I ordered my new lathe through Amazon. Here is my experience.
I ordered on Dec. 14. It was promised before Christmas with free shipping.
I live in the mountains of Arizona, not exactly on daily shipping routes. And therein laid the fly in the ointment.
The lathe was shipped from CPO. CPO gave me a tracking number for the trucking company, Eustes. Amazon also gave me a tracking number from FedEx. Eustes acknowledged the order and I tracked it to the delivering terminal, which was Phoenix. The lathe was there by the 24th. The FedEx tracking number was never valid. When, by the Tuesday following Christmas, I had heard nothing from the trucking company about arranging delivery, I emailed Amazon. They were back within 2 hours with a phone number to call. That went to customer service at CPO. The were very nice, calling the trucking company and then telling me the trucking company would call me within the hour, and giving me a toll -free number for the trucking company.
I had other obligations that filled out the rest of Tuesday, so Wednesday morning I called the trucking company. They told me they only come to my part on Arizona on Fridays. Well, duh, Christmas was a Friday, and New Year's Day was a Friday, so I could expect it this coming Friday. NOT! They then offered to make a special delivery on Thursday, the 31st. Not having been told in a timely fashion from the trucking company about their delivery schedules, i had them put it in will-call and I went and got it. You can see the pictures of teh pick-up on the lathe tool forum.
So here is the deal on a large piece of equipment and living out in the sticks, relatively speaking. You are dealing with Amazon, who has the most clout and their customer service is excellent. You have the vending company, in this case CPO. Their customer service was excellent, as I expect their contract with Amazon would demand. Then you have the trucking company. Depending on where you live, that could be anybody. My lathe shipped out of Dallas, TX. When I finally got to them, they were helpful as I expect they didn't want to jeopardize their relationship with CPO. However, their lack of forthrightness in keeping me informed as to their delivery schedules was sorely lacking.
So if ordering through Amazon is causing you some angst, fear not. Go for it. Just keep in mind their are more people in the loop.
HTH.