It's now Wednesday morning. By tonight, a full five days will have passed since placing my order with Amazon. That's not good, especially for a high-value order with paid-for delivery.
There has been no change in the situation overnight, except that Amazon have now taken the purchase money out of my credit card account. So they've been paid. They have no further interest. They can wash their hands of this affair.
But Royal Mail still can't provide any tracking information - which implies that they haven't yet scanned Amazon's parcel into their system. In turn, this means that my new phone must be in limbo: out of Amazon's hands, but not yet in Royal Mail's.
Looking again at the order details, I see that the seller is named as 'Amazon EU S.a.r.L'. This suggests that the thing was in store on the continent, and has had to be imported into the UK. And naturally - post-Brexit - this takes a little time. I wish I'd noticed that before, and realised the likely consequences. My guess is that the phone is stuck inside a lorry, and it won't be handed over to Royal Mail for hours yet - maybe not for a couple of days.
I still resent wasting all of yesterday on the understanding that delivery would happen then. Amazon stuck to yesterday's date throughout. They are still quoting it. I think that's misleading of them, to say the least. They must know full well how long it takes in current circumstances to physically move an article from a Luxembourg warehouse to a distribution centre in England.
Amazon, take note. I may continue to buy mp3 music tracks from you at £0.99 a pop, but I'd now think twice about physical goods.
Am I still keen on my purchase?
Glitches like this do spoil the buying experience. I ordered this phone last Saturday. It's now Wednesday. One cools off. If the delivery delay continues, I will feel it's such a bad start to ownership that I'd best return the phone still sealed and unopened, and get my money back. A long five-year acquaintance with any important personal device must start smoothly. This palaver with Amazon is clouding my attitude to the new phone, tainting it with irritation.
It would be better to start again, buying from another source. I will definitely consider this course if Royal Mail are still unable to give me tracking information by tonight. Who knows, I may end up with something different - or just hang onto what I've got for a few months more.
Meanwhile, I'm not staying in. I need to get on with my life. I have food shopping to do, and exercise to take. And an appointment with the optician on Friday afternoon.
I've stopped caring about being at home for the delivery. If Royal Mail arrive with that parcel without prior announcement, while I'm out, then there's a Sorting Office not far away to pick it up from later on.
