Amazon Free Delivery £20 Minimum per Department.

foggy_lad

It looks like they have changed the free delivery to only apply if you have more than £20 of each department so that if you have £50 of computer or electronics then add another item from another department like home and garden etc that costs less than £20 you will be charged postage on those items.

Spocker

That doesn't look to be right foggy: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=3793231

I added one item that came to £20.40 (with IE Vat) and another item that cost £9.21 from a completely different category, selected Free Super Saver Delivery and 'Group into as few deliveries as possible' and the charge was 0.00

foggy_lad

Spocker wrote: »

That doesn't look to be right foggy: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=3793231

I added one item that came to £20.40 (with IE Vat) and another item that cost £9.21 from a completely different category, selected Free Super Saver Delivery and 'Group into as few deliveries as possible' and the charge was 0.00

I just ordered two items from Amazon warehouse deals, a 750gb HDD(£33) and laptop battery(£4) both eligible for super saver delivery but when I added both to my basket then went through adding address and picking delivery option it shows super saver for the HDD but only standard delivery(£7) for the battery, This has been happening all day with other items so it is not restricted to those items because I had other stuff ready to order earlier but got stopped by them charging for free delivery!


Just got off a chat session with them and they acknowledge this is happening but can't say why, The woman got me to order the battery and HDD to see what happened and I was charged for postage and packing for the Battery!

Then I read the email confirmation and found what they are doing!

It seems they are Splitting up single orders by customers possibly by estimated dispatch dates or by items located in different amazon centres. My single order placed was split into two seperate orders so that the super saver delivery only applied to the item over £20!

Basically they are screwing up people's orders and it is resulting in people being charged for delivery when it should be free!

It is always going to be in their favour so I'm not expecting a speedy resolution!


Here is a screenshot of what happens during ordering, both items are from Amazon and eligible for free super saver delivery

snubbleste

I thought amazon.co.uk did not sell batteries to Ireland due to airflight problems?

Also does this mean the minimum free delivery threshold has dropped from £25 to £20?

ardmacha

snubbleste wrote: »

Also does this mean the minimum free delivery threshold has dropped from £25 to £20?

Mind you in Euros this isn't that different from what it was! £20 = €28.20 now, and it isn't that long ago when £25 was less than that.

Spocker

snubbleste wrote: »

Also does this mean the minimum free delivery threshold has dropped from £25 to £20?

The threshold for Ireland deliveries is still £25

foggy_lad

snubbleste wrote: »

I thought amazon.co.uk did not sell batteries to Ireland due to airflight problems?

Also does this mean the minimum free delivery threshold has dropped from £25 to £20?

some sellers wont deliver to Iireland if "fulfilled by amazon" And Amazon themselves will send some items but block others depending on the manufacturer. one example is they will not sell any Lenovo computers to Irish addresses but will sell other pc's with no issues.

The super saver delivery for Ireland is £25 or slightly lower as it is calculated on the sterling price with the Irish vat rate applied.

Basically what they are doing is splitting up customers single orders on their system during the checkout process and only applying super saver delivery to orders that are eligible. I place one single order but they process two different orders with two separate order numbers so it has nothing to do with grouping into as few deliveries as possible as that option is not available to me now!

I have been playing around with some ordering combinations and most are being split up in order to force payment of post and packing for at least one item in orders!

here is 2 screenshots showing items all sold by amazon and eligible for Free Delivery and all ordered in 1 single transaction but Amazon are splitting it up to exclude all items under £25 from the order despite the total order value being over £25, basically they are blocking free delivery on all items under £25.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

Could be a bug? It totally defeats the "add-on items" only available on larger orders.

return guide

foggy_lad wrote: »

some sellers wont deliver to Iireland if "fulfilled by amazon" And Amazon themselves will send some items but block others depending on the manufacturer. one example is they will not sell any Lenovo computers to Irish addresses but will sell other pc's with no issues.

HI,
I bought a Lenovo Yoga Pro laptop from Amazon in January with no problems.
Not through a reseller as I wanted to claim VAT free.

RG

foggy_lad

return guide wrote: »

HI,
I bought a Lenovo Yoga Pro laptop from Amazon in January with no problems.
Not through a reseller as I wanted to claim VAT free.

RG

They wont sell any lenovo desktop computers, you bought a Tablet. I should have been more clear.

Another screenshot where the smaller items add up to well over the £25 but only one item that costs more than £25 is allowed for free delivery!

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

Confirming that I see the issue foggy and I've logged a query with their CS. Hopefully they'll come back that it's a temp bug rather than a policy change.

foggy_lad

Zara Helpless Whim wrote: »

Confirming that I see the issue foggy and I've logged a query with their CS. Hopefully they'll come back that it's a temp bug rather than a policy change.

Just saw on another thread that they have reduced the cost of the 2 day delivery to Ireland recently so this is probably to force people to use that service!

How did you manage to log a Query with them?

They must be the worst company in existence to actually contact! so many options that whittle you down to some useless information page. They have no real facility to make a complaint about issues like this!

Slippin Jimmy

Pretty disappointing if this is the case. I'd usually buy something extra just to get the free delivery. Hopefully it is just a bug otherwise it won't be worth my while ordering off Amazon.

foggy_lad

Slippin Jimmy wrote: »

Pretty disappointing if this is the case. I'd usually buy something extra just to get the free delivery. Hopefully it is just a bug otherwise it won't be worth my while ordering off Amazon.

unfortunately it is still happening today. I have added several items to my basket all below £25 but totalling over £25 and also added one item costing over £25 and the free delivery is only available for the one item over £25. It looks like they are limiting the free delivery to the first £25 of items.

jaymcg91

According to the BBC, Books are still only subjected to the 10 pounds limit. So if you buy a book for 10 pounds then it'll still be free supersaver delivery. That's something, especially if they're for the kids.

foggy_lad

jaymcg91 wrote: »

According to the BBC, Books are still only subjected to the 10 pounds limit. So if you buy a book for 10 pounds then it'll still be free supersaver delivery. That's something, especially if they're for the kids.

This issue seems to be that when you reach the £10 or £25 limit they add any other items on your order to a new order and charge you delivery on that as a separate order!

gordongekko

Any update on this. Where's everyone going to start sourcing stuff from now.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

Just tested it with a few items and it seems to be fixed. All is well in the world

I've noticed a change...don't know if it's new. I tried to buy a RPi, case and power adaptor. The RPi was sold by Amazon themselves whilst the other items were sold by marketplace seller BUT fulfilled by Amazon. When I went to the checkout the stuff not sold by Amazon directly were in a separate order!

If I chose my Parcel Motel address then there was no problem (of course the free delivery would be negated by Amazon's tendency to send each item individually to PM thus incurring €4 for each one) at all and everything was one order. So it seems this change only affects us RoI folks!

foggy_lad

No Change! still splitting orders once the £25 free delivery amount has been reached.

This shows some items adding up to just over the £25 and they qualify for free delivery


But when another item costing over £25 is added it takes the free delivery and the other items are charged at standard delivery rates!

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

That's so strange. I just tried the exact same items as the other day and it's "broken" again.

rgfuller

I experienced this oddity too today.
Order of a CD, a BluRay, a 1tb external drive and a DVD in one order, all fulfilled by amazon, splits it into 2 deliveries - free delivery on the drive, but not the others.
I ended up making 2 separate orders.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

Only reading this now foggy. Called their Customer Service, you can arrange a call back via your account.

I actually had a call back this evening. Apparently a policy change for Irish customers. The agent knew the issue and said they had no further information. I mentioned the last example you posted and that the new policy didn't make sense. I could get free delivery by just ordering the items separately but he insisted this was their new policy for Irish customers.

I'd take all that with a pinch of salt to be honest. It would be a pity if this was in fact their new policy.

Regards

foggy_lad wrote: »

Just saw on another thread that they have reduced the cost of the 2 day delivery to Ireland recently so this is probably to force people to use that service!

How did you manage to log a Query with them?

They must be the worst company in existence to actually contact! so many options that whittle you down to some useless information page. They have no real facility to make a complaint about issues like this!

Well they lost my business as I went and ordered from ModMyPi instead (got a better deal too!!!)....idiots! Obviously this is one of their bright ideas to start turning a profit again. If they didn't lash money into crap like the Fire Phone and Fire Stick etc they'd be in a far healthier financial position.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

Hopefully the agent was talking rubbish, or was mistaken. I'd recommend any of you contact there CS department by email and/or phone and leave a complaint if this change is in fact their new policy.

Tar.Aldarion

hmm this would make me order a lot less things tbh

j_lennon18

I ended up getting my items delivered to parcel motel because it ended up cheaper even with the parcel motel fee.

If this is the future of Amazon then I will be buying less often from them. It's actually a pain to shop now because you don't know if you will actually get the free shipping till the last step of the order. They should at least have some filter when searching to see which items will really have the free shipping.

This along with the bad £->€ exchange rate is actually making buying locally more appealing.

foggy_lad

Zara Helpless Whim wrote: »

Only reading this now foggy. Called their Customer Service, you can arrange a call back via your account.

I actually had a call back this evening. Apparently a policy change for Irish customers. The agent knew the issue and said they had no further information. I mentioned the last example you posted and that the new policy didn't make sense. I could get free delivery by just ordering the items separately but he insisted this was their new policy for Irish customers.

I'd take all that with a pinch of salt to be honest. It would be a pity if this was in fact their new policy.

Regards

Their chat service staff told me earlier that it is due to one of the items being "sensitive" and it is that is why the order is split in two but that is bullcrap because I have made up orders with dozens of items of all types, mostly hardware/home-ware and the same thing is happening.

Once the free delivery limit of £25 is reached by one or more items then that item(s) are placed in one order with free delivery and any further items are placed in a separate order and this separate order will not get free delivery even if it is above the £25 limit!


Basically Amazon appear to be manipulating customer orders to deny customers the advertised free delivery that their orders are eligible for!

househero

The UK super saver del went up from £10 to £20 recently

Wouldn't be surprised if ours was changed too

foggy_lad

househero wrote: »

The UK super saver del went up from £10 to £20 recently

Wouldn't be surprised if ours was changed too

It appears that they screwed it up royally if it is not a deliberate policy!

They are now only giving free delivery on the first £25 of Irish orders!

pleasant Co.

Doing it deliberately seems unlikely, it's more reasonable to presume they've fucked up somewhere (can't even begin to fathom what a nightmare amazon's code must be when something unintended happens after a change).

Regardless, anything that makes it harder on the consumer and turns away sales is bad news for Amazon.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

Another call today and apparently it's a bug. *sigh* Come on Amazon. Get your act together.

nava

The only way I could find around that for my last few orders was by making separate orders, add items to each order to qualify for free delivery, straight after ordering go in to cancel the extra items, the order will still qualify for free shipping.

I tested only with sold by Amazon, not sure if it works on items fulfilled by Amazon.

jaymcg91

I ordered a bunch of stuff for €28 on Sunday and it got free super saver delivery so...it must be a bug.

There is no such thing as free delivery, Amazon subsidise the delivery cost, so if people were ordering stuff worth a tenner and getting free delivery, that would probably eliminate any profit made by Amazon, so will they care a great deal if people don't make cheap orders? Probably not. I'm sure people will argue against that but they have qualified people making these decisions who will have done their research and determined that the amount of orders lost because of this will be little enough to justify the cost savings.

donal.hunt

Had an order of 7-8 items split into 4 orders. Customer Support refunded the additional shipping cost because I should have been eligible.
And now 1 of the 8 items has arrived.

Not sure what amazon are up to right now but they better fix it soon. Not inclined to order anything from them if this is the experience this expect people to put up with.

TheChrisD

I just had this weirdness in my order I just put in. Had to get a replacement battery for the parent, and since I was making an order decided to throw in some jellies for myself too.

Problem is, despite the entire order being over £25, it wouldn't allow me to order a single £12 pair of tubs without charging me delivery for them. But, if I order two pairs - thus putting my total cost from that department over £20 - then the entire order is eligible and can be delivered at once?

dohouch

Yesterday I ordered from 2 different depts.

1. Dept. Kitchen & Home
2. Dept. Computers & Accessories

Including Irish VAT, total was £26.11 and I got free shipping
Delivery Information

1 X Braun MQ100 Hand Blender, 450 Watt, White/ Green
Sold by Amazon EU S.a.r.L.
£12.92

1 X Samsung Memory 32GB Evo MicroSDHC UHS-I Grade 1 Class 10 Memory Card with SD Adapter
Sold by Amazon EU S.a.r.L.
£8.31
___________________________________________________________________________

Item Subtotal: £21.23
Postage & Packing: £0.00
Total before VAT: £21.23
VAT: £4.88
Total: £26.11
EUR 37,28*

Paid by Mastercard: £26.11
EUR 37,28*

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

Try and put through the same order and add any item over 25GBP, bringing your total to 51+ GBP.
(obviously don't click to confirm the order)

The order will be split into two orders, one with and one without free delivery.

dohouch wrote: »

Yesterday I ordered from 2 different depts.

1. Dept. Kitchen & Home
2. Dept. Computers & Accessories

Including Irish VAT, total was £26.11 and I got free shipping
Delivery Information

1 X Braun MQ100 Hand Blender, 450 Watt, White/ Green
Sold by Amazon EU S.a.r.L.
£12.92

1 X Samsung Memory 32GB Evo MicroSDHC UHS-I Grade 1 Class 10 Memory Card with SD Adapter
Sold by Amazon EU S.a.r.L.
£8.31
___________________________________________________________________________

Item Subtotal: £21.23
Postage & Packing: £0.00
Total before VAT: £21.23
VAT: £4.88
Total: £26.11
EUR 37,28*

Paid by Mastercard: £26.11
EUR 37,28*

Buona Fortuna

Zara Helpless Whim wrote: »

Try and put through the same order and add any item over 25GBP, bringing your total to 51+ GBP.
(obviously don't click to confirm the order)

The order will be split into two orders, one with and one without free delivery.

Yep. I was getting that yesterday. Wanted to order season 2,3,4 of Game of Thrones. Season 4 is £25, but it split the order up to give half on free delivery and half to pay

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

Just to update the thread. Amazon have acknowledged there is a problem and are sending me updates every few days via email.

Any customer in Ireland that has placed an order for items that qualifying for the Free Super Saver Delivery, will get a full refund of the delivery charge. You can have the fees waived before the items shipped, or receive a refund after the items have shipped.

I have done this a few times now and requested a refund through their online chat for each order. On the last few occasions the agent appeared to know the about the problem and the refund was done immediately.

Edit: I really don't see how it's taking this long to correct the issue. I first contacted Amazon over six weeks ago.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

Lads, I would hope a bit of pressure from Irish customers would get them to fix this issue in a more timely manner.
Perhaps a few of you can contact Amazon?

@AmazonHelp on twitter

Email, Chat, Phone on the UK website. You'll need to sign into your account.

Twitter seems to be best contact medium. It's the twitter team that is sending me the regular email updates.

my3cents

Problem still exists, I'm going to resort to splitting up the orders and doubling up quantities of the orders to get the free Super Saver Delivery then going back and deleting the extra items before they are shipped. Rep I spoke to Online Chat told me it was a one off issue with the order and that sometimes these things happen.

Edit> Won't allow me to delete an item from an order and keep the Super Saver if it then takes the order below £25 so good by Amazon till they get this issue sorted.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

Another email this morning with a more positive update.

Apparently they have identified the issue and the "Program Platform Team" are putting a 'workaround' in place. We shall see soon I guess.

foggy_lad

Zara Helpless Whim wrote: »

Another email this morning with a more positive update.

Apparently they have identified the issue and the "Program Platform Team" are putting a 'workaround' in place. We shall see soon I guess.

Don't believe it till it actually happens! They told me it was because some of the items were electronics that required being sent on their own to protect them. I am currently returning 7 items that either were clearly used, not working, or arrived too late or the two hard drives that arrived with no packaging apart from a box and antistatic bags(unsealed). They must be clearing out the shelves at the moment!

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

Yup, I agree foggy lad. I must admit though, that out of the online retailers I use for work or personal purchases, Amazon always seem to trump the rest. Delivery and Returns have always been straight forward. (I never rely on Amazon delivery times)

I do try and use Irish online retailers if/when I can such as Elara etc.

It does infuriate me that no Irish online retailer offers next day delivery though.

foggy_lad

This scam is still going on with Amazon, they split my latest order which was three items, a rechargeable drill, a set of screwdriver bits and a magnet. They added over €7.50 onto the cost straight into their pockets until I got it back by wasting my time with customer care! had to threaten to ring up Ann Robinson before it was taken seriously!

They even had the bloody cheek to accuse me of placing two separate orders even after I had told them that their crappy system splits orders to scam us poor Paddys.

07:30 PM BST foggy_lad: I only placed one single order, Amazon made a mess of it!
07:30 PM BST amazon: I see that you've placed two different orders for the item.
Orders over £25 (including local VAT) qualify for FREE Super Saver Delivery to the Republic of Ireland.
07:30 PM BST foggy_lad: Why is my order split into two different orders so that i am charged for free delivery?
07:31 PM BST amazon: Because of which the free super saver delivery option was not applied for your orders and you've been charged 5.46GBP for order which includes Rolson 28290 Precision Screwdriver Set (31 Pieces) and Rolson 42460 Magnetiser / Demagnetiser.
07:31 PM BST foggy_lad: I ONLY PLACED 1 (ONE) SINGLE ORDER NOT TWO
07:31 PM BST amazon: I'm sorry about the misunderstanding foggy_lad.
07:31 PM BST foggy_lad: SORRY STILL COSTS PEOPLE MONEY
07:32 PM BST amazon: If the items are split, then also it will be in the same order.
And you'll be eligible for the free super saver delivery.
07:32 PM BST foggy_lad: WHY HAVE AMAZON MADE A MESS BY SPLITTTING MY ONE ORDER INTO TWO ORDERS???????
07:32 PM BST amazon: However, In this case, I'll make an one-time exception and will remove the shipping cost on your order.
I'm sorry about the trouble and misunderstanding foggy_lad.
07:33 PM BST amazon: I'll forward this to my concern team to look into this issue.
I've now removed EUR 7.99 delivery charge on your order.
07:33 PM BST foggy_lad: DONT MAKE ANY EXCEPTION ON MY BEHALF AS THIS IS A KNOWN ISSUE WITH THE AMAZON WEBSITE AND IF I HAVE TO CALL ANN ROBINSON PERSONALLY I WILL!

I don't want their one time exceptions for what they are blaming me the customer for! they can stick their exception into their forked up computer system!

jaymcg91

Goodness you were rude in that interaction. i'd be embarrassed to be you to be honest.

That poor customer service agent isn't putting the charges on personally, probably doesn't know anything about it, and was trying to help you with a matter they were probably seeing for the first time. And you responded like that.

Just wow.

foggy_lad

jaymcg91 wrote: »

Goodness you were rude in that interaction. i'd be embarrassed to be you to be honest.

That poor customer service agent isn't putting the charges on personally, probably doesn't know anything about it, and was trying to help you with a matter they were probably seeing for the first time. And you responded like that.

Just wow.

I explained what happened but rather than look at what I had typed they went on to tell me that I had done something wrong(when I had not) and that they would make a one time only exception and refund the post and packing, even though this issue is and has been well flagged on amazon before by myself and others.

Their system is screwing customers out of money and their poor customer care staff ignore what customers tell them and put the blame onto the customer straight away because they are reading off the screen instead of reading what the customer is telling them.

However, In this case, I'll make an one-time exception and will remove the shipping cost on your order.

I don't want their feigned Goodwill or charity I want what they advertised and what I have paid for! All staff should be aware that this is happening because it is happening so often. It was supposed to be fixed a few weeks ago but is not.

I would be seriously embarrassed to be working for a company that treats regular customers so poorly.

Rixuraxu

I had an issue similar last week when ordering a Tablet for my mother, it wouldn't combine both items for free shipping, but the really interesting part was the 2-day shipping was over 12 euro cheaper than standard.

Anyone who has to pay for shipping on their items should check if the 2-day price is better.

stronglikebull

I'm having the same issue at the moment, ordering a battery pack for a camera, and a remote trigger for the same camera. They're giving free shipping as an option on the battery, but not on the trigger. Both items are fulfilled by Amazon, so should get free shipping, but they are putting over €6 extra on it. I'm not paying that for no reason, not when they're going to ship them both together. At the final stage of checkout, both are dispatched by Amazon EU Sàrl.

foggy_lad

stronglikebull wrote: »

I'm having the same issue at the moment, ordering a battery pack for a camera, and a remote trigger for the same camera. They're giving free shipping as an option on the battery, but not on the trigger. Both items are fulfilled by Amazon, so should get free shipping, but they are putting over €6 extra on it. I'm not paying that for no reason, not when they're going to ship them both together. At the final stage of checkout, both are dispatched by Amazon EU Sàrl.

They probably won't believe you when you claim that their crappy computer system has turned your single order into two separate orders with two order numbers. They didn't believe me and were only refunding the P&P they took out of some false sense of goodwill!