Since having the membership I've noticed that the free shipping only applies to things that come directly from Amazon, not through third party fulfillment. Here's the rub: the prices you pay to order directly from Amazon are so much higher that it comes out cheaper to buy from the third party and pay the shipping. So what exactly am I getting with my Amazon Prime membership?
Ripped-off is what I think I'm getting. We ordered a precision instrument for Mark on Sunday afternoon. We selected two-day free shipping, which is what you get with the Amazon Prime Service. Today I got an email telling me that the shipment will arrive on April 1. That is a week and two days.
When I called them, they explained that the order was being fulfilled by a third party and therefore the two days free shipping didn't apply. Somehow they'd even managed to charge my account for a $6.30 shipping fee that hadn't been on the order when I clicked submit. Somewhere in the fine print, it may have said that it wasn't coming directly from Amazon. But I didn't see it. If you're about to incur additional charges and the shipping time you've selected isn't actually available, lights should flash and your PC should start shouting "Warning! Warning!" That didn't happen. I called their customer service department. And they are such nice guys over at Amazon - they are going to give me a $7 credit on my next order. Mind you, they're not giving me back the money that I didn't authorize and that I shouldn't have been charged in the first place; they are giving me a credit - which means I'd have to do something stupid like order from them again.
When I said I wasn't happy with the Amazon Prime membership the young lady in their customer service department extended my membership for another month. Just what I need - an additional month of "worthless".
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