Amazon.com: Slower Than Snails Shipping

I’m so frustrated with Amazon.com lately. Ever since they started that new Amazon Prime program where you pay $79 a year for two day shipping on everything (or an additional $3.99/item for overnight shipping — which isn’t always overnight), their shipping has been slower than snails. The last few things I’ve bought from them (and not using Amazon Prime), were shipped way after the estimated delivery date. In fact, I ordered a $500 vacuum cleaner from them on July 5th that said “usually ships in 24 hours” and chose the free shipping plan, which estimated the arrival to be July 13th-14th, but it hasn’t been shipped yet.

And forget trying to get ahold of customer service! My emails have been unanswered and there’s no sign of a phone number on their website. A google search led me to clicheideas.com.

Phone toll-free in the US and Canada: (800) 201-7575
Phone from outside the US and Canada: (206) 346-2992 or (206)-266-2992
Another direct line: (206) 266-2335

Apparently I’m not the only frustrated online shopper. Anyway, she has done a lot of research on contacting Amazon.com and eBay.com and communicating with real people.

I will add one piece of advice. When you call Amazon.com’s 800 number, do not press any buttons when the recording comes on. Wait until the recording is over — it should end with something like “if you have other questions, please wait on the line.” You will eventually be transfered to musak and then sometime in the future, you will actually find yourself on the phone with a real person.

I will admit that the rep was very nice. He didn’t understand why my vacuum hadn’t been shipped either. He was very appologetic and upgraded my shipping to two day — hopefully to arrive next Tuesday. He also said he would contact me to verify it shipped.

So I guess we’ll see how it goes.

I must admit that their little blackmail plan to get people to buy into the Amazon Prime program is tempting me. I do order a lot from them, but I hate paying shipping. Very few things do I need in two days, which is why the free shipping didn’t used to bother me — well back when it shipped in a week and usually before the esitmated shipping date, not to mention the estimated delivery date.

Update: I received an email again apologizing for the fact that my vacuum hadn’t shipped, but it said that the order was already being processed so they couldn’t upgrade my shipping after all. Dagnabbit but I want to vacuum my house! My carpets plus cat hair = bad!

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2 comments

1. on July 15, 2005 at 7:34 pm

   Tamara said:

   OH man, I haven’t ordered from them since that new Prime thing began, and now I’m annoyed for you, and in advance for myself!

   I hope they get their #!$)#@ together!

2. on July 18, 2005 at 11:11 am

   Debbie said:

   I SO agree with this, but I didn’t know about Amazon Prime. I used to be impressed by how fast I got Amazon.com orders. I placed a big order on July 12 mostly with stuff for my daughters birthday on August 7, and it included one book for me that hasn’t been published yet. I chose the free shipping. In the past, they never lumped things that have not been published yet with items available in 24 hours or 1-2 days. I found this out only by being a little curious today as to when my order was going to arrive. I almost had a stroke when I read OCTOBER!!! I emailed them but could not depend on that so also did a google on their customer service telephone number. The rep was nice. She upgraded the shipping to 2 day and I think was not going to charge me the extra on the shipping over the standard shipping fee. Moral: be careful how you place your orders if you are going to use the free shipping option. Order only things that are available within 1-2 days or 24 hours and know that it will not be shipped real quickly.

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