LOL, the show is over back away from your screen.

Tim (jumping off my high horse - I have said what I needed to say)

DVD sets don't cost a whole lot to produce and sell in bulk. Not to the point where they have to charge $40 to cover all costs associated with the production of said DVD set. They probably cost a third (if that).

That said, for those that were able to get in on this deal isn't going to bankrupt Amazon. So basically I don't think anyone lost out on a whole lot of $$ on this.

Exactly. Whenever an etailer makes a pricing mistake they have the option of cancelling orders or offering the buyers the items at regular price. Amazon has done this many times in the past. They could have done this here and I would have had no problem with it. Instead they decided to honor all (well, most) of the orders and I applaud them for that. To send Amazon an email about it is impolite and downright wrong. It's like saying to a gift giver, "Thanks for the gift, but no thanks." Just look at this as Amazon's Christmas present to its loyal customers. And a Merry Xmas to all!

You say that like they MEANT to have people getting dozens of box sets for absolutely nothing.

I think that you're kidding yourself if you think that this was some kind of "gift" from Amazon. They have had these glitches in the past and have always cancelled the orders. The only reason that they didn't this time is because of timing. They are cranking out shipments right now for Xmas and didn't have time to cancel these orders. Any other time of the year, it would take Amazon a few days to ship out a free shipping order. Because of the holidays, they are shipping them out in a matter of hours. With that said, I placed one order and am very pleased that it made it through.

Again, if it bothered them, they would have cancled the orders like they have for other things in the past.

someone over at amazon is going to have a bad xmas after this mistake

[QUOTE=xNightfallx
And to the guy that emailed Amazon about the order, why would you do that? Why not wait until everyone else got their stuff. The one rule for stuff like this is to not contact the company. If you feel guitly about this, then that's your thing. But possibly ruining it for others isn't right.

We're all here to get the best deals on dvds, and when the motherload hits, you attempt to ruin it for all of us.[/QUOTE]

(1) A mistake of this magnitude (giving away product) is not a "deal". People get fired for causing "deals" like this.
(2) I have been a member of this forum since 2002. Where is this "rule" posted that one does not contact the company about an error? If I had been a truly good citizen, I wouldn't have ordered anything, so I'm not being holier-than-thou. I would have contacted the company simply to let them know that an apparent error could possibly cause them a huge loss. Let's put it this way: If you're my neighbor and I see someone stealing from your yard, IMHO, it is my obligation to notify you (or the police). I won't wait until your yard is emptied so that others can get in on the "deal".
(3) You don't want me to contact the company regarding MY order only, yet want to lecture me about what is "right" so that you can take their product without paying for it. How ironic. You do what you have to do to live with yourself. I'll do the same.
(4) Evidently some people here feel that "lawful" always equates with being "right". I think we can all agree that there are some things that are perfectly legal, yet are not right. A thief swindled my elderly mother out of $1500 and then declared bankruptcy. He had done this before...this time his total debt was $40,000. We tried to take him to court but he beat us to the punch. At his appearance in small claims court, we got to speak our piece...but that was all. There was nothing legally that we could do. May that never happen to those who equate legality with ethics.
(5) Fortunately, we live in an area in which the mere act of "leaving the store" does not negate the store's responsiblity. We have caught errors on receipts after leaving the store, returned to the store & showed the error to the clerk/manager, and received a prompt refund. We have also returned to pay the correct amount when we were undercharged. If we expect the store to charge us the correct amount, why do we then expect that we have no obligation to pay the correct price (especially when we know it is an error)? In the case of a brick and mortar store, we can ask the clerk or checkout person to check the price. It's a different store on the internet.
(6) I have lived long enough to learn the truth of "What does it profit a man to gain the world, and lose his own soul?" In Les Miserables, Jean Valjean was imprisoned for stealing bread to feed his starving family. I can sympathize with that. On the other hand, people can live without DVDs (despite popular opinion).
(7) Tim (and others) have stated it well. People who are firmly convinced that there is "right" to take advantage of a company's mistakes are not going to be persuaded by others' beliefs. Personally, I find it scary to think that some people see nothing at all wrong with this type of "deal". Buy definition, a "deal" is something mutually agreed upon. I don't think it was Amazon's intention to give away DVDs. In my case, Amazon was willing to accept the mistake...but I am under no illusion that they meant to do this. It is hard to believe that the posters defending this practice would be perfectly fine with it if the shoe were on the other foot. That is akin to survival-of-the-fittest, every-person-for-himself, law-of-the-jungle "ethics".
(8) Some of the hostile comments regarding "hemming and hawing" about ethics (as if they are optional & don't matter) are really quite sad. I hope that over time people will examine their motives & actions and try to apply the Golden Rule in their lives. It's hard to do sometimes, especially when that tempting "deal" is in front of you (I should know)...but you may find that it gets easier with practice...and doesn't hurt nearly so much as you might think. In fact, you may feel a lot better. After all, there is always another "deal" around the corner...and who wants to have a hobby that requires a slavish compulsion to "enjoy"?

And just to clarify, they DID cancel some of the orders.

They did cancel orders that never made it into the "shipping soon" stage. They didn't have time to cancel most orders because they are pumping these packages out the door for the holidays.

I totally agree. That is exactly what happened. I made 6 orders (4 seasons of Married with Children, 6 seasons of King of Queens and one with Dilbert/The Critic). All but King of Queens S1-4 shipped or are shipping soon. So, they did indeed cancel orders too (I got one cancellation email).

And that's why people should not be feeling guilty (except those greedy b@st@rds who put in many multiple orders ).

Can't believe I totally missed this...

creekdipper: First of all, I did pay for all my orders, none of them were free. Again, I didn't see ONE person say anything about the Apes set at DDD when it was an "amazing deal" that some pople got in on. Why is this different? If you find a $20 in the street, do you take it to the police station? It's not an actual rule that you don't contact the place, it's more unwritten. Just like it's an unwritten rule that we try to keep things around here quiet so they don't get the FatWallet effect.

I look at it like this. If I were to walk into a mom & pop dvd store and they had a mistake like this, I would try to fix it. But if I walked into Wal-Mart and they had the same mistake as the mom & pop store, I would jump all over it.

I respect your views on this, and even though it might not seem like it, I CAN see where you are coming from. But as a 23 year old living on his own, if I can get an amazing deal on some dvds through Amazon, I will do it every time.

SBJ: I still have a few orders that haven't gone into "shipping soon", but they're still listed. None of my orders have been cancled.

Be glad that you did. If you were to listen to some posters, your soul has been saved.

I love this. It's ok to make a few orders, but god forbid I place more than others. I'm not selling them, they're all staying with me. What's the problem with that?

Good point.

I got in on the deal. king of queens s6/tick cs combo, hell why not. If it goes through, freaking A. If not.....oh well.

This philosophy is deeply flawed, IMO. Why wouldn't you try to fix it at WM like you would at a Mom & Pop shop? You might look at WM as some kind of evil corporation, but regular people work there and regular people own WM stock.

These theads are always fun because it brings out the holier than thou Ned Flanders types to preach of the evils of greed and it also brings out people who took advantage trying to defend their actions. Bottom line, everyone knew that it was a mistake and that it was kind of sleazy to take advantage. I placed an order myself, but I'll acknowledge the sleaziness of it. I think that you feel the same way deep down and you're trying to justify it to feel better about getting so many free DVDs. I'm not judging anyone because I also take advantage of these types of glitches. I just happen to accept the fact that I pulled a slimy move because of my greed.

I know that Wal-Mart would be ok with losing out on a deal like this, but it would REALLY hurt a mom & pop shop. If I can score a deal without it really messing with anyone, I will do it. I doubt Amazon will go broke over this and close up shop. I don't really think they would fire someone (if it is indeed a human error) over this.

I guess I can agree with you on your second paragraph. I know it isn't exactly right, but I won't lose any sleep over it. I also don't feel the slightest bit bad about it. I couldn't care less about Amazon.

I see the board is following the usual template

Amazing deal -> orders placed -> orders shipped -> ethical debate

Uh oh, There's a storm a-brewin'

I agree on both sides though. My last 3 orders were sets I actually had been looking at and planning on buyin from Best Buy this week for BIGIF but I got in on this instead, for the fact that if they did charge me full price I wouldn't mind, but if they don't, that's even better. There's my sin. On the other hand, my first order was in fact made just to get in on the deal, which is why I am going to send them back when I get them. Even though it may cost them a couple more bucks to ship it back, they can resell them for more money than that all cost them. There's my mother fuckin hail mary's.

Trying to rationalize this doesn't make things right.

My rule for determining the 'moral' choice in situations like these is to ask the question, "What would happen if the situation was reversed?"

In this case, that be would that instead of double-discounting, Amazon's system did not apply any discount at all. Anyone who went ahead and placed the order anyway because they were not paying attention could not reasonably expect Amazon to go and retroactively correct the missing discount on their own initiative.

It would require every single customer who made that error to call in individually and request Amazon make the correction for their specific case, and dealing with the odds that they get a CSR who is cooperative enough to do the right thing.

Thus, if Amazon calls me up in the next few days and requests a payment correction, I might actually agree to it, depending on how cooperative I am feeling at the time.

Turnabout is fair play.

What would you give Amazon as a reason for returning the DVDs? I tried to get in on the deal but was charged 35.99 for 2.

The pricing error came up at checkout, but I was charged differently.