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Comment by ghostbrainalpha | Hacker News Reader

I don't know about that joke anymore. Being an Amazon customer used to be great, but the deliveries are bordering on ridiculously horrible now.

I order something on Prime, then it doesn't show up when I expect it to, I get no notification of any delays, and then when I log in to see what's going on they have changed the original expected date so I can't even see what I was originally promised unless I took a screen shot.

This has been the case on 2 thirds of my deliveries over the past 3 months. And I'm not even going into the sham that is 3rd party selling.

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I'm seeing this as well - and ironically, I live within walking distance of an Amazon fulfillment center.

The scummiest part, though, is that when packages get completely lost, half the time I can't request an automatic refund, I have to work with a customer support rep to get it issued.

Realistically, it should be completely automated. If Amazon knows my package was lost (in my most recent case, it never even shipped!) not issuing the refund automatically is anti-consumer greed.

"....I have to work with a customer support rep to get it issued"

I'm finding more and more (or maybe it's always been this way?) that the onus for correcting or making sure something is correct, is ALWAYS placed on the last person in the chain.....the individual.

This is especially true for medical and insurance problems. You don't pay the individual/customer, and you have no incentive to help them (other than they might go somewhere else a little less bad). For people that haven't had to go through this yet, such as a claim gone wrong, everything seems fine. One example of this has been life insurance companies verifying eligibility only after the person has died and someone has made a claim. It seems part of the business model to make life so miserable for customers that they give up trying to get what they were promised.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-life-insurance-inves...

My biggest peeve is that every time I go to reorder something the price has gone up another 10%.

I never hear other people complain about this though. I wonder if it’s not widespread?

> My biggest peeve is that every time I go to reorder something the price has gone up another 10%.

> I never hear other people complain about this though. I wonder if it’s not widespread?

I've gotten increases like this on some items, though not as consistently as "every time."

I no longer consider Amazon to be generally price-competitive with other online retailers and big-box retail. I pretty much only shop at Amazon when I have no idea where to buy the item I'm looking for (such as weird informally-imported things).

Ironically, I'm actually starting to use Amazon as an "online showroom" for general searching, but actually make my purchases elsewhere.

Also they don't give price adjustments for most of the products they sell. I bought a book and the day after I received it, the price dropped 30%. The customer support would not refund the difference. Instead I had to ship back the product first and buy it again. Now to ship it back, I have to pay the shipping unless I lie and say it was defective or go to their Amazon store in San Jose to drop it off.

FYI - Check your credit card benefits! Most offer free price protection for items you buy with the card, its saved me hundreds of dollars over the years. In fact, I just got a $40 check in the mail the other day for a price protection claim on a TV. And the price protection works on other retailers too - so if you bought the product on Amazon and it goes on sale at Walmart next week, you can make a claim for the difference in price.

I have had absolutely no problems with package delivery.

The one thing I returned was a breeze.

Deliveries are not done by Amazon where I live - it's usually 3rd party.

That doesn't really change anything. The customer interaction is with Amazon and they own it including paying for it either with Prime or directly.

Those third parties likely owe pretty much their entire business to amazon. When a company can't exist without a specific client, is it really a third party?

I think delivery companies may vary - in my area, some deliveries are still completed by the national mail, major couriers, however small (and often incompetent) carriers are starting to.

The reason for my comment was that my experience receiving a shiny package doesn't really overlap with what employees are being put through. Both reflect poorly on Amazon, the conversation about employees is a valid on it's own as there are avenues with Amazon to already complain about poor delivery and have a recourse.

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