bravo sir. well spoken

It amazes me that some people (mostly people whose orders went through successfully) will argue that if DDD honored all of the orders placed, they would lose money and go out of business. This coupon was only active for a few hours. Last December, DDD ran the 20% off sale for TWO WEEKS, they did so to make money, not to lose money. Some of you people seriously suck at understanding basic economics.

We were told by a DDD representative that all orders would be honored...they have not done so....We WERE lied to...and we have every right to be angry.

You can bet that as soon as DDD has its next big coupon, the same people who are complaining and saying that they will never shop there again will be the first ones to jump in and place their orders. And you won't hear a peep out of them once their orders go through.

my thoughts exactly.

we're in DVDBargains for a reason. To get a bargain. Sure, store loyalty plays a part, but if you see a great sale or a misprice, at least 90% of the ppl on this board would jump on that misprice/sale even if they hated that store just to get the best deal and then to "stick it to them."

I don't know how many times I've seen ppl say that they hate Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. but the first time they have a pricing error they'll jump all over it.

My order finally shows up on the site. It does have the discounted price. I had already wrote them after the second email had the full price on it. I don't know if it was fixed because of my email or if the email will make them look into it and cancel it.

28 orders from DDD and no real problems yet. One time I did not get a dvd and they shipped a replacement out for me. However, I do not like the time it takes to get a dvd :)

They honored all 4 of my orders using the 4 codes. I did cancel one order since I decided i did not need it.

Here's what I have to add about DDD "losing" money due to this incident:

Normally, my orders through them are for $15 to $50. This time, counting the discount, my order came to $147.

I think they'll be okay :)

Yeah, and if they had a 100% off sale, they'd make a fortune! The point is, that there is a point where high volume won't make up for making less on each sale. I have no idea if they are losing money in this case, but it's possible, considering that their normal prices for many things are the lowest on the net.

The mark up on DVDs is well over 20%, thus, DDD makes a profit...it's as simple as that.

DVDsoon's current MGM 7.98 CAD sale is a 37% price reduction compared to what DDD charges for the same titles, and guess what...DVDsoon is still turning a profit.

That's a very simplistic look at retail logistics. You are basically assuming that they have no overhead. Retailers have many expenses beyond COGS. The customer service costs associated with the e-mails and calls of this mistaken promotion has cost them thousands by itself.

For their part, DDD wound up honoring my $1,800 order with the 20% discount and even split it into pre-orders and in-stock items well after the sale had ended. Amazing level of service and truly worthy of commendation.

So let me get this straight...DDD would unfairly lose money by honoring the 20% discount from my $410.85 order ($82.17)...yet, there is no ethical quandary concerning you taking advantage of an honest mistake that cost DDD $360.00 in lost revenue?

and after calling twice this morning and being told twice that my order was not in their system- it shows up in the system this afternoon, with the discount. Go figure.

Again, if it hadn't showed, I would have been dissapointed, but not angry enough to never do business with them again. I'm happy it did eventually show, and will be even happier when my discs arrive :-)

-Jason

PS- did anyone actually find out why, if the code wasn't supposed to be public, it took them so long to shut it down? And if anyone lost their job over it?

GO: I think you've associated my comments with some of the ethical issues of others. I never claimed that ethics factor into this situation. A mistaken DDD promotion was leaked onto the Internet. DDD is honoring it at a significant loss to the company. Kudos to DDD.

My point is merely that this mistake will impact DDD's bottom line this fiscal quarter and that it is not at all profitable. Which makes their decision to honor related orders all the more amazing. That's all...

There seems to be a general consensus among many of the people whose orders were accepted that the rest of us are complaining for no legitimate reason. After all, it was just an honest mistake. It's only natural for those of you who were fortunate enough to have received the discount to be thrilled with DDD's customer service....but it is just as natural for the rest of us to be dissatisfied. I've placed exactly 70 orders with DDD over the course of the past 2 1/2 years...I'm one of the people who has always defended DDD's fast delivery and excellent service. I even have DDD linked to my own website, and it's not an associate link, I'm not making any money on the deal, simply promoting a distro that I strongly believe in. Forgive me if I'm a wee bit disappointed at being treated like a second class citizen by their arbitrary customer service regarding this issue.

how is that possible - they make money with 20% up to a certain point...then start to lose?

btw: i made no orders during this deal (didnt hear about it til it was over) but this thread is a GREAT READ! :)

You seem to be indicating that DDD is intentionally targeting certain people and not offering them their discount or that DDD has such a level of experienced people working for them that a mistake could not be made.

Ever worked with a group of minimum wage earners that maybe have a high school level education? Believe me, a couple of mistakes just "might" take place. Perhaps, DDD should go out to the best universities in the country and hire the best graduates and pay them top level salaries--of course, they'll have to pass this cost onto its consumers with higher DVD prices. (But, of course, many posters on this thread would expect DDD to somehow magically absorb this cost without raising prices and still stay solvent.)

DDD offers very low prices with free shipping that's not always the fastest. It is what it is. At the price they're offering their merchandise, I can't expect much more, but any problems I've dealt with have been handled positively. If people want better customer service, I suppose people should shop at their neighborhood Suncoast store with their appropriate prices.

As far as making a profit on the Internet with a DVD store...do you want me to list all the places no longer in business from the last five years?

Regardless, if DDD is making a profit with this sale, they weren't anticipating it, and they weren't set up to handle it. This probably hurt their crediblity with the narrow-minded people on this thread who are bitching about their order not being handled in a timely and "professional" manner. I, for one, think they are doing an outstanding job with what they were dealt.

My story so far:

Made a large purchase at 4 a.m. and received my first e-mail with the discount noted. My order does not appear on their website. Many hours pass and eventually I receive my second e-mail with the discount noted. Their website shows my order with the discount. I check the website a few days later and the discount is missing, but the total price shows that the discount has been figured in. I check again a few hours later and the discount is missing and the total price does not reflect a discount. I check again in a couple of hours and now the total price is LOWER by a few dollars from my original 20% coupon discounted price. I notice that two of my DVDs have been "In Process" for three days. (For some people on this thread, I guess it would be approriate to call and yell at a CSR because my in-stock DVDs haven't shipped yet. I should probably, also, call back every half hour and tie up the phone lines to continue with my complaining of being treated like a "second-class citizen.")

I haven't e-mail or called once after I made my order. Someone at the other end is sorting out my order and thousands of other orders. I'm patient. At the price I'm paying, I think DDD deserves my patience in this manner. (Hell, it hasn't even been a week yet since this thing happened.)

Remember what I said about miminum wage earners? Maybe there are just a few upper "management" types overseeing them and trying to sort this mess out...

...and slowly but surely they're working through the thousands of orders they've received and continue to receive with the final outcome of having them all put into their computer system correctly. (In the past their computer system has hit some glitches and orders were messed up, but given time they were fixed. How many of you people working on your computers right now have never had a crash or had to reboot your system for some unexplained reason? Just like people, computers aren't perfect. Doh.)

If you got lucky with this sale, LUCKY YOU! If you didn't, better luck next time.

(Ever notice how the trend of many people in our society is to sue if they don't receive the exact same benefit somebody else just happened to luck into? Ever notice how this victum-mentality is choking our court system with unwarranted cases?)

It does seem rather odd to me that out of 70 successful transactions I've had with DDD, this one wasn't honored. If I was the only person whose order was not confirmed, it would be much easier for me to accept the 'mistake' theory, but it seems like quite a few of us have been randomly excluded from receiving the discount that we were promised.

Have patience, brother. It might just work out for you in the end. With the rate of orders they are verifying and correcting, there's only so many they can do each day with the staff they have on hand. There's no magical button they can press to correct everything at once.

I am sure you are right it is intentional and not an accident that your order fell thru the cracks.

They were receiving thousands of orders at the time and a few got dropped out of the system

Those who have the first email are slowly starting to get the second email and starting to see order status information.

This sure sounds like DDD is trying to screw people out of the discount.

Does the fact that you have made 70 orders mean anything. Should they just take your word for it and give you a 20% discount when they do not see your order.

What do you want them to do? Give everyone who has placed a lot of orders a 20% discount if they call in and demand one?

I didn't get my FIRST e-mail for my second order (DVDTALK code) until this morning. Perhaps they are still sending them out.

After two days of 'In Process' I just got my email #3 that my 14 non-preorder dvds were shipped today, and the discount amount was clearly shown. Great news for me, but quite frankly I wouldn't be all that mad if this order had been denied to me for whatever reason they had. For these pricing error type things I just chalk it up to win-some loose-some, and this time I was lucky.. other times I have not been lucky. Now I just await my pre-orders throughout this year and hope they do apply the discount properly.
Good luck to those still waiting hope you get your shipping notices soon. Thanks DDD and the OP

If this was an honest mistake, no harm, no foul.

I'm not lobbying for the discount. I haven't called them or e-mailed them concerning this matter. I simply wish to register my complaint.

I would wait a few days and give them some time. You might be surprised to end up getting your order :)

I think they were slammed and are trying to sort it all out.

I placed 3 orders Thursday morning between 8am and 10am. I haven't received any emails, and only the first of the 3 orders appeared in my order status. This afternoon I sent a polite email, asking if they could confirm that my other 2 orders were received. I had printed the confirmation screens, and offered to fax them over if it would help.

I haven't gotten a response yet, but all 3 orders (with proper discounts) now appear in my Order Status page. I've placed 37 orders with DDD in the past 18 months, and can honestly say I've never had a problem. Along with Digital Eyes, DDD gets most of my DVD business. I can wait a few days to get an order, especially if it means saving a few dollars.