Should I send a letter to Amazon?

[nachonaco]

Here's the sitch.

I pre-ordered (both orders a month in advance) Princess and the Frog and Toy Story 1 and 2 on Blu-ray.

I live three hours away from one of their distribution centers.

When I say 'pre-order' I believe it is a reasonable expectation to receive the item the day of release.

Why does Amazon refuse to use this process? I have made book preorders in the past and have had them on the day of, but not this time.

I use Amazon because they are cheaper. And, so I thought, 'reliable'.

I do not think it is a good business practice to advertise pre-orders and then leave the buyer assuming they will get it the day of.

Yes, I used standard shipping.

Maybe that's my fault.

But I don't think I'm being unreasonable here. So should I send them a lette,r do you think?

[Daxdiv]

Let me ask, did you see an option that ask for them to be bundled together, or to ship separately when they became available? Cause I have feeling that you probably asked them to bundle it to reduce outgoing packages on their end.

[sdp]

You are being extremely unreasonable, pre-order doesn't guarantee you'll get the item on release day, only that you are guaranteed the item in case it sells out. The only way you could have expected it on release day is if you payed for next day shipping which you did not. And even with standard free shipping I've gotten some games I've ordered on release date, not always but a few times so they do try their best. Again they never guarantee that unless you select next-day shipping but they do try to have it to your house by release date even if it wasn't.

And Cheaper does not equal reliable, with that said Amazon is extremely reliable and the best retailer both off and online.

[ABrown]

Amazon is extremely reliable and the best retailer both off and online

Agreed. I'm a long time amazon customer. Anytime that I've ever had anything the least bit wrong with an order, amazon has rectified the problem. As far as getting an item the day that it's released, I don't know. Anytime that there's ever been an item that I was going to purchase the day that it was released, I've gone and purchased it at Target/Walmart/etc. I always assumed that the item wouldn't ship until the day that the item is released.

[defunctzombie]

When you say standard, does that mean you paid for shipping? Because from my experience (I'm an hour away from one of their centers), free shipping goes whenever the hell they want it to go. I had a package once where they issued a tracking number but then didn't ship it for a week after.

[nachonaco]

Just their normal shipping, I guess.

What makes me mad too, is that it takes 5 days for a shipment to get from point A (their distrib center) to B (my house), which is a three hour distance.

[dendawg]

Your complaint lies with the shipping company. Not Amazon. They have no control over what happens when the package goes to the shipping company.

[Beat]

Yeah, pretty much that. Although if you don't want Amazon to use said shipping company, or at least complain to them, you might want to send the letter to them.

[nachonaco]

Thanks.

I have no idae how to lodge a complaint with the US Postal Service, though, heheheh.

[Barroll Roll]

You probably had to request 2-Day shipping, even thoguh it was a pre-order. From what i've read, amazon is generally reliable with shipping dates, sometimes people getting dvds/games earlier than their street date

[Michael24]

What makes me mad too, is that it takes 5 days for a shipment to get from point A (their distrib center) to B (my house), which is a three hour distance.
That's just how the mail works I'm afraid. It has to go through the shipping company first, which might be further away. Whenever I've ordered something from Amazon, for instance, it comes from Northern California and actually gets shipped to a town south of me because that's where the shipping company's nearest distribution center is. Then from there it makes its way to my house, usually within a day or so.

I've never pre-ordered anything from Amazon (anything new I want I will just buy on release date in a store), but even if I did, I wouldn't expect that to mean it would ship a few days early and arrive at my house on the actual release date.

[HellCat]

At some places, a pre-order doesn't even mean you'll get it. The site I buy my model kits from is known for ocassionly telling pre-orders 'sorry, no goods for you', even after having accepted the order.

With regards to Amazon specifically, I think only really big deals (like the Harry Potter books) tend to get a 'you will have it day of release' promise. Most places instead either ship it a few days early or on day of release. Amazon US in particular tend to send stuff the weekend before.

[cohenmarioman]

Just use the contact seller (in this case Amazon) and they will refund your entire shipping price. Got me out of a jam when they took 2 weeks to deliver on Expediated shipping. Got my 10 bucks back, twice. I am sure you can too. If you are a Prime member, I think your emails go through faster, or are looked at faster.

[Tay the Cat]

That's just how the mail works I'm afraid. It has to go through the shipping company first, which might be further away. Whenever I've ordered something from Amazon, for instance, it comes from Northern California and actually gets shipped to a town south of me because that's where the shipping company's nearest distribution center is. Then from there it makes its way to my house, usually within a day or so.

I've never pre-ordered anything from Amazon (anything new I want I will just buy on release date in a store), but even if I did, I wouldn't expect that to mean it would ship a few days early and arrive at my house on the actual release date.
Basically this right here.

I've never used Amazon but I've preordered stuff from Best Buy, who does shipping the same way Amazon does. On average I received the products about a week after they were released.

[Temple Fugate]

Typically items I've preordered take three to five days to be delivered past the release date. This I have no problem with because A) Some of the items I can't get from local stores and B) The prices are ridiculously cheap and the shipping is free.

And mail distribution is inconvenient at times, but it's all there is. Sure, Amazon could send one of their own vehicles directly to your house so you can have the item faster, but if they did that for everybody that would be a ridiculous burden on the company and you would probably see a higher price because of it. (They'd need to buy their own delivery trucks, for one.)

Maybe you could write/call Amazon and ask if you could just go to their distribution center and pick your order up yourself. They might not allow that, though.