Nikon 35mm f/1.8 DX again and the failure of Amazon.com

Everyone who gave me advice on this issue earlier this month, thanks.
But those who told me not to worry about Amazon's delivery time: think
again. The free crummy Tiffin UV filter arrived, but the lens was to be
shipped a little later. When the first "arrival by" date came, I went
on Amazon's website for a chat. I was told it was shipping the next
day. When it didn't ship the next day I had another chat and was
apologized to, told it was bumped up to free 2-day shipping and
shipping the next day. When it didn't ship the next day I had another
chat, got another apology, and was told it would still make the final
arrive by date because it was currently (as we typed) being packed for
shipment. The next day (this morning) I received an email from Amazon
telling me sorry, it was not available, and I had another month to
decide if I still wanted it. They'd ship it when they got it. I emailed
them AND did another chat and they admitted they'd been lying to me,
that it was ALWAYS on backorder, and it was NEVER being readied for
shipment. I called my local Brick and Mortar camera store (Ritz), where
I'd bought my D5000 in the first place, and found they had one in
stock, unopened in the box, for $10 more than Amazon's price. No sales
tax... we are a no sales tax state. So I had them hold it, cancelled
the Amazon order (one of the options they gave me when they emailed
about the back order) and picked it up tonight. Amazone said they would
not charge me for the free filter even though I no longer was buying
the item it was offered with, and I think they are giving me a $20
credit against a future purchase. But to be honest, I am now soured on
Amazon and will probably never buy from them again. I can buy my online
books from B&N on line, and I can buy THINGS from local electronics
stores and big box stores. It's not the issue of the back order.
Everything gets backordered from time to time. It's the
misrepresentation and the lying. So I am done with Amazon.

 

[]

I hate companies who lie to customers, but is it the company or the
individual? I also had a problem with Amazon delivery, but it was over
Christmas and we have feet of unexpected show everywhere! What /is/
unforgivable, is saying that an item is in stock when they know it is not.

I take it this was Amazon, and not a third-party supplier linked to them?

Cheers,
David

 

I have bought lots of books from Amazon and I have never experienced
anything like the described problems. I have always found them
extremely straight to deal with.

Regards,

Eric Stevens

 

I'm looking on the Amazon site and not finding any vendor that's 10
bucks cheaper than Ritz. The lowest price is 199.95 + 15.95 shipping
from "Samy's Camera". Ritz via Amazon is 209 and free shipping.

So he should have ordered it from Ritz to begin with.

Amazon doesn't list that lens except from third parties.

For future reference by Michael and anybody else who's interested, there
are some "magic words" to look for on Amazon.

One is "ships from and sold by Amazon.com"

The other is "Sold by [whoever] and Fullfilled by Amazon".

Both mean that it's in an Amazon warehouse or a wholesaler warehouse
from which Amazon can obtain realtime inventory information. If they're
showing in stock and it's not it's because somebody managed to screw up
the inventory.

The difference is that in one case Amazon places the order using their
own account and in the other they place it from the same warehouse using
the third party's account. And the reason they would do this is that
the third party has a dealer authorization--the wholesalers do enforce
that and if an item requiring authorization and you're not using an
authorized account they'll bounce the order.

If neither of those appears and it's "Ships from and sold by [whoever]"
then Amazon is trusting the word of the seller that they have it in
stock. If the seller lies to Amazon all that Amazon can do about it is
quit listing them as a third party vendor and they won't do that unless
they get a bunch of complaints about the same problem.

 

My experience is very different. They often quote, esp. if it's a mixed
bag of items, that it will take 2 - 3 weeks for delivery (I always take
the free delivery option).

But usually, even the "2 week delivery" takes about 5 - 7 days. Very
reasonable.

Sometime you order 1 day and it's delivered the next. (I leave a signed
note out telling UPS to leave the package w/o someone receiving it).

 

The item was listed in stock at $199.99 with free shipping, sold by
amazon, not by a third party. I paid $209 in the Ritz store for the
lens. This was Amazon all the way. And they lied. I have bought books
from them in the past with no problems. Maybe they should stick to
books.

 

Amazon. Not a third party.

 

Amazon may have changed the listing from what they had on June 14. And
it was definitely from Amazon.com. I do not buy Amazon/third party.
Clearly they have altered their listing now that they have to admit it
was vaporware from day one.

 

Michael, thanks for that. Put it down to experience, and just perhaps
Amazon was changing its position on the lens (stock position or to 3rd
party supplier). One event like that wouldn't stop me buying from Amazon
again, repeated occurrences would give me cause for thought.

Cheers,
David

 

I've bought a great deal of stuff off of Amazon since they were founded,
ranging from books to photo equipment to car parts. Never had anything
sold by Amazon be out of stock.

Seems like in this one case there was a problem with the wholesaler--it
_does_ happen but it's rare (one circumstance under which a good deal of
it happened was Katrina--the wholesalers' computers showed quite a lot
of stuff in stock in warehouses that were flooded--took a while for them
to get that sorted).

Amazon's not currently listing that lens as sold by Amazon so presumably
they've gotten the inventory straight.

 

This is very, very unusual for Amazon. I have done business with them for
years, really quite a lot of business, every conceivable kind of product,
books, cameras, lenses, a vacuum cleaner, glassware, computer parts,
software, etc., etc., and have always found them first-rate and reliable in
every way. I buy so much stuff from them that it's been worth it to me to
subscribe to Amazon Prime.

Once I bought a watch from them that stopped working in a week or so because
the battery was almost dead, so I returned it. Other than that, I can't
remember ever having any sort of problem with them.

 

Here's the original order confirmation, all from Amazon.com LLC

Purchasing Information:



Order Grand Total: $199.00
Get the Amazon.com Rewards Visa Card and earn 3% rewards on your
Amazon.com orders.
Order Summary:
Shipping Details : (order will arrive in 1 shipment)
Order #:
103-5231858-1398650
Shipping Method:
FREE Super Saver Shipping
Shipping Preference:
Group my items into as few shipments as possible
Subtotal of Items:  
$208.95
Shipping & Handling:  
$6.17
Super Saver Discount:  
-$6.17
Promotion Applied:  
-$9.95
 
------
Total for this Order:  
$199.00

 
Delivery estimate: June 22, 2011 - June 25, 2011

1
"Tiffen 52mm UV Protection Filter"
Electronics; $9.95

  Sold by: Amazon.com, LLC

1
"Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras"
Electronics; $199.00
  Sold by: Amazon.com, LLC

 

How do you determine "very, very unusual?" You are ONE person with one
person's experience.