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UK based here as well and I'm not renewing Prime this year. Apropos fake stuff and fake reviews, I won't buy anything of value from Amazon now, I can't be sure
by teh_klev 9y ago
UK based here as well and I'm not renewing Prime this year.
Apropos fake stuff and fake reviews, I won't buy anything of value from Amazon now, I can't be sure any more that I'm not going to receive a counterfeit. I'm in the market right now for a couple of new electronic gadgets, but I'll just get them from Halfords and PC World, their prices aren't that different from Amazon's.
My other annoyances...
Over the past few months I've noticed their so called "Next Day" delivery randomly isn't really that. For example this week I ordered a thing that was eligible for Prime next day. It was on Tuesday and I was well within the cut off time (by 7 hours or so). Oddly that item then showed as "Get it by Thursday" which is not Next Day. I thought it was specifically that seller or product that perhaps had ran out of stock. But no, every Prime eligible SKU was showing as "Get it by Thursday".
Upon querying this with Amazon they said: "One day delivery starts as soon as the item is marked as dispatched. We will aim to have your item with you in One day."I didn't have the energy to point out that the previous Tuesday all their Prime eligible SKU's were showing as "Get it by Wednesday" i.e actually and really next day.
They seem to vary this throughout the year to suit themselves. I did order the product though and on Wednesday I got notification that the item was dispatched and out for delivery. Sadly it didn't turn up and when I checked the parcel tracking sure enough it'd been bounced back to an expected delivery of Thursday again.
Another annoyance are these "Add On" SKU's (for example cleaning products) where there is simply no way to order these products without spending say a minimum of 20 quid on other stuff. Some marketplace resellers seem to game this by stocking these SKU's but the delivery price is almost as much as the SKU itself. No thanks, I'll just get these from the supermarket next week when I drive into town (I live in a rural area so having stuff delivered makes sense to me).
I also have an ethical problem with the seemingly ridiculous workloads, hours and low pay their delivery drivers have put upon them, I'd rather not fund these abuses. I know for a fact the that the usual fella that delivers to me is doing at least a 10-11 hour day, and that's screwed up.
So anyway, I don't really order enough "new" stuff to make the Prime next day worthwhile, and tbh I can easily wait a couple of days for an order to arrive. I also tend to only order books these days, and will hold out until I can get a decent used copy at a fraction of the new price.
The other thing that's deeply annoying are these add-on channels where you need to pay a monthly subscription for, on top of Prime. Films/TV that you could previously pay for are being silo'd into these channels with no option to just pay for the film itself. Sure I could run with the 10-14 day free trial, but that soon gets old.
Finally there simply isn't enough compelling "included with prime" video that interests me.
- pbhjpbhj 9y agoIn the UK the maximum average hours for a driver under the GB rules is 48 hours (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/drivers-hours-goods-vehicles/annex-2-working-time-rules; https://www.gov.uk/guidance/drivers-hours-goods-vehicles/ann... 5.6 weeks leave too). IIUC the maximum driving time in 24 hours is 10 hours, and the maximum duty time is 11 hours. (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/drivers-hours-goods-vehicles/2-great-britain-domestic-rules https://www.gov.uk/guidance/drivers-hours-goods-vehicles/2-g...)
- teh_klev 9y agoOh sure, but it's the wage earned for those hours worked after expenses I have a problem with. And aren't there penalties if the drivers simply cannot complete their delivery runs?
- jdietrich 9y agoNobody is checking. They're in private cars and small vans, so they aren't on a tachograph. They're technically self-employed subcontractors, so Amazon has no statutory duty to monitor driving hours. IIRC they're paid per drop rather than per hour. I have no doubt that a significant proportion of couriers are habitually working unsafe hours. In my neck of the woods at least, couriers working for Amazon or Hermes are overwhelmingly a) Eastern Europeans who look chronically sleep deprived or b) semi-retired Brits doing it for a bit of extra cash.
- pbhjpbhj 9y agoThis seems like something, in the EU, that will come back and bite Amazon. They surely know the length of work hours and whether "adequate breaks" are being provided - or don't they manage the final mile logistics? Also the legislation about claiming people aren't working for you seems much tighter now.
- tomatocracy 9y agoThere are no EU level regulations on drivers hours for vans, bikes etc, only for lorries (and those have enforcement problems in parts of Eastern Europe which means rogue operators are effectively free to operate across the EU with individual countries unable to take action). There are GB regulations (which stipulate among other things max 10 hrs per day) but these are not practically enforcable on self employed drivers as there are no tachograph requirements etc.