Amazon Scams

[twister]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Amazon Prime in this thread. They charge an annual fee and in exchange you're supposed to get free shipping, but then they want to charge you six bucks to ship what they call Pantry items. Most pantry items need no special shipping materials, but it provides an excuse to charge for shipping even when you've already supposedly been promised free shipping. If that's not a scam, then I don't know what is!

[tronagirl]

twister: I never use Amazon at all and so I don't know much about what they do, but I do have a couple friends who have complained vociferously about Amazon Prime in particular and they said something about being charged for shipping even though being signed up for Prime is supposed to guarantee free shipping. This pantry stuff must be what they're talking about. It's surprising that a company that treats customers like that still has any customers.

[wildbill]

AMAZON PRIME: What I've heard is that Amazon Prime also includes access to online movies, audio files, and ebooks. It sounds like a classic bait and switch scam to me. They promise you free shipping and attempt to distract you with the movies and stuff and then charge you for shipping, but call it something else. Probably they ought to be reported to the Better Business Bureau. It's a classic scam and unless people report them, nothing will get done. I've never signed up for Amazon Prime and so I don't give a rat's ass, but I've heard a few people complain and they have every right to complain as far as I can tell.

[pcslim]

AMAZON PRIME: I've heard only bad things about Amazon Prime and the main complaint seems to be charging for shipping when shipping is supposed to be free with the pantry stuff. It doesn't make much sense and it does in my opinion qualify as a scam.

[surfsteve]

Amazon Prime items ship free with membership. Amazon Prime Pantry items do not. It's tacky and misleading but not dishonest.

How come water in a plastic cup is free but they charge over a dollar for water in a plastic bottle?

How long till they start charging for water in a plastic cup and come out with coin operated drinking fountains?

[recluse]

Charging for Amazon Prime Pantry items is tacky AND DISHONEST. They hook you with the free shipping, but then they call shipping something other than shipping so they can charge you for it. And then there's a long list of items that need no special packaging that are only available through Prime Pantry. If that's not dishonest and if that's not a scam, then I don't know what is! I'd cheer enthusiastically if someone won a class action lawsuit against the crooks at Amazon!

[surfsteve]

The way I see it. There's Prime and there's Prime Pantry. If they just called it Plain old Pantry instead it would have been more honest and wouldn't have received near the criticisms. There's lots of other items that Amazon sells that don't offer free shipping too that nobody is complaining about. It boarders on scam but is still in a class below student loans and probably whatever the thing was that I posted in here calling it a scam was, that got moved that I can't even remember.

[twister]

Maybe I should have just started a new thread. I wasn't sure what other people thought or even knew about Amazon Prime and their pantry BS. All I can say is that in my opinion Amazon deserves a lot of grief for the little trick they use to force customers to pay for shipping even when they're supposed to get free shipping for signing up and paying an annual fee for Prime membership. It's a scam and Amazon should be called out on their BS.

[CrustyOldFart]

I purchase items thru Amazon a couple times a year. I noticed the promise of free shipping if I joined Prime for something around ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS per year. If I signed up and paid that money and still didn't get free shipping on ONE HUNDRED PERCENT of all their items, I'd be livid! There's no way I'm signing up for Prime now! I may now go so far as to avoid Amazon completely for now on.

[surfsteve]

The way I understand it is that the hundred dollars only covers items that are shipped free already when your order is over 35 dollars. Also instead of merely free shipping, the shipping becomes free 2 day shipping. Otherwise it can take up to a week but usually takes 3 days. To be fair they should also offer Amazon pantry items to everyone and just ship them at a cheaper and slower speed to non prime members. I think that would also be better for them in the long run because this pantry thing seems to be biting them in the ass.

The first time I got Amazon prime it was only 75 dollars and I used it to order a saw that I needed before the weekend. It would have cost 65 dollars to over night it so for ten dollars more I could still get it in time and have the service to use for the rest of the year for free.

I was more upset when they started charging 24 dollars more and added the free movies that I'll never watch than I am over them charging for the pantry items. I guess if I ate more junk food I'd be as upset as everyone else but luckily very few things I've wanted to order fall under prime.

I've noticed Walmart is trying to cash in on the action and is trying to compete with them. They do all right when you want something that they sell at another store but when it comes to 3rd party items the shipping is often outrageous and I just get disgusted for wasting my time looking.

Ebay is still the king for electronics. They are also king for ordering used parts and I have saved a fortune on repairing things I would have normally thrown away. The last thing I bought was a washer pump for 7 dollars that would have been over 50 had I purchased it new from an appliance store. I also have to thank Youtube for all the videos to fix things. What ever it is; if it's broke there's usually a Youtube video showing how to fix it and some guy somewhere selling the part of an old one real cheap. Seems like the new recycling is not cans or bottles but selling parts off of broken stuff that you would normally throw away. Thanks to Ebay junk yards and parting out is no longer limited to cars but extends to everything that breaks and can be fixed. I guess one way to look at it is the entire world has now become a junk yard where anybody can buy and sell parts off of anything, anywhere in the world!