Amazon Post-Order Price Guarantee going way :( (1 Viewer)

[Chris S]

It appears the Amazon's Port-Order price matching (eligible up to 30-days after an order ships) is going away. :frowning:


Amazon Forum Discussion

Here is the Help page with a link for Post-Order Guarantee but the page no longer has a section describing the policy.

 

[Robert Crawford]

It means we as consumers have to pay closer attention to pricing changes and then cancel and reorder titles accordingly.





Crawdaddy

 

[Justin Lott]

Isn't what you are describing their preorder pricematch policy. I think this is a separate policy Crawdaddy.

 

[Bob_L]

Hmm, even in the retro-retail world of B&M, most stores have a 30-day price guarantee these days. I think this change in Amazon policy is a regressive change.

 

[Chris S]

Correct. The Post-Order Guarantee meant that you could get an adjustment on your purchase price if Amazon lowered their price within 30 after shipping you order. It wasn't a well advertised policy but sites like priceprotectr.com would monitor your items for you and send you an email if the price changed. I utilized the policy at least a dozen times in the past year alone.

 

[Michael Reuben]

Between this decision and Amazon's continued collection of NY sales tax, even after the NY state legislature has started to back down from their aggressive position (hence the decision by vendors like New Egg to stop collecting sales tax on shipments to NY State), I will have to give serious thought to ending my Amazon Prime subscription.

M.

 

[Brian^K]

Some of those policies are being rolled-back some, with restrictions put in place, etc. You could attribute that to abuse, I suppose, but it also could be attributed to the lack of value such policies afford retailers.

 

[Richard Gallagher]

Amazon doesn't give a refund to Amazon Prime subscribers if you cancel, unless you haven't used Prime since your last renewal. So the best thing to do is turn off the auto renewal and let the subscription lapse when your present term ends.

My purchases from Amazon have dropped considerably since they started collecting sales tax, so in a few months I will reassess to see if keeping the Amazon Prime membership makes sense.

 

[Michael Reuben]

Exactly what I had in mind. I make a habit of reading terms and conditions.

M.

 

[Chris S]

Wow! That is horrible. Hopefully this is just an oversight and more accounts than were originally targeted are being closed. I had a couple returns, one being an opened Xbox 360, so this makes me a little nervous. Good luck with getting your account back and please be sure to share what you find out.

 

[TonyD]

well, here is the apparent email from amazon.

Hello from Amazon.com.

A careful review of your account indicates you've experienced an extraordinary number of incidents with your orders and corresponding shipments.

In the normal course of business, the occasional problem is inevitable. The rate at which such problems have occurred on your account is extraordinary, however, and cannot continue. Effective immediately, your Amazon.com account is closed and you are no longer able to shop in our store.

Please know that any accounts related to yours have also been closed. If you were to open a new account, the same will result and it will also be closed. In the event that you attempt to do so, we will not accept the return of any additional orders, nor will we issue further refunds in connection with any future orders. We appreciate your cooperation in refraining from using our web site.

If you require additional assistance, or have any concerns, feel free to contact us directly at [email protected].

Please do not contact regular Customer Service again, as they will no longer be able to assist you.


Regards,

Account Specialist
Amazon.com

I havent received that and proabbly won't i havent had to return anything to amazon yet.

If received that email I would certainly be insulted.

btw I think Target might be starting to create ways to avoid price adjusting after a sale by putting clearance tags on a ton of product.
they don't price adjust clearance items.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Wow, that's about as uncustomer-friendly a correspondence as I've ever read. I've only returned one item to Amazon in all these years (a Universal Monster boxed set with damaged "floater" discs), so I'll probably not receive such an email. However, I too would be deeply offended to receive such a notice.

 

[pitchman]

This is a surprising correspondence to say the least!

I have shopped Amazon without incident for years and although I don't believe I've ever returned any purchases, after reading this I know I will think long and hard before making another one... especially if it is for a "big ticket" item.

As a customer, it concerns me that Amazon is indirectly saying, sure, we'll sell you something at the advertised b&m 'sale' price, but if you have a problem with it we may hold it against you.

I wonder what kind of internal threshold number it takes to trigger such a tersely worded letter from Amazon. This is one of those ideas that sounds great in theory behind closed doors in a managerial meeting, but in execution, it has disaster written all over it.

Whatever happened to the customer is always right?

Although I question the legal wisdom of this decision, especially if they are publicly held, Amazon can certainly choose to NOT sell to an individual. But, in this age of Internet communication there has to be a less public way of enforcing such a policy. It seems to me that Amazon would be better served by canceling these "problem" orders and then sending out a "generic" e-mail informing the customer of a 'change in order status' and to call a toll-free number for more information. That way, Amazon could address the issue one-on-one in a confidential setting.

 

[John H Ross]

I received that exact same e-mail from Amazon last Thursday and am fuming to say the least. I've requested a lot of replacement DVDs over the last few months - particularly Star Trek box sets which were heaving with scratched discs, broken hubs, etc - and apparently I've become too much of an "inconvenience" for Amazon to deal with - this despite my having spent many thousands of (mostly trouble-free) dollars over the last 10 years.

I e-mailed the address provided and am waiting for a reply. But the follow-up (generic!!) e-mail that some folks have been getting doesn't fill me with confidence. It's atrocious customer service.

I'm looking for an alternate (international) source of R1 DVDs (and RA Blu-Rays) and so far DVD Empire looks like my best bet. I'd be grateful to hear about any good/bad experiences folks have had with this company.

 

[Johnny Angell]

That is a shocking letter from Amazon and I'm disappointed at the post-pricing discount decision. Over at Fatwallet, there were some who didn't think that Amazon had changed this policy. I guess time will tell for sure.

Those of us who have frequented bargain hunting sites have seen that there are a number of consumers who intend to use and abuse every bargain item they can find. I have seen admissions of egregious abuse of a merchant sales, and they make it difficult on all of us.

When a merchant puts an item on sale, that merchant is trying to get that merchandise to it's consumer base, to those customers who will actually use the product. Now, unfortunately, there are too many defensive backs out there intercepting the deals. Many times I've read threads about a deal with comments like "in for 10", "in for 20" and so on. Meanwhile the product is now out of stock and I really wanted one of those things. Many of the items for purchase on auction sites have been bought from online merchants that were trying to sell directly to the public. To me, this is a practice very similar to ticket scalping. I have always failed to see the service that a ticket ticket "broker" provides, other than inflated prices.

I like a bargain as much as the next guy, but I have always been buying for my family or for gifts, not for profit. If you buy something from Amazon, it seems to me you have declared "I'm satisfied with the price." I know, Amazon chanages its prices a lot, but you weren't forced to buy it when you did. To return it within 30 days and re-buy because the price went down, seems at least a bit unethical. I can't help but believe the account cancellations and the post-sale discount policy changes are linked. It seems prudent to me for a merchant to say no-thanks to customer abuse. If they see a pattern of buy-return-re-buy, I could understand why they wouldn't want that kind of customer.

I realize I'm spitting into the wind here, but maybe some of the buying public is responsible for the Amazon policy changes.

 

[DavidJ]

Wow, this is really disappointing. Even though I haven't received and don't expect to receive such an e-mail from Amazon, I find this quite disturbing.

Johnny, I just read your post and I agree with what you are saying, but it seems from some of the posts in this thread that Amazon's net is being cast wider than is reasonable.

 

[Richard Gallagher]

Being familiar with your profession, I'm sure that you do a better job of it than me!

 

[Johnny Angell]

You could be right. I know if they send the email to me, Amazon will be in the wrong

I wanted to point out there might be, might be valid reasons for the policy change. Certainly, a smart merchant does not want to bite the hand that feeds it.

I remember sending an item back, it was software and the disc was floating around in the case, was badly scratched, and I did not want to even try using it. Amazon replaced it quickly. I also used the post-pricing guarantee on my HD Samsung and saved over a $100.

 

[Ron68]

I wonder how many returns is considered an "extraordinary number" by Amazon. I have returned quite a few DVDs over the years because either they were badly scratched or defective in some way. Now I'm kind of worried. I buy about 75% of my DVD purchases from them but if they were to ban me, I'd just buy from somewhere else but I have been very happy with Amazon.

Amazon is also changing their payment options starting September 8, they will no longer be accepting cheques or money orders (my preferred way of paying). Now I will be using gift cards and this means I will be ordering less from now on.

 

[BrettV]

No one else feels that this is a hoax? A few lines of that email do not ring true at all --

particularly "If you require additional assistance, or have any concerns, feel free to contact us directly at [email protected].

Please do not contact regular Customer Service again, as they will no longer be able to assist you."

That just feels .. wrong. Has anyone tried appealing? My guess is they will ask you for alot of personal information to verify the account.