Cast Away is tempting, but the lack of extras makes me shy away from upgrading...

Thanks for the update as always Lizard!

Alice in Wonderland's a personal favorite - so I'm definitely looking for the best price on the combo.

Yeah, I've had my eye on that one more than once, but the two-disc DVD had a ton of extras that were dropped from the BD.

I know...I could buy empty cases and repackage my upgraded DVDs with the BDs and have everything, but life is short. For $8.49, the disc is tempting though.

"Order me...you know you want to..." lol

Alice in Wonderland is also eligible for the 'Buy 2 Disney Blus, Save $10' promotion listed in the combo deals thread. You could pre-order it with Bambi for $34.98, which isn't that bad. I already had Bambi pre-ordered with the instant $10 coupon from last fall, but I pre-ordered Alice separately tonight and contacted customer service to see if they would take $10 off of the order since I purchased two eligible titles. Of course, I got shot down for not buying them together and trying to combine offers after the chat guy kept me hanging for 20 minutes.

Funny enough, I had pre-ordered Alice when it was $27.99 and customer service had no problem adjusting the price to $17.99 to reflect the $10 savings for buying both titles back then. I ended up canceling that pre-order, thinking they would apply the same discount to the $19.99 price, but no dice. Oh well, I've spent too much at Amazon this month anyway. :P

Yeah, I contacted customer service via e-mail about adding Alice in Wonderland to my Bambi order that already had the $10.00 discount and they added Alice in Wonderland, but no additional discount was applied. I've sent them a follow-up e-mail explaining that I already had a $10.00 discount and there should be an additional $10.00 discount applied. We'll see what happens. I'm now concerned that I'm going to get screwed where if they don't do this and I cancel Alice in Wonderland from the order, my $10.00 promo from the original Bambi order will also be cancelled. *sigh*

I guess I got mildly lucky. I had ordered Alice for $27.99, requested a $10 credit since I'd ordered Bambi and was given it - but they knocked the price down to $17.99, making the preorder price guarantee useless. I contacted them today about the $8 price drop, and apparently they didn't understand me, even though it seemed simple. They made a "one time exception" and dropped the price to $7.99. It shouldn't need to be an "exception" though, as it's part of their preorder guarantee.

I don't think English is the primary language for a lot of their reps. I've had situations too where I've laid out everything in a chat or e-mail so it's very easy to understand (knowing that English probably isn't their primary language) and it still takes two or three times before they actually grasp what I'm requesting. I love Amazon and their customer service; I'd rather explain my request two or three times knowing that eventually they will get it and do right by me than do business elsewhere without the same commitment to customer satisfaction.

I love Amazon but their customer service training I believe is "this is how you copy and paste"

To be fair, it's that way with most businesses. I can't remember the last business I e-mailed that didn't send me a form response.

The Bank Job is a tempting blind buy but don't know if I'd ever watch it again (I guess that's always a risk with a blind buy)

The guy I talked to (Sarath B) was about to cancel my Bambi pre-order all together - and then claimed the $10 savings was already applied to that order and he wouldn't give it to me again. I couldn't get through to him that the 'Buy 2, Save $10' was an entirely different promotion. I didn't want to press my luck, because I knew he was going to screw up my $15 Bambi pre-order if I kept pressing him. I just closed the chat at that point.

Really, this is the route I should have taken - but I assumed it would be easier to just cancel the first order, re-order, and ask them to apply the promotion again. I was wrong.

The chat feature really is not ideal. It took 10 minutes for him to reply to one question and when I took just a few seconds to type my response, he would reply "I hope you are still with me". He did that like four times.

Slickdeals has a thread going (only 2 pages right now) about this, and apparently several people are having success, but it's totally YMMV based on who you get and as others say if they speak English well. I think most people who answer email or online chat are in India (judging by their names). However, when I call their 800 number I usually get what sounds like someone in the US. If I were to do this I'd probably try calling rather than live chat.

And whenever there's any Amazon promo, you can be sure that some people will be successful getting it. BrentL (the posterboy for success in these type of Amazon deals) already posted in the Alice $10 coupon thread that he told them about the $10 off Disney Rewards coupon and get a price adjustment based on that. I'm surprised he didn't also request and get the $10 off Amazon combo promo on top of that making Alice in Wonderland free with his $14.99 Bambi preorder.

I suppose if someone tries enough times, you will probably be successful getting the extra $10 off, but I know somebody (I think it might have been an Amazon rep on the phone) told me that if you do too many "one time exceptions" they'll be less accomodating in the future (sort of like the angel/devil customer rankings at BB). However, when I consider BrentL's never-ending successes getting special deals at Amazon, maybe that's not true.

I still don't know if it's worth the time and risk trying for this extra $10 (the risk being that they screw up the Bambi preorder and you use up another of your goodwill "points" at Amazon). In effect, by doing this promo you are getting Alice in Wonderland for $9.99 vs. if you get it in store ($19.99 at BB which can be PM'd at Target or Walmart) with the $10 off DMR coupon, you're paying the same $9.99 except you'll pay tax on $19.99. Total savings is about $1.80 depending on your area. Unless I could get both the $10 off combo for Bambi and Alice and the $10 off DMR coupon that BrentL got to make Alice free, then it would be worthwhile, but nobody has gotten both yet... not even BrentL. (I don't mean to pick on BrentL... he's a cool guy.)

So I'm going to pay the extra $1.80 in tax and get Alice locally and leave my Bambi preorder @ $14.99 alone. Hopefully the $10 Alice coupon goes live soon... they sure cut it close if it only works a couple days before release date.

Well, they sent me a long form e-mail basically saying they can't apply the additional discount. I get annoyed when they do it for some customers but not all (and I spend A LOT at Amazon, so it shouldn't be an issue of others deserving it more than I do). Luckily, I was able to cancel Alice in Wonderland from the order on the website and my original $10.00 off for Bambi stuck. Whew.

I used to get all the deals, or discounts. Me I just call the 800 number, or have them call me. If they sound like they are from the US then I would talk to them. These people seem to have the power to give. Maybe I just got lucky?

Technically this "Bambi" deal is against their rules, so I wouldn't cry too hard when you get shut down.

Previous lists:
1-28-11, 1-27-11, 1-26-11, 1-25-11, 1-24-11, 1-23-11, 1-22-11, 1-21-11, 1-20-11, 1-19-11, 1-17-11, 1-16-11, 1-15-11, 1-14-11, 1-13-11, 1-11-11, 1-10-11, 1-9-11, 1-8-11, 1-7-11, 1-6-11, 1-5-11, 1-4-11, 1-3-11, 1-2-11, 1-1-11, 12-31-10, 12-30-10, 12-29-10, 12-28-10, 12-27-10, 12-26-10, 12-25-10, 12-24-10, 12-23-10, 12-22-10, 12-21-10, 12-20-10, 12-19-10, 12-18-10, 12-17-10, 12-16-10, 12-15-10, 12-14-10
[Prices may have changed since titles were posted. Or not.]


Here are today's New Lows:

The Losers $15.99

Beatdown $17.99

Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2 (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy) (Pre-order) $19.99 (You could do better at a B&M store using the $10 coupon).

Yes, that's all for today.

Good movie. Saw it in the theater and purchased the Blu.

Why is the Bambi deal (the $10 promo discount for buying Bambi + Alice) against their rules? For those who preordered Bambi @ $14.99 and want to add Alice for $9.99 ($19.99 - $10 combo discount), it seems reasonable to ask them and not against their rules, but I can understand if they say no because technically the old $10 discount promo is over. Apparently it's very YMMV based on others' posts.

If you're talking about using the $10 DMR mfg. coupon for Alice, I agree... Amazon doesn't take mfg. coupons and that's against their rules... though that never stops the Amazon gods from granting BrentL the discount anyway :-).

for the price...I'd get it. You get your value at that price. It's not amazing or anything. I actually felt bored by it. I love Statham in it but that's it. Also the HD cam feel and look doesn't favor too well for the film..it just looks off.

You are not alone. Not that I'm entitled, but I've never gotten a promotion applied after an order was placed (save for them adjusting Alice to $17.99 last year, which still wasn't that good of a deal). I marvel at the people who say they write in about not getting a coupon - like the Toy Story 3 one that was given to "select" customers - and Amazon just issues them $5, $10 or $20 gift certificates. I typically just get a politely worded "tough luck" response, which gets discouraging when other people post success with coupon/price adjustments. Still, it never hurts to ask.

I suspect they have the policy that separate offers cannot be combined, so those who pre-ordered Bambi with the $10 coupon really shouldn't be eligible for the 'Buy 2 and Save' offer, despite them honoring it for some customers. Frankly, I don't feel like calling them to try again after I was shot down in the chat. I'm sure they keep some kind of record of that on my account. I'm still getting a good deal on Bambi -- and since I've had zero luck printing the manufacturer coupon, I'll just keep an eye out for a $15 or less deal on Alice in the future.

Amazon is definitely keeping track of favors and contacts between a customer and the service representatives. They likely have an internal point system that is automated and separates each customer into different categories. Different types of exceptions probably generate different point values.

I think your right on this one. About the time I hit over 300 orders (about July?) When I would call in. I got someone in the USA from that point on.

I don't think that's what he meant, I think he meant as to how much the reps can give the customers for loyalty purposes. (Which could also be determined on the seniority of the rep)

Usually when you call Amazon.com 9-5 M-F you will get someone in the U.S. Any off peak hours and weekends will usually be outsourced C/S reps as they don't operate a 24/7 call centre in the U.S. as far as I'm aware.

I've heard this a few times from various people in various threads here and on SD, and it makes sense so I believe it's true. Since I buy from Amazon so much, I'm afraid to push my luck with them by asking for special favors too often or trying to return stuff. And I can't recall the last time I returned anything to Amazon. If I ever did, it has been a couple years at least.

I'd LOVE to know what my Amazon points score is compared to BrentL's (his should be very low considering all the special favors he gets but since he keeps getting them his points score must be high instead). I wonder if we ever called in and asked our points ranking if they'd tell us or if they're sworn to secrecy and would fear getting in trouble if the call is being monitored.

That has been my experience as well, so I always call during normal business hours during the week. Fortunately I don't have to call very often (once every few months), though, as I don't ask for many special favors.

I don't think you'll get any sympathy here for not being able to commit return fraud, especially when the only reason you weren't able to was because you had already done it too many times.