Amazon.com Super Saver Shipping

[pritchettzoo]

I placed an order tonight (12th) and it won't even ship out until October 26th? I understand strapping it to the back of a decrepit turtle once it's out the door to save money, but 14 days to gather a couple of DVDs and a pop-up book? Is it designed to be a deterrent to using their free shipping? For me, it's working as a deterrent for using their site at all! If 24 Season 1 and Season 1 of the Simpsons weren't a complete steal for $14.99 each, I would have cancelled the order.

I know I'm looking a free horse in the mouth, but geez!

Anna

Edited for spelling.

[luvbeinmama]

Are you sure it isn't because one of the things you ordered is either new-not out yet, or out of stock for some reason? I've never had Amazon delay shipping for that long unless they are waiting for an item to come in. And I use Super Saver Shipping almost every time.

[Kate888]

The long waiting sucks! However, the only explaination I can think of is that one (or some) of your item isn't available immediately, so they have to wait in order to ship all of them in one shipment. I've beening using their free shipping forever and usually receive my stuff within 1 week. When placing an order, make sure that all items say "ship with in 24 hours" or "ship within 1-2 days", then your waiting time won't be too long. HTH :)




Kate
Mama to Maya 2-17-02 and Polo (my big black dog http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/dog.gif
and Baby #2 EDD 5/11/05 http://instagiber.net/smiliesdotcom/kao/otn/ptrose.gif

[cmo]

I've ordered a few times recently with the free shipping. Each time the order shipped out several days earlier than the date promised, and it was received early too. So there's hope! Of course it can vary depending on what you have ordered, and the warehouse it ships from, so results may vary. :-)

[amp]

Anna - As another person stated, several times I have found that my package usually ships out sooner than they say. Sometimes I even get it almost as quickly as if I hadn't done the super saver shipping. Keep yur fingers crossed for speedier delivery!

[brubeck]

I placed an order for 3 things the other day, including 2 BOGO games. One of the games is out of stock, and it will be instock in early November. However they already shipped the 2 other items, including the free game! Check your order history, it could be that they are shipping some of the items ahead of othe others.

[Raidra]

I think that with their free shipping, it isn't that they always use the slowest method. I think they have you pick the free shipping so they can use whatever happens to be the cheapest way for them to send it, depending on whatever deals they can get, you know?

So because they're not strapped into shipping it a certain way, they can get a better deal, and give you the shipping free.

Sometimes that means that your item comes sooner, and sometimes it doesn't.

[kitmama]

Actually, I'm also pretty peeved with Amazon right now. Several months ago I found a book I wanted on the site, but the estimated shipping time was a couple of weeks. No problem! I wasn't in a huge hurry. Well a month later they send me an e-mail to say it's delayed (really? couldn't tell) and would I please approve the delay. OK, I do so. The book description now has a longer estimated shipping time. A month and a half later I get the same e-mail. Enough already! I don't want it that much. I was a bit irritated but figured they had had an unforseen problem with the publisher or something.

Fast forward to last month. I'm shopping on Amazon for something else, and I see that the book I had wanted now has a two week estimate again. Great! They must have resolved the supply problem. So I add it to my order. Well the entire order is held up for a month waiting for that book, then they finally ship my other stuff and send me the "delayed" e-mail again asking for approval. No, thanks.

What bugs me isn't the "delay" so much as the false promise that Amazon can get the book in a timely manner. If you can't provide the book, then don't offer it!

But other than this, I have usually been satisfied with Amazon's free shipping. Hopefully your shipping estimate will prove to be a lot longer than the actual time it takes. . . but you never know!

[Marisa6826]

Same thing happened with us the last time we ordered a couple books and DVDs.

We determined that it was actually faster and cheaper in terms of convenience to pay for shipping instead. It took almost four full weeks for the stuff to get to us!!!

BTW, Costco has the Simpsons DVDs and they come with $5 coupons (or at least they were) for additional seasons. Trust me, Jonathan has ALL of them ;).

They may even have 24.

-m

[KYBelle1102]

Unfortunately, it's not that the items aren't available. It's a trade off that they do. You don't pay for shipping (Amazon eats that cost) and they basically put your order at the bottom of the stack to pull when they get around to it sometime within the next two weeks. That's the variable in the "When will it get to my house" equation. Once its out the distribution door, USPS or UPS will get it to you in the same time whether you paid the shipping or Amazon paid the shipping.

[alkagift]

I've also had that experience. FWIW, however, they shipped it earlier than they said they would. Here's hoping that Homer, Marge, Bart and Lisa are coming to your house soon!

What popup book did you get? My DS is currently in love with "Tails" which is very sturdy for a pop-up.

Allison
Mommy to Matthew Clayton, 5/19/03

[deborah_r]

Pardon if this is a repeat, I have not read other replies...I recently did super-saver shipping and was disappointed when I saw how long they said it would take, but I got the stuff a couple days later. I think maybe if they get backed up they will put your order on the back burner, but if not you will not see much delay.

[annex]

I do strongly believe Amazon lies about the availability of many of their products. I can't count the number of items I've ordered which say they are available to ship immediately, but once you finally process your order, the shipment date is several weeks in advance. It has nothing to do with choosing the free shipping or not. That should only affect the time from shipment to door. I know for stuff I wanted for holiday presents, I would wait a day or two after ordering with free shipping, then decide I couldn't wait, go back into the "not yet begun processing" order to pay for shipping, only to find the new ship date was even later than the one I was given originally! Very frustrating. They just aren't willing to admit up front they don't have immediate access to a product. It's now kind of a running joke in our family that the kids (mostly online shoppers) don't give holiday presents until February because that's when many Amazon items finally make it to their intended destination...

-Anne

[KrisM]

I just experienced this too. I placed an order on the 8th and was given a shipping date of the 13th. That's not as bad as yours, but it's longer than I was expecting. One item shipped on the 9th and the others are "shipping soon" according to Amazon - today is the 14th, which is later than their estimate. All of those items were listed as "usually ships in 24 hours", too.

I did check out the page on the free shipping. It does say that items will take an additional 3-5 days to ship. I think they're well past that for your order!

[Momof3Labs]

Amazon is kooky. Once I ordered some dipes for DH's niece's baby, and adding a gift message added TWO MONTHS to the estimated delivery date! So we skipped the gift message and sent her an e-mail instead!

[starrynight]

I wouldn't count on it taking that long. I ordered a sewing machine from amazon and it was free saver shipping. It told me I wouldn't get it for 3 weeks but it was so cheap and there was a rebate with it so I still ordered. I got it within 4 days!! I was shocked when it came that fast.

I'm not saying it will come that quick but it's still possible. I think they tell you the longest it will possibly take depending on filling up a truck that way but it doesn't always take that long. I have had this happen a few times.

[Melanie]

LOL...I detest Amazon. I once got an order I placed on December 10th (with a guaranteed receipt day of 21st, I think) IN JANUARY!!

[pritchettzoo]

the books look like crap! The edges on all the books are bent, and one of the covers is ripped near the spine.

And taking 13 days is a little ridiculous, IMO. All of the items were in stock and ready to ship at the time of purchase.

I placed an order with buy.com on the same night--free shipping and everything was here within 5 days and in perfect condition.

BOO, AMAZON! Now to find their 800 number and hopefully a human...

Anna

[cuca_]

Anna,

I recently bought some childrens books from Amazon, and one was defective. In case you are not able to reach a cs rep., there is an option through their website to print out a return label, so that you don't have to pay the shipping. I think you can access it if you pull up your order. Hope this makes sense.

HTH

Carmen
DD May 2003
#2 due on May 2005!

[cuca_]

Anna,

I recently bought some childrens books from Amazon, and one was defective. In case you are not able to reach a cs rep., there is an option through their website to print out a return label, so that you don't have to pay the shipping. I think you can access it if you pull up your order. Hope this makes sense.

HTH

Carmen
DD May 2003
#2 due on May 2005!