Amazon: Post-Order Price Guarantee Ending 8/31/08

MrNEWZ

MrNEWZ

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I don't remember seeing this discussed before, but I often enjoyed getting cash back when Amazon would have a Deal of the Day or clearance items out. I'd guarantee that I'd get the item --- AND get it for the lowest price. However, a recent price match yielded the following response:

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Hello from Amazon.com.


Thank you for contacting us to take advantage of our Post-Order Price Guarantee.


I've confirmed that we now offer a greater discount on item than at the time you placed your order.


Since your purchase shipped within the past 30 days, I've requested a refund of $X.XX to the original payment method used for your order.


This amount reflects the difference between the price you were originally charged for the item and the current price offered by Amazon.com,, minus the amount you were previously refunded. This new refund should be processed in the next few days.


Also please note that only orders placed before September 1, 2008 are eligible for a price difference refund under the Post-Order Price Guarantee policy. As of September 1, 2008 we are no longer offering discounts if prices change on our website after you make a purchase.


Thank you for shopping at Amazon.com--we hope you'll visit us again soon.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

I will say that I will be far more mindful of "biting" on some of the more likely to re-appear Deal of the Days or waiting until they bottom out on clearance deals due to this change.

UPDATE 2008.11.29

For Holiday shopping AMAZON has ended up revealing some details to their policy:

-->If you call and explain that you haven't received and will mark Refused: Return to Sender, you may get a CSR to correct. The official policy is that within *7* days of being shipped, you're likely to get help via phone only.
-->After 7 days from item ship date, it must be a drop of $20 or more in order for a CSR to correct.

If you want assistance with drops YOU MUST CALL AMAZON. Using the e-mail team will lead to the same, pre-canned response about the policy being no longer in force. Many CAGs have reported that e-mailing has recently become more successful as well. Contact the RETURNS & REFUNDS area using the online form.
 
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Well, there goes one huge reason to shop Amazon.com. :whistle2:s

No sign of the information about the post-order price guarantee on the Help section of the website, so I guess they're really kicking it to the curb. :bomb:

I know I'll be more careful in picking up some items from them with this new change in their customer service.
 
I just noticed it was gone from the help section. This will cause amazon to lose a LOT of my business. Like thousands annually.
 
[quote name='mietha']I just noticed it was gone from the help section. This will cause amazon to lose a LOT of my business. Like thousands annually.[/QUOTE]

The amazing thing is the turn around on it was fast. My previous Price Guarantee was granted on 8/17, so the official decision was not made until after that. The e-mail I received today had the blurb and they change is being made effective on 9/1. That's with limited to no notice.

I upped my ordering significantly through Amazon the last year or two, especially with DOTD, Pre-Orders, and Clearance items. The Price Guarantee point was a *BIG* part of that--- and I know a lot of us here use it.
 
Well, I just canceled my Fallout 3 Survival Edition, so there goes $130 that Amazon.com won't get out of me.

Next to go will probably be the Nuts & Bolts pre-order that I thought was only going be the way to get the Banjo Kazooie XBLA game for free, once I pre-order it at GS. There's $40 more that they're not getting out of me.

I do most of my online ordering from Amazon.com, because of their CS, plus it gives Cheapy good affiliate money. Now, it'll be less of that, due to this little change.

See, if Amazon was really smart and wanted people to get a Prime membership, they'd have the Post-order price guarantee be part of the benefits of Prime. :whistle2:s Now, that would be smart indeed, wouldn't it?
 
It probably won't change my decision to order from them or not. They usually, actually always have the lowest price for me since they offer free shipping to Alaska. Everybody else I always have to select two day and that kills all other deals. I may be more careful now, but I can't beat their prices locally or online cause of shipping. Kinda wish they would keep it around, maybe not thirty days but maybe 15 days?
 
[quote name='shrike4242']Well, I just canceled my Fallout 3 Survival Edition, so there goes $130 that Amazon.com won't get out of me.

Next to go will probably be the Nuts & Bolts pre-order that I thought was only going be the way to get the Banjo Kazooie XBLA game for free, once I pre-order it at GS. There's $40 more that they're not getting out of me.

I do most of my online ordering from Amazon.com, because of their CS, plus it gives Cheapy good affiliate money. Now, it'll be less of that, due to this little change.

See, if Amazon was really smart and wanted people to get a Prime membership, they'd have the Post-order price guarantee be part of the benefits of Prime. :whistle2:s Now, that would be smart indeed, wouldn't it?[/QUOTE]

That would be a brilliant benefit and reason to get Prime. The nonchalant talk of a premium service is the most concerning part to me. The fundamental parts of customer service are disappearing and being required to be paid for? Want your order to ship in the order it was received or in a decent time frame--- buy Prime! Want us to guarantee the price you pay won't drop in 30 days (if *YOU* notice it, we won't automatically do anything on this unless it is a pre-order)--- buy Prime! While that'd be the *REASON* to buy it, it still makes normal Amazon users second class citizens... which really saddens me.
 
What I hate is how they change prices around on stuff especially clearance items all the time. I'll be more hesitant to order those type of items from Amazon now.
 
wow this does suck.

Like those above, this was one good reason why i bought a lot from Amazon. My Prime just renewed on the 27th but haven't used it yet....maybe i'll be cancelling that now.

*edit* Canceled and sent an error to support to tell them exactly why
 
I'm honestly not seeing much reason to shop anywhere else...

Yeah, sure, this sucks. But Amazon still has great CS and their prices are good. They're still leaps and bounds beyond any other place. I rarely buy anything during release so I never actually PM'd much.
 
I still remembered the time I got twilight princess for free because of price adjustment. Good times. Good times.
 
This really fucking sucks! I agree that it would be smart to make it a part of "Prime" rather than remove it altogether though. C'mon Amazon! At least keep it for us "Prime" subscribers! DAMNIT!! fuck! ASS!
 
This sucks. I buy almost daily from amazon (The UPS must hate me) and this will curtail my purchases for sure. There are times in 30 days that an item will drop 3 or 4 times. Less amazon shopping, and I will be canceling my prime membership as well I suspect.
 
I'm not cancelling Prime and I'll keep shopping Amazon. But I will wait longer to pull the trigger on items with dropping prices. And I will likely miss out on deals I hope to go lower. So in the end, Amazon probably doesn't lose any money, but I definitely will be saving money...

It's still sad though.
 
[quote name='Zoglog']i'm surprised they kept this as long as they did, is this just for games?[/quote]It was for anything they sold.
 
[quote name='Shady3011']I don't really care since the window of opportunity was only a 30 day period. If it were longer, then I be a bit bummed.[/QUOTE]

Again, for many new releases, Deal of the Day, and Clearance items they would dropped regularly $5 or more. Clearance items can fluctuate very quickly. A DOTD can still show up 3 times in 30 days and at 3 different prices.

Look no further than Ninja Gaiden II for a game on Amazon "dropping in price" about $5-10 right after release. If you pre-ordered, their price guarantee is meaningless.

Unlike CC, Best Buy, or other retailers there is no way of telling when Amazon will do a special deal on CDs, Books, Movies, or Games (or anything else) that might cause a change in price. Amazon will frequently match deals in those circulars are well... all of that is essentially gone now.

I'm not saying Amazon still isn't leaps and bounds ahead of the rest of the online world... I'm just saying it is smart to probably back off some orders there as there is BOUND to be a $5-10 savings that could go missing on many of the items CAGs swarm to.
 
[quote name='Demix500']
Not really a deal, but a heads up for people who regularly order from Amazon.
[/quote]

So you knew this wasn't the correct place to put it, and you posted it anyway? Seriously? Did you think this was big enough news that no one would care?

Deal Shopping Discussion is where this should be, not here.
 
[quote name='daminion']So you knew this wasn't the correct place to put it, and you posted it anyway? Seriously? Did you think this was big enough news that no one would care?

Deal Shopping Discussion is where this should be, not here.[/QUOTE]

I probably wouldn't have seen it unless he posted here. I personally appreciated him posting it in the wrong forum.....

Thanks Demix500!
 
[quote name='daminion']So you knew this wasn't the correct place to put it, and you posted it anyway? Seriously? Did you think this was big enough news that no one would care?

Deal Shopping Discussion is where this should be, not here.[/quote]
And it's already there.
 
Eh, people shouldn't shit too big of a brick on WHERE it's posted; it is pertinent for some deals and people wouldn't mind knowing this. Maybe people who regularly visit the Deals forum don't visit the Shopping Discussion and wouldn't know.


Either way, calm down....eventually a mod will move this if it had to be.
 
For now I don't see a problem with this staying here. A lot of y'all buy from Amazon knowing you can always price match if they drop the price within 30 days, so this is big enough to stay in this forum for a while. Then I'll move to Shopping Discussion.
 
Personally, I'm glad this was posted here... I probably would not have seen it otherwise. I was unaware of this, and it'll definitely be something I keep in mind when I order from Amazon in the future...
 
I know this really won't change my shopping habits with Amazon. They still have the best prices on tons of items. I don't think I ever even took advantage of this aspect of their business, so I know I won't miss it.
 
[quote name='monstericreated']Personally, I'm glad this was posted here... I probably would not have seen it otherwise. I was unaware of this, and it'll definitely be something I keep in mind when I order from Amazon in the future...[/quote]

I agree completely, generally I only go to the deal forums for DVD and games so I'd have missed the otherwise and it's a pretty big deal.
 
Ditto with the people above. I only have the Video Game Deals and Trade forums on CAG bookmarked - didn't even know deal discussions existed.
 
Yes, Amazon does still have good prices, and the free shipping option is nice. But sometimes (quite often) Amazon's prices are later beaten by--Amazon. There's very little that feels worse as a consumer than buying a product, then seeing it for less days after, from the same retailer.
This will definitely make me more wary of buying things at Amazon. I'd rather pay the tax and get it from Best Buy, knowing I could return/PM it within 30 days.
I've be very interesting in knowing how often people used this policy, and how much money Amazon "lost" by using it (and as a corollary, how much money they "made" on item sales within the first 24 hours of an item's price going up.)
 
That's horrible.

Looks like Amazon is going to be seeing alot less of my business. Their price match guarantee was one of the main reasons I bought from them (besides Prime)
 
[quote name='daminion']So you knew this wasn't the correct place to put it, and you posted it anyway? Seriously? Did you think this was big enough news that no one would care?

Deal Shopping Discussion is where this should be, not here.[/QUOTE]

Wow, what a prick. This is a great place to post this news. No one goes to the Deal Shopping Discussion forum and I'm glad to be aware of this now. Thats OP.
 
[quote name='Sporadic']That's horrible.

Looks like Amazon is going to be seeing alot less of my business. Their price match guarantee was one of the main reasons I bought from them (besides Prime)[/quote]


If everyone who feels this way writes an email to Amazon, it might make a difference.
I just cancelled Prime and let them know this was the main reason.
 
thanks for the heads up, OP. that really sucks. maybe amazon should've lowered the amount of days for the price match. like 15 days or something instead of killing it completely.
 
[quote name='Donnums'] Maybe people who regularly visit the Deals forum don't visit the Shopping Discussion and wouldn't know.
[/quote]

that's me, this is the only section of the site I regularly look at lol
 
I also appreciate this being posted. I've made a lot of use out of the amazon price guarantee. I recently let my Prime membership expire and now I'm REALLY glad I did. This is going to make me less likely to pull the trigger on a purchase through amazon unless it's just an obvious rock-bottom price. Big thumbs down goes out to amazon.com for doing what I consider a punk move.
 
I won't renew prime at the end of September because of this. I'll just buy from Best Buy unless Amazon has an unusually low price (Cloverfield BD for $17 vs $30 at Best Buy)
 
I don't mind that, I never used it before so it doesn't affect me. Just as long as they keep the pre-order price guarantee ;)

I originally pre-ordered The Office Season Four when it was $39.99, now its down to $27.99. :)
 
[quote name='daminion']So you knew this wasn't the correct place to put it, and you posted it anyway? Seriously? Did you think this was big enough news that no one would care?

Deal Shopping Discussion is where this should be, not here.[/quote]


Hey everyone, look, it's an internet gangster! Way to be a tough guy on the interweb, dude.

Anyway, yes, this is really, really lame. Those guys are gonna start seeing a lot of returns/reorders from me.
 
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