Amazon UK terminates Free shipping to Europe

[Nisei]

Wow, this must be the most customer unfriendly mail I've ever received from a big company:

As you've previously had orders delivered to The Netherlands, we wanted to let you know that our delivery options to The Netherlands are changing. From April 3, 2014, FREE Super Saver Delivery will no longer be available. You'll have the option of Standard or Priority Delivery for orders being delivered to The Netherlands.

More information about international delivery rates and times can be found here.

We strive to provide our European customers the greatest possible selection at low prices and hope to see you again soon.

Regards,

Customer Service Department

Amazon.co.uk

I've received this on April 4, so the day AFTER they decided to stop offering free shipping to several European countries. No reason, no apology, nothing.
The Amazon UK forum has a (long and growing) topic about it. Probably the most stupid thing they could have done, certainly the way they did it.

[MikaLove]

I just got and read this mail as well. DAMN this pisses me off!
I mean, WHY? Like Amazon isn't making gazillions of $$$ £££ €€€ (etc) to cover this!
Amazon are ****ing piss ants.
They need some competition! This company is just too big. They pack their stuff horribly bad as well. Most things I ordered from them arrived broken.
Maybe it's time to seriously look for other online stores to buy from.

[MifuneFan]

You guys are spoiled. It's not unreasonable to charge shipping to another country. Hell, they should charge UK residents too.

[Nielsb90]

I think this will end up affecting them a whole lot. I've made soooo many more orders with them because of the free shipping than I would otherwise. They won't be my go-to store anymore sadly.

[Nisei]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

You guys are spoiled. It's not unreasonable to charge shipping to another country.

You don't get it. Amazon UK stocks a lot of their inventory on the European main land. When I order something from them I usually receive it next day or the day after, shipped from Amsterdam (which is in the country where I live).

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Hell, they should charge UK residents too.

What's that supposed to mean? You think it's normal for Amazon US to offer free shipping above $35 but customers of Amazon UK should pay for shipping within their own country? Perhaps you misread the title of the topic and don't realize this is about Amazon UK?

[RBBrittain]

Originally Posted by Nisei

You don't get it. Amazon UK stocks a lot of their inventory on the European main land. When I order something from them I usually receive it next day or the day after, shipped from Amsterdam (which is in the country where I live).

What's that supposed to mean? You think it's normal for Amazon US to offer free shipping above $35 but customers of Amazon UK should pay for shipping within their own country? Perhaps you misread the title of the topic and don't realize this is about Amazon UK?

They did know this was about Amazon UK. The change was only for the Continent; free Super Saver shipping (without Prime) is still available on orders of £10 & up within the UK and £25 & up to Ireland. (They never had free shipping to the U.S. or Canada; our shipping rates haven't changed at all. IIRC they once had free shipping to Australia, but that ended years ago.)

Edit: They may not have known Amazon UK now has a minimum for free shipping within the UK. Also, nearly all orders to the U.S. & Canada ship from within the UK, even back in the LVCR days when many small-dollar items went to the UK from the Channel Islands. The Netherlands also qualifies for free shipping from Amazon Germany on all BD orders.

[Nisei]

Amazon DE is not an option. Who wants German covers? And besides that; here's a random price comparison between the two.

Doctor Who series 6 on Amazon UK: €19.66 (£16.25)
Doctor Who series 6 on Amazon DE: €32.64

So, I'd have to pay €13 extra to get "free" shipping...

[strumdogg]

Originally Posted by Nisei

Amazon DE is not an option. Who wants German covers?

Germans and/or those who speak German?

[KrugerIndustrial]

Hey I did not even get such an email from Amazon. How rude!

[Nisei]

Originally Posted by strumdogg

Germans and/or those who speak German?

Haha, well perhaps some of them. But I know a lot of Germans prefer original movie titles as well.

[strumdogg]

Originally Posted by Nisei

Haha, well perhaps some of them. But I know a lot of Germans prefer original movie titles as well.

Just teasing...I knew what you meant.

[Nisei]

Originally Posted by hariseldon

You know I really do sympathize with the loss of a perk, but if this is the most unfriendly email/mail you've ever gotten from a company then maybe I should think of re-locating to Europe.

No threats of lawsuits
No threats to repossess your home/car/family/pets
No threats to do irreparable harm to your bank account/Job Resume/Credit History/Tibias
No threat of imprisonment in a 3rd World "Re-Education" Camp
Nothing to be applied to your permanent record

Let's keep seeing things in perspective OK?
I'm not talking about companies I owe any money or whatever.
But if US companies are threatening you with lawsuits, reposess your home/car/pets, do irreparable harm to your bank account/Job Resume/Credit History/Tibias, threat with imprisonment in a 3rd world "re-education" camp or nothing to be applied to your permanent record just because they stopped offering free shipping, then yes; consider moving to Europe.

[rdodolak]

Apparently, Amazon is cutting its losses. Either way here is a list of other affected countries.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/cust...deId=201210860

About Changes to FREE Super Saver Delivery

These changes relate specifically to FREE Super Saver Delivery.

From 3 April, 2014, FREE Super Saver Delivery will no longer be available for deliveries to Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Gibraltar, Iceland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal or Sweden.

Please note that this change won't affect any pre-orders or orders for items not in stock placed before 1 April, 2014, where you've already selected FREE Super Saver Delivery.

Learn more about International Delivery Rates & Times.

[Nisei]

Originally Posted by hariseldon

I can try -- actually I'm on quite good terms with my retailers. I just started with the first sentence of your post and was expecting some horrible stuff and ended up with a boring form letter.

Yeah OK, you're right about that
But it's not just the email but more the fact that they sent it the day after it went into effect. It's like,"Oh yeah by the way, did we mention we've decided to charge you for shipping since yesterday? We know you had £180 worth of Blu-rays in your basket but we didn't bother to tell you since we thought you wouldn't mind paying an extra 10% anyway."
I really don't get the reasoning behind this. Imagine they'd announced this 1 week in advance; people in the affecting countries probably would've ordered a crapload of stuff which they were otherwise going to order in the upcoming months. Instead, people are now massively emptying their baskets and wishlists and giving them the finger (or rather 2 fingers since it's UK).

[Eny-]

I don't use Amazon UK that much to be really bothered, since I mainly shop at .com, but their approach to this was one of the worst I've seen in a long time. Specially coming from Amazon and the effect it will have on millions of customers.

Saying this, I was too annoyed by their email. They should have announced this with a time frame, not "hey we just stopped free shipping yesterday".

[rdodolak]

From the Amazon.co.uk forums ...

COMPLAINT - Cancellation of Free international Super Saver Shipping

[fronk777]

Maybe Amazon is finally getting serious about actually making a profit as they watch their stock price tank.

[Jett Rink]

Originally Posted by fronk777

Maybe Amazon is finally getting serious about actually making a profit as they watch their stock price tank.

Companies are in business for a reason. To make money.

[Lnds500]

Originally Posted by rdodolak

Apparently, Amazon is cutting its losses. Either way here is a list of other affected countries.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/cust...deId=201210860

Yeah, you are in the second wave of countries to lose this privilege.

We lost it last summer.

FREE Super Saver Delivery on eligible orders over £25 is currently available to Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Gibraltar, Iceland, Republic of Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Sweden.

FREE Super Saver Delivery to Italy, Spain, Andorra, Greece, Liechtenstein, Norway, San Marino and the Vatican City on eligible orders over £25 was available on orders placed up to and including June 11, 2013 (GMT).

I'm not spoiled, I can understand that there are shipping costs etc but their shipping charges are insane compared to the competition.

Amazon.co.uk's shipping charge for a videogame is ~4,5 ($7,45) pounds and it used to be ~6 ($9,94).

Shipping from Amazon.ca/.com and DeepDiscount is cheaper than that!

They should have raised the minimum amount needed to qualify for free shipping, not cancel it altogether.

[chrisron]

I lost free shipping last year, but I could still live with paying £2.5 for shipping.

Today I was ordering a box-set and suddenly they wanted £6.5!

Zavvi still has free shipping to Norway, so I guess I will pay more attention to their Monday sales from now on.