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Amazon Finally Pissed Me Off! (1 Viewer)

Bryan^H

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If you're buying "a ton", you're likely to qualify for free shipping at most any other online retailer, which I think is the only benefit of a Prime membership with regard to disc purchasing. I would go elsewhere. I find I'm buying more movies from Deep Discount and Best Buy these days than Amazon.

Yeah. My Prime membership renews in January--I hit the auto renew to "off".
 

David Norman

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Anyone else getting EXTREMELY pissed off at Amazon, and their Disney feud?

I have a ton of new releases in 4K, and standard BD I want to buy. On Amazon, they don't exist!
I don't buy a lot from them anymore, and when I need to make a purchase of a popular item, and take advantage of my Prime membership... they don't carry it.
Give me a break.

Hard to get PO'd at Amazon since I basically stopped using them for any disc purchases 5-6 yrs ago -- no self initiated sales and elimination of any post purchase price guarantees (even for unshipped items) in addition to the packaging issues. I guess I've missed their increasingly missed delivery dates other than reading about it in increasing number of threads. Very simple to use other dealers

I don't need same day delivery, I need safe delivery and some financial protection for hidden sales.

Best Buy and Barnes & Noble took up most of the slack with DD, Walmart, and several other smaller dealers like Bullmoose taking up the rest

DMC got most of the Disney business other than BBY exclusives.

Best Buy gets most of the mass market items,

B&N got almost all the Warner Archive, Sony MOD, Universal MOD, Shout, US Arrow, British TV and already had the Criterion sales.

TT-SAE/Kino I go direct.

Amazon still gets most of the EU/UK purchases other than ARROWUK and a few Zavvi exclusive, but mostly out of necessity

I am still a Prime member since it was a free trial, but almost exclusively for non Media and I'd drop that if I wasn't grandfathered into a plan which allows my kids use the shipping for Free -- I guess in a sense it's only $30 a year for me. They were in HS when it started, used it through College and grad School, and now using it as a cost saving measure to get themselves fully established. I might even feel a bit guilty if not for all the rest of the hamstringing Amazon has pulled over the last several years slowly removing perks and increasing the costs
 

Bryan^H

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Yeah, the price went up, but what perks have they removed? Retro price match? How many other merchants do that. Now I get free shipping and a pretty good streaming service. I think it’s a deal.

The streaming service is good. I give them that. But a big question that has been bugging me for years, and this may not be the place to ask.

How on earth is Amazon so profitable? Shipping isn't cheap, what my Prime membership costs annually is about 3, or 4 big packages to my door in under a month. The rest of the year they are operating at a loss with free shipping to me.

their streaming service shows, and content are sky high with prduction costs and streaming rights. Returns are easy, and costly, and...I honestly don't get it. Seems like a Prime membership should be at $300 annually for them to break even. What magic are they making?
 

David Norman

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What is financial protection for hidden sales?
Yeah, the price went up, but what perks have they removed? Retro price match? How many other merchants do that. Now I get free shipping and a pretty good streaming service. I think it’s a deal.

Any sort of post purchase guarantee, direct price matches, Release Day delivery on all Media Titles (now no Disney, Warner and Warner Archive are questionable, no Sony MOD, no Universal MOD, questionably on Kino and Shout) FS on all items (no Prime Add-on).

Best Buy (up to 45 days and a little past if you are a good customers), B&N (up to 30), Target (60+ with Redcard), Walmart (up to 90). Other than doorbuster and Black Friday I can pretty much call or go in to any of these for a refund often past their posted dates.

With Amazon it's 1 minute past the ability to cancel excluding Preorder guarantee which everyone pretty much has.
Last think I ordered dropped in price by 50% before it shipped, but unable to cancel. "Sorry -- can't help." Not a problem -- returned it on their dime by making up an excuse and ordered from BBY. They won't even Price Match a direct competitor anymore unless their algorithm decides to change their own price -- no problem, I just order from the store with the price to begin with.

I guess we'll see what happens tomorrow if Amazon matches B&N 22.50 price for David Tennant. Amazon has apparently added B&N to their "we'll consider it" price change, but those that have already ordered are out of luck unless you call and beg and have a lucky CSR.

I don't want or need another streaming service for $120 per year (or Kindle or Fire or Music or whatever other stuff I don't use). I want things I can use for a good price and now they add things I don't need, remove things I do need, and increase the price.

I've literally gotten more than $100 back from BBY in the last 4 months in price corrections mostly on items that Amazon don;t carry or that Amazon was more expensive to begin with, plus free 2 day shipping for basically using my Credit Card to pay the House and Car Insurance for the year plus they give me enhanced RZ points free
 
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TJPC

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My latest order arrived — Popeye vol. 3 and a CD. The Popeye Blu ray arrived in a very thin bubble envelope and had a smashed case. The CD arrived rattling around in a large box with two heavier items and had smashed spokes. I opened it and the CD immediately fell out! Of course I have extra replacement cases, but what a pain in the ass!
I contacted Amazon, and they are sending a replacement Blu ray.
 

Todd Erwin

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My latest order arrived — Popeye vol. 3 and a CD. The Popeye Blu ray arrived in a very thin bubble envelope and had a smashed case. The CD arrived rattling around in a large box with two heavier items and had smashed spokes. I opened it and the CD immediately fell out! Of course I have extra replacement cases, but what a pain in the ass!
I contacted Amazon, and they are sending a replacement Blu ray.
And Amazon will likely blame the carrier rather than the idiots at their fulfillment centers who do not know how to properly pack an order.
 

Malcolm R

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And Amazon will likely blame the carrier rather than the idiots at their fulfillment centers who do not know how to properly pack an order.
I think there's something to that as I receive discs in bubble envelopes all the time with no damage. Some local post office staff must be using the packages for break-time football games.
 

bmasters9

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I think there's something to that as I receive discs in bubble envelopes all the time with no damage. Some local post office staff must be using the packages for break-time football games.

And for that, they should be severely censured, maybe fired!
 

Malcolm R

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Most of the envelopes I've received lately from Amazon with discs are the plastic white/blue kind that say you can recycle them with your plastic shopping bags.
 

Sam Posten

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So they haven’t made an official announcement and when I search by address they deny it can happen, but for the last week half my deliveries have been same day. I ordered as late as 2pm and I got my packages by 9.
Love it
 

Clinton McClure

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How on earth is Amazon so profitable? Shipping isn't cheap, what my Prime membership costs annually is about 3, or 4 big packages to my door in under a month. The rest of the year they are operating at a loss with free shipping to me.
When you ship on the scale that Amazon does, you get a very hefty discount.
 

BobO'Link

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When you ship on the scale that Amazon does, you get a very hefty discount.
For the past 3 weeks 90% of my Amazon orders have been delivered by Amazon (or a contractor in an Amazon truck) with the others split between UPS and USPS (mostly Vine stuff from USPS) and have never left Amazon's control in their journey. They do *not* have a local depot but drive from the closest one ~75 miles away. I do not like them taking photos of my porch - I don't care if it does "prove" delivery (and they can place things on my porch where they can't be seen from the street - something UPS and USPS both do but has not been done by Amazon so far). I also used to get packages throughout the week. They've apparently transitioned everything but "2 day" to "Amazon Day" deliveries which can mean a huge stack when subscribe-and-save stuff starts arriving - something that rarely happened before Amazon took over most deliveries. I'm still not sure how well I like this as I had *zero* issues with packages delivered by the USPS.

I'd guess they spend far less running their own fleet than outsourcing shipping.
 

David Weicker

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I was reading on the Charmed HD FB page that Allied Vaughn specifically requested that non-Amazon retailers get all their stock first - before they provide any stock to Amazon.

Since Allied Vaughn also produces the WAC products, this may explain why Amazon in unable to provide Release Date service.

It makes me think that a lot of this anger that people have directed at Amazon is misplaced. If Amazon is not being given stock in a timely manner, it is not their fault that they can't ship it out.

I am not sure why this 'rift' is there, although the post on FB mentioned something about Burned discs being produced by both Amazon and Allied Vaughn in the past (so some competition for "-R" product).
 

Todd Erwin

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Saw this today on Prime Video and could not stop laughing.....
Tintin-Amazon Prime.jpg

I had no idea Johnny Carson, Ed McMahon and Doc Severinson provided voices for this movie!
 
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Chip_HT

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I find the concept of Amazon Day humorous.

Amazon claims they started Amazon Day in order to go "green" and decrease the amount of packaging they use. That's good, because I almost always order one item per order if I know I can get a $1 digital credit. More orders means more credits. Unless there's a sale dependent on ordering multiple items for a price break, there's no incentive for me to combine items into a single order. And a lot of times, Amazon will do that anyway (in theory). So I've been alternating between slow shipping and Amazon Day for whichever one provides the digital credit. I had 3 or 4 items due for Amazon Day this week, and not only did they all show up in separate packaging, they showed up at different times. Not to mention one of the items was a coloring book which was packed alone in a box that was 7.5 inches tall. I fail to see how they cut down on their carbon footprint in any aspect. (Not that I care about that, but if you're gonna tout that as a reason for doing something, maybe you should do it.)

A couple of months ago, I was looking to buy an album. I could get the MP3 version for $10, or the CD for $4. The CD also came with autorip, and a $1 digital credit for slow shipping. I still got the instant gratification of getting the music right away, but I basically saved $7, and then Amazon still had to go through the hassle of mailing me a disc.
 

Todd Erwin

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A couple of months ago, I was looking to buy an album. I could get the MP3 version for $10, or the CD for $4. The CD also came with autorip, and a $1 digital credit for slow shipping. I still got the instant gratification of getting the music right away, but I basically saved $7, and then Amazon still had to go through the hassle of mailing me a disc.
I've done that quite a bit. Boggles the mind.... I mean, even if you ditched CDs altogether, why would anyone opt for the digital version over the CD with AutoRip in that case?
 

Todd Erwin

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I find the concept of Amazon Day humorous.

Amazon claims they started Amazon Day in order to go "green" and decrease the amount of packaging they use. That's good, because I almost always order one item per order if I know I can get a $1 digital credit. More orders means more credits. Unless there's a sale dependent on ordering multiple items for a price break, there's no incentive for me to combine items into a single order. And a lot of times, Amazon will do that anyway (in theory). So I've been alternating between slow shipping and Amazon Day for whichever one provides the digital credit. I had 3 or 4 items due for Amazon Day this week, and not only did they all show up in separate packaging, they showed up at different times. Not to mention one of the items was a coloring book which was packed alone in a box that was 7.5 inches tall. I fail to see how they cut down on their carbon footprint in any aspect. (Not that I care about that, but if you're gonna tout that as a reason for doing something, maybe you should do it.)
In Amazon's defense, at this time of year, it is much more important to Amazon to meet or beat the delivery date than worry about reducing their carbon footprint, although they have included a webpage showing which shipping materials are recyclable and where they could be properly disposed of.
 

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