Amazon Rant

[Black wallnut]

As mentioned in a seperate thread i ordered a Triton router. I ordered online through Amazon on Wednesday before noon (shipper time zone). Package was not shipped until 11PM Thursday (shipper time zone). Historically February is a very slow month for the retail sector and even moreso this year with our current state of the economy. Why is it that around the midwinter holidays orders are processed almost instantly when businesses are busy and yet in February it take a day and a half to process an order. Whatever the reason I doubt I will order from Amazon again anytime soon. Conversely if I were to order drill bits from MSC they not only would process the order promptly but they would also provide a free shipping upgrade to next day air! If only the sold Triton routers.

The UPS tracking shows that my package left Iowa and traveled to MN which is the last location reported on Saturday early morning. Via truck it is 2.5 days drive from Iowa to Ellensburg, WA, I know because I ran the miles on PCMiler,; that's the business I'm in. However UPS projects the delivery as Friday of this week.

I odered it online because I wanted it yesterday. If I wanted it whenever the shipper felt like getting around to shipping it and whenever the carrier felt like delivering it to me I would have snail mailed my order in. Do online merchants not understand this?

[Cochese]

Did you order directly from Amazon, or from Elite Tools?

[Black wallnut]

From Amazon but the vender is Viking Mountain Tool Works

[Black wallnut]

Next time i will contact the actual seller and negotiate terms.

[Cochese]

Eh, hard to fault Amazon for individual stores and their own, separate shipping policies. If they've not met those policies, though, a word with Amazon will set them straight and sometimes get you a credit on your account.

[BigguyZ]

I agree. Buying from Amazon has always been a good experience for me, and buying from an affiliate has been the same. However, there are times there are shipping delays.

I will say this- it STILL doesn't seem like it's all that large of a delay. I think great service is to be appreciated, but I think people have come to expect an immediacy these days that's difficult to meet 100% of the time.

I'm guilty of it too. I have Amazon Prime for a few more months as a result of their free student triel. I can't tell you how many things I've ordered knowing that it'll be at my house in 2 days. And even so, I feel bummed that I have to wait two whole days at times. Consider that back in the day, people would order from a catalog and wiat 4-6 weeks for their items.

Just my thoughts, take from them what you will.

[Cubsfan]

Yeah, I think it's hard to fault amazon for that. They are very up front about the fact that you are buying something from another vendor. Really they're just connecting you up with them. I highly doubt that dealing directly with the vendor would have gotten any faster service.

[sweensdv]

I'll bet that if you would have had one of the WA Woodcraft stores UPS you one you would have had it in 1 or 2 days tops. Not sure if your Amazon order was solely based on price or not but sometimes even when an identical product is involved you do get what you pay for.

[chopnhack]

Patience is difficult when a new tool is coming!! I blame the ability to track every step and fart a package takes for our impatience, before like Bigguy said, we used to wait so long. I remember as a kid I would mark the calendar when I ordered something and we would just count down the days... and we were always surprised because you never really knew when it was coming.

[leehljp]

One thing I learned to do was check who the seller is, find their phone number, physical address and usually google complaints for the company.

[LCHIEN]

hard to fault amazon for the slowness of their third party seller.
Some internet sellers make it a point to try and ship same day. I think however, that the third party Amazon sellers don't have the same motivation since their internet sales may be a small part of their business- that's why they deal with Amazon to handle the internet stuff.

Now, if you were dealing with Amazon as the seller and paid for 2-day shipping service but they didn't get it to the shipper for 2 days, then I'd be mad!

I generally shop Amazon with Amazon as the seller and try to get free shipping - I am willing to wait a week or more and sometimes wait some weeks until I meet the free shipping minimum. If I need it fast I go to the B&M stores.

[Black wallnut]

My rant is not directed at Amazon as much as it is at some online retailers and specifically this one. However the delay in order processing is frustrating when other vendors selling me smaller dollar value orders are processed seemingly instantly.

[dbhost]

Not to discount Amazon being less than punctual, they typically are slow to ship, of course I use the Free Shipping so yeah, they take their time...

But you used an outside vendor that is selling through Amazon. It's not Amazon's fault for something somebody else did...

Kind of like the courts blaming you if your wife drives the family car up a a tree (reverse genders if you have a husband... Or substitute boyfriend, girlfriend, whatever PC gibberish you want to insert, oh forget it...).

[Dal300]

I agree with Lee.
I ordered a nice Freud 6" dado set on Amazon and even specified same day and priority shipping.

I needed the set to be shipped as quickly as possible and Amazon told me it would be shipped by the end of the business day the shipper got the order.


Unfortunately, Amazon neglected to tell me that they wouldn't notify the shipper until the second business day. I ordered on Wednesday, Amazon notified on Friday, which was a holiday, and it was shipped on the next Tuesday. It was shipped normal truck rate and took nearly two weeks to arrive.

When I complained to Amazon their attitude was "Sorry For Your Tuff Luck" and wouldn't even refund the difference in shipping.

Don't believe their thing that says, "Want it Delivered by XX/XX?"

That was a year and a half ago and I will never do business with them again.

So There!

[Cochese]

I agree with Lee.
I ordered a nice Freud 6" dado set on Amazon and even specified same day and priority shipping.

I needed the set to be shipped as quickly as possible and Amazon told me it would be shipped by the end of the business day the shipper got the order.


Unfortunately, Amazon neglected to tell me that they wouldn't notify the shipper until the second business day. I ordered on Wednesday, Amazon notified on Friday, which was a holiday, and it was shipped on the next Tuesday. It was shipped normal truck rate and took nearly two weeks to arrive.

When I complained to Amazon their attitude was "Sorry For Your Tuff Luck" and wouldn't even refund the difference in shipping.

Don't believe their thing that says, "Want it Delivered by XX/XX?"

That was a year and a half ago and I will never do business with them again.

So There!

Any item sold by, or fulfilled by Amazon has always met or exceeded my ship expectations. I've been a Prime member for at least five years and have ordered over 1000 items. I try to avoid buying from third parties as much as possible though.