An Amazon Fan writes..

metalbandit

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Hi Friends,

I have just become another fan of Amazon. Hats off to their business and delivery model. Here's the full story.

Around 4 months back, I had ordered 3 DVD's from Amazon UK. Some of my folks were travelling on a Europe trip and agreed to get some small stuff for me. So I had the package delivered to a UK address. Shipping was FREE if delivered in UK. So I had to pay only for the DVD's, which themselves were heavily discounted due to the umpteen bargains that are always available on Amazon.

But the real experience comes next. After over a month of pondering over the many risks of ordering online (read customs, credit card online payment, damage to goods, etc.), I finally decided to take the risk and ordered one pack on 20th Jan, choosing "Regular Delivery" option (10 - 12 days). The estimated delivery date was given as 1st Feb. The next day, i.e. 21st Jan, I received an email, that my package has been dispatched via Royal Mail. The package arrived on 30th Jan. But the bigger thing was, it arrived not by Courier, but by normal post. :clapping: The package was in its original sealed condition, and did not appear like it was opened. Here's the pic after I opened it. UK to India in 9 days !

By the way, it's a 4 disc Collector's Edition of "Back to the Future" trilogy featuring the 3 movies and a fourth disc containing a massive load of extras, which I am yet to devour.

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The discs are packed in a beautiful metal casing steelbook which gives a kind of space-age look to the package. I haven't seen many Collector's Edition packs available here in Planet M or Rhythm House. The only ones available are the plastic covered, censored versions. It is an awesome feeling to hold the steelbook and open it.

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The discs are arranged very well inside, though it takes some effort to remove them from the clip in the center, which in fact is good since there is almost no chance of them coming out of the clip during transit or due to any vibration.

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The total price came to 10.39 Pounds including a shipping charge of 3.68 Pounds, which was charged Rs. 780 to my Credit Card , which I feel is an absolute steal compared to the prices here for DVD's.

Another bonus... I just managed to check the back cover, and Lo and Behold ! There was a small logo hidden between the many others. And that was the availability of a DTS soundtrack in addition to the normal Dolby Digital one. :clapping:

So here I go reliving the adventures of Marty McFly, Doc Emmett Brown, his faithful dog Einstein, and the time-travelling Delorean... Will try to post some pics of the movie scenes soon...

All in all, I got only one word to describe this entire experience.

WOW ! ! ! :clapping::clapping:
 
Good!! It is usual for Amazon to do like this...:)

Steelbooks are really an good one and attractive... Reliance Big Entertainment started releasing their recent DVD in Steelbook. Have a try, it is also same one.
 
Thanks Srini for the update. Will check out the BIG DVD's. But I am thinking whether it will be as cost effective as the deal I got from Amazon..
 
Hi,
Yes amazon does a good job indeed. I ordered the WD TV Live thro vpost and amazon delivered it in 3 working days flat to the Oregan address of vpost.When i received the player i found it to be thoughtfully packed by amazon and it reached me safely.We have to remember if it is thro vpost it is going to singapore first and from there to India.So a nice jo indeed.

cheers,
sri
 
Hi,
Yes amazon does a good job indeed. I ordered the WD TV Live thro vpost and amazon delivered it in 3 working days flat to the Oregan address of vpost.When i received the player i found it to be thoughtfully packed by amazon and it reached me safely.We have to remember if it is thro vpost it is going to singapore first and from there to India.So a nice jo indeed.

cheers,
sri

Hi Sri,

So will the deal via vpost turn out to be cheaper than direct shipment by Amazon? I went through the thread on vpost and it seems that it involves some hassle; here I did not have to even track the package..
 
AMZ does not ship electronic goods to other countries.. Only DVD/CD's, books will be sent internationaly.

Hope they will change their policy soon.

Regards
 
But the bigger thing was, it arrived not by Courier, but by normal post. :clapping: The package was in its original sealed condition, and did not appear like it was opened.

Besides clapping for Amazon - here's to our desi post offices and postmen :clapping:
 
So no hassle with ordering DVD's/Blu-rays from Amazon UK? I'm ordering few blu-rays from there. Will there be any problem with customs or anything as I'm ordering 4 trilogy packs? Anyone have faced any issues?
 
Some other post mentioned that as long as your order does not cross $100, there won't be any issue with Customs. My pack did not seem like it was opened. I think it should be safe to order multiple packs.
 
Not $100..

Try to order just 1 or 2 blurays at a time otherwise custom officials will be having a ball.

Also try to buy from Amazon UK, shipping from Amazon US is a pain, already lost my consignment, however the customer service is brilliant and I received my refund credit very quickly!
 
I have placed an order for 3 BDs from Amazon US on 2nd Feb which got shipped the next day with a delivery date of 18th Mar (??) at Mumbai. Does it take that long from US? They have charged S&H of $17 on invoice value of $31, I thought that's high but the landed price of the BDs still works out to be 30% cheaper hence went with it. Just keeping my fingers crossed till I receive the shipment. Has anyone been in a similar situation? Are deliveries from Amazon UK faster and relatively cheaper in terms of S&H? Please share your experiences and views.
Thanks.
 
I have placed an order for 3 BDs from Amazon US on 2nd Feb which got shipped the next day with a delivery date of 18th Mar (??) at Mumbai. Does it take that long from US? They have charged S&H of $17 on invoice value of $31, I thought that's high but the landed price of the BDs still works out to be 30% cheaper hence went with it. Just keeping my fingers crossed till I receive the shipment. Has anyone been in a similar situation? Are deliveries from Amazon UK faster and relatively cheaper in terms of S&H? Please share your experiences and views.
Thanks.

Shipping for DVD's is charged at 1.59 GBP per disk and 2.09 per delivery. So evidently it turns out cheaper. Dont know how they charged $17 for shipping for you. I have found deliveries from Amazon UK takes around 8-10 days. The advantage with ordering from Amazon is that you get collector's and steelbook editions, not normally found here in stores. So why don't you try Amazon UK next time?
 
I have ordered a few times from Amazon.com and .uk and have seen that the final shipping rates depends on how they bundle the products.

On a per item basis, UK is cheaper than US but on certain bundles (books + DVD), the US charges could be better. Unfortunately the product selection is different on the two sites and also they don't ship electronics (not that I would buy as its too risky with the transportation). Lots of horror stories even within US.

@maheshm07 - Did you order expedited shipping by any chance? I see it as US$ 14 for the shipping.
 
@ MNHegde
I dont believe we can do that.

@ Fellow members

1) ORDERS COURIERED DIRECTLY FROM AMAZON & PACKING
I have been ordering from Amazon mainly cd's, service has been quite good and you have well seen how well packed did the DVDs arrive for MetalBandit, so dont worry about that. These are negligible issues while dealing with company of this size, they know what needs to be done ..mostly.

P.S. :
If you see that the courier you received is torn, then immediately click photo of the courier while you receive it from the hands of the courier guy and mark in the report that the package was found torn or damaged, as the condition is. The photo you take will immediately assist you to get a refund in case the package inside is found tampered/broken. Dont worry, its the rarest of the cases usually.


2) WHAT DO I DO IF I PLACE ORDER AMAZON BUT ITEM GETS COURIERED BY AMAZON'S SUBVENDOR?? ...CAN I CLAIM FOR DELAY IN SHIPMENT & LOSS?? WILL I GET A JUSTIFIED REFUND??

You just have to be careful at times, when you order an item and on the page of that item it shall show that the item will be shipped by someone else, say "RhythmHouse" which will be one of the listed vendors on AMAZON. Usually whoever does AMAZON empanel on their site would neccesarily be good but foul practices or issues do happen.
Like i had ordered an Earphone set from AMAZON and after the order was shown shipped, i realised that it was NOT shipped by AMAZON but by ACEPHOTODIGITAL. The order had god delayed, while i had spent nearly thrice the money of the item for the topmost speedy courier service they had on the list. But the item instead of 4 days reached on the 12th day. My purpose of spending huge money on speed courier was defeated as it was a gift to a cousin on his bday. NOW, Amazon has a feature of A-to-Z claim. I had filled the claim and submitted online to AMAZON. In the meantime i had also written to the vendor via Amazon (on amazon site, where your order status reflects there is an option - 'CONTACT SELLER'), but the seller didnt reply BUT ONLY TILL I didnt file the claim with Amazon.com for the delayed piece.

Believe me, i got a mail from the seller that they are 'refunding me the full amount' ..and I RECEIVED THE FULL AMOUNT IN MY CREDIT CARD.


3) HOW MUCH TIME DOES AMAZON TAKE TO PROCESS THE CLAIM IF THE ITEM SENT VIA THEIR SUBVENDOR IS BROKEN OR DELAYED?

Please take a note all this happened within 3-5 days from when i had filed the claim for my transaction with AMAZON. Oh yes, i did have to fax the claim letter on a format sent by by the seller as well i.e. in US ...but it all worked and solved the matter in 3-5days. so my experience has been pretty fine for now.

4) WILL I BE LEVIED IMPORT DUTY?
Yes, import duties are applicable on the electronic items and may be some other items, it will be mentioned while you make your order and the temporary invoice is shown to you for confirmation. Besides that YOU WILL NOT HAVE TO PAY ANYTHING IN INDIA, at the time of receipt of the shipment/courier.

e.g.
I had paid about USD25 as an Import duty for the earphone i had ordered. The earphoen was of USD70


5) CAN I DELETE THE ITEMS EVEN IF I HAVE CONFIRMED MY ORDER?
yes, you can delete your items & add on new items to your old orders which have NOT BEEN SHIPPED (you will have to select an option club this order while placing the order, this option is usually selected by default)

So once your order is confirmed and invoice generated, you CAN STILL DELETE THE ITEMS from your order and AMAZON, shall update the invoice with reduced items and a revised shipping cost for the order which will be less if the order gets much lighter than what it was, before you had cancelled a few items.

Please note your credit card is only charged once the status of your order is shown as - SHIPPING SOON or SHIPPED. Your card will not be charged if your order status shows - NOT SHIPPED.

Till the Order status shows NOT SHIPPED, you are free to change and amend the items in your invoice as many times as you want.


I have just completed my 5 orders with them from yday till today of various cds of 80's music that i like and some really cheap minimalist music cds.

I give a THUMS UP to Amazon.


hv a musical shopping!
 
Thanks Sidharth, that post about Amazon was re-assuring. There was no import duty charged for the Blu-rays, infact I was charged less than the amount that it showed in the cart. So with adding shipping charges and the discounts(I dunno why the discounts) now I'm paying almost the same amount had I been asking for free super saver to an UK address. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the customs will be passed without much hassle.

Also, initially for my package it was showing the deliver date to be sometime in middle of April. So I asked amazon what can be issue and they've informed me that one of the Blu-ray disc is not readily available although others are ready to be shipped. So I've opted for split the shipping (at extra cost). So they are now immediately shipping the rest of the 3 box sets and the shipping was minimal. But the extra cost showed bit high for the pending box set and so canceled that item and re-ordered it again. Now even that one is showing a lesser amount of shipping and a much sooner dispatch date. Also it seems that Amazon doesn't charge your card till they dispatch the items.
 
Shipping for DVD's is charged at 1.59 GBP per disk and 2.09 per delivery. So evidently it turns out cheaper. Dont know how they charged $17 for shipping for you. I have found deliveries from Amazon UK takes around 8-10 days. The advantage with ordering from Amazon is that you get collector's and steelbook editions, not normally found here in stores. So why don't you try Amazon UK next time?

Your reply prompted me to go and check Amazon USs S&H rates for Asia and found that the $17 charged for the 3 BDs is actually as per their norms, which are $4.99 per delivery & $3.99 per item. Guess I am not too happy about these 'high' charges but atleast now I know :)
UK rates are definitely on the lower side, will keep this in mind next time the shopping bug hits me.:D
Thanks.
 
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