Amazon

I bought my N800 from Amazon. Not the cheapest but they had it in stock and could ship quickly. Unfortunately they used City-Link for the delivery. I have spent too much of my life waiting in City-Link's offices, waiting for various parcels which they tried to deliver when no one was in. This time, it seems - not that I am making an accusation - that they didn't bother trying to deliver.
The web tracking said they'd tried to deliver at 8:19 and that no one was home, so they'd left a card. There was someone home; they did not leave a card. So I found myself visiting their offices and waiting.

Using City-Link is not the quality I expect from Amazon. I told them so and had an apologetic e-mail back. And they refunded me my express delivery charge. Well done Amazon.

Amazon: the bad

I mentioned the very rapid delivery I received from Amazon this week. Excellent service. But...

I hadn't used 1-Click for ages. Normally I want to poke around in my basket and check I've really chosen what I wanted. Indeed, the very shopping process can be as fulfilling as the receiving and reading/playing/installing/using process. So, no 1-Click for me. Until last Sunday - one book to buy - a gift - no decision needed. So, I succumbed to 1-click. And it worked just fine until it very helpfully informed me that if I placed another order within the next few hours, I could add it to my current order. This through me. I started thinking of other things I needed - printer ink! So, I searched for the black ink I wanted and 1-Clicked. However, it didn't end up in my basket with my other order. So, I clicked again - still no luck. I tried the magenta ink - this worked - in the basket with the book. Then I tried the yellow ink - no luck. Very odd.

A couple of minutes later I checked my mail. Two new mails from Amazon ("Your order...") and two, similarly titled from other companies. What? I'm sure you, clever reader, have worked this out. Yes, "Amazon Marketplace" sellers, which means "Not Amazon". They seem to specialise in offering cheap headline prices with outrageous postage-and-packing charges. Now, I dealt with two "Amazon Marketplace" companies - "avides_media" who responded very quickly to my e-mail canceling my order with them, and "flash_memory" who replied to another e-mail saying "Unfortunately the cancellation email was not received...".

So, for my part I'll not use 1-Click again, and I'll try and avoid "Amazon Marketplace" sellers. I really don't know why Amazon let their brand be diluted in this way. I trust Amazon; I don't trust the "Amazon Marketplace" sellers.

Amazon: the good

I placed an order for a book at about 4 pm on Sunday afternoon. It was delivered just after 8 am on Monday morning. Wow!