So, that new Xbox...

[Niall]

I decided I wanted one as Fable 3 comes out at the end of the month.

£209 with 3 games from gamestation. I decided that Need for speed drift, Gears of war 2 and prince of persia. I started playing PoP which is quite possibly the most repetetive game I've ever played in my life, so that's back in the box and may well be making an appearance on the second hand section of a local game shop near you (or me). Not player GoW2, but I thought I'd have a go of NFS Drift even though I suck immensely at driving games. IT'S SO MUCH FUN! I set it to easy with damage to cars off, as you do when you're as bad at driving games as I am. I tend to daydream and crash occasionally Anyway, it's great fun playing it in an almost destruction derby kinda way

I also got Halo reach and Fifa 2011 (from amazon), along with Splinter Cell conviction from the pre owned section in gamestation. SC: Conviction is fun although it seems far more arcadey than the original.

On the subject of Amazon, for the first time they've let me down on delivery. I pay for the PRIME service. On both orders of Halo and Fifa2011, the site said order now and get it next day. So I did. Did Halo turn up? Nope, which cocked up my plan for Friday night as I was planning on playing it with 2 mates online. I complain to amazon how say "we cannot guarantee next day delivery", which begs the question, why to you offer it and advertise it, with your orders clearly telling you if you order before a certain time you WILL get it next day. Anyway, after that fobbing off, Fifa2011 was supposed to turn up on Saturday and there was no worry of it not arriving because they were using City-link, right? City-links site showed they received it at 2:43am and was waiting dispatch. Nothing all that day. I send amazon another email (which they told me to do in their previous email if it didn't turn up) to get a great reply. Oh no, I tell a lie, they didn't even bother to reply. So, Monday I have no reply again and the package arrived while I was at work as my mother was leaving for work and city link made her sign for it (same price and packaging as the previous one delivered late by royal mail, which didn't need signing for). I sent amazon another reply requesting to be contacted by a supervisor or manager as I was not happy that something I am paying for is not being done. Almost two full working days have passed now and I haven't had a reply to either, so I'll be looking for an email address higher up to send a complaint to now.

The long and short of it is, if they cannot supply deliveries in the time frame their site tells you it can, why charge people for the service? I understand that Royal mail is 1-3 days for first class post, but if their site tells you next day, they've clearly got some form of agreement to be able to actually offer you this service especially as they charge you for it! That aside, City-link combined with the fact I was told to contact amazon if it hasn't arrived, I'd love to know where they get off not delivering an item I expected. If I thought for one second that they were going to be so incompetent with both deliveries I would have got them (cheaper) at the supermarket as there's currently an offer on in most supermarkets when you buy chart titles.

I've already told amazon that if they do not provide me with a good reason for non delivery of two items, I won't be using their services again as THE reason I pay for Prime is next day delivery. I don't hold out much hope as two emails (one a reply, and one via the site) have both gone unanswered.


Still, my xbox is very nice. The vents on the top allow a LOT, and I do mean A LOT of heat to pump out. After about 4 hours use (which is already 33% of the amount of use I got out of my last one) the heat starts increasing and as I am in the warmest room in the house already, it's like a bleedin oven in here. By 9pm on Sunday it was so warm in my bedroom I had the ceiling fan on, a desk fan and a standalone fan blowing hot air towards the open windows! I had to go downstairs for a bit before I melted! I'm pondering getting some form of extraction unit set up. A fan, some tubing, a hole in the tube just above the xbox and the rest leading to the window

[Steve]

I mainly see Amazon Prime as a way of saving delivery charges across a group of family members, However with regard there one day delivery claims I think the fault lies squarely with Royal Mail who cannot guarantee a next day delivery for first class mail. I don't know how Amazon monitors Royal mail deliveries but I would hope it's more involved than Prime member feedback.

[Niall]

As they're blatantly ignoring my emails I'd imagine they don't even care about that. Shame really as they've been good until now. Both items were shipped at 7pm give or take a few minutes, so personally I think amazon is at fault. I ordered then well before the cut off, so it's taken them over 4 hours to do what their own site says.

I'll look for a managers contact info if I've still heard nothing after I get home.

[vitriol]

Glad you got hooked up with a new Xbox Niall.  I'm tempted to buy one so it matches all my other AV equipment under the TV.  Is it much quieter than the old model?  I use my Xbox with the HD DVD drive to play DVD's and it's loud enough to spoil quiet moments in films.

[Rik]

On the subject of Amazon, for the first time they've let me down on delivery. I pay for the PRIME service. On both orders of Halo and Fifa2011, the site said order now and get it next day. So I did. Did Halo turn up? Nope, which cocked up my plan for Friday night as I was planning on playing it with 2 mates online. I complain to amazon how say "we cannot guarantee next day delivery", which begs the question, why to you offer it and advertise it, with your orders clearly telling you if you order before a certain time you WILL get it next day. Anyway, after that fobbing off, Fifa2011 was supposed to turn up on Saturday and there was no worry of it not arriving because they were using City-link, right? City-links site showed they received it at 2:43am and was waiting dispatch. Nothing all that day. I send amazon another email (which they told me to do in their previous email if it didn't turn up) to get a great reply. Oh no, I tell a lie, they didn't even bother to reply. So, Monday I have no reply again and the package arrived while I was at work as my mother was leaving for work and city link made her sign for it (same price and packaging as the previous one delivered late by royal mail, which didn't need signing for). I sent amazon another reply requesting to be contacted by a supervisor or manager as I was not happy that something I am paying for is not being done. Almost two full working days have passed now and I haven't had a reply to either, so I'll be looking for an email address higher up to send a complaint to now.

I got a £5 credit on my account within an hour of complaining. When it happened again, they refunded my the Prime charge. In every case, it's been Royal Mail who have let them down.

[pctech]

I bought an Elite back in April last year (with the 'Falcon' motherboard) and am not at all tempted by the new design which looks rather flimsy IMO.

[Niall]

The new one is vastly superior to the old white ones, I couldn't speak on the elite one as I didn't get one. It is SO much quieter I don't even notice it's on apart from the warm air flowing out of it. Way too soon to say it's great because it'll die when I say that

I'd definitely recommend one though.

[pctech]

I'd agree the white ones were ugly but personally I'd prefer more fans to keep that mother of a CPU cool.

Personally I reckon a lot of the Red Ring of Death cases were due to bad ventilation.

[Niall]

I wasn't talking about looks, although these are nicer looking too. It actually gets the heat out of the console rather than letting it increase the temperature inside the case, leading to memory failures, etc.

The thing that annoyed the hell out of me with the old one is they "fixed" the RROD, simply by changing how the console reported errors. I had EXACTLY the same error on two occasions. On the second occasion with the newer xbox the same failure occurred but it didn't report an error. Memory dying issue again.

I just hope I get more out of this one than the combined total of my previous two, which was under 50 hours.

[pctech]

I think the last incarnation 'Jasper' was supposed to cure the heating issue by shrinking the IBM CPU and ATI GPU (the 65nm CPU appeared in 'Falcon' and the 65nm GPU in 'Jasper')

Mine has been ok (touch wood) and is on its side on a glass shelf with plenty of space for airflow around, good luck with your new one.

[Niall]

I played Fifa last night. LFC Vs West ham. I was winning 14-1 and forfeited the match 0-3 when I got my fifth player sent off

[pctech]

The Hammers must be really bad these days.

I'm not really into football that much but I do keep an eye on West Ham who are my 'adopted' team.

[Niall]

Dear Customer,

Thank you for contacting Amazon.co.uk and for bringing this to our attention.

It does appear that something has happened with the delivery of your order and that it should have reached you by now.

I realise that you have greatly inconvenienced by this situation, it is never our intention to inconvenience our valued customers like you. Please accept our sincere apologies.

Occasionally, unexpected fluctuations in supply can add to our dispatch or delivery estimations. I hope you'll understand that we do our best to ensure that all of our customer orders leave our Fulfilment Centre as close as possible to the availability and delivery estimates that are listed on our website.

I have placed a new order #****************  for "FIFA 11 (Xbox 360)", and it will be dispatched as soon as possible to the same address. There will of course be no additional charge for this replacement order.

Jesus christ. I can't win. Now they've sent another copy of a game that was delivered AND SIGNED FOR. Apparently they don't read the emails. I sent another email today as their system as of today allowed me to send an email through the site itself for an ordered item which it didn't the other day. I pointed out IN A LARGE FONT that it was the third email and named the person who was apparently ignoring my emails. All I was hoping for was an apology, possibly a refund of my prime subscription, but now I get this which could easily blow up in my face making me look like a thief!

[Niall]

Amusingly, this next day delivery posted on Thursday has yet to arrive

[Niall]

Ah ha, it just turned up! Two day next day delivery strikes again, for the third time in a week.

[Rik]

It sounds like the service I've been getting via Royal Mail from Amazon, Niall. Ask them to escalate your complaint so that those responsible for choosing the carriers are well aware of the shortcomings.

[Niall]

This was the "free" game.

To be fair I've noticed that the royal mail have been nothing short of shocking recently, with recorded delivery items taking a week to arrive from the sorting office in Chester and normal mail taking up to 2 weeks. I've no idea what's going on with them, but with my Amazon experience last week, I really think that was Amazons fault as I never got a dispatch notice until 7pm which means they more than missed the final postal time, even for late collection. With my orders it seems that Royal mail got them to me within 1 day of them receiving it.

Still I've got something off them worth £40, and they can't say I haven't told them I had the original game as I clearly did in the email (which I've kept) and sent a copy through their site contact page, and the game was signed for. I've done all I can, and the next stop is to part exchange it for a new game at the end of the month

[Rik]

They sent me a pair of shoes today that I hadn't ordered, but which a lady in Dundee is waiting for. How, I do not know.

[Glenn]

Do they suit you?

[Rik]

Only if I was female and very much smaller.

[pctech]

Probably a good job BT was split from the post office.

[Rik]

You mean so that we have two organisations to rubbish, Mitch?

[pctech]

 

If they were still one we would probably still have crossed lines and calls routed to the wrong place.

[Rik]

Ah, happy days, you made so many new friends back then.

[Niall]

I've just looked at the shipping print out in this package and it's got on it "1pm premium next day shipping" and it took 2 days! I think there is definitely a problem at amazon as the time on the label says 5:30pm 07/10/10 which means again it wasn't sent until after the cut off.

It's taking them about 4 hours to process urgent orders. That can't be right.

[Rik]

Amazon have a much later cut-off time with Royal Mail than applies to ordinary customers, Niall.

[Niall]

Well that doesn't explain 2 day deliveries on next day shipping then. Hmm.

Ah well, I won't be using them anymore for items I want next day, as they obviously can't be trusted. I'll just pay the premium and order from Game instead (if ordering games), and collect it myself. Shame as they've been reliable for years, but obviously something has changed between them and Royal mail recently it would seem.

I'm starting to wonder though. If a royal mail problem, then how come I experienced the exact same thing with City-link as they deliver next day if they've been told to? I'm starting to think that Amazon are not using the guaranteed next day delivery they have been, and are just using normal delivery methods to save money. It would make sense, and explain why something sent at 5pm+ arrives 2 days later via 1st class post and a next day delivery service that delivers on a Saturday AND has the item since the night before, yet doesn't deliver until the monday.

I did ask Amazon this three times, and on each occasion they never answered that question, and focused on Royal mail, to try and shift the blame.

[Rik]

All my late deliveries have been clearly marked Prime, Niall.

[Steve]

I wonder If all Royal Mail deliveries to Wales are deliberately being delayed if the address is not written in Welsh

[Rik]

[pctech]

All my late deliveries have been clearly marked Prime, Niall.

Don't you think Prime is a bit of a rip off Rik?

[Rik]

It depends how much you order, I guess, Mitch. It's quite cheap when you persuade them to give you a full refund for breach of contract.

[Steve]

Diolch Rik  

[Rik]

 

[Niall]

All my late deliveries have been clearly marked Prime, Niall.

Mine too.

[Rik]

Crazy, isn't it.

[Niall]

I've given up. In the past I've ordered at 4pm and items have been on my doorstep on the Saturday before now, but it seems they can't do it any more. It would appear that it's pointless using prime now if they can't deliver in the time frame they claim they can, then in small print say they cant guarantee it, which begs the question; how is it legal to offer it at all?

Meh, I just won't use them again for anything important.

[Rik]

Do what I did, and demand a refund on the grounds of repeated breach of contract. Throw in a 'if you can't provide a reliable service, I'll have to consider purchasing elsewhere...'. Worked for me.

[Niall]

That's exactly what I did which resulted in them sending me the second copy of the game. Totally misreading or ignoring the bulk of my email. I assume at some point they will link the signing of the received order with the account note showing a second copy went out, then contact me. By which time I will have sold the game

[Rik]

I just escalated the stock reply with a phone call.

[Niall]

The best part is that it wasn't me that signed for it, it was my mum so they wont even have a record of me signing it, making city-links refusal of delivery unless you sign for it, pointless. Also my mum wasn't even in the house, she was in her car, leaving for work. She signed for it on the drive, in her car and they posted it through the door.

[Rik]

Oops.

[DorsetBoy]

They sent me a pair of shoes today that I hadn't ordered, but which a lady in Dundee is waiting for. How, I do not know.

Asda Poole excel at sending totally the wrong items if you use home delivery.  A young mum in Poole ordered Colgate Total toothpaste and received Durex Anal Fun Jelly , the local paper had a field day 

[Rik]

Did she?

[pctech]

It depends how much you order, I guess, Mitch. It's quite cheap when you persuade them to give you a full refund for breach of contract.

I ordered a toner cartridge from them (Just over £33 and cheapest I'd found) and selected Super Saver Delivery, they dispatched it next day via Home Delivery Network.

[Lance]

Niall, at work we get a royal mail pick up at 9pm. It wouldn't surprise me if Amazon's is later than that.