It's more of a fact that DD is going down hill. More and more people like myself, who were strident defenders of the company a year ago, are running into problems with poor customer service and pricing. DD used to be the lowest price around, now if it's a newer release the odds are that Amazon is lower.

Last December, I ordered Sliders seasons 1 & 2 and season 3 from DD. A few days later, Amazon puts the sets on sale for a total of about $25 less. Now in the past, I have never had a problem contacting DD and saying "hey, someone has these for less than you, please credit my card the difference." This time I had to go around with them twice in e-mail and get told that they don't price match (bullshit), and then I had to finally call them and complain and threaten not to do business with them anymore (I place a LOT of orders with them) to finally get the difference credited.

Then I ordered Star Trek: Enterprise season 4. 2 weeks later, they drop the price by about $30. I call and ask for a refund of the difference. I'm told that DD only has a 10 day guarantee on their prices. Screw that! Any other location has a 30 day guarantee. From now on if I have a problem with DD's prices, I'm no longer asking for a price match. I'll just call and get a return slip, return the item as damaged at their expense and get my full refund.

If you saw how many orders I place with Amazon it would make most of you sick. Every e-tailer and retailer will have their problems. What is important is how they resolve them.

I absolutely could only name ONE time in the past 6 years that I have had a problem with an Amazon order, and the issue was resolved super quickly. They even seem to have the best India-based CS reps.

On the other hand, I reserve my deep discount orders for 2 x per year, during the sales. I also have a few other orders scattered around randomly. In the past 4 orders, I have had 3 problems with the order and it has taken multiple phone calls in order to get them resolved.

Amazon may not be the end-all, be-all of e-tailers, but they try to be.

Man, this really sucks. Reminds me of the downfall of DVD Express after it became Express.com.

So I sent back a Dyson vacuum to Amazon last week. I get an email telling me they received it and they were processing my refund minus the 20% restocking fee.

I call this morning and get a US based CS rep. I tell her you processed a refund and you mistakenly charged me a restocking fee.

She doesn't argue with me, ask me why it was a mistake, nothing...

She just tells me she was sorry and that they will process the full amount immediately.

Can anyone imagine what that would have been like with the recent Deep Discount?