A week ago I wrote about an Amazon Prime order where hardly any of the items were due to be delivered within Amazon’s next day promise. Out of fairness it seems only right to report back on when the items actually turned up on my doorstep.
Delivery One – Standard Delivery
A big shout out to the guys at Mountain Warehouse – they obviously have a class operation as the product I purchased from them was picked, packed and shipped on Monday and arrived with me on the Tuesday.
This is Amazon’s “Standard Delivery” promise for third party retailers and while they give three to five days for the item to arrive, Mountain Warehouse smashed this with a next working day despatch and 24 hour delivery. You really can’t ask for much more can you?
Delivery Two: Prime Priority Delivery
Amazon offer “Priority Delivery” when, ‘due to long transport distances, delivery may take longer than for other Prime items‘.
The chances are that this item was shipped from one of Amazon’s EU warehouses, but fair play – they said it would be delivered on Wednesday and sure enough it turned up on Wednesday.
Delivery Three – Prime One-Day Delivery
Three items on my order placed late on Friday evening arrived at my front door on Sunday.
I know Amazon have built a fantastic logistics network and I know as Amazon Logistics is run entirely for the benefit of Amazon (albeit with contract drivers) but it’s still amazing that you can order on a weekend and have the items delivered the next day even though there are no traditional working days in between.
Delivery Four – Prime One-Day Delivery
Two items from my order were due to be delivered on Tuesday and they were delivered on Tuesday. This service from Amazon is exactly the same next working day despatch and 24 hour delivery that Mountain Warehouse gave for Delivery One, but somehow it feels less spectacular when it’s performed by Amazon.
Of course not everything is in a warehouse close enough to be delivered on a Sunday with 24 hours notice, but Amazon have conditioned me to expect this so when it doesn’t happen it’s a but of a surprise. Still, in all fairness, the delivery occurred on time as promised.
Delivery Five – Standard Delivery
The final item from a third party seller who shall remain nameless was promised for delivery between last Thursday this week and this Monday (today). That means that the seller has had a full working week (plus a weekend which we won’t count) to get the order delivered. They’ve failed, this is the one product yet to arrive.
It’s strange but it always appears to be the sellers who promise the least who then fail to live up to the expectations which they themselves have set. The sellers who offer the best service (allowing for the occasional hiccough by the courier) generally deliver. Those who decide to offer a lesser service often appear to struggle and in anyone’s book taking a full week and then failing to deliver on time just doesn’t look good. I’ll watch out for the courier again tomorrow.
Edited to add: The final delivery arrived on Thursday, a full three days after the ETA expired and 14 days after the order was replaced. Even in 2016, some sellers really are still pathetically bad.
7 Responses
Well, I ordered a Fitbit Charge 2 sold by Amazon EU. I ordered this On October 2nd with an Expedited delivery option of 1-3 days. As of today, they just missed the 2nd extension to this which was yesterday Oct 23rd. It is still not despatched and now “out of stock”. They are suggesting I cancel the order and get it elsewhere…ermmmmm? I have noticed also that I do get next day delivery in 2 x days and I am Prime subscriber and all my items are usually fulfilled by Amazon. So, whilst you seem have done ok, something going on. Maybe their last mile amazon network is creaking without the back up from the carriers now who see them as a threat??? I will order early for Christmas!
I am also a prime member and recently I’ve had lots and lots of late 1 day delivery promises from Amazon. The only good thing about that is if you complain you get a free month of Amazon prime
The problem here is that you expect deliveries too quickly. It is very bad news for a start to have deliveries at weekends. Slow down, Have a rest, detox and get a life…. Experience the real world instead of materialism.
Deliveries are estimates unless paid for a guaranteed service and basically bad planning if you have to buy at last minute or is it a case of WANT WANT WANT..
Very unscientific and not a real sample. Most of my deliveries 99.9% will arrive within 1 – 3 days but there is always a hiccup usually caused by delivery companies but ANY company can and WILL occassionally run out of stock or even make an error.
Saying all this I have 100% feedback ratings on all channels..
Pushing for faster and faster deliveries is not progress but leads to a very stressful life for everyone, even the customer.
EG: (An Awful future):- You must now deliver to everyone within one hour.. You get very upset when it takes two, yet in 2010 was happy with a 1 week delivery.. What is the point????
Reality check needed
I get late deliveries all the time from Amazon after they promise 1 day delivery. Make sure to complain and you will get a free months prime membership. For some reason this message was removed last time i left it on Tamebay
I love this thread.
I ordered a PS4 Virtual Reality Headset on 28 March, cost £350.00. The release date was 14 October.
Item dispatched using Amazon Prime on 12 October – no delivery by 14th. Contacted CS, result, package lost in transit.
Walked in local Game shop and bought one over the counter.