A Prime reason to be miffed with Amazon

I’M a big fan of Amazon Prime. Until it doesn’t work.

Being a Prime member means you can get next day delivery with free postage on anything you order from Amazon’s vast warehouse of consumer goods.

This time I needed an inflatable camping bed because my wife’s sister Virginia arrives here this morning from America and we don’t have a spare bedroom in our new house. It was a last minute decision to get a blow-up mattress because otherwise she would have had to stay with our daughter, where she could have become babysitter for two of our grandchildren for the duration.

Our new house has, in estate agent parlance, three bedrooms, except one would be only suitable for a very small person who, once a bed was erected within, would need a ladder and a large cat flap for access, rather in the manner of one of those Sleeping Capsule Hotels in Japan. Which is why we use it as a dressing room.

The second bedroom has become my office with bookshelves, filing cabinets, computer parts dating back to Lord Sugar’s Amstrad days, work desk, spare T V and armchair. This is a perfect bolthole for when said grandchildren

When time was of the essence, my bed was in transit with Friday a

promise too late.

became too boisterous. “We can put a blow-up bed in the office,” I offered. “You and Virginia can have the bedroom and I’ll crash in the office.”

I ordered one from Amazon Friday morning but it never arrived the next day as promised. Instead, I got an apologetic message saying they hoped to deliver it by next Fri- day. In the past I’ve bought everything from computers to doorbells from them and everything arrived promptly. But now, when time was of the essence, my bed was in transit with Friday a promise too late.

So I went to Argos, which is the sort of fore-runner of Amazon, has been around since 1972 and is double reliable because, while they deliver, you can also collect from any of their 845 stores. It is estimated 96% of the population are within 10 miles of an Argos.

I bought one online and collected it immediately from the store on Victoria Lane in town. The armchair has been moved to the bedroom but I can now sprawl full length in my office to give my brain a rest. The downside is that the house, that previously had one bedroom so no one could stay, now has two double blow-up beds for instant accommodation. Maybe I can sell them on Amazon?