Amazon Prime sucks massive donkey balls

[dlockers]

just after 11 I noticed I was 1 stop away, for about an hour and a half the driver has been going up and down side streets in a loop, occasionally parking in cul de sacs, and with no progress still 1 stop away.

Delivery systems really need a way for customer to contact driver to ask them what they playing at. Just now he has entered another cul de sac presumably to park up in and have another break or something.

 

[chrcoluk]

You'd still be in a similar situation with people in a call centre ringing the driver asking when are you going to delivery 123 Baker Street. But in reality (A) Amazon won't pay for the kind of customer service and (B) It would slow the deliveries down.

I used to occasionally get rung by my manager at Royal Mail asking when I'd be delivering a parcel as the customer had rung the office asking as they had to go out, or that it wasn't exactly delivered on the dot when the time said (even though it's an estimated hour or two delivery slot, some still expected it at the start of that time slot). You multiple that by potentially hundreds of times per day, it would cost more in both time and money, thus never going to happen in the real world.

I can see the frustration from a customer side, but also why it's not feasible from delivery side as it would be abused and costly to intervene.

No the call centre would filter it out, Amazon initially tried to fob me off with "by end of day", I then explained driver was going up and down a street for an hour, then they understood thats not normal and intervened, my query wasnt a basic when will he get here.

Without intervention, drivers have a free run to do things like pretending to attempt delivery.

 

[jpaul]

why would they pretend to attempt to deliver

even in a small town you see there vans trying to find somewhere convenient/legal to park especially at busy times of the day,
which I don't think any piece of optimal route planning software could deal with, not even sure their software provides super accurate address co-ordinates,
and that they don't need to search visibly for door numbers, that can be discrete.

can imagine they may abandon an address and try later when coming back along the road.

 

[Rroff]

At the very least though there should be a call centre someone can ring who has the power to reach the driver, in the end amazon handled it ok, but other couriers they are more aggressively preventing intervention on the day. I have even had DPD claim they have no way to get hold of the driver implying a refusal to intervene on the day and instead the stupid "we try again tomorrow".

DPD has all kinds of policies and prohibitions on contacting the driver and/or making changes to delivery instructions along with customer service staff who don't seem to have much common sense - ironically the AI chat can actually understand most issues faster and seems to have resolution paths the human agents don't seem to have...

I had one recently where part of the address was in the wrong order causing delivery failures which any half switched on driver let alone customer service should have been able to figure out but it was like banging my head against a brick wall - in the end resorted to the AI chat and it immediately figured it out...... and even prompted the correct resolution ahead of me asking.

 

[Gazanimal]

No the call centre would filter it out, Amazon initially tried to fob me off with "by end of day", I then explained driver was going up and down a street for an hour, then they understood thats not normal and intervened, my query wasnt a basic when will he get here.

Without intervention, drivers have a free run to do things like pretending to attempt delivery.

There's never any need to not attempt a delivery. If they miss the delivery by mistake, that's understandable, but with their route system, that would be nearly impossible.
Delivery people generally want to deliver the item as it means they meet their quotas and company expectations and in some cases they get paid per item.

It's bad enough being tracked whilst working, your every move scrutinised, never mind having unreasonable expectations from the consumer (not saying you are btw), but that's how it snowballs.

Over 13 years I got asked hundreds of times by the public when they'd get a parcel as they'd come looking for you, if you were on their round. Worst still was when you were trying to take a break as people think you're a robot and shouldn't stop until you're whole van of parcels and letters are delivered.
I think, when you've never done a delivery job it's difficult to have empathy towards what it entails and how pressurised you are and the further the public can be away from contacting the driver the better. Although a message to a CS call centre wouldn't be totally heinous.

The PDA's most companies use aren't infallible either. Once mine showed me in a different town and my boss asked how it was there (tracking my activity), so I sent him a photo of me on a street in the town where I was with my van partner, so the accuracy of "live tracking" is to be taken with a pinch of salt too.

 

[Avalon]

Currently doing the weekly Prime dance, account is in wife's name, she's eligible for a student account as she's going back into HE, she submits proof, they agree, then cancel a week later. We've literally done this dance every week for 8 weeks and Amazon are useless every time.

 

[arknor]

No the call centre would filter it out, Amazon initially tried to fob me off with "by end of day", I then explained driver was going up and down a street for an hour, then they understood thats not normal and intervened, my query wasnt a basic when will he get here.

They will give the package if you go to the van and say what it is, then let them take a photo of the order on your phone
I've done it a few times for larger items like a Miele vacuum and a dell ultrawide monitor, so it's not like they only let people do it for cheap small items

or just when I don't want to wait for a knock I'll go and wait for them at the van

 

[chrcoluk]

There's never any need to not attempt a delivery. If they miss the delivery by mistake, that's understandable, but with their route system, that would be nearly impossible.
Delivery people generally want to deliver the item as it means they meet their quotas and company expectations and in some cases they get paid per item.

It's bad enough being tracked whilst working, your every move scrutinised, never mind having unreasonable expectations from the consumer (not saying you are btw), but that's how it snowballs.

Over 13 years I got asked hundreds of times by the public when they'd get a parcel as they'd come looking for you, if you were on their round. Worst still was when you were trying to take a break as people think you're a robot and shouldn't stop until you're whole van of parcels and letters are delivered.
I think, when you've never done a delivery job it's difficult to have empathy towards what it entails and how pressurised you are and the further the public can be away from contacting the driver the better. Although a message to a CS call centre wouldn't be totally heinous.

The PDA's most companies use aren't infallible either. Once mine showed me in a different town and my boss asked how it was there (tracking my activity), so I sent him a photo of me on a street in the town where I was with my van partner, so the accuracy of "live tracking" is to be taken with a pinch of salt too.

It happens, the need will be the driver is behind schedule, they dont want to be working until late evening, so they skip the more difficult to get to properties, I expect its much more likely for customers near end of route, just mark it as customer not answered, I probably am victim to at least half a dozen times of the year, claims I dont answer when I am sitting a few metres from my front door.

 

[chrcoluk]

They will give the package if you go to the van and say what it is, then let them take a photo of the order on your phone
I've done it a few times for larger items like a Miele vacuum and a dell ultrawide monitor, so it's not like they only let people do it for cheap small items

or just when I don't want to wait for a knock I'll go and wait for them at the van

If I drive, I would have done that. I have read of other people doing it as well, typically when a driver marks you as not in, they then hunt the driver down to get their parcel.

Multiple people have reported a van driving up, driver doesnt get out, status changes to unable to deliver try again tomorrow, then van drives off.

 

[Gazanimal]

Welcome to the race to the bottom when it's all about profit margins. Pressure is applied and corners get cut to meet quotas and targets.

 

[jpaul]

if they arrive and there is a big sign saying beware of the dog - maybe then they give up for the day/CBA, otherwise what's the rational not to deliver.