Sweet Baby James

If you wanted to be the grammar police, you would have to bold his entire post, not just a misspelled word.

btlives

Thats not true. Saw the deal at about 9th post.
1st page. I checked to verify the site glitch
but did not order anything. Without taking
any sides. I just passed on this one.

Xbox69

I too saw the "DEAL" as it broke on early last Saturday. I'm usually awake at that time. The first post in the locked thread is just after 2 a.m. There are even posts suggesting that it be "hidden" from others so as not to raise any red flags at Amazon. I passed on it, in fact, didn't even put items in my cart to verify what was going on.

bhauge

For what it's worth, here's my reply from Amazon:

I think this is the first reply that I've seen that refers to "technical and human errors" in regards to this situation. If it's helpful to anyone else, this reply was signed by "Nisha S".

stingermck

wow thats the first reply ive read, that admits they F'd up, and you wont be charged. Interesting.

romuo

csr are probably going to get yelled at because they dont know what the hell they are doing or saying and it goes against company statements - which is not something they are allowed to do even if they want to or think so
anyways...
on legality- dont think that reporting to cc will solve all the problems in fact you ARE liable for abuse and misuse of a pormotion EVEN if the automated contract entered in for 0 dollars.. the only thing that stands in the way is enforcement..yes all you people are legally most likely in the wrong.,.. its just a bad and hard for amazon to go after each person (they will most likely go after people who OVERABUSED the glitch)..its bad publicity its a hassle and its a pain thats the only thing that will save most of you.. but ones who overabused i reccomend you return or face possibility of charges legal battle

arbitration does not mean that both parties will get a compromise..all it means is a LEGALY binding decision made by an arbitrager that could go for you or against you.. in this case most likely AGAINST YOU at least to a degree

the only thing that would have completely made amazons actions legal would be if they accepted opened items back (at a loss) as well as extending overseas shipment deadline.. (hard to do)

im sorry but complete and willfull knowledge and abuse of a mistake...and people are complaining about how evil a company is..comeon...

personally i have taken advantage of several such opportunities once or twice but would not have been surprised or UPSET or ANGRY at amazons decision..

i dont know how many of you are business people, or understand basic business concepts but it seems like some people lack any and all ethics and some people i dont even know how to describe... amazon has good prices, good promotions and whats your point? abuse it because its a corporation? steal from it because theres an obvious glitch and then complain?

ethically those who opened their dvds before the email should get to return it or keep it without charge. those who did not open should return it or keep and pay for it (on your own honest word..and dont open it if you havent already). those in middle grounds should at least donate money to amazon for a "great discount" that you got.

btw..amazon has been losing money for YEARS...only recently has it actually began earning money..

Sondheim

Basic business concepts such as a transaction is a transaction is a transaction and once you pay money and receive a good the company isn't free to charge you more without your permission? Or that sending threatening and condescending e-mails to your customers is bad customer service? Those kind of basic business concepts?

But since what these thieves did was wrong those basic business concepts should be ignored.
You're right. Anyone who took advantage of this deal is just an amoral jerk. In fact, I happen to know that every single person who took advantage of this deal/steal not only would, but has, on several occassions, stolen candy from babies while walking through the park, on a sunday afternoon (on the island of La Grande Jatte.)

Oh wait. I'm getting absurd again.

Sweet Baby James

This whole situation has been good for at least one thing-it has created a surge in DVD Talk membership. Nothing quite like someone registering on a forum just to point out how awful everyone is that had placed an order.

SkullOrchard

Once an order has been dispatched, and my credit card charged, the transaction is complete. It is final. Period. End of story. No "Ifs, Ands, or Buts". I can't be re-charged one damn cent more than I have already paid. And under no circumstance am I required to return received merchandise. Amazon goofed...not my problem.

sumdeus

bhauge,

Would you mind sharing what you wrote to invoke such a pleasant response? I thought my message to them was to the point without being aggressive but the response I received was as enigmatic as most of the other responses shared in this thread. You must have the golden touch

Brent L

I'm sure this will sound crazy, but I'm almost enjoying this situation, if only for the various laughs.

I just talked to an Amazon CSR, and the entire conversation pretty much consisted of the woman saying that's she's sorry and sorry over and over, how she apologizes on the behalf of Amazon.com, and how Amazon accepts that it was their own personal mistake that the error happened in the first place, it's their own personal mistake that they shipped any of the orders, and that it was a huge mistake to send the email that we all received. She went on to promise me that no one would actually be charged more and that Amazon understands that it would be illegal to do so, and she told me to not send anything back. She said she made a note on my account stating that I did not authorize any additional charges, and that she'd have someone contact me in a day or two to confirm all of that once and for all.

Is it wrong that I still don't believe all of that? Everyone here is being told different things. Like someone said before, it's no wonder that this mistake happened in the first place.

nz-kiwiman

First time poster here.

Got the same email myself for the 5 orders I made during the technical error. As im an international customer, I did spend $45US to get the 5 orders shipped down to me. When I got the email, my first thought was that $45 I spent - where they going to refund?

Next I looked at the pre paid shipping label -- FREE OF POSTAGE IS POSTED IN THE UNITED STATES!! Now im not in the United States, so its going to cost me to return!!

And of course the estimated arrival of my orders is between the 17th and 25th Jan, and yes they do take that long to arrive. So, if I was to resend them, I woukd have to use EMS which is mighty expensive.

Have send an email, and received a reply .. which was basically the same email they sent me, so it wasnt of any help.

Thanks to the couple of people who posted the International Amazon number so I can call them in a week or so ..

romuo

transactions and contracts CAN be reversed ..sorry you didnt know that.. take a law class or read a bit into it before you start talking nonsense...

there are rules and reasons of how contracts can be reversed...and how both the SELLER AND BUYER have the right to cancel a contract or amend the terms of an original one. there are not many reasons and its very technical but it has and can be done buddy...

on a side note to a comment a little above yours... people are not evil or unethical or whatever for placing an order with amazon to try to EXPLOIT an obvious mistake.. people are just childish when they get upset that somebody stands up and says you can abuse an obvious technical mistake.

honestly, amazon does not need many of the people who used this promotion as customers..because all you do is make them lose money.. most are a burden on the company (not all and i dont know who is and who isnt)

its kinda like banks having undesiriable customers..cant get rid of them but you have to pay fees on every account thats open even if it makes you lose money.

the sensible amazon users the ones amazon wants to actually keep, most, would not be throwing their arms up in the air and crying about it and trying to explain to themslves how THEY are cheated out of something

btw- first time i have ever taken a company's side and i have filed several bbb complaints myself

creekdipper

(1) The guy who got banned deserved it (strange that this was his first post...kind of makes you wonder why he suddenly vented here...almost as if he wanted to get banned). Although I agree with a few of his sentiments, there is no need for anybody to be that offensive (I still wonder if his post was being deliberately inflammatory to get people riled up & whether or not he/she really cared one way or the other. Maybe just wanted to give somebody a reason to dislike University of Maryland). Glad people just ignored him.

(2) Glad to see some posters confirming that they saw the "deal" and passed on it. It's presumptious to assume that the only people "complaining" are those who "missed out". Too many people have posted to state the contrary (some ordered but say it was wrong; others didn't order but support the ones who did).

Just saying that one shouldn't try to project what you would have done onto others' motives. I, for one, saw the deal early Saturday morning after the first few initial posts, too, and DID order, never expecting it to go through (it was sort of a lark). When the posts started rolling in & I realized that Amazon wasn't catching it, I began to regret it & refrained from ordering more. After getting a shipping notice Saturday afternoon, I really started thinking hard. Early Sunday morning (around 24 hours after first seeing the OP's notice and after the "deal" was long dead), I emailed Amazon & asked them to correct the charge. This was the first time I had done something like this regarding DVD price errors, although have often pointed out price mistakes at cash register, etc. Regrettably, I didn't do that with past online mistakes such as the Target deal last year, etc. Is it really so hard to believe that somone can regret an action and try to make up for it? I see people apologize for mistakes all the time and don't find them insincere at all. It depends upon whether or not they repeat that mistake.

Only posting this so that you can see that some people wrestled with the "deal" even though they could have taken advantage of it. For my part, I consider the ones who resisted temptation to participate to be "holier-than-me", although they have not described themselves thusly. As I said in my first post three threads ago, if I had been a really good citizen, I would have alerted Amazon immediately. At least, that's my opinion. Each person has to decide what he or she should do.

As for why this was the "first" deal to encounter such an ethical debate, there have been other past deals to which some have objected on the board. Some of the most vocal supporters of this deal know this because they have defended the ethics of those "deals", too. It's all in the archives.
As for how those who object to taking advantage of the Amazon glitch, I wholeheartedly concur with those who say that those people (myself included) should not take advantage of obvious price mistakes in the future. I don't mean to suggest that we should question every good price that we find or every good offer that's posted. Amazon had a sale a couple of falls ago in which some items were offered at up to 88% off list price. That deal lasted for weeks until stock was depleted and appeared to be perfectly legitimate since they were advertised prices (even the discounts were highlighted). It's those "deals" that everyone is supposed to keep quiet, under the table, delete-the-thread-before-the-company-notices "deals" that stink to high heaven. For instance, in this case, If we had REALLY thought Amazon was being generous & sending us a holiday "gift", wouldn't we have written to them to thank them for their generosity?

Anyway, not trying to stir things up & am tired of all the ethical talk, too. People have already made up their minds about whether it was "right" or "wrong", so perhaps the future posts should center on the legality issues on both sides. Again, I'm only rehashing this because some continue to question the motives of those posters who object to "the deal". Here's something I didn't say earlier because there were already those who raked me over the coals for eagerly taking part in earlier deals--a charge to which I had pleaded guilty long before their research, which wasn't necessary since I had already admitted to earlier mistakes...and I thought this would sound really "self-righteous". What I planned to do with my "ill-gotten gain" if it came in (it did arrive on Wednesday) since Amazon had denied my earlier request to pay my total bill was to donate to charity the approximately $100 that I owed Amazon. It actually would be more than $100 since I could sell the extras for around twice Amazon's LISTED price (B1G1), so it would do even more good. I still think I'll do that although I got the same followup email that the rest of us did asking for return or payment, so I will be paying Amazon anyway. I figure it will be a good reminder when something like this happens in the future.

And, for good measure, I plan to take my lone McGuyver set that I got for $5.99 from Target last year during their glitch. It's still sealed and they can resell it for the correct price, or I can pay them the difference. I don't see that as being noble, or self-righteous, or crazy. It doesn't make me a better person than someone who thinks differently. It's just what I have to do.

I hope that this debate has raised some issues regarding pricing errors that maybe needed discussing earlier. For some, their opinion about the ethics of taking advantage of price mistakes may have changed toward either side. I don't know...maybe someone who earlier thought it was wrong has changed his/her mind & now sees nothing wrong with it. For sure, no one who has read these threads...which seem to have set a record regarding one "deal"...can come away saying that everyone thinks alike on these issues. Regardless of whether we respect the other person's opinions or decisions, I would hope that we can accept their sincerity of their beliefs and try not to attack the person. I mentioned in an email to a mod that I had written an apology for some snarky, sarcastic comments I had made about some fellow posters (with whom I still strongly disagree). The thread was locked before my comments could be made, and I dropped the matter. So now I'm posting my apology for anything said that was deliberately derogatory on my part.

Of course, now that some have raised the issue of why people have not questioned earlier price mistakes to this extent or have not notified the company regarding the glitch, we can expect to see more of that in the future, too. Just pointing out that sometimes when people are challenged to act in a manner consistent with their ethical stances, they end up doing just the very things that you suggest they do to avoid charges of hypocrisy.

And I still feel sorry for the Amazon CSRs who have been caught in the middle of this mess.

Dr. Henry Jones, Jr.

Amazon employee...

chrisih8u

Maybe one day we will all have the epiphany that you had and become an upstanding member of society. Until then...Watch out because I might just break into your home and steal your dvds. OOGA BOOGA!!!!

romuo

on that subject... my house has been broken into when i was a child
my genesis, vcr, family jewerly, hundreds of dollars in cash etc were stolen, it was a big loss for our family. until that has happened to you it might seem like a joking matter ...

however, i will have this promotion goin on soon right outta my house... buy one of my things and get the other of equal or lesser value for free. however, i will leave the house for a while so i would appreciate it if you understood the terms of my promotion and didnt steal everything i had

SkullOrchard

Amazon had a window of opportunity to cancel the orders I placed, but they allowed that time-frame to elapse. I have zero interest in discussing general hypotheticals that have absolutely nothing to do with the specific nature of my particular situation. An Amazon cs rep has confirmed to me that Amazon has no legal grounds to place an unauthorized charge on my credit card account, nor insist that I return any merchandise already received. That's the simple truth of the matter, take it for whatever it's worth.

stingermck

WTF is up with all these different CSR answers. A second email to Amazon, has give me this:

Thank you for writing back to us at Amazon.com.

I've reviewed our previous correspondence and your order.

I sympathize with your frustration. However, please understand that
the information provided in our last message correctly represents our
policy at this time.

As my colleague previously mentioned,
As stated on this product's detail page on our web site, the current
prices for the items included in the following orders has been increased.
It has come to our attention that this item was listed with an
incorrect price in a recent advertising insert. Please accept our
sincere apologies for this error. I have confirmed that the price
listed online on the product detail page is the correct price.

Thank you for your understanding. We hope to see you again at Amazon.com

romuo

and the csr rep has taken a legal class and is on their way to become a lawyer correct??? right... now you will use csrs as your legal sources...

yes what i was referring to is a hypothetical and doesnt apply to this particualrly... but how are you to determine that the time frame has passed if you know nothing about contractual law.. wait the csr clued you in on that didnt they..
i cant even comperhend how you have all the legal knowhow and know what they can and cant do! you a lawyer?

dx23

I suppose that this member was the Amazon.com employee or technical wiz if you will, who lost his job because of the glitch. That or an angry priest.

romuo

yes that did sound a lil over the top

SkullOrchard

Amazon's official policy regarding what constitutes a legally binding contract between the seller and buyer is stated on their website and has been quoted/linked in this thread several times. Simply stated, once an order has been dispatched, and the customer's credit card has been billed, only then is the transaction considered final and complete.

I placed twelve orders, one of which was canceled. You won't see me complaining about the canceled order because I fully realize that Amazon was well within their legal rights to do so.

Perkinsun Dzees

Don't worry. I'll wait for you to come back home and then ask you if I can have the stuff I want for a bigger discount. I'll give you a few days to think it over. If you agree to it, you can send the stuff to my house. Just don't send me an email a few days later saying that you've changed your mind and want the stuff back in new condition.

creekdipper

Or someone who started celebrating New Year's a leeeetle too early. Wouldn't want to bet on his passing a sobriety test. Does that come off as sounding too judgemental toward the banned poster???? My bad.