Amazon wars...

[mikeyB]

A couple of days ago I was about to take delivery of an order for whisky (birthday pressie for son in law) and gin, for Mrs B to dilute her tonic., when the delivery lady said “Have you got photo ID?” . I was standing at the door with two crutches and scruffy grey hair. “Why?” Said I. “Proof of age and who you are”.

I don’t have any photo ID. No driving licence now, no passport now, no bus pass. Nether has Mrs B. So she took the stuff away, despite me showing her a hospital letter with my name and date of birth. Needless to say, I gave her a tirade about the stupidity of that rule by Amazon - even the government don’t impose photo IDs on the population. She told me she would be sacked if she didn’t see photo ID, which is typical Amazon employee handling.

So I phoned Amazon, and got another jobsworth who repeated the same regulation over and over, without any suggestion how to get out of this situation (which has never happened before.)

Yesterday, the delivery came back, this time the driver happened to be a licensee earning money in his enforced break. He was highly sympathetic, and told me of a lady in Fleetwood who was excused from this rule for similar reasons (though she is older), and told me to ring Amazon again. And took the delivery away again.

So I did. The person I spoke to was actually very sympathetic to my plight. After listening to my sob story of being disabled, he told me to hold while he got on to logistics. He got back to me and told me that my account had been tagged to excuse me the photo bit, but still had to show proof of age. I think it was playing the disabled card that did it.

The package duly appeared again this morning, but I told the delivery guy about me being excused the photo bit. He looked on his tracking device, but it hasn’t yet appeared. Nonetheless, he did believe me, so I showed him the hospital letter and he duly entered my date of birth, scrolling like mad through the years. “Not too bad, this” he said, “I’ve got one customer who’s 89”.

So I’m now the proud temporary owner of 1.5 litres of The Famous Grouse, and the equally temporary owner of a litre of Tanqueray No. 10 gin.

So watch out for this, you folks who live alone. Doesn't matter if you look like you need ironing, or how white your hair is, Amazon won’t deliver booze or a sharp knife if you don’t have photo ID. Anybody else in that position?

 

[Vonny]

You couldn't make it up! How ludicrous I've bought spirits online before but never from Amazon, and have never had a problem with it being delivered, never been asked for ID or anything. I love that line "doesn't matter if you look like you need ironing"....nearly wet myself

 

[Robin]

I’ve never been asked for ID for our wine orders, which Yodel deliver, and they’ll even leave them in a safe place, so it isn’t just that they take one look at the wrinkles.
Daughter had a wine delivery, and whoever delivered it said they couldn’t leave it in her safe place because it needed ID.....so they left it at a neighbour’s instead.

 

[Gwynn]

Ahhh Famous Grouse, my favourite

 

[mikeyB]

When’s your birthday?

By the way. Do you really weigh 61.4g? Don’t you mean kg? Otherwise, you could drown in a measure of Grouse

 

[eggyg]

Whatever happened to common sense? It appears that it is extinct. Could the Amazon delivery person not take a photo of the parcel recipients and show that as ID? I’ve met you a few times now Mike and I’m sorry to say, but a blind man in a dark room could see you were over 18! Over 21 hmm...I can see why they might need ID from you!

 

[eggyg]

I’ve never been asked for ID for our wine orders, which Yodel deliver, and they’ll even leave them in a safe place, so it isn’t just that they take one look at the wrinkles.
Daughter had a wine delivery, and whoever delivered it said they couldn’t leave it in her safe place because it needed ID.....so they left it at a neighbour’s instead.

We’re the same Robin. We get wine deliveries and they knock on the door, stand two metres away and give me a wave! I obviously look over 18 even from that distance!

 

[nonethewiser]

Get wine & Jameson whisky from supermarket, how good it would be to asked for prove of age, guess I've got face that's been truly lived in.

 

[Drummer]

I have just had to send off for a photo ID driving licence as I am turning 70 - it took about 15 goes to get an acceptable photo as I needed to take off my glasses - and when I do that I can't see the oval and lines to align with.
Sigh.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

What a rigmarole @mikeyB - must have been very frustrating for you.

If other delivery companies are going to follow-suit might it be worth getting one of those photo ID cards that young-looking teens can use to get served in bars? Just so you’d have your ‘papers’

 

[trophywench]

I renewed my OAP bus pass the other day. Our original ones were issued at the Council House in Nuneaton and the lady was great, making certain we were both happy with our photos. First renewal done at the local office in Bedworth where the person was less than bovvered if you ask me. This time here we are back to my original photo with the shoulder length permed hair LOL

 

[Andy HB]

This sounds like a good reason not to buy some stuff from Amazon! Heresy, though that may be these days.

 

[trophywench]

I'm certainly OK with other folk buying stuff from them - keeps one grand daughter gainfully employed so why wouldn't I be? Same as I'm happy other people eat and drink in pubs and keep going to McDonald's. Saves me more trouble than a bit.

 

[Andy HB]

Slight difference in scale though. Amazon is decimating (actually, more than decimating) our town and city shopping streets. Not all their fault, however. The consuming public also bear considerable 'fault'. I am also concerned that too much power is consolidated under a single company. Definitely not a good thing.

 

[mikeyB]

My easy life depends on Amazon and my deliveries from Tesco or Ocado. Particularly Amazon Prime. I would otherwise be dependent on friends and family.

I do agree the general point, though. They do have good customer service, mind. Lamentable employer, though.

 

[Sally71]

I ordered a set of kitchen knives from Amazon for my mum a couple of Christmases ago, which was what she asked for. Same thing, had to have photo ID to prove my age. Luckily I was aware of this before the delivery arrived so had already dug my passport out (still got a paper only driving licence!). Delivery chap was very pleasant and carefully copied down all the details from my licence. It did amuse me though, just because I’m over 18 doesn’t necessarily mean that I won’t use the knives to stab someone, some of them were plenty big enough to do some damage!
(No I’m not a thug and wouldn’t even entertain the idea of hurting someone else, but the driver didn’t know that)

Amazon do usually have pretty good customer service though, for such a big company. I once had two deliveries still showing as “pending, we think it might be lost” several months after I had actually received the goods. Small details like that annoy me a bit so I sent them a message to let them know that I had actually received the goods and maybe they would like to update their system. They were most apologetic and gave me a free month of Amazon Prime for my trouble - and I wasn’t asking for an apology, I’d got all my stuff so was happy!