I don't know if anyone really cares, but I used to be an order specialist with Amazon (until a layoff). My experience has been that when this type of problem occurs it is a server or computer problem. This was the case about 90% of the time when a promo gc was lost from an order. Unfortunately, with hundreds of thousands of orders coming in, they are just not able to catch all of them and have to rely on customers to alert them. On the other hand, there are hundreds of thousands of other orders that have gc's on them and have no problems.

In answer to a previous question about using two promo gc's on one order, the answer is no. If you have a left over balance from a previous promo gc and then you place an order adding a new promo gc code, the system will automatically grab the first promo gc used and apply it. This is explained on the site that you can't use two promo gc's on an order. The only way you can get around this if you do not want to use the prevoius balance, is to create a new amazon account and then place the order.

Also, if you have an order that has free shipping on it as well as an additional promo gc, and you make ANY type of change to the order, you may lose the gc. Even if you just change the address or add anything to the order.

As an ex-amazonian, I can tell you that there is nothing that a CS rep hates more than a GC Monger (better known as a "gc whore" within the department). They have a complete listing of all your gc usage and if they see a trend, regardless if it is all legit, you will not generally be offered more gc's. You have been given "free money" in thier opinion. I just wanted to pass that on so for those that are calling for refunds know that being nice gets you a loooooonnnnng way, being a jerk gets you nothing.

Thanks for listening to me and I hope someone finds this information heplful.

Thanks for your post, Washoe. It helps make things more clear.

I think what happened this time was not an error here and there but a massive problem that persisted for some time. I have had three coupons in a row that I did not get credit for. I have two more coming up which may also have the same problem.

The CSRs have been terrific and have fixed my problems. It is only an inconvenience to have to keep calling them every time one of my orders ships. The only thing I might have expected from Amazon that they have not done is to perhaps have sent out emails to all people who ordered during that time, an explanation of the problem and a warning to check their charges and make sure they are credited with coupons, GCs etc.

I'm not sure what you mean by a GC monger (or whore). I have used a coupon (at least that's what I call it) I find on DVD Talk just about every time I've ordered from them. If that makes me a monger, so be it. I also use coupons for CD Now frequently and used them for Buy when they had them. I thought I was just a smart shopper.

I know that being a jerk is not the way to get what I want. I'm always nice to CSRs.

I agree that it would be nice if Amazon let everyone know to check thier orders. But in the end, we know that will never happen.

I don't want for you to take any offense to the "gc monger" title in my posting. It is unfortunate that all it takes it one or two calls from really uncompromising individuals to skew your ability to differentiate from a smart shopper and a gc abuser. When you are being yelled at on the phone, you sorta lose any interest in helping a customer. I am glad to hear that you have always been nice and this will always benefit you when it comes to Amazon.

Thanks again for listening.

Just got a order from Amazon that they dinked me for a 5 off promo and the free shipping promo if you bought 2 DVD's back a while ago . They are sending me a 15 buck GC for overcharging me 8 dollars . Sounds decent to me . Just a heads up , keep a eye on your charges from older backorders / preorders .

Bumping this up, since this seems to be an ongoing problem... see this latest thread in the DVD Bargains forum:

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hreadid=156647


Check your Amazon order totals, folks. And make sure that your credit card statements are correct.

Thanks White Knight for the Amazon phone number (800) 201-7575. I emailed them hours ago but since I had no replies yet I called the number and was informed of the "Oooops, so sorry, a computer glitch" excuse! I am told that I will receive a credit on my credit card.

Thanks for all the replies for my post that was moved and then locked.

I agree that a sticky sticky "Beware of Amazon" thread should follow the "Amazon Coupons" sticky thread in the Bargains Shopping and Exchange DVD Forum. Amazon is probably ripping many people off since many do not check credit card statements so closely. : (

I predict Amazon will have a poor 4th Quarter and will eventually bite the big one. : (

I am fearful.. I ordered a whole bunch of titles that will be released on or around 01/15/2002, and the order is a combination of 3 separate orders since all these titles were announced separately.. All titles had share the love, and one had a promotional GC applied.. When I combined the orders it showed up right on the confirmation screen. Now, on checking it in order status, the GC and STL have disappeared I called an Order specialist, and according to them it's "Still in the system". I printed out a copy of the combined order receipt just in case I have to fax it to them to get my $25 back from discounts. I just know it will be a pain probably.

Repost from closed thread:

I had the same problems, I wasn't getting free shipping, STL, or discount codes.

I wrote them:

Why is it that every time I place an order with Amazon I have a problem? This is latest mistake of Amazon on my account:

You incorrectly charged me, IN YOUR FAVOR YET AGAIN!

The order total should be $XX, not $XX. Check the order information on the AMAZON.COM website. If this is not corrected I will dispute the entire charge with my credit card. I CAN'T BELIEVE EVERY SINGLE ORDER THAT IS SHIPPED FROM YOU IS INCORRECTLY CHARGED! I will contacting the California State Attorney's Office notifying them of this blatant fraud along with the Better Business Bureau.

I sent an email to you last week regarding a similar mischarge and I still have not heard back. At this point I can only assume Amazon.com doesn't care about service or its customer.

Sincerely,


My response:

Greetings from Amazon.com and thanks for writing. I apologize that we have not responded sooner to either of your recent notes to us and am eager to address your concerns.

I apologize for the problems which have beset your orders. In reviewing the account, it is clear that overmanipulation of orders (as evidenced by numerous gift certificates,
cancellations, consolidations, etc.) have resulted in so many layers of code being applied to the orders that our systems basically begin tripping over themself and misreading instructions. Matters were further confused by a single problematic claim code which was to be one per customer and
which was inexplicably applied to the two orders you reference.

Even as this was to be a one-time $10.00 off a single $65.00 order, I am refunding you the $XX shortfall you reported. Like so many refunds before it, it will post back to your card and we will notify you once it is made.

Should you order from us in the future-- and we would understand if you do not-- I strongly advise you to refrain from consolidating order after order, especially when gift certificates are attached. Further, read the fine print of vouchers you want to use and respect any restrictions. I am glad to make an exception in this instance, but it will be the last.

Thanks for your cooperation and understanding and have a good day.


Regards,

John Clark
Executive Customer Relations
Amazon.com


Dear John Clark,

Thanks for your help. I appreciate that you went out of your way to credit my account with the prices originally in your system. I greatly appreciate the fact that you can charge my credit card whatever you want, regardless of the order confirmation. I understand that having you adjust my account to the ORGINAL ORDER TOTAL is doing me a huge favor. Clearly you are adjusting to prices I originally agreed to pay and your order confirmation is a CONTRACT that holds you to that. I'm sure you hope that people don't double check their shipment totals and credit card statements to pick up the differences, but the fact is, blatanly mischarging consumers is illegal and I will be filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. I will never again purchase from Amazon.com and I'm positive others will do the same. I used to receive great service from Amazon.

Regards.


My last response:

Greetings from Amazon.com and thanks for writing back. We wish you the best of luck finding a retailer better able to meet your needs and thank you for your past patronage. You are, of course, well within your rights to report your complaint to the Better Business Bureau or whoever you will, and I look forward to responding to such complaints when they cross my desk. Good luck again, and good day.

Best regards,

John Clark
Executive Customer Relations
Amazon.com

Man, I feel for you. This guy is an example of why Amazon.com is destined to fail. Not only does he not seem to care, he seems almost condescending. This quote got me the most.

Like so many refunds before it, it will post back to your card and we will notify you once it is made.

Idiot (the amazon guy that is), the reason that he's asking for refunds is because your billing system made mistakes. It's almost as if he sounds smug while saying this. He's angry that you found a mistake in his system, so he actually has to do some work to fix it.

I had to argue with an order specialist this morning. The amazon order total said $56, my CC was charged $64. I asked her for an $8 refund, but she kept me on the phone for 15 minutes while I was trying to explain to her that 64-56=8. It really is the GCs that keep me with amazon, which I guess makes me a "GC whore" in their eyes (direct quote from an order specialist).

I have run into 2 problems with Amazon changing an order totals. One was corrected & I will be refunded but I may just end up canceling the second order. I haven't decided if it is worth all the trouble.

And the email response that stanbud received from Amazon wasn't very nice to say the least. I'd be pissed if I got an email response like that. Fortunately, the Order Specialist that I have dealt with have been dealing with are polite and apologetic.

As far as John Clark's statement about using codes multiple times and consolidating orders caused the glitches, that may or may not be true in your case but I lost my STL discount and promo GC after I changed credit card numbers. That was the only change that I made so it looks to me that the updating of their server has caused any changes made after an order is placed may cause you to lose your promo discounts.

I have only had 2 problems with orders since the server update but it also caused me some additional trouble. A couple of weeks ago, I tried to place orders and I kept getting error messages. I called and it was corrected but then a couple of days later I again kept getting an error message and couldn't place an order. I even tried to use the solution from a few days earlier but that didn't work so I called Amazon. They were courteous and explained that I must have been trying to login in while the servers were being updated and that is why I was receiving the error messages. It had to be corrected by some Amazon tech and it took a few days but to Amazon's credit I was given a GC to make up for the STL discounts that I was loosing by not being able to place an order before the discount expired.

So basically what I am saying is that it appears that the server upgrade has caused lots of errors and problems and hopefully Amazon reps will be upfront about the errors and be courteous & helpful to customers who are courteous and polite to them. So far, I have personally had great customer service experiences for the most part (a rep actually laughed at me on the phone because I had laryngitis and I told him that is why I was whispering on the phone--he didn't even apologize but I let it slide chalking it up to him being a young & inexperienced rep--I wasn't on the phone with him very long anyway since he transfered me to an order specialist who was very helpful & understanding) so I count myself lucky but I do have to admit that calling Amazon about the recent problems has been a pain but it is a pain that I can deal with, at least for now.

Just my $0.02 worth.

Can someone please help me? Something here doesn't look right to me. I ordered three video games using the promo and used gcs from www.giftcertificates.com. Here is my original receipt:
Subtotal: $ 149.97
Shipping & handling: $ 5.48
Promotional Certificates: -$ 59.99
----------
Total before Tax: $ 95.46
Estimated Tax*: $ 0.00
----------
Total: $ 95.46
Gift Certificate: -$ 75.00
----------
Purchase Total: $ 20.46
Okay so it appears that all I should owe is 20.46 now. I already recieved two of the games and there is another on preorder. Here is what my reciept says now when I look on amazons website:
Items Ordered Price
1 of: Mobile Suit Gundam: Journey to Jaburo [CD-ROM]
Bandai $49.99
- Gift-wrap and note: None
1 of: Armored Core 2: Another Age [CD-ROM]
Tommo Inc. $49.99
- Gift-wrap and note: None
Item(s) Subtotal:99.98
Shipping & Handling:4.49
Promotions Applied:59.99

Total Before Tax:44.48
Tax:0

Total for This Shipment:44.48
Total paid by Gift Certificate:44.48
Total paid by Credit Card: 0
OKay, so that much looks good but right under that the third game:
Items Ordered Price
1 of: Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty [CD-ROM]
Konami $49.99
- Availability: 1 to be released: November 16, 2001


Item(s) Subtotal:49.99
Shipping & Handling:0.99
Promotional Certificates:59.99

Total Before Tax:110.97
Tax:0
Total for these items:110.97
Item(s) Subtotal:149.97
Shipping & Handling:5.48

Total Before Tax:155.45
Estimated Tax:0
Gift Certificates:75.00
Grand total: 80.45

I am so confused. No way can I call a customer service rep until I figure out just what the problem is. Thanks so much if you can help me.

Don, I had a similar situation in which part of the order was shipped. The numbers for the shipped item were correct but the grand total was messed up (a $10 promo was missing from the grant total but appeared with the unshipped). After the order was completed, the numbers all added up correctly though.

I suggest you print a copy of your order page and wait for the final item to ship. Then compare your printout with the final numbers in you order. If it is not correct, call amazon immediately.

I am starting to wonder if Amazon can do anything right. I just received shipping confirmation that an order shipped by UPS from Amazon this morning. I then went to track my order at UPS but found the tracking number was invalid. When I looked closer at the number I thought it looked more like a tracking number for the Post Office. I tried the tracking number at the USPS site and found my order is coming by mail, not UPS as Amazon stated. I don't know if this is an isolated incident, but if you get an invalid tracking code it might be because it is for the wrong site.

I miss the good old days when Amazon's computer screwups gave us misprices that they honored instead of overcharging us.



Anyone remember The Insider





and Tom Clancy Gift Set ?

BMAG,

I remember the days of the "Classic Monster Collection" for 11.99 mess and subsequent joke of trying to get it fulfilled.

Count me in as another wounded amazon child. I've been overcharged all 3 of my orders this month (all contained some type of coupon, discount, gc, etc), and almost every one was negated some way or another.

A few semi-swift calls got my cc credited back, and lots of apologies, "our engineers are aware", etc.

Let the buyer most definitely beware when shopping at amazon..

Hi
I originally posted this in the Bargain forum, it was my fault OK, but I only meaned to be humorous.

-------------------------------------------------
Hi there!
Amazon was so gentle to me to ship a part of my order

> Item Subtotal: $274.56
> Shipping & Handling: $27.88
> Share the Love: -$17.37
> Total: $302.44
> Paid by Visa: $302.44
> Paid by Gift Certificate: $0.00

I've never been a strong mathematician, but I have the impression they're stealing my money...
Anyone out there experienced similar bargains?
--------------------------------------------------

Today I received a negative answer to my complains

"Your "Share the Love" promotional certificate was successfully applied to your order. However your other promotional certificate had expired, so as a good will gesture $10.00 was subtracted from your order total."

Can you believe this? it seems mr. Bezos can't afford to buy calculating machines for his employees?!
I mean 274,56 + 27,88 = 302,44
if you subtract StL discount than you have
302,44 - 17,37 = 285,07

The fact is my CC has been charged for $302,44
As for the expired promotional certificate I think it's offensive to write "as a good will gesture". The trouble started when I added 3 items to an order, after consolidating, discounts disappeared.
Does it mean they suggest not merging orders?

"You can view your account, check your order status, and cancel or modify unshipped orders quickly and conveniently at any time by clicking the "Your Account" link at the top of our web site,"

Now I have 2 open orders where - using pc and stl amazon prices are higly competitive - but in the future I'll buy my DVDs elsewhere.

I think it's time to adjourn "DVD Talk store rating" and to reduce Amazon from Highly recommended to Recommended - I'm generous here.

After reading this post I decided to track my last shipment which was shipped Tuesday. Lo and behold I got "invalid number" at UPS also even though Amazon said it was sent via UPS. Going over to the USPS site, I found it. Thanks for the tip.

Also, for the fourth time in as many orders, I lost credit for a coupon and had to call to get it straightened out. I have one more order pending for which I am quite certain I'll lose the coupon again and have to call again. After that, I'm not sure if I want to order from them. I think CD Now and DDD will get most of my business in the immediate future.

I'm wondering here people what will happen if we just simply return everything that we've been overcharged for. I was overcharged for Shrek and didn't even know it but I sent it back when I got it free from a promotion at Giant eagle. I'm waiting to see if I'm going to be credited the 18.78 that I was supposed to be charged or 22.98 that I was charged. I guess I can always call my credit card and disbute the charges.

Damn the devil to hell!!! :-)

This is the third time in a row that this happened this month. Amazon needs to check their priorities and get this thing straight. Amazon, wakey-wakey!!!!!

Well, I had one more pending order with Amazon where I would no doubt not be credited with a coupon and I would have to call to straighten it out (this would have been the fifth in a row). But they beat themselves to it.

I had five items in this order and a $10.00 coupon. They said the release of one of the DVDs was canceled so they canceled the item from my order. That put me below the total needed for the coupon so they just pulled the coupon (as if it was my fault a DVD that had been announced would not be released; they certainly at least could have offered me a chance to replace it with another DVD and stay eligible for the coupon). So I just canceled the rest of the order, grabbed a 15% off coupon for CD Now from DVD Talk and ordered them from CD Now. I'm so weary from dealing with all the problems at Amazon over the last couple of months I think I'm done with them for a long, long time.

I thank the CSRs at Amazon who have been wonderful in helping fix all the problems on a shipment by shipment basis but, as nice and helpful as they are, I'd rather not have to call them every single time a shipment goes out.

Yesterday I finally received a message where they say my CC will be refunded.
I think the following part of the message could be of public interest

"Please note that once an order with a Share the Love discount has been placed, any changes to that order may cause the discount to not be deducted at the time the credit card is charged. We are aware of this and are working on resolving this issue"

I preordered Swordfish with STL and later I redeemed a GC using the view/change order page. My CC was charged correctly with the promo, STL and GC all deducted after the order shipped. Might have just been lucky

Again, in my experience, this is b.s.

I've had EVERY SINGLE one of my orders -- even those that I have not altered in any way, shape, or form -- messed up from them. There seems to be no pattern at all... just the pattern of every outstanding order losing all coupons and STL discounts.

Every time I complain, I get a different excuse (you combined these orders, you deleted an item, the coupon has expired), but lately this has been happening with orders that have had no activity after placement. Consequently, Amazon has not even been making excuses on my last few refunds, just giving me a pathetic little "oops, sorry" message and crediting the card.

I say again that the fact that Amazon has not sent out a general e-mail to everyone at this point borders on fraud. They are obviously aware of the issue, and it's disturbing that they have so far failed to notify their customers.

I agree