Amazon shipping very slow

The Raptor

I have been shopping on amazon for years and always thought they were pretty good. It used to take a day or two at most to pack items and despatch them. I would always get them within a week. But it has gotten very slow lately. And im now getting it in week two rather than the usual week.

Has anyone else noticed this and how slow they are to ship?

Special Circumstances

New experience for me. "Asendia" as carrier, from some European warehouse. Unbelievably slow, I'm picturing some kind of donkey based delivery system (Ass send it to ya). As you say, good experience previous to this.

Dispatched 22nd March. ... no sign of it so far...

Vote 4 Pedro

I just ordered a few small cheapish things together, this type of order usually guarantees slow delivery but I ordered them late on Saturday evening (2nd April) order page says expected delivery 14th April, but it's all here delivered today (6th April) so that's not bad at all.
Having said that they have been noticeably slow lately.

nompere

My most recent order (free delivery) was made on Sunday evening, 3 April, and arrived in Dun Laoghaire this morning. That's less than 72 hours. I'm not grumbling!

The Raptor

I made an order last Sunday and it still hasn't been despatched. Made another order on Tuesday and that's due for despatch today.

Neon_Lights

Just get in contact with Amazon customer service

Special Circumstances

Neon_Lights wrote: »

Just get in contact with Amazon customer service

My polite complaint message seems to have disappeared into the same alternative universe as my order.

scamalert

ordering of amazon all the time,and yes there is noticeable slow down over the last year or so,while never had issues with them and even last year had more then 5 separate items delivered withing 2 weeks,but not simple thing takes 1 week plus,since always opt for free delivery option,and yes most times it usually arrives days before its due date.

Only thing i can think off they might prioritize those who use next day or likes of amazon prime,since its extra revenue thus trying to steer more people to use extra paid services.

Other then that it also depends if you use couriers since once they get it it might add another 2-3 days to total delivery depending on routes and locations.where an post seems a tad faster.

Special Circumstances

So, my original order, dispatched 22 March has not arrived.
To their credit, Amazon customer service said - no problem, we will send a replacement asap. Have a look tomorrow in your orders and you will see the details of the replacement. Grand says I.

Drumroll please.....

Will dispatch? 18 April.
Current ETA? 27 April.

Not acceptable at all. Just gimme the money and I'll pay the extra to buy it bricks and mortar.

Speedwell

Order placed more than 48 hours ago is still showing "not yet dispatched" with ETA at least 10-12 days from now.

The Raptor

I made an order on the 3rd and 5th and they only shipped it yesterday after i got onto them.

Another part of the order and they asked me to cancel it and re-order again! Like that was going to hurry things along.

Something used to take two days to dispatch and now its over a week. Its a bit of a joke at this stage.

Speedwell

I just had a webchat with an Amazon rep and asked why it was taking so long for things to be dispatched. He said he talked to the fulfillment center and asked them to dispatch the order sooner. So I am guessing that things are placed in a priority queue and the fulfillment center is backed up at the moment. It must cost Amazon an arm and a leg to fix issues caused by late or missing or broken items. I just don't want to be labeled as a "problem customer".

The Raptor

Speedwell wrote: »

I just had a webchat with an Amazon rep and asked why it was taking so long for things to be dispatched. He said he talked to the fulfillment center and asked them to dispatch the order sooner. So I am guessing that things are placed in a priority queue and the fulfillment center is backed up at the moment. It must cost Amazon an arm and a leg to fix issues caused by late or missing or broken items. I just don't want to be labeled as a "problem customer".

Same here. I hate causing people any trouble and usually can wait. But what used to take two days to dispatch is now taking over a week which is beyond ridiculous. I'm due another order this Thursday but it still hasn't been dispatched.

Special Circumstances

Dispatch date for "in-stock" (LOL!) item pulled in from 7 days after order to 3days.
Only time will tell. Significant time. Ordering it from China by cheapest postage kinda time...

Speedwell

OK, I got some useful information out of a pleasant Amazon second-tier phone rep today after asking why it's taking four days for my order to make it from one side of the warehouse to the other (it hasn't shipped yet!).

Many or most of the items "fulfilled by Amazon" are not in an Amazon warehouse located in the UK. "Not yet dispatched" and "preparing for dispatch" then mean that some or all of the items in the order are in transit from a non-UK fulfillment center to the UK fulfillment center in preparation for gathering and shipping them together in one box (since most people will choose "ship my items in one shipment" instead of the more expensive "ship my items as they become available"). The entire order will show "dispatched" when all the items have been sorted, boxed, and shipped from the UK warehouse. Occasionally they choose to ship items separately anyway when you have a mixture of UK-warehouse items and non-UK-warehouse items, and will on rare occasions ship directly from the non-UK warehouse as well.

This mostly applies to items where the customer has selected free or standard shipping. If you select expedited or express shipping, then I think they ship immediately from the warehouse the fastest way. Prioritising shipping for customers who pay for priority shipping has been pretty much a universal standard since I can remember, so I have no particular issue with that.

The way to tell whether an item originates from a UK fulfillment location is to look at its item page (not the mention of it in the search results). If it says something like Want it delivered to Ireland by Monday, 18 Apr.? Order within 2 hrs 53 mins and choose Priority Delivery at checkout, then it is stocked in the UK. Otherwise the item is stocked outside the UK. I've been buying from Amazon for fifteen years here and in the US and I had no idea why some items had that and some didn't!

Incidentally there is an ongoing effort to find ways to make an Amazon Prime shipping program available to Ireland. They reportedly just can't find a good way to make it reliable enough.

Harry Palmr

Same here, April 25th for an item ordered on the 11th, okay its not an epic wait for something that is not critical but notably longer than anything I've previously ordered in the same way.

Speedwell

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Same here, April 25th for an item ordered on the 11th, okay its not an epic wait for something that is not critical but notably longer than anything I've previously ordered in the same way.

Do call and say it's starting to get ridiculous. The second-tier rep I talked to said that it's the only way they know there is a problem. Just ask to have your feedback passed on. The reps will be happy to do so since it means they won't have so many unpleasant interactions with rightfully irritated customers.

Special Circumstances

Speedwell wrote: »

Do call and say it's starting to get ridiculous. The second-tier rep I talked to said that it's the only way they know there is a problem. Just ask to have your feedback passed on. The reps will be happy to do so since it means they won't have so many unpleasant interactions with rightfully irritated customers.

This is 2016 and "call us on a phone and hang around on hold" is actually still their preferred option.

Call me hole, I sent a message. In fact I sent 2. Because the messages you send are not recorded or replied to in the "my messages" part of your account.

Speedwell

Special Circumstances wrote: »

This is 2016 and "call us on a phone and hang around on hold" is actually still their preferred option.

Call me hole, I sent a message. In fact I sent 2. Because the messages you send are not recorded or replied to in the "my messages" part of your account.

You can chat to a rep via webchat and request a transcript sent to your e-mail address. Other than that I don't know how they list calls in your account.

Special Circumstances

Speedwell wrote: »

You can chat to a rep via webchat and request a transcript sent to your e-mail address. Other than that I don't know how they list calls in your account.

Na I don't mean calls aren't logged in your account.

I mean - there is a "my messages" section in you account.
You send them a message. It will does not appear in the "sent" section of "my messages".
They respond by email. This response will never ever ever 50% of the time (just checked, still nothing in "sent" though) appear in any of the "received" tabs in "my messages".

You respond to them by email, again this is not linked to your actual account at all.

They deliberately make you hunt for any option to actually message them - there should be a "contact seller" option on every order summary, at least if it's "amazon" that is "dispatching" your order.


My "will dispatch 14 April" order has been "preparing for dispatch" for 5 hours now. That's some pep talk? party? they are giving it to prepare it for the journey.

Why can't they go back to the "order it monday, have it Friday" model? (from amazon themselves obviously -the third party sellers were always a fairly random experience)

ED E

Special Circumstances wrote: »

Why can't they go back to the "order it monday, have it Friday" model? (from amazon themselves obviously -the third party sellers were always a fairly random experience)

Living wage is gaining momentum in the UK...

whiterebel

As soon as Asendia get involved, it goes from 4-5 day transit time to 2 weeks. Next time I order, or I'm just going to cancel when they do that.

Special Circumstances

whiterebel wrote: »

As soon as Asendia get involved, it goes from 4-5 day transit time to 2 weeks. Next time I order, or I'm just going to cancel when they do that.

Asendia was my first order. I have no idea who's looking after my replacement order "sent as fast as possible" but they are still looking at about 2 weeks.

Gone to the dogs ha?!?!

anothernight

I can't say I've noticed any difference (UK). Is it only happening in Ireland? I have Prime but even when buying things where Prime isn't available, or they come from the US or whatever, items still arrive when I expect them to be here, and often earlier.

I've never even heard of Asendia though so maybe that's why I haven't had issues!


Also, I've looked at my recent orders and I noticed that their delivery tracking is actually wrong. Orders which I have already received still say "It's on the way".

Harry Palmr

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Same here, April 25th for an item ordered on the 11th, okay its not an epic wait for something that is not critical but notably longer than anything I've previously ordered in the same way.

Speedwell wrote: »

Do call and say it's starting to get ridiculous. The second-tier rep I talked to said that it's the only way they know there is a problem. Just ask to have your feedback passed on. The reps will be happy to do so since it means they won't have so many unpleasant interactions with rightfully irritated customers.

Just got an update - it's due by end of business today. Clearly Amazon were out of touch with themselves!

arrived at 2 PM. (UPS)

rubadub

I ordered on amazon on the morning 11th april, it said

Arriving:
Saturday, April 23 -
Tuesday, April 26

It was dispatched today and said

Arriving:
Tuesday, April 19

j4vier

Speedwell wrote:

I just had a webchat with an Amazon rep and asked why it was taking so long for things to be dispatched. He said he talked to the fulfillment center and asked them to dispatch the order sooner. So I am guessing that things are placed in a priority queue and the fulfillment center is backed up at the moment. It must cost Amazon an arm and a leg to fix issues caused by late or missing or broken items. I just don't want to be labeled as a "problem customer".

I think 'problem customers' are only those who return too many items therefore costing them money

Patty O Furniture

rubadub wrote: »

I ordered on amazon on the morning 11th april, it said

Arriving:
Saturday, April 23 -
Tuesday, April 26

It was dispatched today and said

Arriving:
Tuesday, April 19

Same here, i've had items expected to arrive after Xmas one year & arrived 3 days beforehand & it still said in my acc that it was waiting

The Raptor

I was asked to cancel an order and reorder it again to see if it would get despatched quicker as the original order seemed to have been stuck.

I wasn't going to as they probably would eventually ship it. But i got the item at a cheaper price by cancelling.

I made the order last week. It was meant to be despatched on Friday but instead they changed the order status to 'dispatching now' and sat on it until today. I have a delivery date for Wednesday which in the past, i have received things in two days. However, in the past i always got things a day or two before the due date. But i don't see that happening this time.

3 days waiting to get dispatched
2 days to dispatch
2 days delivery

I know i got free delivery but this whole process would normally take 5 days at most. I don't think i will be shopping here anymore. Or i might leave it a few months and see if they come begging, does Amazon do that?

Matthew Gleeson

Same experience here. 2 weeks for most things I've ordered in the last year plus. I stopped going to amazon cause the pound and shipping just wasnt worth it.

rubadub

rubadub wrote: »

I ordered on amazon on the morning 11th april, it said

Arriving:
Saturday, April 23 -
Tuesday, April 26

It was dispatched today and said

Arriving:
Tuesday, April 19

got this today. Thinking back I think most stuff came before the estimated date, I guess they think its wise to have people get it sooner and so have less negative feedback, and so estimate it might take longer than they really expect.

Special Circumstances

Getting very close now to 1 whole month to deliver 2 packages. Amazon assume "delivered to sorting office" = delivered to customer. Not the same thing at all guys. 9 (and counting) business days plus a weekend to deliver an "in stock" item as a fix for previous screw up. Very very poor.

techdiver

I have noticed delivery times are brutal over the last year or so.

There is a theory going around that they are deliberately sitting on orders that opt for free shipping in order t get more people to sign up to "Prime". Shipping time is never the issue (item usually arrive 2 days after shipping), it's the slow dispatch times, which is 100% down to Amazon themselves.

I have a good few pending orders at the moment and they first sit in a state of "Not yet dispatched" for a few days and then progress (if you can call it that), to "Preparing for Dispatch", which sits like that for another few days. It's a joke really. Over the last year with both Amazon UK and Germany I have had to contact them to get my orders shipped as nothing was happening.

It's a pity that Amazon is the only game in town when it come to on-line purchasing from a price (including delivery) standpoint.

Cabaal

techdiver wrote: »

There is a theory going around that they are deliberately sitting on orders that opt for free shipping in order t get more people to sign up to "Prime".

Of course this theory holds zero water when it comes to delivery to Ireland

traprunner

I ordered on Monday afternoon. The items were dispatched yesterday and arrived today. Excellent service. That was the free delivery option too!

techdiver

Cabaal wrote: »

Of course this theory holds zero water when it comes to delivery to Ireland

I don't understand why Ireland is a variable here.

Amazon only control delivery time based on when they dispatch the item. The theory claims that they are delaying the dispatch of items, which I am seeing over the last year or so. The actual transit times once given over to the postal service is no different than before.

techdiver

traprunner wrote: »

I ordered on Monday afternoon. The items were dispatched yesterday and arrived today. Excellent service. That was the free delivery option too!

3 separate orders last week, none of which have been even dispatched yet. This has been my experience with every order over the last 12 months, of which I have many.

Special Circumstances

techdiver wrote: »

I have noticed delivery times are brutal over the last year or so.

.....

Shipping time is never the issue (item usually arrive 2 days after shipping), it's the slow dispatch times, which is 100% down to Amazon themselves.

I beg to differ. I'm experiencing shocking slowdowns in both.

Now, the shipping address on my invoice is correct.... but is that what was put on the package by some random third party operating on behalf of Amazon EU sarl????

Very sick of this now.

techdiver

Special Circumstances wrote: »

I beg to differ. I'm experiencing shocking slowdowns in both.

Now, the shipping address on my invoice is correct.... but is that what was put on the package by some random third party operating on behalf of Amazon EU sarl????

Very sick of this now.

Ok, well I hadn't experienced that, but my point still stands regarding Amazon holding things up on their end by not dispatching items quickly enough.

traprunner

techdiver wrote: »

3 separate orders last week, none of which have been even dispatched yet. This has been my experience with every order over the last 12 months, of which I have many.

I presume it all depends on what fulfilment centre is being used and if there are multiple items in an order.

It could be that different centres may have the various items for the order and to save delivery cost they amalgamate the order and dispatch from the one location. This may cause in a dispatch delay.

I may have just been lucky that all items were coming from the one fulfilment centre.

ohnonotgmail

techdiver wrote: »

I don't understand why Ireland is a variable here.

Amazon only control delivery time based on when they dispatch the item. The theory claims that they are delaying the dispatch of items, which I am seeing over the last year or so. The actual transit times once given over to the postal service is no different than before.

Because the Prime service is not available to ireland. Why would they sit on orders to get people to sign up to a service that they dont offer to irish customers?

techdiver

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

Because the Prime service is not available to ireland. Why would they sit on orders to get people to sign up to a service that they dont offer to irish customers?

I would imagine that the warehouse operations just hand the packages off to the relevant postal service and they take it from there. The postal or courier service are responsible for routing packages. They (the warehouse), wouldn't care where the end destination is.

Hypothetical example: A notice from head office goes to all warehouses - "Sit on all non-prime or free deliveries for 2 days before dispatching".

As a side note, even without Prime, you can pay a premium for faster delivery and I imagine the attitude is that the free delivery was just as good so why pay for expedited delivery when it takes just as long.

BTW, I'm not the only one to notice this of late. There are countless threads elsewhere detailing the same dis-improved service over the last couple of years.

scamalert

I remember watching on youtube documentary of sorts,on working in amazon,and reviews on it wasn't great at all - lots of complains,underpaid,massive turnover's,long hours etc,think it was related more to US side,but wonder could that be internal issue globally.

Since share size of warehouses is measured in football fields,then depending on whos supervising and internal policies,you could have understaffed facilities,and if someone isn't in the mood to pick your order delays could happen instantly.

While we see such companies as top tier but when it comes to workers stories it seems more horror then pleasure to work in such places.And usually such stories are kept away from public.

Even recently was looking at new GPUs and in reviews there were warnings as someone found cards that looked completely the same yet price difference would be 200£ so buying used person would end up with crappy card while someone who returned it cashed in-thus returns policy works ok,but then lack of supervision indicates that whoever is responsible doesn't follow up on service their supposed to do.Of course this is all hypothetical stuff but evident that delivery dispatch times have increased,even thou spring/summer season is a lot quieter and usually more workers for summer jobs.

techdiver

My latest order:

Placed on Saturday 30th and I was amazed that I received the notification that my order had already shipped that evening! Happy days.. Or so I thought.

It turns out that the order didn't actually ship until Thursday. Still haven't received it yet.

Interestingly you cannot cancel an order once it has been ""shipped", so now they claim something is shipped, but actually didn't ship it for another 6 days!

rinleezwins

Speedwell wrote: »

Many or most of the items "fulfilled by Amazon" are not in an Amazon warehouse located in the UK. "Not yet dispatched" and "preparing for dispatch" then mean that some or all of the items in the order are in transit from a non-UK fulfillment center to the UK fulfillment center

If that's the case, then they're basically lying about their stock. If amazon.co.uk says "in stock" but the item is in Germany or wherever, it's just unacceptable.

scamalert

rinleezwins wrote: »

If that's the case, then they're basically lying about their stock. If amazon.co.uk says "in stock" but the item is in Germany or wherever, it's just unacceptable.

doesn't sound true, look at fullfilment center map:http://amazon-operations.co.uk/locations by the count theres 8 in UK ,so id rather believe that once order comes in its more due to location in UK part -since they could be bundling and most likely are packages to deliver to say another depo to add other packages since scale of logistics are more like AI work to calculate costs,stock,distances,expenses.

Simple example would be shipping large item from furthest point =expensive,bundle that with more orders to ship closer-cut costs.
Thus they wouldn't be lying per say,since on many items they have retailer themselves to handle them.

rinleezwins

scamalert wrote: »

doesn't sound true, look at fullfilment center map: by the count theres 8 in UK ,so id rather believe that once order comes in its more due to location in UK part -since they could be bundling and most likely are packages to deliver to say another depo to add other packages since scale of logistics are more like AI work to calculate costs,stock,distances,expenses.

Simple example would be shipping large item from furthest point =expensive,bundle that with more orders to ship closer-cut costs.
Thus they wouldn't be lying per say,since on many items they have retailer themselves to handle them.

That makes perfect sense, but people have been reporting that a single item order wasn't getting dispatched for several days.

scamalert

well i was interested to see amount of hubs myself so just thought it wouldn't be too far to think that way,as for dispatch times,dunno again could it be prioritizing-likes of amazon would be using every courier service be it DHL,UPS,RM,and any others,thus say they would pay premium to have them on site,where likes of regular mail would have collection dates,destinations and pickup times,say major haul of regular free shipping is done 2-3 times a week in bulk orders,thus someone working in warehouse would have priority list and could just prepare item,but until its due to be out its on standstill.

Guess someone who works/worked for amazon would know a lot more and in depth how things work.

My experience is as said before times estimated are usually way longer now,use free deliveries most the time,but from buying larger and more expensive items,i know while its being prepped it could be good few days,but once its out it goes fast.

Yggr of Asgard

rinleezwins wrote: »

That makes perfect sense, but people have been reporting that a single item order wasn't getting dispatched for several days.

I'm one of them, I ordered on Wednesday 04 May one item which was marked as Prime/Expedited shipping to PM in NI and was forecasted to be delivered 05 to 06 May.

It was only dispatched on Saturday 07 May according to Amazon, but in reality not handed over to Royal Mail until Monday 09 May and just delivered this morning.

ED E

I used premium shipping for one of two items last week, both arrived in stellar time even though the second was regular 2wks snail mail. Premium wasnt an option for the second item and yet it arrive a single day behind. Suggests dispatch time vs transit time plays a big role.

scamalert

Strange thing ordered item of amazon and it went out this monday,rcvd today has amazon prime sticker over the box,but went to check my amazon acc just in case,and it says not prime member.
Also last week had item ordered of amazon that came within 3 days-not sent by amazon thou but seems whatever complications were it got faster or is is just me ?