WTF?!

[wordinista]

Okay, so I'm hunkered down at the 'puter, doing a little early holiday shopping.  I want to take advantage of Amazon's "super saver" shipping, which usually takes  a little longer, but is free, so it's kind of worth it.  And it's, like, a month before Christmas, and that's really good for me, because I procrastinate liek whoa.

So, I get to the checkout, and see that my purchases will not ship UNTIL JANUARY, because I live in an area "affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma."

WTFH?

Uh, no?  I don't?  And Hurricane Wilma?  Uh... as far as I can tell, the worst of that hit way south of where I am.

So, what, I can't do my shopping on Amazon now?  At least 80% of my shopping is going to be done on Amazon.  WHAT THE HELL?

I sent them an email to see how "accurate" this shipping date is, because if my stuff isn't going to ship -- isn't going to leave their warehouse till January 9th, I've got to start looking elsewhere.

Damn it.

So, yeah -- anyone who lives somewhere that even got a taste of Katrina or Wilma, and you're expecting to do some Amazon shopping, you might want to check that out, because... yeah.  A problem.

EDIT: Oh, jeez. This is going to be interesting.

I sent the following email to Amazon's customer service:

I'm trying to get my Christmas shopping done early, and
am noticing that my chosen items will not ship until well after
Christmas. I live in Florida, but any damage done by Hurricane Katrina and
Wilma was done far south of us.

My zip code is not in the "areas affected" list, but your shipment
estimate isn't until the first week of January. I've had planned on doing
80% of my shopping on your site, so this will pose a problem, since I'm not
sure where else to find most of the items I wish to purchase.

Before I place my holiday order, I would like to know how accurate
this shipping estimate is. I realize that an estimate is just that --
an estimate, but if my Christmas shopping isn't due to ship until
after Christmas, I'm afraid I can't continue my holiday shopping with
Amazon.

Thanks for your time,
Teh Bunneh

And just got this reply:

I'm very sorry, but I was unable to determine what type of assistance you need from the content of your e-mail message.

We would be very happy to serve you if you could write back to us with more info regarding the item you wish to purchase.

*headdesk*

(And, yes, I made sure to send it to the right department to begin with.)

So I wrote back:

I don't need help finding a product to purchase. I have a shopping cart full of goods. My difficulty lies in the fact that it looks like nothing I purchase will arrive in time for Christmas, even if I buy it a month in advance.

My zip code is XXXXX, and while it is not one of the zip codes listed in areas affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma, the estimated date of shipment lies between January 3 and January 9, 2006. I cannot do my holiday shopping at Amazon if my purchases arrive after the holidays. That's why I started my shopping on November 29 -- so purchases arrive in time.

Could you please tell me just how accurate your "estimated date of shipment" is?

Thank you,
Teh Bunneh

Hopefully this is clear enough. We shall see.

Comments

[hyanan.livejournal.com]

I ordered some stuff recently over Turkey Day week and some of it's arrived already (I'm in Tampa). However, some of the books I ordered that aren't out until Dec. 6 or so said that they wouldn't make it here before Xmas...same deal...not until after Jan. 1. Sounds more like an order fulfillment issue to me.

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

But EVERYTHING I tried to order said it wouldn't ship until January 3rd. Abso-frickin-lutely everything in my cart. The stuff I want to buy can't be THAT popular -- besides, it's all in-stock.

[merith.livejournal.com]

it has me believe that they have a contents scanner that picks out key elements of your email and forwards it to the proper department. if enough hits on key words aren't met, it will generate an auto-response email for more info... if rejected a couple of times, then it most likely will be sent to a "catch-all" desk.

i know electronic devices like that are there to help, and generally do, but sometimes they're more of a headache than having someone handle your email directly would have ever been -- even if they had to pass it off to someone else who could answer the question.

[hyanan.livejournal.com]

I just tried changing my shipping preference to 2-day to see what it would do and then flipped it back to super-saver/one shipment and the delivery estimate is now Dec. 8. ??? I placed the order on Nov. 19.

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

...they're all messed up, man.

*Sighs*

[http://users.livejournal.com/mikky_/]

I won't even start mine...

Some of the books of my cart cannot be shipped internationally (I live in Brazil), and for their system, I can't figure out which... I'm kinda disappointed... T____T

[emrlddragon.livejournal.com]

*rereads the letter* I'm not sure what part of that is unclear...

So glade I have most of my shopping done.

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

I finally managed to track down the Amazon customer service phone number and got to speak to a real, live PERSON. Of course, that was frustrating as well, because it took a while for me to explain the problem to her as well. I got it squared away, though -- apparently I had one item in my cart that wouldn't be available for four weeks, and the delivery date was based on that. I deleted the item and called it good. :)

[emrlddragon.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a plan to me.