Bad Delivery Service Destroying Amazon Credibility

I recently ordered a badminton racket for my son from Amazon UK. Delivery time was suggested to take around 4 working days.

I received an email telling me the item had been dispatched 3 days later - so far so good.

After a further 5 days had passed I decided to contact Amazon to find out what had happened. Finding a phone number for Amazon UK wasn't easy but for those who are interested, the Amazon UK Free Phone number is 0800 279 6620. Press option "8" for a human!

The human in question kept telling me not to worry and the item would be with me in another 7 days time.

I pointed out in an increasingly frustrated tone that I was already worried because I know of no delivery service within the UK that spends 12 days driving around looking for a particular address!

I demanded to have the tracking number and details to investigate myself and eventually found out what is going on.

Apparently, the item is passed to the Amazon contracted courier, in this case TNT. They then spend 3 days "processing" it and then take a business decision whether they are prepared to actually deliver it or not.

If they decide not to deliver the package they will then arrange to have it passed onto the Royal Mail which from their point of view is "dispatched". In actual fact it took another 2 days to get to the Royal Mail.

Royal Mail then schedule this as a standard parcel delivery which they state takes 3 to 5 days from posting.

The conclusion of all this lark is a ridiculous wait for your product and no customer support to speak of. Short term gain for Amazon profits, long term loss of reputation.