Amazon (Non-US) - Retailer Thread [Multiple]

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Feel free to discuss any service, shipping and other matters related to the international (non-US) Amazon sites here. Share feedback, discuss packaging, etc.

Contact links for...

Amazon France for 2. Sélectionnez un problème select the Contact Us in English option from the dropdown list.
Amazon Germany for 2. Bitte wählen Sie ein Thema select the Write to us in English option from the dropdown list.
Amazon Spain for 2. Selecciona un problema select the Would you like some help in English? option from the dropdown list.
Amazon Italy for 2. Seleziona un argomento select the Email Us in English option from the dropdown list.

ORIGINALY reported by Buffalo MX

Hey guys! Wanted to share this with my fellow US & Canada members.

I suppose some of our European members can benefit from this as well.

I think this is very news worthy for all us steelbook collectors, so it deserves it's own thread for now.

I just got an order in from amazon.de and I was very surprised at the SIZE
of the box that appeared, just for 6 steelbooks. Well, it appears that for any
NEW release, that they haven't packaged up yet or a catalog release that might be on backorder (like my order of Judge Dredd was), they have a new box.

We all remember that the package had been improved recently to bubble wrap inside a foldover box. :movie:

Well, now there is a new box, frustration free packaging, SPECIFICALLY labeled for steelbooks / metal packaging.

Pics below of the box, before opening and then after I opened it.

Spoiler

 

[MrBMT]

I'm normally one to praise Amazon UK for both their service and customer service, but their sheer incompetence this week has been simply outstanding.

On Monday I placed an order for 3 Steelbooks, on Tuesday all arrived damaged due to lack of any protective packaging.

I contacted them for a replacement, they were out of stock of two of the three items so I had to return it at my (in)convenience for a refund.

I placed a replacement order (the one Steelbook still in stock, two amarays) on Wednesday, due to be delivered yesterday - waited at the office an hour longer than I would have only to get a text saying they'd failed to deliver it. (Note: The courier never even bothered to attempt to deliver it.)

Contacted customer service to complain, they told me it'd be delivered by 5PM today, I placed another order yesterday also due for delivery today and they were loaded on to the same van for delivery...

5pm came and went, at 5:30pm I contacted customer services and spoke to a UK representative who chased up the courier, they said they would be with me by 6pm... 6pm came and went.

Contacted them again, got through to their Indian call centre, I could barely understand the guy and he clearly had no idea how to help me.

So this week, they've managed to deliver 1 of 3 orders... damaged.
They were late on an order, not once, but twice... and another once.

The Indian guy suggested I waited at the office until 9pm as they "might" deliver then(!)... and said otherwise they'd re-deliver it there tomorrow. (To work, where I will not be as it's the weekend.)



Great Amazon Prime service don't you think? "Amazon Logistics" (their courier) are completely useless.

 

[UpsetSmiley]

I'm normally one to praise Amazon UK for both their service and customer service, but their sheer incompetence this week has been simply outstanding.

On Monday I placed an order for 3 Steelbooks, on Tuesday all arrived damaged due to lack of any protective packaging.

I contacted them for a replacement, they were out of stock of two of the three items so I had to return it at my (in)convenience for a refund.

I placed a replacement order (the one Steelbook still in stock, two amarays) on Wednesday, due to be delivered yesterday - waited at the office an hour longer than I would have only to get a text saying they'd failed to deliver it. (Note: The courier never even bothered to attempt to deliver it.)

Contacted customer service to complain, they told me it'd be delivered by 5PM today, I placed another order yesterday also due for delivery today and they were loaded on to the same van for delivery...

5pm came and went, at 5:30pm I contacted customer services and spoke to a UK representative who chased up the courier, they said they would be with me by 6pm... 6pm came and went.

Contacted them again, got through to their Indian call centre, I could barely understand the guy and he clearly had no idea how to help me.

So this week, they've managed to deliver 1 of 3 orders... damaged.
They were late on an order, not once, but twice... and another once.

The Indian guy suggested I waited at the office until 9pm as they "might" deliver then(!)... and said otherwise they'd re-deliver it there tomorrow. (To work, where I will not be as it's the weekend.)



Great Amazon Prime service don't you think? "Amazon Logistics" (their courier) are completely useless.

Sorry to hear that man, I've had the occasional minor issue with Amazon, but never anything like that. I hardly order much from them, until this week with the three for £17 deal. They all arrived sealed, but who knows what could possibly lurk underneath the seal once I open them

I hope you and Amazon can sort something out, some of the Steelbooks have came back into stock I've noticed so depending on which titles you purchased perhaps you can re-order?

 

[MrBMT]

Sorry to hear that man, I've had the occasional minor issue with Amazon, but never anything like that. I hardly order much from them, until this week with the three for £17 deal. They all arrived sealed, but who knows what could possibly lurk underneath the seal once I open them

I hope you and Amazon can sort something out, some of the Steelbooks have came back into stock I've noticed so depending on which titles you purchased perhaps you can re-order?

I managed to get in touch with someone via live chat this evening and both orders are *supposed* to be getting delivered to my home address tomorrow. We'll wait and see I guess... I'm half expecting the couriers not to bother or turn up on Monday when I'm at work again considering my luck this week.

 

[NeheloR]

I do not know if it will be the new type of packaging, but the first time I receive something like this and looks very good, seems an evolution of the previous one (OP).

The package comes from Amz UK and I received 3 SB (from the recent offer 3x17 ...) in a medium box (E2) which included this "new" model (E0) and two other SB using other envelopes / boxes already viewed by here.

View attachment 75135

View attachment 75136

View attachment 75137

It looks pretty resistant though SB is not going to set well into this box, there is clearances on the sides.

View attachment 75138

View attachment 75139

I have been very satisfied with this new packaging after receiving from Amz ES an A1 envelope a few days ago, although no damage fortunately, it seemed poorly protected.

 

[tristar6]

Anyone knows if the Amazon CHINA -> Air Express shipping is like Airmail or EMS???
It is the online option i can use..

Thanks!

 

[UpsetSmiley]

Will be limiting my purchases with Amazon.it from now on. I pre-ordered Braveheart last week at 14 EUR it drops to 12 EUR today, before the item had even shipped, I chat with Amazon they tell me in the snarkiest manner possible prices fluctuate and that is was only a mere 2 EUR price drop . Say Amazon, why don't you pay the required tax being the multi billion dollar company you are, it's only a few million, right?

Ridiculous excuse. What good is the so-called "pre-order perk" if I'm going to be able to get it cheaper the day it's released? "It's only 2 EUR"? If they're indicating £1.50 is nothing, why don't they just refund it back to me? It's not as if they can't modify the order or refund the difference, and they even compared a virtual pre-order to going to the supermarket, buying an item and seeing the price decrease the following day which happens to be one of the most silliest comparisons yet.

Will be sending it back to them out of principal.

Rant over

 

[jeffster15]

Will have to be cautious when ordering steelbooks from Amazon Canada, as i ordered 2 steelbooks and they sent them in a bubble mailer with no padding. Luckily they somehow managed to come in mint, just disappointed in their packaging, a far cry from Amazon UK.

 

[TobGud]

Will have to be cautious when ordering steelbooks from Amazon Canada, as i ordered 2 steelbooks and they sent them in a bubble mailer with no padding. Luckily they somehow managed to come in mint, just disappointed in their packaging, a far cry from Amazon UK.

amazon Canada and USA give a sh*t about packaging... they´re throwing SEVERAL SteelBooks in one oversized bubble mailer or into a HUGE box with no padding...
it´s PURE LUCK if you´d ever happen to recieve a SteelBook completely mint

 

[keyjey]

Has anyone recently ordered from Amazon DE. In many of there steelbook listings it says "When shipping by Amazon: This item is shipped directly in its packaging. Please consider this if you want to give away the product - in this case, let him gift-wrapped if necessary and it will be shipped in another box".

Does this mean that they are now shipping steelbooks by itself and not using any boxes?

 

[dv8mad]

I am absolutely 100% DONE with Amazon France!!!

I have no idea how one branch of Amazon can be so different than all of the others, but I have lived with their terrible packaging and pretty much expect everything I order to have dings or dents of one kind or another, which is why I only order steels at rock bottom pricing from them.

Well, recently I ordered 10 steelbooks with their 50% off 10 titles deal and, as usual expected low quality, but still figured it was worth it for the final price.
For some reason, they split the shipment into two packages... Fine, whatever.

The first package I received had a 5 steelbooks and one non-steelbook. On top of that, one of the steelbooks was not only beaten up, but had NO WRAPPING WHATSOEVER! I opened it up and the discs had fingerprints all over them. I double checked to ensure I did not accidentally buy a used copy, but no, there it was NEW and directly sold by Amazon France.

I was fuming, but sent a friendly email outlining the issue and included pictures. They offered me 50% back on those two items if I wished to keep them, or a refund if I wanted to ship them back. I responded that, damn right I wanted to ship them back!

After contacting them to say so, they stated that shipping them back was not cost effective and that they would place a new order for those two items for me. All well and good, but why didn't they say that to begin with rather than make an offer that would make almost anyone upset?

That reorder just shipped today and lo and behold, the second package also arrived today with the remaining 4 steelbooks. CORRECTION! The remaining 3 steelbooks and an amaray. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE F%$(#~! KIDDING ME!!!!

SO angry. SO unhappy. But I took some time and about 50 deep breaths and simply emailed them the issue again, stated how incredulous I was that it would happen in both packages, outlined my differing feeling on the quality of Amazon France and that of every other Amazon I have used and simply stated that I want to return the non-steelbook for a refund - no matter the cost as I do not want to risk having yet another package sent - and that when the previous replacements arrived, I would let them know and I would no longer be purchasing from the France branch of Amazon.
I know they will not give a crap in the least. My leaving Amazon France makes no statement to them at all based on my purchases being .000000001% of their overall business, but it will at least remove one point of stress from my life and that's good enough for me.

 

[steel888]

Spoiler

I am absolutely 100% DONE with Amazon France!!!

I have no idea how one branch of Amazon can be so different than all of the others, but I have lived with their terrible packaging and pretty much expect everything I order to have dings or dents of one kind or another, which is why I only order steels at rock bottom pricing from them.

Well, recently I ordered 10 steelbooks with their 50% off 10 titles deal and, as usual expected low quality, but still figured it was worth it for the final price.
For some reason, they split the shipment into two packages... Fine, whatever.

The first package I received had a 5 steelbooks and one non-steelbook. On top of that, one of the steelbooks was not only beaten up, but had NO WRAPPING WHATSOEVER! I opened it up and the discs had fingerprints all over them. I double checked to ensure I did not accidentally buy a used copy, but no, there it was NEW and directly sold by Amazon France.

I was fuming, but sent a friendly email outlining the issue and included pictures. They offered me 50% back on those two items if I wished to keep them, or a refund if I wanted to ship them back. I responded that, damn right I wanted to ship them back!

After contacting them to say so, they stated that shipping them back was not cost effective and that they would place a new order for those two items for me. All well and good, but why didn't they say that to begin with rather than make an offer that would make almost anyone upset?

That reorder just shipped today and lo and behold, the second package also arrived today with the remaining 4 steelbooks. CORRECTION! The remaining 3 steelbooks and an amaray. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE F%$(#~! KIDDING ME!!!!

SO angry. SO unhappy. But I took some time and about 50 deep breaths and simply emailed them the issue again, stated how incredulous I was that it would happen in both packages, outlined my differing feeling on the quality of Amazon France and that of every other Amazon I have used and simply stated that I want to return the non-steelbook for a refund - no matter the cost as I do not want to risk having yet another package sent - and that when the previous replacements arrived, I would let them know and I would no longer be purchasing from the France branch of Amazon.
I know they will not give a crap in the least. My leaving Amazon France makes no statement to them at all based on my purchases being .000000001% of their overall business, but it will at least remove one point of stress from my life and that's good enough for me.

I had a similar experience with Amazon.FR lately too. Ordered a few different steelbooks which were all shipped together. One of them had no shrink wrap on it, yet it was sold as 'new'. I had to ship it back while they sent me a replacement.

When I've had similar experiences with any of the other Amazon sites, 98% of the time, they say to just keep the item, no need to send it back.

 

[paulboland]

AmazonUK
Are now using for Rep of Ireland
via IPARCEL_EU

That's not good they previously used An Post or Royal Mail
When they used An Post it was 2 to 3 days delivery time every time with lot been 2 days
Royal Mail was 3 Days to 5 Days average

You can now expect be wondering when you will get delivery
In Rep of Ireland it will be Fastway Couriers for IPARCEL_EU
Fastway are good as a courier you would usually get it next day after they get your parcel but the problem is it takes longer with IPARCEL_EU as the Parcel arrives in Rep of Ireland and then its passed to Fastway Couriers and from my experience its anything up to a week delay before they get your parcel

I also have noticed a Price increase for shipping with recent amazon.uk orders to Rep Of Ireland

2 Pre Orders I had Shipped recently

Ordered on 13 Mar 2014
Hands of the Ripper
Delivery Option: Standard
Postage & Packing:£1.85
Dispatched on 17 August 2014
Shipped with An Post
Delivery estimate: 20 August 2014
An Post arrived on time 3 Days

Ordered on 20 August 2014
Twins of Evil
Delivery Option: Standard
Postage & Packing:£4.30
Dispatched on 7 September 2014
Shipped using IPARCEL_EU
Delivery estimate: 12 September 2014

The Standard Postage cost has been increased to £4.30 including Vat



I don't like this I can understand when its a expensive Box Set them using a Courier
But with normal orders why they charging more postage and using IPARCEL_EU

They used to have postage costs for a single Blu-ray order £1.85
They now have Standard postage costs £4.30
They now Ship using IPARCEL_EU

 

[BluSteel2012]

Yes. I've had dealings with Fastway couriers before while using Amazon.com. They are slow. And when I rang to see where my item was (as it still not turned up after Amazons own quoted delivery date) they used the excuse that my item had not yet been released from customs and they were waiting on it. It then turned up the next day. Not sure if they are trustworthy.

What I tend to do with Amazon UK is wait and order a bunch of stuff together and when it's over £21 you get free shipping.

 

[paulboland]

Yes. I've had dealings with Fastway couriers before while using Amazon.com. They are slow. And when I rang to see where my item was (as it still not turned up after Amazons own quoted delivery date) they used the excuse that my item had not yet been released from customs and they were waiting on it. It then turned up the next day. Not sure if they are trustworthy.

What I tend to do with Amazon UK is wait and order a bunch of stuff together and when it's over £21 you get free shipping.

Its not Fastway been slow they despatch to you in 1-2 days after they get your parcel with most taking only 1 day
I had lot of deliveries with them and they deliver to most areas 2 times a day depending on how many deliveries there are with your local driver
When I see out for despatch its that day I get delivery

What causes a parcel been slow is IPARCEL_EU as all parcels are delayed in transit and who they use to transport to customs for inspection they then give your parcel to Fastway courier
Fastway despatch very quickly as soon as they get your parcel but you need to keep track using your tracking id on Fastway.ie to see if they got delivery of your parcel yet
It can stay a week in customs sometimes before Fastway get your parcel its how IPARCEL_EU operate to pass on your parcel to Fastway that causes the delay

What I don't like is Amazon.uk is the postage cost increase its 50-60% more
Amazon.uk are now using IPARCEL_EU for all deliveries with the new postage cost options to Rep Of Ireland even if you used FREE Super Saver Delivery instead of using An Post or Royal Mail
When it was An post you knew when you were going to get delivery it was 2 days 99% of the time after it was shipped from Amazon.uk

I have an order I placed yesterday with FREE Super Saver Delivery it was shipped using IPARCEL_EU
This also means you have to be at home to get your delivery as it has to be signed for
That's crazy for a single Blu-ray Disc Order

 

[BluSteel2012]

Yeah it IS a pain alright.

Also Zavvi.nl is also charging €1.59 for postage now to Ireland also. I think it's per order though, so it's better to buy in bulk instead of order separately.

Seems like we always get screwed here in Ireland in the end

 

[lenticularis]

I am trying to place an order with Amazon China but the site doesn't recognise my UK account password. I have used other Amazon sites using the same details without any problems. Do I have to create a new account? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: Solved the problem by creating new account.

 

[travid]

Anyone else been asked to change their password, whilst trying to log in on their page?

EDIT. Sorted now. Bizzare

 

[JackRegan]

Couriers:

Some of Amazon's UK couriers are BONE IDLE!

On several occasions they have pretended to 'attempt to deliver' and have returned steelbooks as 'undeliverable' or 'refused' - I brought this up with Amazon every time and they apologized and allowed me to re-order at the original price (as they had inevitable gone up) and promised that the courier in question would be reprimanded!
Doesn't seem to have made any bloody difference though!

Returns:
Returned two damaged steels recently on the same returns authoriztion, packed together and one disappeared! They intended in charging me for the other one that some LIGHTFINGERED GIT at their depot had lifted!
After some earnest discussion they agreed to refund me for them!

Packaging: the UK site have recently been sendign me Steelbooks in A1 Mailers!
I also note that thr wording on the pages has mostly altered and they no longer mention 'Frustration Free Packaging.'
Anyone else suffering from the neo-zavvi disease too?

I intend in bringing this up with them an dwill let you know if I get any sense out of them.

 

[Headhunter]

Packaging: the UK site have recently been sendign me Steelbooks in A1 Mailers!
I also note that thr wording on the pages has mostly altered and they no longer mention 'Frustration Free Packaging.'
Anyone else suffering from the neo-zavvi disease too?

I intend in bringing this up with them an dwill let you know if I get any sense out of them.

I just received two steelbooks from Amazon UK in a large A1 mailer with zero protection. Thankfully not damaged but this doesn't bode well!

 

[steelbobawny]

I ordered four Steelbooks from Amazon Italy, I was also aware they may use a box if I order more than a few, they used a C3T mailer card to deliver my Steelbooks, not great but ok this time, no damages, I would have been more happy to get a box with better padding, there was still a bit of room for movement in the C3T mailer.

I guess it could have been worse they could have used A1 or A2 mailers that don't have the card support on the inside, I've provided pictures below of the packaging Amazon Italy used on this occasion.