800.com W A R N I N G
11-05-00, 09:19 PM
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I have tried to restrain myself from posting anything negative about this company because of the good service I have received from them in the past. But now, during the last few months I have had it with them. Here are two recent issues that people and web site should be aware of.
One is that I have had prices fluctuate in my shopping, similar to what Amazon did but not to the same degree. In the most recent case (Today) I have had Free Willy DVD go from 13.45 to 14.95 back to 13.45 and then back to 14.95 in one day. Yesterday Frosty the Snowman DVD went from $13.95 to $14.95 back to $13.95 and now out of stock as well. I don't know if it's just me that they are doing this too or everyone. I don't know if they just can't make up there mind where to price it but 4 times in one day on SUNDAY doesn't sound right. I have also had trouble with Deep Rising DVD, where it was $18.45 this morning and now $22.45.
The second issue should bother DVDTALK or any other person who has a site and is affiliated with 800.com with sell-thru and makes commission, or any other individual that goes outside of DVDTALK and makes a purchase at a site like ******.com or brandsforless.com expecting to get a % back in a check. This problem applies only to the purchase of a dvd player, home theater, TV or any other electronic purchase made at 800.com. Right now they have FREE shipping on all electronics but you'll see that you are actually helping to offset that for them.
If you make an electronic purchase you will see that they actually CHARGE you shipping but then (in the form of a coupon) credit you back for the same amount thus making it free. The problem is that they are shorting the affiliate site such as DVDTALK along with everyone else by duducting the shipping charge (coupon) from the product total instead of against the shipping itself. This has been confirmed by they own e-mails. Everyone get less than they should because of the method they use. Why not just put $0.00 for the shipping charge like EVERYONE else does?
I have placed this in this forum due to the fact that what 800.com is doing could affect your commission as well as your potential bargain.
DVD DEVIL
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DVD DEVIL
Born to be Badd!!!
[This message has been edited by RMDVD (edited November 05, 2000).]
One is that I have had prices fluctuate in my shopping, similar to what Amazon did but not to the same degree. In the most recent case (Today) I have had Free Willy DVD go from 13.45 to 14.95 back to 13.45 and then back to 14.95 in one day. Yesterday Frosty the Snowman DVD went from $13.95 to $14.95 back to $13.95 and now out of stock as well. I don't know if it's just me that they are doing this too or everyone. I don't know if they just can't make up there mind where to price it but 4 times in one day on SUNDAY doesn't sound right. I have also had trouble with Deep Rising DVD, where it was $18.45 this morning and now $22.45.
The second issue should bother DVDTALK or any other person who has a site and is affiliated with 800.com with sell-thru and makes commission, or any other individual that goes outside of DVDTALK and makes a purchase at a site like ******.com or brandsforless.com expecting to get a % back in a check. This problem applies only to the purchase of a dvd player, home theater, TV or any other electronic purchase made at 800.com. Right now they have FREE shipping on all electronics but you'll see that you are actually helping to offset that for them.
If you make an electronic purchase you will see that they actually CHARGE you shipping but then (in the form of a coupon) credit you back for the same amount thus making it free. The problem is that they are shorting the affiliate site such as DVDTALK along with everyone else by duducting the shipping charge (coupon) from the product total instead of against the shipping itself. This has been confirmed by they own e-mails. Everyone get less than they should because of the method they use. Why not just put $0.00 for the shipping charge like EVERYONE else does?
I have placed this in this forum due to the fact that what 800.com is doing could affect your commission as well as your potential bargain.
DVD DEVIL
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DVD DEVIL
Born to be Badd!!!
[This message has been edited by RMDVD (edited November 05, 2000).]
11-05-00, 10:35 PM
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quote:<HR>Originally posted by BillumillAmerika:
just plain ********!
800.com has some of the best customer service around!
I think none of us are interested in your beef with them!<HR>
BillumillAmerika-I'm not sure what to make of your post. If you say "I am full of it" when it comes to your free shipping, try it yourself and you'll see.
As for the pricing adjustment, I realize that ALL sites adjust there prices, but 3 or 4 times in one day on (SUNDAY) makes me wonder what is going on. If you don't care about paying $1 to $4 dollars more per title than you did in the morning than why are you here in the dvd bargains to begin with.
Like you, I did like 800.com and this is why I really didn't want to post this, but they could and are hurting customers and web sites. I have talk to others who are extremely concerned over the new direction that 800.com has been going and if you are not worried than good for you.
I can think of many other dvd sites with great customer service and really bad policies, AMAZON.COM, BIGSTAR.COM. Do you like them too when they pull a fast one?
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11-05-00, 10:57 PM
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quote:<HR>Originally posted by tmorrell:
I think this should have beeen posted in the Online Store Forum, not DVD Bargains.
PS: I have had no problems with 800.com
<HR>
I respect your opinion and was going to place this in the Online Store Forum except for as I said in my main post-
I have placed this in this forum due to the fact that what 800.com is doing could affect your commission as well as your potential bargain.
If their prices are fluctuating as often as I have seen this weekend than something you might want to buy could be affected, and a bargain created or lost.
If you take part in the free shipping on electronics, any site you link through to get to them to make a purchase is going to be shorted in commission including DVDTALK. If you use ebate or BFL you will get less or might not even qualify for any rebate based on the way 800.com is figuring totals.
Everyone should be aware of this to help make an informed decision before making a purchaes through 800.com.
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11-05-00, 11:50 PM
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800.com has the best customer service of online sellers(with barnes and noble a close second). Need I remind that when 800.com has had a mis-price(james bond set), they honor the orders. The customer service reps are easy to deal with, without giving out standard company lines when a problem presents itself. As far as the price changes the problem most people had with amazon is the prices changes on a individual basis, not as a whole. The shipping problem listed is ambuiguous at best, the fact is that 800.com(and every other buisness) can decide how a rebate is applied, if you don't like it stop spending your Sunday on their site and stop placing orders(you see problem solved). All of this seems academic, a large number of people on here live to complain about any online store.
11-06-00, 12:22 AM
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quote:<HR>Originally posted by pagemaster7:
The shipping problem listed is ambuiguous at best, the fact is that 800.com(and every other buisness) can decide how a rebate is applied <HR>
Please explain how you came up with this. And what rebate are you referring to?
The fact is 800.com and their free shipping is shorting every site that is affiliated with them and every customer that receives a kickback from a link-through (paying site). A person [THINKS] they are going to get a certain discount for a purchase only to find out later that it will be less because of the incorrect way 800.com is calculating it.
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[This message has been edited by RMDVD (edited November 05, 2000).]
11-06-00, 12:33 AM
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I'm not sure which part you did not understand. The word rebate refers to the free shipping(replace "rebate" with which every word you wish). And as far as "how did I come up with this" it is just a opinion much like your original post.
11-06-00, 12:54 AM
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pagemaster7-I don't think you even know what I am talking about. No i'm sure of it! Read my original post.
I am not talking about a rebate for shipping, what i'm saying is this-
Example-
Buy a $400 TV and the shipping charge is $40
They do not give you a $0.00 charge for shipping but in fact charge you $40. They offset this by giving you a coupon that takes $40 off your TV which means your TV is only $360 and the affiliate loses comission on that $40. If you go through ****** or bfl this will affect you directly. Do you understand now?
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I am not talking about a rebate for shipping, what i'm saying is this-
Example-
Buy a $400 TV and the shipping charge is $40
They do not give you a $0.00 charge for shipping but in fact charge you $40. They offset this by giving you a coupon that takes $40 off your TV which means your TV is only $360 and the affiliate loses comission on that $40. If you go through ****** or bfl this will affect you directly. Do you understand now?
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11-06-00, 01:30 AM
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this is just the silliest post i have ever read. Here is a simple test:
Which deal would you rather have:
1) free shipping on your $400 tv, worth $39.95 right now! or,
2) $2.00, in up to 5 months, through ****** (only if you bought enough stuff to get over the threshold to get them to send you a check).
I think i will take the 40 bucks. Would you rather they not give free shipping?! Who cares how they compute it - ****** is 5 freekin percent dude!! That comes out to a big loss of $2.00 when you get it taken off from the total -- a two bucks you won't even see until 2001 i might add. And even less for the referral site. With the increased business 800.com sees when referral sites promote free shipping, the referral site in the end will make quite a lot more than if there was no free shipping. Not to mention that tv's are the only item that costs that much, you will 'miss out' on a lot less of a rebate buying anything else there.
Besides, i am sure if you really cared you could argue your $2.00 with ****** and show them the invoice i cut & pasted below. But they would more than likely laugh their butts off at you!
according to their checkout summary, they add the shipping price in before the discount, then kick it back out again as you can see below. therefore, it all washes out. it may be different on the invoice - i didn't go that far since i don't really want a $1000 tv. Are you sure ****** is only paying you on the $960 here? (not that i care as i said above)
AV36150 $999.95 12345678910
$999.95
In Stock
Shipping: Red Carpet $39.95
Total for this item $1,039.90
Total and Discounts
Coupons/Credits
1. Promotional Shipping Credit -39.95
Total discount -$39.95
Shipping
Total standard shipping cost if shipped to: Continental USAlaska & HawaiiCanadaUS TerritoriesAPO = $39.95
(included in total below)
Note: You can upgrade the shipping method during checkout.
Total: $999.95
[This message has been edited by Pasolini (edited November 05, 2000).]
Which deal would you rather have:
1) free shipping on your $400 tv, worth $39.95 right now! or,
2) $2.00, in up to 5 months, through ****** (only if you bought enough stuff to get over the threshold to get them to send you a check).
I think i will take the 40 bucks. Would you rather they not give free shipping?! Who cares how they compute it - ****** is 5 freekin percent dude!! That comes out to a big loss of $2.00 when you get it taken off from the total -- a two bucks you won't even see until 2001 i might add. And even less for the referral site. With the increased business 800.com sees when referral sites promote free shipping, the referral site in the end will make quite a lot more than if there was no free shipping. Not to mention that tv's are the only item that costs that much, you will 'miss out' on a lot less of a rebate buying anything else there.
Besides, i am sure if you really cared you could argue your $2.00 with ****** and show them the invoice i cut & pasted below. But they would more than likely laugh their butts off at you!
according to their checkout summary, they add the shipping price in before the discount, then kick it back out again as you can see below. therefore, it all washes out. it may be different on the invoice - i didn't go that far since i don't really want a $1000 tv. Are you sure ****** is only paying you on the $960 here? (not that i care as i said above)
AV36150 $999.95 12345678910
$999.95
In Stock
Shipping: Red Carpet $39.95
Total for this item $1,039.90
Total and Discounts
Coupons/Credits
1. Promotional Shipping Credit -39.95
Total discount -$39.95
Shipping
Total standard shipping cost if shipped to: Continental USAlaska & HawaiiCanadaUS TerritoriesAPO = $39.95
(included in total below)
Note: You can upgrade the shipping method during checkout.
Total: $999.95
[This message has been edited by Pasolini (edited November 05, 2000).]
11-06-00, 02:41 AM
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Pasolini-In your (our) example, a loss of $2 on ****** is true, but BFL would be a loss of $20 or $25 depending on what you buy, and a web site owner such as myself the loss is immeasurable!
Get educated.
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DVD DEVIL
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[This message has been edited by RMDVD (edited November 06, 2000).]
Get educated.
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DVD DEVIL
Born to be Badd!!!
[This message has been edited by RMDVD (edited November 06, 2000).]
11-06-00, 03:01 AM
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well, in both our examples the BFL rebate would be reached far before the shipping, since their rebates are $75 or $100 purchases. (i assume you are talking about BrandsForLess, i don't know what BRL is - perhaps it is you who should get educated... by the way, since you brought it up, perhaps you should look into some grammar & spelling assistance 
)
As you said, the shipping rebate is only on electronics. One of the following will be true: 1) the amount of your electronics purchase will be far over $75 to qualify for a BFL rebate or 2) if the electronics item is right around $75, the shipping will be negligible. Just put a pen or a cd single in your cart to make it up...
Second, please enlighten me how this 'Loss' is 'immeasurable'. Put it this way, if I, Joe Schmoe, visit your website and see the banner ad "800.com offers FREE SHIPPING on TV's!!" and i buy a $1000 tv because of that, you lose $2.00 from the shipping (using 5%) but GAIN $48.00. However, if i go on your site and i see the banner ad "800.com we have great stuff but charge a lot to ship it" i will probably go buy my tv somewhere else. YOUR LOSS= $50.
Which do you choose? Would you rather have the $48 enticed out of my pocket, or the $50 you COULD have had but didn't get due to a lack of the offer...
)As you said, the shipping rebate is only on electronics. One of the following will be true: 1) the amount of your electronics purchase will be far over $75 to qualify for a BFL rebate or 2) if the electronics item is right around $75, the shipping will be negligible. Just put a pen or a cd single in your cart to make it up...
Second, please enlighten me how this 'Loss' is 'immeasurable'. Put it this way, if I, Joe Schmoe, visit your website and see the banner ad "800.com offers FREE SHIPPING on TV's!!" and i buy a $1000 tv because of that, you lose $2.00 from the shipping (using 5%) but GAIN $48.00. However, if i go on your site and i see the banner ad "800.com we have great stuff but charge a lot to ship it" i will probably go buy my tv somewhere else. YOUR LOSS= $50.
Which do you choose? Would you rather have the $48 enticed out of my pocket, or the $50 you COULD have had but didn't get due to a lack of the offer...
11-06-00, 04:28 AM
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quote:<HR>Originally posted by Pasolini:
Which do you choose? Would you rather have the $48 enticed out of my pocket, or the $50 you COULD have had but didn't get due to a lack of the offer...
<HR>
I would like to see free shipping BE FREE SHIPPING, ya know $0.00! Your basically saying it ok to steal 5 cents if they turn around and give you a dollar back. I'm sorry, stealing is stealing. And this is just bad business. I personally don't know another site that does free shipping the way 800.com does it.
The only reason I found out about this in the first place is that I made a $80 purchase thru CyberShop to get a $20 credit. I would not have bought the stuff without the credit, but now because of the way they are calculating free shipping, I most likely won't get it anyway. My $80 purchase became a $68 purchase ($12 shipping) and now I don't qualify for the $20 because of it. How many other people has this affected.
All site owner should be upset, because they are unknowingly helping out on the free shipping too. But that ok, because with all of the dishonesty already on the net, what's just a little bit more?
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[This message has been edited by RMDVD (edited November 06, 2000).]
11-06-00, 09:09 AM
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RMDVD:
Nothing to add about your original post (although I agree with you). I just wanted to let you kow that there are some out there who appreciate this kind of information. IT seems that more and more this forum is filled with people who would rather sacrifice customer service and fairness in the intrest of a few coupons. Soon, you will be labled as the guy who killed coupons at 800.com. Ignore these ignorant a$$holes, and continue to let us know when a company is screwing with you. I think the number of us who appreciate this kind of info is still larger than the ignorant number who bithc nad whine about loosing coupons etc when someone has something negative to say about a business.
Oh, and so you know, I am spelling challanged and grammer challanged as well, dont give in, peopel who judge on your spelling are jsut looking for something to bithc about!!
Nothing to add about your original post (although I agree with you). I just wanted to let you kow that there are some out there who appreciate this kind of information. IT seems that more and more this forum is filled with people who would rather sacrifice customer service and fairness in the intrest of a few coupons. Soon, you will be labled as the guy who killed coupons at 800.com. Ignore these ignorant a$$holes, and continue to let us know when a company is screwing with you. I think the number of us who appreciate this kind of info is still larger than the ignorant number who bithc nad whine about loosing coupons etc when someone has something negative to say about a business.
Oh, and so you know, I am spelling challanged and grammer challanged as well, dont give in, peopel who judge on your spelling are jsut looking for something to bithc about!!
11-06-00, 03:26 PM
#18
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I'll respond to one of the issues now. I need a little more time on the second one.
Regarding pricing/availability changes over the weekend. We are not engaging in any kind of "different prices for different people" practice. What happened was that when we did one of our regularly-scheduled website rolls, some older data mistakenly overwrote some newer data. This caused some titles to show older prices and older availability (listing titles as in stock when they really weren't). It took us a while to correct that situation, and if you were visiting the website then, going from page to page, you might have seen some price fluctuations.
That situation is now fixed. If during that time you purchased a product at a lower price than is displayed now, you will receive the product at that lower price. However, if you ordered a product that was listed as in stock but really isn't, we probably won't be able to get you that product.
Steve Armbrust
800.com
[This message has been edited by SteveA (edited November 06, 2000).]
Regarding pricing/availability changes over the weekend. We are not engaging in any kind of "different prices for different people" practice. What happened was that when we did one of our regularly-scheduled website rolls, some older data mistakenly overwrote some newer data. This caused some titles to show older prices and older availability (listing titles as in stock when they really weren't). It took us a while to correct that situation, and if you were visiting the website then, going from page to page, you might have seen some price fluctuations.
That situation is now fixed. If during that time you purchased a product at a lower price than is displayed now, you will receive the product at that lower price. However, if you ordered a product that was listed as in stock but really isn't, we probably won't be able to get you that product.
Steve Armbrust
800.com
[This message has been edited by SteveA (edited November 06, 2000).]
11-06-00, 08:17 PM
#19
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To the message that was here at one time but not anymore. I did actually get a 10.00 credit on my CC after a couple of emails back when their web site was changed and was screwed up and said you had a coupon to use and it was 10.00 off of 50.00.
11-07-00, 08:17 PM
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quote:<HR>Originally posted by BillumillAmerika:
How about changing the name of this post to:
RMDVD Whining & Crying
Restrain yourself buddy or you'll give yourself a heart attack!<HR>
BillumillAmerika-What can I say about such a fine post such as this. It speaks volumes about the quaility of individual you are.
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DVD DEVIL
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