[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by diyguy

this is quite common and is an issue with the logistics provider and not Amazon.

Isn't it handled by Amazon themselves?

ATS - Amazon Transportation Services is the logistics department.

So this silly excuses of customer not available or address not locate-able, landmark needed etc are to be taken with a lunch of salt.

[rkg]

I have ordered two books from AMAZON. AMAZON took exactly 14 days deliver them to bangalore from Noida.
ATS tracking showed Noida to Gurgaon 5 days
Gurgaon stay for 5 days
Gurgaon to bangalore 2 days
Bangalore to delivery 2 days

After this ordered reflective tape from flipkart on 9th September night. it is not flipkart assured item. estimated delivery date is 19th september. Item was shipped from Chandigarh. delivered on 12th september.

[bhandary]

Originally Posted by BlueEyes

I was promptly refused by the lady at the counter as it is electronic gadget and India Post rules does not permit booking one.

Originally Posted by diyguy

You shouldn't tell them it is a camera. Say it is a cable for phone or something.

Apple iPhone 6s (64GB) was delivered to our office by an online seller on amazon using a private courier and the product description on the packaging label on the outside was "wireless unit".

Probably it would have been, to avoid refusal by the courier company citing inability to handle high value electronics gadget or purely for security reasons.

[joslicx]

Originally Posted by a4anurag

So this silly excuses of customer not available

I have suffered this with all of'em! I think its a very prevalent practice in the logistics industry. Most likely the courier guys do not go to each and every area every day so if on the particular day there are not many deliveries in your area then most probably you might get this status (this is just my guess). They normally do visit and deliver on the next day. The first time it happened with me I was also spooked. It was bluedart and the delivery was for a camera I had bought from zoomin. I was really angry with them but that resulted in further delays (it stayed with Bluedart office in Bangalore for 5 days!!!) In my personal experience Bluedart is the worst! Almost always they do this. Others who have played this stunt on me include amazon.in, myntra, jabong (I think they used javas earlier), flipkart (ekart I think) etc.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by joslicx

I have suffered this with all of'em!

Had a similar experiece when I had a long run of unreliable broadband from Airtel. Many times, an engineer (genuinely willing guys) would call, try something, and ask me to monitor the situation. When it did not work, I'd call customer service again, who would tell me the call had been closed "by the customer." An outright lie.

Whether it is telecoms or delivery of goods doesn't matter. What matter is that a there is a corporate policy of lying in place, because all that matters is the numbers at the bottom of reports at the end of each day. They probably get faked at every level. The customer closed the call; the customer was not available; the customer could not be contacted.

Sorry: honesty is over.

[shankar.balan]

The best way around this is to jack all these guys via social media. Put your comments and impressions out on FaceBook for all to see and watch these guys "jump to it" in terms of service.

Despite having had stacks of stuff delivered at my home from Amazon, FlipKart and so on, all these years, I still do face the occasional hiccup.

I can empathise to an extent - just look at the traffic and look at that poor delivery boy's lot in life. Carrying a huge heavy often-overloaded bag on his back, he is treated by the principal company as nothing more than a "beast of burden."

Of course, the company itself with all its self proclaimed and professed CSR cues and "Human Rights" stances and posing, is suitably distanced from all this, by legalese and disclaimers and the fact that these guys are not direct employees at all, but on some poor sub contractor's rolls.

Basically in this age of instant gratification, given our peculiar Indian situation of traffic and so on, it would do us good to learn a little patience...

[drdeepudev]

I've faced this too and had reported the incident in this thread few months back. For the first time when we see the message customer not present in the address, we will feel like cheated. For me, usually it happens with Amazon and usually the goods will be delivered the next day. Now, I've adjusted myself and keep the expectation low.

Slightly OT: This happened with LPG cylinder delivery too, and for me twice and i believe it will happen again. One fine day, in the morning, ill receive a message from Indane that the cylinder is out for delivery and by evening I'll receive the message that delivery cancelled as the door was closed and will be reattempted the next working day. So, that means, lying is becoming a big part of the business world these days.

[binand]

Originally Posted by drdeepudev

So, that means, lying is becoming a big part of the business world these days.

True story. About a year back, I had to send a very important document to my uncle who lives in a small town in Kerala (one that is covered only by India Post). I sent it by Speed Post, and was tracking it online on their site. I think on the third day of my booking it the site showed "Delivered", and I was happy. But that same evening my uncle called me and asked what happened to the document. I told him the website is saying delivered, he should check with his family members and neighbours. He couldn't trace it; so he called up the postman who was known to him. The postman told him that since his (my uncle's) house was a bit out of the way he didn't deliver it, but went back and marked it as Delivered so as to not break the SLA; that he would have come the next day to deliver! I asked my uncle to make a complaint, but he refused. :-)

[shamanth]

I have ordered around 4 items from Aliexpress, all were below 5$. I have given my office address, with normal post, none of them has arrived, so taken refund for 3 item, and now i have to apply refund for 4th item.

Since there are sent by normal post, don't have tracking beyond China, and one tracking showed arrived in mumbai, after that went blank.

I am thinking what could be the problem, is it because of my office address, that postman might not able to contact me if there is any custom charges? Should i change it to house address and try ? I see so many guys getting all kinds of items from Aliexpress but i haven't got single item. Trying to figure out, what could be problem.

[Sherlocked]

So this is a common issue across all logistic service providers. But this is the first time it happened with me over all these years of online shopping.

Basically these guys have found a "loophole" into their system and utilizing it to their benifit at the cost of company's reputation.

I feel that Amazon should seriously look into this matter. Its a serious concern with so many such incidents reported. If you are going to openly lie about it that the delivery was attempted but the customer wasn't available then of course we will feel cheated especially the first time. It's a different thing if we the customer gets accustomed to such thing over the period of time. That's their win, our loss. Defeat of the system.

But as Shankar sir said, these delivery guys are under a lot of burden carrying a heavy bag all day under the scorching sun. I can fully emphasise with that. I am not going to get angry if the delivery couldn't happen due to a genuine problem but things go downhill when you openly lie about it to the company as well as the customer.
This is where the company needs to step in and work on these problems. But as arunphilip said that even Amazon India is a part of it and do the same to reflect good numbers in the reports sent to US, then God help us!

Oh and by the way, did anyone noticed the changed behaviour of delivery persons of Ekart logistics. Seems like they have developed a rating system of their delivery experience and the customer is asked to rate their experience with delivery.
So the delivery guy gives a wide smile to the customer while handling and signing which sometime may go creepy.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by shamanth

Since there are sent by normal post, don't have tracking beyond China, and one tracking showed arrived in mumbai, after that went blank.

I am thinking what could be the problem, is it because of my office address, that postman might not able to contact me if there is any custom charges? Should i change it to house address and try ? I see so many guys getting all kinds of items from Aliexpress but i haven't got single item. Trying to figure out, what could be problem.

I have got a lot of stuff from Aliexpress. Even if you pay some extra amount, do remember to choose registered parcel with tracking. These are China post registered air mail, HK post, Singapore post etc. The free shipping options are usually non trackable. Only some products come with free shipping being a trackable one like above. If the posts are sent via such channels, then it can be tracked till delivery. Usually it reaches me anytime between a week(HK post), two weeks(Singapore post) and a month(China post).

I have chosen free shipping for some random small objects worth 0.6$ and some have reached after say, 45 days or even 60 days after I had forgotten about it. If there is something I really need, I will choose the paid shipping options but not the expensive ones like EMS, DHL etc.

Preferably give home address since they do a better job in residential areas where load isnt much, and would either drop it with any person at home or ask you to collect the parcel from the post office. If you have an EMS tracking number, something like AB*************YZ, then do check with the local post office if they have those stuff.

[shamanth]

Originally Posted by audioholic

I have got a lot of stuff from Aliexpress. Even if you pay some extra amount, do remember to choose registered parcel with tracking. These are China post registered air mail, HK post, Singapore post etc. The free shipping options are usually non trackable. Only some products come with free shipping being a trackable one like above. If the posts are sent via such channels, then it can be tracked till delivery. Usually it reaches me anytime between a week(HK post), two weeks(Singapore post) and a month(China post).

I have chosen free shipping for some random small objects worth 0.6$ and some have reached after say, 45 days or even 60 days after I had forgotten about it. If there is something I really need, I will choose the paid shipping options but not the expensive ones like EMS, DHL etc.

Preferably give home address since they do a better job in residential areas where load isnt much, and would either drop it with any person at home or ask you to collect the parcel from the post office. If you have an EMS tracking number, something like AB*************YZ, then do check with the local post office if they have those stuff.

Thanks a lot for the information. I will follow as per your suggestions and order this time

Also i ordered with "AliExpress Standard Shipping", but tracking was till it left China only. So i will look for China/HK/Singapore post..

[BlueEyes]

Originally Posted by diyguy

You shouldn't tell them it is a camera. Say it is a cable for phone or something.

That didn't cross my mind even if it did I would have been busted.
A guy infront of me was booking a parcel and she cut it open to insure it wasn't a electronic device.

[GrammarNazi]

Bought Liqui Moly 5W40 from PayTM, seller hasn't even shipped till 5 days! Since 2 days, PayTM guys haven't got a clue why.

Had to return my mum's Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 since it seemed to have a defect while playing videos. Whole process included a visit to the service center, literally 50+ failed calls to the helpline & stern replies to ridiculous E-mails by Xiaomi.

Repeated another order for a tempered glass for the ^phone.

There's more, but my point is :

"Phew!"

Everyone in my family buys stuff online. Keeping track of all the stuff we've bought & the one off item(s) we've asked to be replaced, the follow up, etc, is a massive PITA.

Life's too short to go online complaining to EComm companies, following up about undelivered products or the crap they send 'by mistake'. Honestly, I'm going to try and avoid being part of a start-up experiment!

But as they say : Don't complain, Build the alternative!

So, would the hustlers please stand up & create a platform that manages all online purchases!?

[lurker]

Originally Posted by shamanth

I have ordered around 4 items from Aliexpress, all were below 5$. I have given my office address, with normal post, none of them has arrived, so taken refund for 3 item, and now i have to apply refund for 4th item.

Since there are sent by normal post, don't have tracking beyond China, and one tracking showed arrived in mumbai, after that went blank.

I am thinking what could be the problem, is it because of my office address, that postman might not able to contact me if there is any custom charges? Should i change it to house address and try ? I see so many guys getting all kinds of items from Aliexpress but i haven't got single item. Trying to figure out, what could be problem.

give your residential address.

I have ordered around 50 items from aliexpress, haven't missed out a single one.