It’s actually a bit silly, but I spontaneously canceled my Prime subscription because of a botched Amazon Fresh delivery. But really, that was just the straw that broke the camel’s back. “Is Amazon Prime worth it for me?” was the question I answered with a “no.”
The funny thing is that it was all triggered by a €15 voucher for an €80 purchase from Tegut on Amazon Fresh. The voucher motivated me to try the Amazon Fresh service on a Saturday. Delivery was scheduled between 8:00 PM and 10:00 PM. The doorbell rang at 9:00 PM, and the delivery driver left a few bags and beverage crates in the stairwell. I then had to lug them up to the second floor. That’s fine by me, but who’s going to check a delivery in the stairwell at 9:00 PM? When I was putting things away, I got confused. Didn’t we also order tortellini, cold cuts, and dairy products? I went back downstairs, but there were no more bags. The driver must have forgotten to unload them.
But he had only been gone for 10 minutes, maybe we were on his way back? I looked for Amazon customer service and first realized that it’s not so easy to find these days. But I found it and was connected to an employee whose German was rather rudimentary. After I managed to convince her that I had indeed ordered the missing items (Tegut… Bio-Teewurst she couldn’t find with Bio Teewurst), she promised me a delivery for the next day. When I asked if she really meant Sunday, she checked again and then initiated a refund - without asking.
The service was anything but convincing. In the following discussion with my girlfriend, we realized that the delivery times are now more like “whenever available,” and I don’t really care about that anyway. Especially since I currently tend to order from my employer. Prime Video was silently updated to include ads. So, there are really no arguments left for Prime. I can get the few orders I place each year shipped for free through other means. Instead of Prime Video, I still have Netflix and Disney+. Those two services are still more than I can actually watch.
Somehow, Amazon seems to have been slipping in recent years. Standard services like returns and complaints are still hassle-free, but both the shipping advantage and Prime Video have gotten massively worse. Is Amazon doing itself any favors with this? After 10 years of Prime, I’m gone, and so far, I don’t miss it.