Amazon is Prime target in Inverness deliveries anger

TWO Highland MPs have hit out at online retail giant Amazon over the small print in its Amazon Prime scheme, currently being heavily promoted.

One of the perks of joining the scheme for an annual fee of £79 is claimed to be “unlimited one-day delivery on millions of eligible items at no extra cost”.

But they don’t advertise the fact that this excludes large parts of the north and west Highlands and islands, where “standard delivery” is the best available – despite the fact Amazon’s “fulfilment centre” at Dunfermline being the biggest in the UK and only three hours drive away from Inverness.

“It is clearly wrong in this day and age to advertise these offers but to deliberately exclude people in the Highlands and Islands,” said the SNP’s Drew Hendry, MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey.

He said he had accepted an invitation from the Minister of State for Skills, Nick Boles, to have discussions about the issue also of high delivery charges to the area by other firms.

“I hope he is absolutely crystal clear about the fact that consumers in the Highlands and Islands need protection against this sort of thing,” Mr Hendry added. “It is something the UK government needs to take action on.”

He was backed up by his SNP colleage Ian Blackford, MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber.

“It’s completely unacceptable, and it brings home to everybody that consumers and businesses in the Highland area are being ripped off,” he said.

“It really is about time the government took action to make sure we are not discriminated against, because that’s exactly what is happening at the moment.”

Both MPs took part in a recent Commons debate on extortionate rural delivery charges, which came on the same day that Citizens Advice Scotland published a report on the issue.

This highlighted that over one million consumers across rural Scotland are not only still having to pay hefty delivery surcharges because of where they live, but that these surcharges are still increasing.

“People in the Highlands and Islands are paying on average £14.23 more for deliveries and we must not allow this practice to continue,” said Mr Hendry.

“One small business owner I recently visited is at crisis point as a result of excessive delivery charges. Her margins are being pressed so hard she is struggling even to break even.”

Mr Hendry believes consumers should automatically get the choice of the cheapest delivery.

He says they should see clearly the different delivery options and be allowed to make their delivery decision on the basis of the information and costs provided by the retailer.

“I will continue to push the minister to introduce new measures to ensure that cheaper delivery options such as the Royal Mail are offered as a standard,” he said.

An Amazon spokesman said: “We see remarkably high renewal rates on Prime which reaffirms our belief that it’s the best offer in the history of shopping.

“Amazon Prime provides unlimited delivery across the UK, including One-Day delivery to the vast majority of UK addresses. We’d encourage any customer who has a question about their Prime membership to contact our customer services team by phone, email or chat at any time. We listen to all customer feedback we receive and continually make improvements to Prime.”

Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.