amazon.com are stupid

So I get that Amazon.com has this price match policy - once it has shipped, you're out of luck... I've been a prime member for 3 years - this year we used amazon for a bunch of presents for christmas... one of those presents was "Need for Speed: Most Wanted - Limited Edition" - it was $59.99.

Yesterday I noticed - it is $39.99 - that's a 33% discount and I got it by unwrapping it 3/4 days ago - so I ask their online customer service rep if they can do anything - and they say no, but I can return it for a full refund and buy it again... I lose $4.98 UPS shipping because they never made any mistake - but I'll be $15 ahead when I'm all said and done... OK... that's dumb - how about you just refund me $15 and we call it done.... can't do that - we have to actually send it back, and buy another one...

Anyone else think this is the dumbest thing? They'll give me a full refund and I can buy another one - heck I even offered them a $10 refund and I would not send it back, but we'd all be better off with that option - again - their response was no - send it back.

So I am to have this back to them by the 31st - funny thing is - I got an amazon gift card for $50... so I am buying a replacement game for $39.99 with a gift card, sending them back a $59.99 game, they'll give me back $59.99 minut $4.98 UPS and I get that back to my bank-card... they're losing out big time to my reckoning...

Am I missing something here?

most people won't go through the trouble, so it's a calculated risk.

I'd imagine Amazon doesn't drop prices w/o manufacturers dropping their wholesale prices, so Amazon is making $$ in any case. Adding an additional workflow for post-sales pricematching, esp. for low cost items, isn't worth it (at this moment), so you're forced to use their existing returns process.

Cliff notes: they know what they're doing.

Smart, not stupid.

First off, they can't handle your offer of $10, that's out of their scripted procedures and they can't log it in as this extra $5 you offered them will have no place to go to. And secondly they don't want to give the low levels the ability to make such adjustments on the fly.

Return/re-buy: This works like the manufacturer rebate coupon. Most people forget or just get lazy doing it so the manufacturer keeps his rebate money. Returning is a hassle and a lot of people would not go through this. So they keep the original item. Allowing a customer to just call in a price adjustment with a 5 minutes phone call from his livingroom sofa is not enough deterrent.

When you have a similar situation with a brick and mortar store like BB, they still have you walk in with your receipt for the price adjustment although they don't actually take the item from you and give it back to you 1 minute later. That would be silly.

Yeah, they know what they are doing.

sure - the UPS drop-box is across the street from my grocery store - it might not be as convenient for most people - but I will order the $39.99 copy - when that gets here, I'll just slap the return they gave me on it and drop it off when I go out for milk/bread - it's no trouble at all for me... I offered them a $10 out...

oh it gets better - I have $50 in reward zone certs that are going to expire 1/26/2013 at bestbuy - I can get the game there later today when we head out shopping for $0 out of pocket even and send that one back - keeping my amazon gift card for something else... yay!

Amazon at one point did have an online price adjustment function, where you just logged in and asked for the credit it was simple and easy and you got the credit quickly. They got rid of it about 18 months ago so they made the conscious decision to not match any longer, kind of sucks, plus soon many of us will be paying sales tax on amazon items which will further erode their advantage.

Also, you can always try to ship it back on them by choosing a reason that makes them pick up the shipping, usually seems to work even if it's not a legit reason.

Amazon is "smart" about shipping too. Or you could call it sneaky. Here's what happened to me a couple of times. I don't have a Prime account. I don't buy enough from them to justify it and UPS is very quick in my area.

So I bought that item with the free UPS ground shipping. (Over $25). Waited for the UPS tracking number and nothing is coming. They are holding it and not shipping. I Live-Message them and they are telling me that they have that guaranteed range of time to deliver to me, and if I want I can upgrade to Prime and get it within 2 days. Yeah right, like this is going to happen. That's not the way to convince me.

His/her point was that there's no way to tell how long it is going to take for UPS ground to deliver to me because the package can come from any of their warehouses around the country. As in from CA to NY.

MY point was that they are sitting on my package on purpose. They are trying to make sure that I will get it on the last day to force me to upgrade to their Prime. I told him that it is my chance to take, if the package will come from Philly or NJ, I will get it 1-2 days later. If it comes from CA it will be 5-6 days. That's my chance to take. But their job is to put it out of their warehouse within the 24 hours after the purchase. Then it's up to MY luck to see if when I get it depending on what warehouse they sent it from.

Looong arguments with them about this. Back and forth until they give up and say they'll put in the system to get my package out.

Guess what? It always comes from Philly or NJ. Of course. And I get it 1-2 days later. A-holes.

The tax thing is sure biting into my amazon purchases. I now buy more often through an out-of-state Amazon affiliate so I can buy without paying state sales tax.

Never tried to do a price match post purchase.

As for prime - love it.

Prices - sometimes awesome, sometimes not. Just picked up a Lumix LX7 for $300. That camera is $400-500 everywhere else.

Originally Posted by brkf;7277451[B

]The tax thing is sure biting into my amazon purchases. I now buy more often through an out-of-state Amazon affiliate so I can buy without paying state sales tax.
[/B]
Never tried to do a price match post purchase.

As for prime - love it.

Prices - sometimes awesome, sometimes not. Just picked up a Lumix LX7 for $300. That camera is $400-500 everywhere else.

As do I. With almost 9% added tax, it would be foolish not to.

I love amazon and have never had any issues with them... that's just me though.

Yeah, I've had this happened to me on a pair of headphones. I ended up sending them back. Pretty dumb that they can't just credit you.

OK, wyb, on this side of the pond we say 'Amazon.com is stupid', not are stupid.

I realize that, over there, you use the plural for any group of more than one, but here, if it is expressed in a singular, we use the singular. So, while you could have properly said the 54th squardron are up defending London from the Hun (referring to Al Deere and his Spitfires), you would have to say that the 56th fighter group is escorting a box of B-17s to pound Hun airbases in the North of France (referring to Hub Zemke and his P-47s).

I've also experienced less than ideal CS recently with Amazon. You guys are confirming my suspicion regarding the shipping delays having to do with being a non-Prime customer. I used to have Prime for about several years, but it's been a while now where I stopped paying for that, and I did suspect they were trying to flip me back over again.

The "intentional delay" is backfiring on them, as far as this customer is concerned. For example, when I used to be Prime, there were blurays that I would preorder, and usually it would arrive the day of release, I think I even received it the day before once or twice.

Now, it is common where it's not even shipped yet on the day of release. I say screw it, cancel out the order, explain exactly why I'm cancelling in the notes, and just pick the same item up at BB around the corner. They price match right at the counter, I don't need to go to CS or anything for that to happen. I'm not saving on tax anymore, so there is little incentive for me to be extra patient. Yes, the Amazon preorder guarantees the lowest price that is hit during the wait, but I think without exception for my own orders, the release day pricing has always been the lowest anyhow. So recently, off the top of my head, I bought Bourne Legacy, Finding Nemo, TDK trilogy, and as I'm already in the store, I browse around some more, pick up two seasons of Boardwalk Empire for example, and of course I ask them to price match those as well. Amazon has been recently losing out on quite a nice percentage of my usual purchases, but they wouldn't be if they were better about shipping. Too bad for them.

Too small of an amount to make a big deal over it.

Originally Posted by Kamdog

OK, wyb, on this side of the pond we say 'Amazon.com is stupid', not are stupid.

I realize that, over there, you use the plural for any group of more than one, but here, if it is expressed in a singular, we use the singular. So, while you could have properly said the 54th squardron are up defending London from the Hun (referring to Al Deere and his Spitfires), you would have to say that the 56th fighter group is escorting a box of B-17s to pound Hun airbases in the North of France (referring to Hub Zemke and his P-47s).

I got distracted - I was going to type amazon.com policies are ..

Originally Posted by Dave 330i

Too small of an amount to make a big deal over it.

yes - it is a small amount - the percentage change caught my eye - and now the policy annoys me, so I am taking the time to deal with it out of principle really...

Originally Posted by Kamdog

OK, wyb, on this side of the pond we say 'Amazon.com is stupid', not are stupid.

I realize that, over there, you use the plural for any group of more than one, but here, if it is expressed in a singular, we use the singular. So, while you could have properly said the 54th squardron are up defending London from the Hun (referring to Al Deere and his Spitfires), you would have to say that the 56th fighter group is escorting a box of B-17s to pound Hun airbases in the North of France (referring to Hub Zemke and his P-47s).

I saw this...



... and I thought of you...

Originally Posted by wyb

I saw this...



... and I thought of you...

You are usually very good at this, but I know a few Brits who still stay stuff like 'sorted out' and 'queue', and whatnot.

(That is one of the reasons I get pi$$ed at my iPad, it is so hard to type and edit and there is no spell check. )

Originally Posted by wyb

I saw this...



... and I thought of you...

Originally Posted by Kamdog

You are usually very good at this, but I know a few Brits who still stay stuff like 'sorted out' and 'queue', and whatnot.

(That is one of the reasons I get pi$$ed at my iPad, it is so hard to type and edit and there is no spell check. )

squardron

See what I mean?

The damn iPad..

(my wife says I should just buy a laptop, but, knowing me, it would cost me a grand to get anything I would want.)

Originally Posted by Kamdog

See what I mean?

The damn iPad..

(my wife says I should just buy a laptop, but, knowing me, it would cost me a grand to get anything I would want.)

I hear you - I hate the iphone and ipad for anything..."serious" - but Mrs wyb got a keyboard for her ipad and when you use a stylus and the keyboard, it's not too bad... but yes, I prefer a proper keyboard... my macbook is now 4 year old and still runs really well - but I am looking at options for replacement this year - maybe as soon as the January sales - we'll see... ultrabook of some kind I think... not not another macbook - too pricey for what it is imo.... I've done 4 macbooks and I'm done with them now.

you'll shoot your eye out, kid ....

Here's an example of what's been happening at amazon.com. I've seen people flipping DVDs as well.

In short, buy low, sell high.

So is Amazon smart or stupid?