| Author | Thread |
|
|
03/30/2015 01:25:47 PM · #51 |
It's beginning to sound like a cult.
Nevermind...... |
|
|
|
03/30/2015 01:57:04 PM · #52 |
I like Amazon and Amazon prime. Good service, and convenient. I like them so much that I bought some of their stock recently. (Not a lot at that price though!)
And if they miss their promise date, you just call to complain or email...you get a free month added to your prime. Up to 12 a year. |
|
|
|
03/30/2015 02:06:38 PM · #53 |
Originally posted by Ja-9:
Originally posted by glad2badad:
Originally posted by giantmike:
Originally posted by glad2badad:
Our household has two Amazon accounts (just kind of happened ... long story). Anyway, one with Prime, one without. I hold the account without Prime and one time I did use the "try Prime for free" to hurry along a camera equipment purchase (of course), but cancelled the Prime "trial" within 30 days. Now I get offers about every 6 months or so to "try Prime again" but haven't had an urgent need. :-) With all of that said, we're quite satisfied with Amazon service with either account (Prime or not). Haven't seen any impact on delivery times for the non-Prime account.
Sorry to hear you're having trouble with them Sam. |
Did you know you can share prime accounts in a household?
My wife and I have separate Amazon accounts on purpose. The has prime, and she added my account as part of the household. I get the benefit of 2 day free shipping, but I don't get the free streaming. So for streaming, we just hook up devices to her account. |
Hadn't considered that. If I need something shipped Prime we just order it on my wife's account. So, do you share the Prime shipping but have separate billing/payment methods? The reason I've stayed clear of my wife's account overall is because we have two college students and they do a lot of selling / buying of college textbooks via Amazon so I when it comes time to purchase something you have to wade thru three different accounts, and watch out for pending credits the kids have, etc... Messy in general (or for me at least). It I could take advantage of sharing the 'Prime' and stay out of the other account(s) I'll have to look into it.
Thanks! |
as students they can have a FREE Prime account of their own...both our daughters have them from school and our son-in-law...(and my eldest daughter and son-in-law are out of school now for 7 years) |
It's not free -- it's only free during the trial period. Are they looking at their bank statements?
Amazon Student members receive six months of FREE Two-Day Shipping with Amazon Prime on eligible purchases and e-mail alerts for discounts and promotions. Discounts and promotions will be e-mailed to your Amazon.com e-mail account or made available on the Amazon Student membership page at www.amazon.com/student .
Amazon Student members will automatically continue receiving FREE Two-Day Shipping with Amazon Prime when their free period is over with automatic renewal.
If you started an Amazon Student free trial before March 20, 2014, you'll be charged at a membership rate of $39 when it automatically renews. If you start a free trial on or after that date, you'll be charged at a membership rate of $49 upon automatic renewal.
If you have an existing paid annual Amazon Student Prime membership, you'll be automatically renewed at a membership rate of $49.
Your Student Prime benefits can't be shared with another account, but if you continue with a paid membership, you'll also receive access to thousands of Prime Instant Video titles, Prime Music, and a Kindle book to borrow for free each month from the Kindle Owners' Lending Library. Benefits are subject to restrictions, such as geographic limitations, as stated in our Amazon Prime Help pages. If you don't wish to continue with paid Prime benefits you can set them to not automatically upgrade at any time during the free period.
After you graduate or at the end of your fourth year of Amazon Student Prime benefits, whichever comes first, your subscription will automatically upgrade on its anniversary date into a full paid subscription for Amazon Prime.
If you receive notice of your graduation before March 20, 2014, you'll be charged at an Amazon Prime membership rate of $79 on your renewal date. If you receive notice on or after March 20, 2014, you'll be charged at a membership rate of $99.
Once the paid membership is selected, you'll no longer be eligible for the free period even if the paid membership is canceled.
If you'd like to upgrade to the paid membership before the end of the free period in order to get access to Prime Instant Videos, Prime Music, and Kindle Owners' Lending Library sooner, you can upgrade at any time by going to www.amazon.com/joinstudent or www.amazon.com/prime .
If you'd like to share your Amazon Prime benefits with someone else, please cancel your Amazon Student membership and any existing Amazon Prime benefits under your account. You'll then be able to sign up for the $99 a year program and invite others to share your membership. For help canceling your Amazon Student membership, go to Cancel Amazon Student. You can cancel your current Amazon Prime benefits by going to the Manage Prime Membership page. After these two things are canceled, go to our main Amazon Prime page (www.amazon.com/prime ) to enroll at the $99 rate.
My daughter's was just automatically renewed, and she didn't realize that it was on her debit card. Almost was overdrawn if we hadn't noticed.
Message edited by author 2015-03-30 14:06:52. |
|
|
|
03/30/2015 02:20:02 PM · #54 |
Originally posted by Nobody:
It's beginning to sound like a cult.
Nevermind...... |
Hey, we're not trying to brainwash you and bring you over to the Dark Side. We're merely expressing surprise at your troubles, giving examples of how we've used and appreciated Amazon's benefits, and urge you simply to express your concerns to their customer service department. I'm sure they'll want to rectify your poor opinion of them.
No big deal.......
Here....Have a sip of this Kool-Aid!
|
|
|
|
03/30/2015 02:28:23 PM · #55 |
I know that All 3 have accounts and it's been free for them for years...remember my kids are older and their accounts may be "grandfathered in"?
And trust me Dan would know any charges he has...he better!!!
Message edited by author 2015-04-01 09:53:10. |
|
|
|
03/30/2015 04:48:04 PM · #56 |
I use Amazon for quite a number of gadgets - like printers, inks, and ebooks.
I have resisted the sales pitches for Amazon Prime because I can get the same benefits by ordering "free shipping" in 5 to 8 days without it.
In the first place, I don't like things that are "free" but cost $99 per year.
Secondly, I know when I am going to need something, and can order in plenty of time for the later time schedule. However, in many instances, the merchandise arrives far quicker than the scheduled 5 to 8 days.
Ebooks, of course, are transmitted, free, to my Android device - I gave up on Kindles when the 3rd one broke and their warranty had already expired.
If I had a use any of the other things that come with Amazon Prime, it might be a different story.
Still, for me, that $99 is more useful elsewhere. |
|
|
|
03/31/2015 12:25:23 AM · #57 |
I've had Prime for years, which has been great for when I want something and order within the next 4 hours and 23 minutes. :D
The real warning isn't that they are trying to coerce you into buying Prime it's those dang Reviews! Don't Read The Reviews! I don't know how anyone ever buys anything after reading the Amazon reviews. I'll be all hyped up to buy something and go check it out on Amazon and even though it's a 4 and 7/8ths stars the bad reviews scare me off. Amazon has lost a lot of money from me because of their reviews. Just say No to reviews and buy away. Honest, don't read them or you will never buy a thing again.
;)
Mike
Message edited by author 2015-03-31 00:25:57.
|
|
|
|
03/31/2015 09:04:21 AM · #58 |
Originally posted by MikeJ:
I've had Prime for years, which has been great for when I want something and order within the next 4 hours and 23 minutes. :D
The real warning isn't that they are trying to coerce you into buying Prime it's those dang Reviews! Don't Read The Reviews! I don't know how anyone ever buys anything after reading the Amazon reviews. I'll be all hyped up to buy something and go check it out on Amazon and even though it's a 4 and 7/8ths stars the bad reviews scare me off. Amazon has lost a lot of money from me because of their reviews. Just say No to reviews and buy away. Honest, don't read them or you will never buy a thing again.
;)
Mike |
Funny enough, the reviews are EXACTLY why I like to buy from Amazon. Sure there are always at least a few bad reviews, but you've gotta take the overall statistics into account, and also realize that a dissatisfied person is MUCH more likely to post than a satisfied person. So for every bad review posted, there are probably 50 VERY happy customers that just never bothered to post.
And the bad posts give a great idea of what to look out for, or to test - generally if they're just the standard QA issues, or personal preference issues, I don't worry at all - if they reveal a significant shortcoming or design flaw, then I will usually reconsider my purchase. |
|
|
|
03/31/2015 09:05:27 AM · #59 |
| there are quite a few gems too, like this |
|
|
|
03/31/2015 10:25:14 AM · #60 |
Originally posted by Mike:
there are quite a few gems too, like this |
Hahaha. |
|
|
|
03/31/2015 10:36:33 AM · #61 |
Originally posted by Mike:
there are quite a few gems too, like this |
Ha ha! I found the question answer section even more entertaining than the reviews.
This one also has some very entertaining reviews:
Sugar Free Gummy Bears
Message edited by author 2015-03-31 10:44:28. |
|
|
|
03/31/2015 11:22:50 AM · #62 |
|
|
|
03/31/2015 04:01:30 PM · #63 |
Originally posted by Mike:
another classic |
Make sure to watch the video a commenter posted.
Too much fun.
LOVE the milk one... not sure about the Gummys... sounds disASStrous. |
|
|
|
03/31/2015 04:03:53 PM · #64 |
The reviews thing can get out of hand. You want a real chuckle? Go read the 168 reviews on Lowe's website fro Scott's Premium Topsoil.
Yah.....168 reviews. For a $2.00 bag of dirt.
Only in America.....
BTW.....I bought a half dozen bags. Guess what?
It was dirt. Dirt cheap, too!
Message edited by author 2015-03-31 16:04:14.
|
|
|
|
03/31/2015 06:57:50 PM · #65 |
I did have a recent experience that made me question some of what goes on behind the scenes with regard to Amazon reviews. About 14 months ago, I bought a laptop battery from an aftermarket manufacturer. When I received the battery, I carefully followed instructions for use, but found that the capacity was about half of what was claimed (It was supposed to be the same capacity as the OEM battery, for which I was well acquainted with the run-time for my particular laptop). I ran it through several complete discharge cycles, hoping that it would come up to standard, but to no avail. Oh well, I thought, it was inexpensive, and I don't use that laptop off the mains all that much. Lesson learned, it's usable, move on.
About 8 weeks later, the battery showed severe loss of capacity, rapidly becoming nothing more than a hedge against a quick power failure. I returned the battery for a refund under warranty, and I did receive a refund, however from other reviews it was clear that the seller was continuing to sell something that in no way met the OEM specifications. I wrote a seller review stating this, including all the details. 10 months went by. At that point I received an e-mail from Amazon that my review had been removed, because it was a product review, not a seller review. I called their customer support, and they would not reverse themselves. I asked why, after nearly a year a review would be removed. Had the seller requested this? They would not give me a straight answer, but they did tell me that I could edit the review and re-submit. I did so, and to date I have not gotten notification that the edited review was removed.
The experience has left me wondering how many unscrupulous sellers monitor their reviews and ask for removal of negative reviews. I'm not at all happy with Amazon's response in this case, but at least I was able to re-post the review.
In general I am still quite happy with Amazon's service and delivery, but I am now much more cynical about items that are not sold and fulfilled by Amazon.
|
|
|
|
03/31/2015 11:36:43 PM · #66 |
Don't say I didn't warn ya. :D
Yea, there are some real gems on there.
Mike
|
|
|
|
03/31/2015 11:47:53 PM · #67 |
| Eleven days, but the new toy has arrived. The wait absolutely killed me. A new (well, technically refurb) K-50 body. Pleased with the product. Just need patience... |
|
|
|
04/01/2015 01:33:10 AM · #68 |
| My main frustration with amazon is with their digital music. My purchased music is SUPPOSED to be available via cloud access (which I use quite a bit, playing from numerous devices over my bluetooth soundsystem), but Amazon seems to randomly delete albums at times. The annoying (and somewhat weird) solution they have is to give me a credit for the cost of the album, have me repurchase, and then its back. But then I need to keep memorized/notated which albums I bought on Amazon... |
|
|
|
04/01/2015 07:09:54 AM · #69 |
Originally posted by kirbic:
I did have a recent experience that made me question some of what goes on behind the scenes with regard to Amazon reviews. About 14 months ago, I bought a laptop battery from an aftermarket manufacturer. When I received the battery, I carefully followed instructions for use, but found that the capacity was about half of what was claimed (It was supposed to be the same capacity as the OEM battery, for which I was well acquainted with the run-time for my particular laptop). I ran it through several complete discharge cycles, hoping that it would come up to standard, but to no avail. Oh well, I thought, it was inexpensive, and I don't use that laptop off the mains all that much. Lesson learned, it's usable, move on.
About 8 weeks later, the battery showed severe loss of capacity, rapidly becoming nothing more than a hedge against a quick power failure. I returned the battery for a refund under warranty, and I did receive a refund, however from other reviews it was clear that the seller was continuing to sell something that in no way met the OEM specifications. I wrote a seller review stating this, including all the details. 10 months went by. At that point I received an e-mail from Amazon that my review had been removed, because it was a product review, not a seller review. I called their customer support, and they would not reverse themselves. I asked why, after nearly a year a review would be removed. Had the seller requested this? They would not give me a straight answer, but they did tell me that I could edit the review and re-submit. I did so, and to date I have not gotten notification that the edited review was removed.
The experience has left me wondering how many unscrupulous sellers monitor their reviews and ask for removal of negative reviews. I'm not at all happy with Amazon's response in this case, but at least I was able to re-post the review.
In general I am still quite happy with Amazon's service and delivery, but I am now much more cynical about items that are not sold and fulfilled by Amazon. |
this bothers me because when I buy something on Amazon, i want a review of the product, not the seller. Amazon will back me up in a seller dispute. I have had the same issues with batteries that get great reviews, the thing is there are a LOT of good reviews... you'd think the item would have a low number of reviews if they ot all the bad ones pulled and there was an issue with the product.
Message edited by author 2015-04-01 07:10:56. |
|
|
|
04/01/2015 08:08:29 AM · #70 |
Originally posted by Mike:
Originally posted by kirbic:
I did have a recent experience that made me question some of what goes on behind the scenes with regard to Amazon reviews. About 14 months ago, I bought a laptop battery from an aftermarket manufacturer. When I received the battery, I carefully followed instructions for use, but found that the capacity was about half of what was claimed (It was supposed to be the same capacity as the OEM battery, for which I was well acquainted with the run-time for my particular laptop). I ran it through several complete discharge cycles, hoping that it would come up to standard, but to no avail. Oh well, I thought, it was inexpensive, and I don't use that laptop off the mains all that much. Lesson learned, it's usable, move on.
About 8 weeks later, the battery showed severe loss of capacity, rapidly becoming nothing more than a hedge against a quick power failure. I returned the battery for a refund under warranty, and I did receive a refund, however from other reviews it was clear that the seller was continuing to sell something that in no way met the OEM specifications. I wrote a seller review stating this, including all the details. 10 months went by. At that point I received an e-mail from Amazon that my review had been removed, because it was a product review, not a seller review. I called their customer support, and they would not reverse themselves. I asked why, after nearly a year a review would be removed. Had the seller requested this? They would not give me a straight answer, but they did tell me that I could edit the review and re-submit. I did so, and to date I have not gotten notification that the edited review was removed.
The experience has left me wondering how many unscrupulous sellers monitor their reviews and ask for removal of negative reviews. I'm not at all happy with Amazon's response in this case, but at least I was able to re-post the review.
In general I am still quite happy with Amazon's service and delivery, but I am now much more cynical about items that are not sold and fulfilled by Amazon. |
this bothers me because when I buy something on Amazon, i want a review of the product, not the seller. Amazon will back me up in a seller dispute. I have had the same issues with batteries that get great reviews, the thing is there are a LOT of good reviews... you'd think the item would have a low number of reviews if they ot all the bad ones pulled and there was an issue with the product. |
Agreed. Each seller has their own rating, and that's the place to let them know how bad they were. The product itself is a different animal.
I've actually had the same issue with batteries through Amazon.de, with a third-party seller. I think this is more a basic issue with low-cost, knock-off electronics than it is with Amazon's vetting process of their sellers. If the seller gets enough bad reviews or a poor enough rating, they won't be selected by (vigilant) shoppers, and I'd imagine Amazon might even dump them.
I've always been a big supporter of Amazon, for the reasons many have mentioned. It's a one-stop shop to see what's available in the market, comparison shop, get a baseline price, read reviews, etc. It has saved me a ton of time. |
|
|
|
04/01/2015 08:45:40 AM · #71 |
Every Christmas my husband buys something locally at the last minute that has to be shiped. OMG! It's often more than the cost of the gift. While I smugly do all my shopping from home and have it wrapped and shipped and tracked for a minor wrapping cost. Even at the last minute. And it gets there when it's supposed to 99% of the time. I'm positive that in our case the savings on shipping makes Amazon Prime worth it. And I do order a lot of household stuff from them to save a tip to the store, so I probably get something or another every week. I originally got Prime when I broke my ankle so I could watch free movies while I was laid up, but then I sort of got addicted to the 2-day shipping on other things. Yup, I drank the Kool-aid!
PS - my brother is a bigwig in publishing. He HATES Amazon. The rest of the family tries not to mention how much we use them when he's around LOL. |
|
|
|
04/01/2015 09:24:39 AM · #72 |
I think you have to be a bit careful with reviews. Many companies will pay people to write good reviews for their products or their company. I do think they are helpful to a point but when I am looking at a product I tend to give the bad reviews a little more weight than the good ones. However if there are overwhelmingly more good reviews than bad I figure that the product is for the most part good and no one can please everyone and there are always those people who can find something wrong with anything. Or one product out of 1000 that will have defect.
The reviews I often have the hardest time deciphering are hotel reviews. How can a hotel get such contrasting reviews? One person will say they loved it and would stay there again and another will say it was the worst place with the worst service. It always makes me nervous when planning a trip. Having a bad hotel experience can make or break a vacation. Luckily I think most of those bad reviews are from very picky people who somehow expect a 5 star hotel when they booked a 2 star. |
|
|
|
04/01/2015 11:32:01 AM · #73 |
Originally posted by sjhuls:
The reviews I often have the hardest time deciphering are hotel reviews. How can a hotel get such contrasting reviews? One person will say they loved it and would stay there again and another will say it was the worst place with the worst service. It always makes me nervous when planning a trip. Having a bad hotel experience can make or break a vacation. Luckily I think most of those bad reviews are from very picky people who somehow expect a 5 star hotel when they booked a 2 star. |
And that's not being picky......that's just clueless. The thing you have to watch out with on service ratings is that you have no idea who the comkplainer is and what they're like. For years I heard how awful the French are to Americans. I went to Paris with my GF last Christmas, and we have a FABULOUS time! The people were wonderful, very friendly & helpful. I think when it comes to interaction, especially when traveling, you reap what you sow. When we went to San Jose del Cabo for New Year's this year, the hotel we stayed in had been reopened after the hurricane damage for eight days. There was still construction going on and not all of the amenities had been restored. Yet we found that the staff & nmanagement were just terrific, and more than willing to *try* to do anything they could for happy guests. We heard a couple guests (Americans, ain't it sad?) bitching about what a sh*thole it was and how they felt ripped off since a few amenities were unavailable. Our perspective was to enjoy our vacation and take delight in how hard the staff worked to keep things up and running. Choose your review......ours, or someone who had decided that the inoperative Jacuzzi & sauna facility was not yet repaired. If a place has more good reviews than bad, and the good reviews are obviously well written and seem reasonable for the type of vacation/stay you're hoping for, then maybe the bad ones are not so valid. No hotel/resort worth anything thinks that poor service will get them by in this day and age.
|
|
|
|
04/01/2015 12:22:38 PM · #74 |
Originally posted by kirbic:
....
10 months went by. At that point I received an e-mail from Amazon that my review had been removed, because it was a product review, not a seller review. I called their customer support, and they would not reverse themselves. I asked why, after nearly a year a review would be removed. Had the seller requested this? They would not give me a straight answer, but they did tell me that I could edit the review and re-submit. I did so, and to date I have not gotten notification that the edited review was removed.
The experience has left me wondering how many unscrupulous sellers monitor their reviews and ask for removal of negative reviews.
.... |
Amazon won't remove a review unless somebody complains, and even then, will only remove it if it violates the terms of service, not just because it was negative and someone didn't like it. What might have happened, though... Was this a "fulfilled by Amazon" purchase? Amazon throws all of the identical items in its warehouses together, and ships the one that's closest to the buyer, which isn't necessarily the item the chosen seller supplied. So it's possible to get a substandard item from a seller you didn't actually choose. If Amazon sees a pattern of returns, they'll pull the item off the shelf and sort it out. It's very possible that you got a counterfeit item from a different seller of Chinese knockoff batteries, and this seller of Chinese knockoff batteries was rightfully trying to clear his name. I found this out when I had a seller contact me after I returned a pack of toggle bolts that was missing all the bolts. It turns out that the pack of toggles I got had a different seller's name in the packaging, and I was able to help them sort it out.
That said, sellers, especially the bad ones, are very protective of their reviews, and will go to any length to get negative reviews removed, except, it seems, by offering good customer service. I was threatened with "legal action" if I didn't remove my "false" review by one Chinese knockoff battery seller, who, I'm sure, was trying at the same time to get Amazon to remove the review as well. The seller's "legal department" went away when I pointed out that everything in my review, which was about shipping times and return policies, were verifiable facts. My review disappeared when Amazon eventually banned the seller. |
|
|
|
04/21/2015 12:12:28 PM · #75 |
Related; I found the identical item with Prime and without. From the same seller. 1$ more for Prime.
Doesn't seem illegal or anything, just seems disingenuous. When I tried to purchase the non-prime version, it estimated the delivery date to be over 3 weeks away. The prime version is 2 days, of course.  |
|
