continue discussion here (instead of the bargains forum):

I received my email for 16 different CC's, and my Credit Card was shows a temp charge of the correct amount, although it still does not seem like I will definately receive my order.

Kiss my grits,

What?

I would suspect a temp charge is just a normal practice for them to authorize that the card has enough credit on it. I guess no new info in the last few days. I'd normally think that's a good sign, but not in this case

I agree with you there. People have no right to complain about getting screwed out of a misprice but there is nothing wrong with telling someone that contacting a CSR is the kiss of death for a "deal" such as this.

Oh, the days of getting the James Bond Collections for $18 or getting The Insider for $0.00 (obvious misprices) are long gone but picking up a Criterion for 65% off is far from being an obvious misprice.

Has anyone who ordered gotten a call or email regarding these "misprices"? I haven't and I ordered the upgraded shipping. I hope they tell me before they send my stuff if they're going to chage 3 times the amount it was advertised for.

I'm glad to see see this move over to the store forum. If these prices are not honored it should reflect negatively on J&R and for all to see. How is it that these are "obvious misprises" when there are sooo many studio MSRP price reductions these days? I feel they need to handle it on their end by honoring these borderline deals (compared to some such as Mad Max) and not screw with all are credit card transactions.

Just curious, but how much would a store like this pay for a disc? I assume it varies per title. I mean most Criterions retail for $40 (or at least MSRP of $40) while most major studios only have MSRPs of $25-$30 for most discs. Take a $30 disc for example, if they can buy them at $15 or $16 dollars, then selling a few at $12 is so meaningless (as long as they don't do it a thousand times). Criterions I assume are somewhat different in that they would cost more. But take a movie like the Grand Illusion. Even if they have to pay $20-$22 a disc, that's not bad to lose $10 bucks on a sale. They can probably make up a little of it with shipping too. And I'm guessing even with this misprice, they weren't exactly fielding that many orders for them. And without the misprice I wonder how many copies they even sell in a month.

But I guess it doesn't matter what I think

To add to what Jericho has said, it seemed to me that this was some sort of a publicity stunt when I first ran across this deal. I mean come on, how many of us outside of the NYC area knew about this site before the posting a couple days ago? I had no reason to believe they had mispriced half their dvds when I ordered from them and if they don't honor these prices, or at least cut me some sort of a deal, that's pretty messed up.

the wholesale price for Criterions are debatable. Spies are currently working 'round the clock to find this secret information out. Once its known, read about it here!

Not honoring a deal such as this is bad e-tailing, and reflects poorly for all e-tailers. When you make a purchase at a B&M the deal is done as soon as they run your credit card. The same should apply on the web. As far as I am concerned as soon as I punch in my C.C #s on the web, than the deal is DONE! This is why many people are skepticle about web deals. With DVDs as low as 14.43 for 2-packs at Walmart now for Major Titles why is this such a major prob for them as well as the fact that many people I am sure are not aware that Criterion means a Darn thing. How does J&R explain to some guy that is new to DVDs that an OLD MOVIE he ordered is special because its a Criterion?

Perhaps if everyone who has their orders cancelled tells them he / she will contact the BBB, they will decide to honor their mistake?

Has anyone had their order cancelled/received correspondence regarding the disclaimer on the receipt emails about changing prices after ordering?

I've got to say, I'm surprised it's Wednesday and they haven't called or emailed ANY of us. I too got an email confirmation w/ correct prices listed, so I'm hoping for the best. I live in NYC, so if they ship these, I should be among the first to see them... and will let everyone know if they do actually arrive. Here's to hoping.

Personally, I wouldn't quite say that. I can realize that a single key stroke can mislabel an item, and given the volume of items on the site and human error that is inevitable. And if they somehow labeled a $500 item for say $5, then I wouldn't hold it against the, I think of internet shopping more like buying from a catalog. They have a list of things and I pick them out. It's not until later that a real person looks at them and fills a box. That's the so-called check-out for me.

That being said, I would consider it somewhat poor business to not honor a reasonable misprice. I was in Best Buy a few months back and while getting whatever I went to get, stopped in the DVD section. Not sure why, because I know what's out there. But I saw this new Doors DVD. Now I know they had released a new version of the movie for the Oliver Stone box set, but I had never seen an individual 2-pack, and in a keep case. It had probably been out for many months. Anyways they were all label $27.99, except one which wsa labeled $19.99. I believe the $19.99 label was meant for the older, bare-bones version (both were even called special editions). Anyways I decided to give it a shot and when I brought it up to the check-out, it rang up at $27.99. But the guy saw the label and adjusted the price without me saying a word. I'd have to say I felt pretty good saving $8, even though a price of $19.99 isn't awesome. It's reasonable in that case to loose just $8 bucks. Now to loose, say $15 off of a Criterion is that reasonable? It's all subjective, but I'd say yes. I really don't think that have that many orders.


On the subject of the wait, I'm a little surprised too. They did say they'd contact us by e-mail or phone if they want to change anything on the order. And like I said, there can't be that many orders.

i got an email today about it.

This letter is to inform you that your order has not shipped. The Carl
Theodor Dreyer (4 Pack) DVD was mistakenly underpriced on your invoice due
to a technical glitch. The price as shown on the website is supposed to be
$69.99, not the mistaken price of $12.99 shown on your order. Please reply
and let us know that we can continue processing the order with this
condition.

For further information please contact our Customer Service department at
800-426-6027 or 718 507 3500. Customer Service is open on weekdays from 9AM
to 6PM and Saturdays from 9AM to 5PM.

We apologize for the inconvenience, and thank you for shopping with us at jandr.com.


so there is a no for that one.

I spent over four hours browsing this site on Sunday, and it never occured to me this might be a bunch of pricing errors and not a legitimate sale. First of all, I have been getting catalogs from this company for YEARS, and sometimes they have some outrageously low prices on certain items. second, they have a wide but limited selection. I have always assumed this company bought and sold a lot of overstocks as well as regular merchandise. Third, the low prices were listed accurately insofar as the list price and the cost/ amount saved ratio on every item. If someone made a mistake they at least got the math right. Fourth, the low prices were not limited to Criterions or to new releases, and there were too many of them for it to be the result of isolated pricing errors. If ONE Criterion had been $11.99 or if ALL Criterions had been $11.99 I could believe it was a mistake - but these were random titles/spine numbers. And it wasn't limited to Criterions, and it wasn't a case of $19.99 showing up as $1.99 (or the equivalent.) And $11.99 -$12.99 may be low, but is not totally ridiculous. The only price that DID seem ridiculous was $12.99 for the Dreyer set. But I also remember huge lots of VHS tapes and CDs (THOUSANDS) showing up at the local Auchan in the heydey of VHS that included regularly priced VHS $19.99 NEW RELEASES for $2.50 and new CD releases for $2.99. And it wasn't a MISTAKE. So it DOES happen, usually when a company buys a huge lot of items from another company at a bankruptcy sale.

As for the low prices possibly being the result of a virus or worm, the only way a virus or worm could have caused all these "pricing errors" is if it was written by someone within the company who had server access and had a working knowledge of the code underlying their inventory/pricing system. If that is the case, then I will understand if my order is cancelled, as long as I get an email stating that a disgruntled employee sabotaged their pricing system and an an apology for having wasted my time. Although I think that under THOSE circumstances they should honor the pricing errors. The idea that an individual with no affiliation to the company and no knowlege of the system could infect their entire system with a virus or worm that not only alters listed prices, but also performs the math correctly for the "you save" blurbs is both ludicrous and impossible.

Hey, even if these were errors, in the state of TX, if you print the wrong price in the newspaper and do not issue a disclaimer prior to the sale you are legally bound to honor the sale price until a disclaimer is issued publicly, even in the case of misprints. It is the responsibility of the company to verify that the advertised prices are correct.

This is not like the dvdlair sale, where some people submitted coupon codes without playing the game. I and others who ordered from this site made no attempt to cheat anyone, to circumvent the advertised prices, or to take advantage of glaring errors like a $19.99 title listed at $1.99 or $0.00. I spent considerable time browsing what I thought were legitimate sale prices, and made what I considered to be a a legitimate purchase. At the present time, I have received no notification that J and R will NOT honor these prices, although the fact that at least one customer was told their order did not ship due to pricing errors indicates the company may refuse to ship other orders as well. If my order does not ship and J and R does not issue an apology and provide a VERY good explanation why they will not honor these prices I intend to file a complaint with the BBB and any federal agency that regulates interstate internet trade. (There must be one somewhere.) I hope others will do the same. Internet customers should not have to call a company and verify prices are correct before placing an order.

Personally, I believe etailers should be required to monitor their own pricing systems and carry some type of insurance to cover losses in the event of pricing errors that are not glaring and obvious, rather than simply refusing to ship the items. No, I would not feel cheated if a company refused to ship an item listed at $0.00. (I would not even bother to order the item.) However, if a company lists a $29.99 or $39.99 item for $11.99, they should be legally bound to honor the listed price until that price is changed or retracted. It would not require too much extra code for a company to track and flag items that suddenly receive a high volume of orders, and to fix pricing errors before too many copies or ordered. Yes, the company should have the right to limit quantities - but should be required to sell the customer at least one copy of each item at the advertised price. At least, that's how it normally works in my state, and etailers who do business here should either have to abide by those rules or else not do business here.

But hopefully where J and R is concerned, all this is moot and orders will arive as expected.

I hate to preach, but after reading through this entire thread I am surprised no one has brought up the fact that J&R was badly affected by September 11th. They are still suffering heavily from the lack of shoppers in the area. Maybe some mistakes and confusion are forgivable in this case. I really don't think they can afford to lose money on many sales right now.

That would be all the more reason to honor the pricing. I live about 2 miles from J&R, yet shop online because (mostly) the pricing is better with the coupons, savings codes, etc. If J&R can provide good products at similar prices, maybe I'll start stopping by there more often. If they can't, though, I'll still shop online. DVD's and electronics are commodity products, so service is where a company can actually stand out from the pack.

Can't this be said about any retailer regardless of geography at this time? Isnt the automobile and airline industry offering some of the best deals ever at this time? Is it unreasonable to think that maybe these sale titles were loss leaders?

I'm sure they had some sort of business interruption insurance.

FYI - They utilized their down time pretty well. They reorganized their stores, installed new registers/inventory systems.

Sure they lost thousands of customers in the immediate vicinity along with many $$$sales. But you should have seen the place when they reopened. There were huge lines at the registers. I'm sure they recovered just fine.

How about a $79.99 item at $11.99 (or better yet $7.99, an actual example from this "sale")? A $179.99 item at $11.99? What should the legal allowable "mistake ratio" be? What twisted form of logic are you using here? A mighty convenient one, it would seem.

A typo is a typo, whether it's in the ballpark or not, which is why I'm sure J&R puts this disclaimer in their confirmation e-mails:
Look, I'm all for great *legitimate* deals, but as the saying goes, if it seems too good to be true...

The moral indignation being levelled at J&R in this thread doesn't pass the laugh test.

IMHO

Tufnel

I agree completely. Knowningly placing an order for an (obviously) screwed up price and expecting to be able to bitch and moan about J&Rs policies until they own up and ship the DVDs at the lower price is laughable.

And this kind of thing happens on a daily basis on this site.

Hmmm, $79.99 at $11.99, that would be 85% off. Yeah your right, that's too much of a mistake to be considered a legit deal.

I can't speak for anybody elses, but my twisted form of logic would consider anything equal to or less than 75% off as potential bargins. They may in fact be misprices, but why should I have scrutinize each purchase I make to see if it fits my mistake ratio?

The fact of the matter is I purchased 2 criterions at $12.99 each that normally retail for no more than $35.99. Was it so inconceivable for me to believe that I was potentially getting 65% off??? Yeah sure it use to be some what common place 2 years ago and I shouldn't expect it today, but if I see a deal like this I'm gonna jump on it and hope for the best. I'm not gonna waste time trying to determine if this is a misprice or a deal while the inventory gets depleted. To each his own I guess.

Again, I feel there is nothing wrong with trying to get in on a great deal, just don't whine if it turns out to be a misprice and they don't honor it.

But to add to what has ben said, is there any correlation to mislabeled pricing and September 11th? I don't see one. Just because they made a mistake, I would think using September 11th as an excuse is very weak. There's no correlation. And lots have people have suffered from it