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When friends fall out


lozkerr
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Anyone else had strange experiences with Amazon tracking? I'm beginning to wonder if Amazon and Parcelforce are having a bit of a handbag moment.

Twice in the last few weeks, I've had some weird and self-contradictory notifications from Amazon. The first was when I bought a Stagg EUB case from Germany. The delivery dates kept changing - first it was in the UK, then it wasn't, then it was going to be delivered on a Saturday, then it didn't turn up, then radio silence and then it eventually arrived the following week. No delivery notification from Amazon.

A similar thing's happened today. I bought a couple of bits off Amazon last week - nothing hugely valuable, just a multi-region DVD player and XLR to 1/4" jack adapter - and after the initial emailed order notification, nothing. Tracking it on Amazon showed it was out for delivery for collection from my local post office and should arrive by 8pm last night. When I checked this morning, it was showing as having been delivered on Saturday. Clicking 'track package' brought up a notification that delivery had failed, Parcelforce were hanging onto it and could I please phone them.

Well, the Parcelforce depot is miles away and the post office is just round the corner so I wandered down there. And there it was - arrived on Saturday.

Has anyone else encountered this? It sounds like something's broken, or they've outsourced IT support to Track and Trace. 

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I've also had problems with parcels not delivered by Amazon, with weird tracking info saying that they had been delivered or attempted delivery when they had not. Or just not delivered at all. Unless it's something that is unavailable by any other method, I won't be ordering anything else from Amazon unless it is supplied and delivered by them.

Also the real-time tracking is weird since it only appears to work for Amazon deliveries and only on the app, not on the website...

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Slight variation here:

Had to return a parcel to Amazon (warped copy of Forever Changes!) and did so via their recommended Hermes "print label instore service". A few days later it still wasn't showing as returned on my Amazon account...

Hermes tracker didn't recognize the number. Their online help bot was a Kafka-esque triumph of rigid adherence to rules over utility. The automated phoneline was even worse in that it simply wasn't set up to take an 8-digit tracking number and got stuck in an endless loop requesting me to re-enter it.

Amazon's online chat widget confirmed that the package had been delivered to their depot and that a refund would be forthcoming. 24 hours later it's still showing as outstandng on my account.

I think between demand, outsourcing and general don't-give-a-fûckery, anything that isn't a simple drop has the potential to be incredibly problematic at the moment.

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I've ordered a CD from an Amazon seller ie not direct. 1st attempt appears to be "running late and may have been lost", 2nd attempt posted 4 days ago with no tracking info and no ETA.

Aside from that, I'm trying to wean myself away from Amazon and focus on independent purveyors of books and music. Personal service is still out there even for "online" purchases.

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Currently waiting for delivery of an item from eBay. Posted via Royal Mail. It should have arrived by yesterday (which was at the back end of a 4-day delivery window), but when I checked the tracking system it came up as 'item in transit' but gave no indication as to current location. By my count it has been 'in transit' from a UK address for a little over 2 days. I have contacted the seller and am currently awaiting an update.

I see no point in getting overly stressed about it at this stage (especially given the current situation), but if the item doesn't arrive in the next day or two I'm going to start getting a bit uppity. It's not an expensive or critical item but it's a bit frustrating all the same, especially as we've made sure at least one of us is in at all times to take delivery.

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On 27/10/2020 at 21:56, howdenspur said:

I've ordered a CD from an Amazon seller ie not direct. 1st attempt appears to be "running late and may have been lost", 2nd attempt posted 4 days ago with no tracking info and no ETA.

Aside from that, I'm trying to wean myself away from Amazon and focus on independent purveyors of books and music. Personal service is still out there even for "online" purchases.

Arrived today - Royal Mail👍

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Had an item ordered on ebay with 48 hour Royal Mail Tracking. At 1.05 pm on the designated day I get a message from RM saying it had been delivered. Checked outside and nothing. Rembered that Postie has a hand held machine that scans the item so assumed they had scanned all the items for scanning earlier and it would be along with the snail mail stuff. 30 mins later the snail mail comes through the letter box but not the scanned item. Check with Postie the next day who said they definitely did not have a 48 Hour Track and Trace item for me yesterday nor today.  Went back to the sender who has filed a claim with Royal Mail but I had to reorder item so £26 down at the moment....

So either it was misdelivered  which is unlikely ( 10 houses on my road, Postie knows my name and it came up delivered 30 minutes before my other post), there is a computer glitch, or Postie is currently enjoying 500 gms of D-Ribose powder! Oh, and the package for the re-ordered stuff arrived as scheduled and through the letterbox too.

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On 27/10/2020 at 17:24, BigRedX said:

I've also had problems with parcels not delivered by Amazon, with weird tracking info saying that they had been delivered or attempted delivery when they had not. Or just not delivered at all. Unless it's something that is unavailable by any other method, I won't be ordering anything else from Amazon unless it is supplied and delivered by them.

Also the real-time tracking is weird since it only appears to work for Amazon deliveries and only on the app, not on the website...

I'm glad it's not just me, although that doesn't help you any. It does sound like something's broken recently, as up until the last few weeks I'd been getting stuff regularly off Amazon. Mainly DVDs, CDs and music books, plus a few wee bits and pieces for our lighting rig. Up until the business with the EUB case, it was working really well. I'm a bit concerned, as I need to sort out my kids' Christmas presents in the next few weeks.

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17 hours ago, Baxlin said:

I’m waiting for an eBay item (supposedly) dispatched on the 21st via Hermes 48hr courier.  Hopefully arriving tomorrow?

Update...

Checked on Hermes site this morning, it says they are still wailing for it from the seller -  emailed the seller, who still says dispatched on 21st, and that the Hermes’ site is wrong (or the inference they’ve lost it?).

Fortunately it’s not urgent, so I can wait a few more days.

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