If Disney tries to charge us a different amount than they said, is there some recourse we can all take, like a class action suit or the like?

1) It is *their* fault that the coupons work like this. There are plenty of other retailers out there that have figured out how to make one-time use codes, or codes that only work for new customers, or codes that are only valid on specific accounts. If Disney programmers are too lazy or incompetent to do the same, or were not told to design the site in that way, then that is Disney's fault.

2) There is nothing illegal about sharing these codes on a public forum. I don't know if the previous thread (which I'd love to read) was deleted because Disney threatened someone or something, but they can't force their customer to keep codes like this secret! See #1 for ways of creating coupons that cannot be used by everyone.

3) If they try to charge us full price, whether with or without telling me, there must be some way to hold them accountable, as we all have confirmation e-mails stating how much we were told we were going to be charged. Changing that value is unethical on *their* part, in my mind, and quite possibly illegal (although I'm not a lawyer or versed on pricing laws such as this). If you check out at a store and they charge you the wrong amount or credit you for an expired coupon (both mistakes, unlike what happened here), then the store can't come after you later and say, "Oh wait, you actually need to pay $x."

If the coupon wasn't supposed to work like the way it did, then it's their mistake and they should honor it. Maybe it will teach them to design their coupons and site the way they actually want it to work.

I expect them to honor my 1 Dvd.

I do not care if they honor 1 for others then cancel the rest of the Dvds they ordered. which would be more than fair to everyone.

I would be shocked if they honored every order. I expect some people who really abused it will get orders cancelled although who knows.

If they charge me too much I will dispute the charge.

I can just picture Disney on the phone now with Overstock

Disney: "what do I do about all these orders I dont want to honor?"

Overstock: "Easy!, just send out the email below"

Well, AFAIK my order & my gfs orders went through. Her card was charged the correct amount & our reciepts show the original price and then the discounted price.

It seems as though my orders went through at the discounted price. I called my credit card company and the pending transactions match up with what I was charged by Disney with the $15 dollars off.

I admit -- I placed several orders, though ALL of them were for my own personal collection. My charges went through, so the ONLY way they could cancel my order would be to REFUND the amount charged. I expect they will probably honor the orders placed, though if they don't I can live with that. There have been FAR TOO MANY deals lately (Amazon.ca, hitmenow.com, DDD, CH) and I have been accumulating DVD's at the rate of 2-3 a DAY. Most of the DVD's I bought probable won't be watched until March 2003.

I only placed an order for one DVD via the phone and I expect them to honor it.

Btw, if you phoned in your order, do you get an email confirmation? I only got a verbal confirmation of the order # and the grand total at the end of the call.

The "dead deal" was from a "Holiday Magic Card" that was given out at least with online orders that were I believe $65 dollars and over a few months back. (This may have applied to B&M DisneyStores as well, and the dollar amount may have been more or less than $65, I'm not real certain as to the specifics of the dollar amount.)

The coupon card clearly states that it is valid for one use only as well as other restrictions.

This is the official notice that has been posted on DisneyStore.com:

More than likely any use of the coupon more than once will have those orders canceled, but it's all up to the catalog right now.

"Card valid for one transaction only."

I just used 4 different cards

Until Disney wants all four cards in the mail to them.

...Not valid on theme park passes, Disney Dollars, gift certificates, gift cards, pre-sales, animation art (all cels and limited edition prints), Walt Disney Classics Collection, Disney Store phone orders, or shipping and handling...


Doesn't look like they programmed the codes right for this either since people have claimed they used it on phone orders and for the Lilo&Stitch pre-order.

I pre-ordered Lilo & stitch , and my mother in law bought our youngest daughter a Halloween costume for next year (since they are 50% off) . We (2 different city addresses) used the code once per person . We have bought well over $65 dollars in items from Disney.com EACH in the past month or 2 . Im hoping that Disney allows the coupon to be used , which would be wise for them if they cut it down to 1 order per person / email address . I think 15 dollars off a retail priced item is very fair for them to gain a first time (and hopefully return) customer . The little kid inside me kept prodding me and begging me to go back and abuse the code but I just couldnt do it . I knew it would be a waste of my time and Disney's . I figured they might allow a 1 per person/ home but I doubt they will let the orders stand for 15 or 20 for a single person / home . With this coupon being posted at HTF , Anandtech , fat wallet , and a gazillion other places Id be betting everyone on the internet made a order at Disneystore.com , if not more than 1 order . Im sure eveyone will be mad that the orders get dumped but say they received 1 million orders .....that's alot of scratch . Sad enough when you see a deal like this anymore (I atleast) , wish for the coupon to be yanked early . I know people will say "Well then everyone won't be able to get in on the deal" , which they would if they visited here on a regular basis , but it will prevent massive orders from people who wish to do nothing more than resell on Ebay . Im sure many people ordered a few DVD's they needed for thier collection and if you think the code will be allowed more power to you . The people who ruin it are the ones who will phone in 20 orders and argue for free shipping on every one so they get 20 or more DVD's delivered for free to thier house . Ive ordered a DVD from almost every deal ever posted here and Id say half of them I got . The ones that I received were for the most part short lived mistakes by a retailer . The long drawn out mistakes never made it through (or anything from Scamazon.com ) . I hope we all receive 1 item each , if not no loss . Im sure Ill be able to pick up Lilo and Stitch on release day for $15 bucks anyway .

For what it's worth, last time I called the Disney Store I was told a decision won't be made until Monday morning. Most important I was told all orders with the coupon were placed on hold pending review, and the rep assured me "shipping and charging full price is not an option". I take that to mean orders that were placed before the cut-off will either be honored or cancelled. My opinion is they should at minimum honor 1 order per person without having to send in the card. I threw mine away after I had used it since I didn't know I'd need it after I got my online order confirmation showing the discount.

Too funny!

Did everyone else throw their card away, too?

Actually I cut mine in to little pieces, used it as stuffing in my scare crow, set it on fire, and scattered the ashes in to the ocean.

I ate mine

Somebody MUST be unemployed right now. Whoever implemented the HOLIDAY online discount REALLY screwed up. I'm sure they know from other online sites that whenever you offer a "code" to use for discounted orders, ANY loophole at all will be discovered and taken advantage of. This was a complete disaster. A company MUST be very thorough and careful when they offer a promotion. EVERY loophole or possible glitch MUST be thought out well in advance. There were so many problems with this offer I can't even list them all. Here are a few.

First, the code was generic. They needed a specific code for EACH mailing. Gereric codes end up on coupon or discount sites within SECONDS of release and are spread like wildfire in no time. There is no way to control the release of a generic code.

Second, they stated on site that the code was "one per person per purchase." STUPID! It IMPLIED that EACH purchase was open for the discount.

Third, there was no restrictive programming in their online system. The code could be used over and over without ANY restriction.

Fourth, even though some items (such as pre-orders, for example) were EXCLUDED in the fine print, these restrictions were NOT coded into their software which allowed the code to be used for just such purchases.

Fifth, the customer service employees were NOT instructed on the application of the code at all. Many were not even aware it even existed. They had NO IDEA how to apply it to orders and what the terms of the deal were. Therefore, many orders were completed in violation of the fine print on the offer.

SUMMARY: BIG loopholes in their offer. People took advantage of it -- some in good faith -- others with intentions to take full advantage of the stupidity of a company.

PROBABLE OUTCOME: Disney.com has a big problem. Requiring people to MAIL IN the coupon is ridiculous. That was not a condition stated in the mailing. Many people disgard flyers after writing down pertinent information.

Sending the items and then charging customers more than was authorized is a BIG legal mess. They would probably end up losing even MORE money as charges are completely reversed by the credit card companies. That won't happen.

Cancelling all orders using the code IS probably the best solution. They can then retry this promotion next year with the proper restrictions in place. Doing this, however, will cancel all legitimate orders as well as the orders from the "wolves." This will probably end up alienating some of the customer base.

This is probably the best example of a "screw-up" offer this year. This was not a mis-price or mistake. It was an offer that was months in the design and was the poorest implemented offer of the year. My first place vote this year for online offer screw-ups goes to disney.com!!

I disagree. Cancelling orders pisses off customers and gives them bad publicity. It's not like they'd be losing money on these orders, since the prices are pretty high and shipping is ridiculous to begin with.

Best thing to do would just be swallow their losses, which won't be much. Essentially the order that I placed, I'm paying over the cost of the DVD. $11.82 for a $29.99 DVD is an okay deal, but certainly not a steal. Heck, Columbia House is cheaper. People who placed a dozen orders with the coupon a dozen times should have most (or all) of their orders cancelled, I wouldn't mind.

But they're still making money this way, and they've earned themselves a whole bunch of new customers and if they follow through, they'll build a positive reputation with their customers.

Yes, they messed up, and now they're in a bad position, but I think honoring orders already placed online is the best thing for them to do, both for us and them.

If they can afford $10 DVD sale at their stores and still make money, then they can certainly afford to sell DVDs at $12.

I think they fully intended to have this code abused, thats 30000 orders (someone mentioned 30,000 orders earlier) that they would otherwise not have. The execs at Disney are probably saying "Cha Ching" and high fiving each other. Plus if they honor the orders they will get a lot of free publicity. Thats my theory anyway.

This is a story that involves three groups of people. these stories always seem to involve the same three groups.

Group 1: People who didn't make any orders want to see all orders cancelled and spout "its unethical to use a coupon notn intended for you." This group is made up of some moral people, but is mostly made up of jealous people.

Group 2: People who only made one order (mostly for fear their orders would be cancelled if they made more than one) want to see anyone who made multiple orders have their orders cancelled: this group is worse than group 1, this group is made of of jealous people who are also hypocritical.

People who made multiple orders want to see them all go through, they say they played by the rules. Some of these people bought DVDs for themselves. Some bought them to sell on Ebay. Those who bought them for Ebay won't make much if anything at all.

I made three orders. They can all be cancelled, they can all ship - I don't really care. $12 for a DVD is not a steal. They can also charge me full price - I'll most likely end up getting the DVD and the chargeback once I send the emails to my credit card company. But that involves some trouble. Its all a toss-up.

I'm usually in group 1, this time i'm in group 3. You all fall into one of these groups - don't kid yourselves or us.

Larry

I'm a newbie here, so forgive me if I don't share your views just yet. Maybe I am naive, but I would suggest there is at least another group that I had hoped most members would fall into:

Group 4: People who buy only one because they realize that in the long run it benefits the entire community to do so. Ordering tens or hundreds of copies can only increase the odds of the deal falling apart, and in turn, biting the hand the fed you. Everyone is an adult and can of course make their own decisions, but it sure seems like in the long run, the most benefit would be achieved by everyone if they were to participate once and be happy that they were able to get in on something they very likely would not have without the group. What is my incentive to post a deal I find if I am convinced you guys are all going to abuse and kill it? Just the way I currently see things.... maybe the group will make me more jaded over time.

And it's funny how every group has malicious intent and is full of ******** except yours ... now that's hypocritical.

You said:

"And it's funny how every group has malicious intent and is full of ******** except yours ... now that's hypocritical."

Again, I repeat:

"I made three orders. They can all be cancelled, they can all ship - I don't really care. $12 for a DVD is not a steal. "

Larry

How about the people who made one order (cause thats all they wanted) with no other intentions of anything, and only want to receive what they ordered?

disney is making more money off this that they did on the $10 sale, i doubt that they will cancell all the orders.

as for the people that ordered an exorbatant (sp?) amount of movies and plan to sell on ebay....who cares thats none of our bussiness, the physical coupon does not say a per household limit....people can do whatever they want with what they pay for, they could use them as a door stop if they want to.