRP - same as always.

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

Same here. I may go for a couple of the Prime Pantry ones to stack with the monthly "free Prime Pantry shipping" offer depending on my mood but I've been generally displeased with the (lack of) packing they do on those boxes.

Got one box a couple of days ago with the cookies and canned foods just thrown together in a non-segmented box with pillow packs as filler. Needless to say the cookies were partially crushed and most of the cans dented. They *combined* two different PP orders - one which had the cookies and the other which had the canned goods. Note to self: space 'em out by at least a day if there *is* a next time. With "subscribe and save" most things come in separate boxes and canned products are shrink-wrapped together.

I once made the mistake of ordering 4 12-packs of soda and used a bag of chips to get the "free shipping" discount (and to double-stack a free shipping credit) thinking they'd ship them separately. They *used the bag of chips* as a cushion between two stacks of sodas! Of course the bag had burst and chips were all over the inside of the box.

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

Mistake?! I'd love it if they did that for me! I'd enjoy what I could out of the box and get a free new box of food too!

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

I've ordered from various Amazon sites and have never had a problem. I've ordered the most from Amazon UK and my items usually arrive in 7-10 days tops.

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

anyone know why I am no longer getting the option for a digital credit when i checkout using Prime? it only gives me the option for Prime Pantry which i don't have a use for. i used to get the digital option all the time...

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

I ordered the wrong size case for my new tablet. I can return it for 90% of the cost of the item and get back $1.30. I don't know what I expected, and I can't blame Amazon for my mistake, but that's a bummer.

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

Yeah I learned my lesson with 3rd party sellers. Many have ridiculous restocking fees. Coupled with paying for shipping back, it often isn't with the hassle for items under $30.

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

I ordered 25 soup containers from a third party that was "Fulfilled By Amazon", they fucked up and sent me about 10 containers and 20 lids.

I sent an e-mail, they refunded my money and told me to keep what I had.

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

They alternate the credits regularly. One has no control over what is offered.

Re: The complaining about Amazon thread
 

Plus we had discussed the same issue just a few posts up. :rolleyes: