What's your Amazon experience?

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arbilab

arbilab

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What's your Amazon experience?

 

After 60-some years of hands-on shopping, I was skeptical.  Started with something easy: books.  (So did Bezos.)  Real comfortable with them now.  Might even say "cozy".  Nothing has gone wrong with merchandise or service. 

 

I find that one does need to be somewhat resolute making choices.  That is, the first thing that pops up may (well) not be what you're looking for, or the best value.  But the choices are there to be made.  While increasingly, brick retailers (walmart, groan) have one thing (if that) in a category and it's not what you wanted.

 

I still want to support local business when possible, and he did have an unobtainium nozzle brush when the original wore to a nub and seized up.  But just yesterday I went to the vacuum store for bags and belts for my late-70s[*] Hoover Spirit canister/powernozzle.  He's no longer bothering stocking the bags.  The belts I've been buying there don't even last for the life of one bag, and the guy is not sure which belt is which, could have been selling me the wrong ones.   Went to the official Hoover parts website.  They never even HEARD of Spirit.  Few minutes on Amazon, had a 5-pack of the exact part number belt and a 12-pack of bags, for like $2 more than the store was selling them EACH.

[* Yes, my vac is more than half MY (extreme) age.  Yours isn't?]

 

Amazon's not "perfect".  Their 'search' tends to bury what you're looking for in a page of (sometimes unrelated) alternatives.  It can take some time sorting it.  But nowhere near as much as traipsing over town, sitting at red lights, and still not finding.  Their software can be obtuse, but the couple times it has confounded me into a corner, a phone call sorts it.  And they answer promptly, all hours, with the needed skills and authority to solve most anything. 

 

One caveat some users complain about:  If your purchase fails within the 90-day return period, they will gladly replace it <span style="text-decoration: underline;">BUT</span> the 90 days does NOT start over for the replacement.  The workaround of course, is return for credit and repurchase which DOES restart the 90 days.  Myself, I have not needed to return anything.

 

Bottom line, I find Amazon a win-win-win.  What you want, value priced, reliable delivery and problem solving, carbon footprint.... 

IMO, Bezos deserves to be rich.

 
 
I have actually never bought anything from them. Most of my online purchases come from eBay or other online specialty shops.

But Amazon is certainly alluring me. I'm in need of some vacuum bags soon, Sears has closed down here so if I want cloth bags, the only way to go now is online. Amazon has them for such a low price, it seems they are the way to go.
 
I still have the same account I created 12 years ago.  Never had any problems.  

 

I think once something was damaged, called them, they shipped a new one.  No problem.  One time I bought something and it turned out I didn't need it, I shipped it back, they returned money, no problem.

 

I have a number of movies and music in the archive section.  Some I bought years ago and I'm always afraid they'll disappear or be purged.  Nope, they're still there.

 

I've been using them more in the last year or so. 

At least once a month.  Just bought a double printer cartridge for my laser printer $16 no s/h. Bought a refrigerated (with a compressor) ice cream maker NEW 2 months ago for $90 no S/H.  and it works great. 

 

They aren't always the cheapest but you know if you order something and need it soon, it will be shipped and you'll have service if there's a problem.

 

They don't have as much retro stuff, like Ebay will, but no store carries everything.

 

Can't wait to try the drone delivery and visit their grocery store where you can just walk in, pick up stuff, and walk out.... and it charges your account via smart phone.  

 

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The times I've used Amazon, I've had no issues with them. I think they serve a purpose. I will purchase car parts, books, misc items. I avoid purchasing clothing, except t-shirts. For me the reason I don't purchase clothing is because not all sizes are the same. In one brand of pants I'm a 34, another brand I'm a 36. I just don't want to deal with the hassle of returning items.
 
purchasing wise I've using them for many years- never an issue.  However I do have issues with them as a Corporate citizen.  I will not ever shop at WM for a number of reasons, and Amazon not paying taxes really bothers me.  The selection and service is outstanding but I question if I should buy from them or not.  So far I do...
 
No Issues...

 

<span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino; font-size: 14pt;">I, too, have used them for years with no issues.  Between the two of us we have an Amazon package delivered at least twice a week.  Generally, when I want/need something I'll check both eBay and Amazon.  With eBay though you have to read carefully because you could be getting used, refurbished, etc. without realizing it.  I feel a little more comfortable with Amazon in that regard.</span>

 

<span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino; font-size: 14pt;">They both seem to do very well when there is any kind of issue but you have to know your prices.  We are Prime and the convenience is wonderful but nothing is free.  Many times the prime option is a little more than you might find it somewhere else so I decide based on how quickly I need it delivered.</span>
 
At first I was afraid, I was petrified...

no, wait... I think that's a song.

Anyway... When I arrived here in the USA, I was completely "support local business", until I started having HORRIBLE experience with some local business.

Then I started shopping online at Wal-Mart (Hell-Mart) because i thought it was an absurd to pay for Amazon Prime if I could get the same stuff at Hell-Mart without a subscription.

Then Alexa entered my life. It was super cool, until the day she decided to invade my privacy and literally jumped in the middle of a conversation about spinach I was having with my husband just to let me know that I can ask her to buy spinach and Whole Foods will deliver it within a couple of minutes. (That's the day I was petrified)

For some time I seriously considered unplugging Alexa, call Tangina from the movie Poltergeist... It was like that thriller (I don't remember the name) that a super high tech house tries to murder the family that lives there.

Until the moment I realized it's all about the money. Why would I spend money (gas) driving to the supermarket, stressing myself to find a parking spot, deal with those "lovely" (not) attendants if I can simply say "Alexa, buy toilet paper! Alexa, buy dishwasher detergent (Cascade fryer boil out, of course), alexa, buy fabric softener! Alexa, buy Algemarin foam bath (I love it) and then.... Alexa, turn on the A/C, Alexa, turn off the lights.

So, my experience with Amazon.... Yesterday I purchased a soap bar (literally ONE soap bar), this morning I was getting ready to leave and noticed my shoe deodorant spray was almost empty. (Alexa, buy Lotrimin spray). Hours later I was driving and I realized that using the pepper spray as a keyring isn't exactly the best thing because if i need to reach the pepper spray during an emergency what I'm going to to? Shift to park, stop the car, remove the key and then had the spray? (Alexa, buy a keyring!).

And literally while typing this comment i just said: "Alexa, buy Nivea Original lip balm, the blue one!"

It's just a machine, but it has the incredible ability to learn. I have routines like "Alexa, freeze me!" (A/C set to maximum power and lowest temperature possible for 15 minutes, then it switches to low fan and a "decent" temperature)

Now I even have a routine to feed the fish (she turns off the filter for 10 minutes) and to change the water (she turns everything off, gives me time enough to partially drain the aquarium and refill it, then starts everything again using an exact sequence with an incredible accuracy.
 
I have ordered off of Amazon a number of times and have been very happy. Yes sometimes, actually all times prices are higher than general but the have the stuff and you get it quick. Something I have done is look at Amazon for certain products get the manufacturer name then look up that manufacturer and order directly from them at a reduced price.

Jon
 
My experience has always been good until yesterday.  I ordered five soup bowls to replace some broken from my dishes.  When the order arrived yesterday, I found that they had just been tossed in a large box with no other packing material.  The five bowls just banged around in the box during shipment.  The miracle is that they weren't broken! 
 
I've never much cared for shopping on Amazon because of delivery.   The "rules" may be different up here but the courrier services used by Amazon for delivery will not leave a package on a porch or in a doorway if the addressee is not in.  Although package tracking information is provided, because I live in a rural area, all bets are off - the courriers will not guarantee a time of delivery.  The few purchases I have made wound up with me having to trek to the depot of the courrier which was way out in the suburbs when I lived in Montreal and is now in the next biggest town over (a good 20 miles from the house in St-Lib).   It seems to work out better for me to use my US 'package drop' site in Vermont, but there is a fee per package dropped off, plus I have to travel to the drop site.   In short, any savings or deals are more than offset by the cost of having to go and pick up my purchases, so I avoid it.
 
I just looked in my e-mail and my first order was on 10/21/1999, over 20 years ago.

 

I used to be a Prime member and bought a lot of stuff, now not so much but still use them every couple of months.  I think I had one return in those 20 years and that was my own mistake as I ordered something I already had.

 

I've never once had to contact their customer service.  Love them or hate them, there's a reason they became what they are.

 

 
 
Long-Time Amazon Customer

I have shopped on Amazon for many years and the experience is always good. I signed up for Amazon Prime a few years ago to get free shipping on all orders and the bonus of having access to Amazon Music and Prime Video as well as some free selections from Prime Reading (for Kindle) makes it worth the annual fee.

I do not consider shopping a "recreational activity" so being able to sit at home, order items and have them show up the next day at my door is a dream come true.

I rarely have to make returns to Amazon but if I do, there is an Amazon store not far from me where I can just drop the return off. The same day, I get acknowledgment of my return and a credit back on my card.

The one caution I have is that there are MANY "sellers" on Amazon and there are a lot of "counterfeit" and "knock-off" items being sold on Amazon as "the real thing". Batteries, for example should be only purchased if in the original factory packaging (as found in stores). Beware of batteries sold "loose pack", in poly bags, etc. I'm sure there are MANY more examples of this kind of "deceptive selling" so watch out!
 
Long time as well

The first item I bought was well over 13 years ago because we were living in Calgary then. They weren't even in CAnada at the time but you could still buy things off their US site and have it delivered. My mom was visiting and mentioned a book she liked which her library no longer had.. So together we went on Amazon and there it was, a used copy somewhere in Seattle, so I ordered it and it arrived in a week or so.
I never really used them again until a few years ago when Alexa came out and I bought an Echo dot just for the fun of it.. Well one dot turned into two, into three and then a couple of Echo Pluses etc.. and a Prime membership and the Amazon Music Unlimited.. I guess I'm hooked.. I love their Music Unlimited and being able to play pretty much anything, anywhere in the house, or all over the house, even at the gym on wifi thru my phone and headphones. Seldom watch Prime TV,, not that big a tv person myself.

Prices are iffy,often cheaper at a local store such as my local fish store for supplies and I like to support him.

Returns I've found very easy, no problem getting refunds.

Delivery has gotten very quick here for the items they stock in their TOronto Dist center 3 hours away.. If I order something Sunday evening it's here Tuesday sometime. Stuff shipped from the vendor, often in China, can take a couple of weeks but that's to be expected.

If your delivery is late off the gauranteed delivery and you call them they will add an additional month of free Prime. So far I've gotten about 3 months free added on..

One thing I'm sort of noticing is that if you go to the "buy again" section often times the price has increased and I'm wondering if that is just their algorithms trying to get you to spend more for the same thing again, or not.. I keep meaning to sign in or check on someone elses account to see.

Other than that..I like it.
 
Did just cancel Prime, they're refunding December.  Sure I like next day free delivery even on small items.  But I also go months without ordering ANYthing and can't let that $14/mo just sit there burning.  I don't use the media features.

 

This was a free trial.  Only charged December because they run on Eastern and I cancelled on Central.  Wonder if Prime is something you can turn on and off at will?  Get a backlog of households, fire up Prime for a month, then shut it off.  It easily pays for itself, but only if you use it.
 
Heard on the local news last night, that we have a local distribution center less than 4 miles from where I live in Boston. They have over a 1,000 people working there processing filling and sending out orders. They are saying that if you order before noon time on any given week day, you will have your order delivered the same day. Now that is fast service.

Jon
 
Yes Jon, we have same day here, fleet of their own trucks.  Not sure where the center/warehouse is but can't be far.  USPS is so last century, or the one before that.
 
Excessive Amazon Buying

Just wrestled with this.  A swimsuit I have been buying for $18 was marked down on Amazon to $6.  So I bought 6 of them, then later bought 3 more.  And I'm still tempted...

 

As long as I don't have an injury that keeps me out of the pool I will use them.  But how much is too much?  When does buying in advance cross over to hoarding?

 

 
 
With the Prime membership,

shipping and returns are always included, regardless. With the wardrobe prime option, you can return any item that isn't a good fit, or satisfied with quality.
Compared to other sites like Wayfair, etc., Prime is a good value for the dollar with free shipping/returns. Now you not even need print a return label. Simply take the item to a U.P.S. store with the shipping/return receipt, or the skew that you print for a return.
 
You really do have to shop around before clicking their buy button. I was looking for a decent cordless stick vac and settled on a Black & Decker pet friendly one that was on Amazon for about $230 Cdn. I also checked Walmarts online and it was listed at about the same price so I ventured forth over to our Walmart and lo and behold it was rolled back to $130.
 
<blockquote>
except that it is too easy to keep buying.

</blockquote>
As Robert Stack said in Airplane, "That's just what they'll be expecting us to do".  In that light, Amazon should pay ME $14 a month instead of the other way 'round.  Fort'ly, I have some innate resistance to compulsive acquisition.
 
Irish perspective on Amazon in Europe.

I have ordered plenty of things on Amazon over the years and, as much as I try to avoid using it, for some obscure products it's often very likely to have them in stock.

Given the reports on how they treat their warehouse staff, I definitely have pangs of guilt ordering thought. However, I've never had any customer service issues. Anything I've ordered has come on time, without excessive packaging and they seem to increasingly just use An Post (the Irish post office). In the past they used to use all sorts of ultra cheap couriers and the experience of packages being delivered by throwing them on the porch or over the hedge wasn't unusual!

At least now that they use the post office, you get a text (from the post office) the day before delivery and it gives you options of delivery to an alternative address, post office, collection locker, neighbour etc or, if you've an An Post delivery box installed, it can be delivered to that (assuming it's not a very large package). It's basically a locked mailbox suitable for letters and packages. You just buy it, activate it online and fit it to somewhere on the front of your house / back of a gate pillar etc. The postman/woman has a master key to deliver mail and small packages and you've a key to open it. You can also place stamped mail into the box for collection and you get an email notification anytime they put anything into the box. It's actually pretty handy and can hold a good % of home shopping items.

All in all Amazon is a pretty polished service at this stage. However, we still have thriving shopping districts, that are really pleasant to shop in and I feel it's something worth preserving, so I will still definitely always try to shop locally. I'm not one of those people who orders all their Xmas shopping online.

All in all, I find Amazon pretty good, other than my ethical and carbon footprint concerns.
 
So far I've had a great experience with Amazon through my 12+ years of shopping with them, but I've noticed that a lot of what appears to be a lot of third-rate products showing up on their site over the past few years with funny-sounding names (e.g., "Happygood" or "Donewell") and suspiciously high reviews. I steer clear of anything like that as I've been hearing that many third-party Amazon sellers are desperately trying to break into the market and being unscrupulous to the point that they pay money or give away merchandise to random people in exchange of an artificially inflated 4- or 5-star review when the actual product quality is in all likelihood of being of 2- or 3-star quality, at best.

If it wasn't for my wife having a Prime subscription, I wouldn't have one as I don't really see the point in having one. I don't need instant gratification in getting my stuff quicker, I don't really watch TV and I don't really see myself really taking advantage of all the other things that Amazon Prime has to offer.
 
Yeah you have to be a little careful of unheard of brands. In general I have found that issue is getting better here.

The main thing I use Amazon for is Kindle books and also a lot of more obscure academic books. It's increasingly difficult to find decent academic bookshop. Over here, there's just a handful left. I'm delighted to see Hodges Figgis which opened in 1768 (even features in James Joyce's Ulysses) and is still turning a good profit and an absolute pleasure to visit. Long may it stay that way!

Photo:
https://www.irishtimes.com/business...-hodgis-figgis-books-strong-profits-1.3810381
 
I buy local whenever possible, but since I live in a tiny village with no Target/Walmart-type department store, the opportunities to order from Amazon are abundant. Have ordered from Amazon well over 100 times with only two problems I can recall:

1: I ordered a Gillette Pro Power razor and received the non-power version.
2: A griddle arrived with a broken foot.

So a big thumbs-up to Amazon from me, despite the tendency for very small items to arrive in large boxes filled with those air pillows. In fact, I’m willing to go out on a limb and say that only cardboard box manufacturers like Amazon more than I.
 
An A&M Records/music website was my first online-main hangout so anytime anything was a CD reissue (mist often Japanese) Amazon wa the place to order, among a number of music marketplace networks for vinyl, as well as sometimes other CD discoveries, when I surprisingly wouldn't order or look for it off of Amazon, perhaps due to better pricing or just availability issues...

So in the chief regard to Amazon, I think the majority of my ordering-buying from it has been mostly good, which in recent times, we've passed the torch from myself being the main consumer to now my daughter, getting so much off of there throughout the year, and again, ranging from satisfactory to way above excellent, we just plainly don't know what to buy her for Christmas....

Amazon seems to have come far in going from only offering music items to photography, to as we've seen just about everything and as for certified carriers, those vans are seen just about everyepwhere, uniformed drivers, and all, as in having what's equivalent to owning its own UPS...

So, I see no reason to express any disdain in any case for them, just what's mostly praise, outside of my ordering whatever product comes off of what I use, but mostly eBay and a couple other music market networks, also to varying degrees...

-- Dave
 

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