How many of you are Amazon Prime members?

[jwip]

prime here

 

[heyyitssusan]

I've been a paying Prime member for a couple years now. Solid service. I buy a lot of random stuff on Amazon and it's nice to not have to worry about shipping costs and get things the next day. Plus Prime Video easily rivals Netflix in content these days - in terms of UX they're still very far behind, the app is awful on every platform, but they have some good content.

I also use Amazon Smile so a small percentage of my purchases goes to a charity of my choice. And that comes out of Amazon's pocket not mine. Brilliant.

My views on the actual company are pretty mixed since they have an awful privacy record especially with those Ring doorbells but I can't deny their service is great.

Also use AWS both professionally and personally. Some things seem like they're more complicated than they need to be, but man do they let you do a lot of stuff very cheaply!

Oh regarding USPS, I am in the UK but ordered something from the US last month. I paid extra for priority shipping too. But I still don't have it. The tracking said it went from LA to London then back to New York. Apparently it has departed from New York but that was on the 2nd. No update since. No idea where my item is or if I'll ever get it.

The seller told me they went to the post office and were informed USPS international deliveries are screwed at the moment. I used this seller before and my item came just fine (slowly, but it was the standard service, not priority, and the tracking got updated normally). No idea what to do here. I'm thinking wait until it's been exactly a month since dispatch then straight up ask for a refund.

If any Americans can give me an idea of how to handle this that'd be great. I have no real reference point with what's "normal" at USPS. But my item bouncing from the US to the UK and back again before tracking stops updating for weeks doesn't seem like the expected level of service...

From what I’ve seen, about 90% of the the packages that are being shipped to me from out of state are or have arrived later than the scheduled delivery date. I have one that’s supposed to arrive today, but now tracking says “arriving late”. I only got 1 package on time but that was because the Amazon distribution center was an hour away from me. Have you filed a missing package case with USPS? At any rate, I’d ask for a refund if you can’t get anywhere with USPS.

 

[Polly Mercocet]

From what I’ve seen, about 90% of the the packages that are being shipped to me from out of state are or have arrived later than the scheduled delivery date. I have one that’s supposed to arrive today, but now tracking says “arriving late”. I only got 1 package on time but that was because the Amazon distribution center was an hour away from me. Have you filed a missing package case with USPS? At any rate, I’d ask for a refund if you can’t get anywhere with USPS.

I'm in the UK so I can't phone USPS without racking up huge fees. Is it worth emailing them? From what I've read they take weeks to get back to you so I have instead tried to get the seller (who has very good feedback) to deal with USPS on my behalf. They told me they were given a few numbers to ring for more information on the status of the package but I haven't heard anything since. Sent a message yesterday and still waiting for a reply, but obviously there is a significant time difference to account for.

They also told me that claiming for a lost item from USPS takes months so I'd have to wait that long for a refund but surely I should get the refund if we're agreed my item is lost and it's then up to the seller to deal with USPS? I get the feeling they're just buying time hoping the item turns up but I'm not so hopeful when the tracking isn't even telling me anything about a delay, it's just been stuck for weeks. And why did it get sent from LA to London then back to NY?

If it's worth the while though I'll email USPS and see what happens. Worst comes to worst I'll file a case to get my refund. I bought the item on Etsy and paid with PayPal so I have multiple avenues.

 

[heyyitssusan]

I'm in the UK so I can't phone USPS without racking up huge fees. Is it worth emailing them? From what I've read they take weeks to get back to you so I have instead tried to get the seller (who has very good feedback) to deal with USPS on my behalf. They told me they were given a few numbers to ring for more information on the status of the package but I haven't heard anything since. Sent a message yesterday and still waiting for a reply, but obviously there is a significant time difference to account for.

They also told me that claiming for a lost item from USPS takes months so I'd have to wait that long for a refund but surely I should get the refund if we're agreed my item is lost and it's then up to the seller to deal with USPS? I get the feeling they're just buying time hoping the item turns up but I'm not so hopeful when the tracking isn't even telling me anything about a delay, it's just been stuck for weeks. And why did it get sent from LA to London then back to NY?

If it's worth the while though I'll email USPS and see what happens. Worst comes to worst I'll file a case to get my refund. I bought the item on Etsy and paid with PayPal so I have multiple avenues.

Did you ever get resolution?

 

[Polly Mercocet]

Did you ever get resolution?

Yes, thankfully! My item arrived last week and I got refunded for the shipping costs yesterday. Even the seller was shocked the item actually showed up after disappearing from the tracking for a month, but it did finally turn up.

The seller was very good about it too. Helpful at every step.

I'm just not ordering anything else from the US for the moment since it seems USPS is very unreliable for international orders currently. I'll wait a bit and see if the situation settles down.

 

[heyyitssusan]

Yes, thankfully! My item arrived last week and I got refunded for the shipping costs yesterday. Even the seller was shocked the item actually showed up after disappearing from the tracking for a month, but it did finally turn up.

The seller was very good about it too. Helpful at every step.

I'm just not ordering anything else from the US for the moment since it seems USPS is very unreliable for international orders currently. I'll wait a bit and see if the situation settles down.

That is great! And yeah, USPS is squirrelly with domestic orders within the US. I can’t imagine international at this point.

 

[0128672]

That is great! And yeah, USPS is squirrelly with domestic orders within the US. I can’t imagine international at this point.

Not sure what "squirrelly" means in this case, but if there are USPS delivery issues, maybe it's just regional or in certain metros? I haven't had a single issue with Amazon deliveries via USPS or even UPS.

 

[heyyitssusan]

Not sure what "squirrelly" means in this case, but if there are USPS delivery issues, maybe it's just regional or in certain metros? I haven't had a single issue with Amazon deliveries via USPS or even UPS.

Amazon deliveries are great when it’s coming from a hub in my state. If it’s coming from another state, it’s going to be a few days late due to COVID, as they are only using Semi-Trucks to transport and not planes like UPS and FedEX are. I can’t tell you how many cases I’ve had to file already.

ETA: I ordered something that came from NY. Tracking was not updated for 2 weeks. Thought for sure it was lost.. filed cases, informed seller to send me a replacement just in case. out of nowhere, tracking was updated and took exactly two weeks to get here. It’s as if it was an international order.

 

[0128672]

Amazon deliveries are great when it’s coming from a hub in my state. If it’s coming from another state, it’s going to be a few days late due to COVID, as they are only using Semi-Trucks to transport and not planes like UPS and FedEX are. I can’t tell you how many cases I’ve had to file already.

Sorry to hear that. Almost everything I order from Amazon is from out-of-state (because no hubs), and often out-of-region, but no late issues ... yet, at least.