The Super-Duper Cheap Bargains Thread

[Jay F]

From amazon.co.uk:

Hello,

We're writing to let you know that the following items have been unexpectedly delayed:

  Various Artists "Richard Strauss - Complete Operas (DG box set)"
    Estimated arrival date: June 12 2017 - June 23 2017

One of our aims is to provide a convenient and efficient service but in this case, we've fallen short. Please accept our sincere apologies.
   
You haven't been charged for these items. We don't charge your payment card until just before your parcel is dispatched, at which time we'll send you an e-mail to confirm the payment details, estimated delivery date, contents and method of delivery.
           
If the order won't arrive by the time you need it, you can cancel the order or an individual item from your order by visiting Your Account, and viewing the order details. As long as the item hasn't entered the dispatch process, you'll be able to cancel it.

We hope to see you again soon.
   
Amazon.co.uk

[Que]

Meaning: Please cancel.... We are going to let you wait until you cancel...

I'm not going to cancel....

Q

[PerfectWagnerite]

Meaning: Please cancel.... We are going to let you wait until you cancel...

I'm not going to cancel....

Q

Neither am I. Why give them the satisfaction.

[Syek88]

Ditto. I'm in no hurry at all, thank you Amazon.

[André]

I got the exact same message  . We'll see what comes out of this story.

[brunumb]

From amazon.co.uk:

Hello,

We’re writing to let you know that the following items have been unexpectedly delayed:

  Various Artists "Richard Strauss - Complete Operas (DG box set)"
    Estimated arrival date: June 12 2017 - June 23 2017

Curiously, there is no similar disclaimer with the product description on their website. 

After the initial bargain basement price that prompted me to buy the set I noticed that it became unavailable for a while and the listed price shot up to over £50.  Now it is listed at £101 with estimated delivery in 2-4 weeks.

So far I have not received any communication from Amazon and all I see in my orders history is "Expected by 18 May   Not yet dispatched"   

I too am happy to wait rather than cancel.


EDIT:  Got my apology letter from Amazon a few hours after posting the above.

[Mirror Image]

Re: The cheap Richard Strauss opera set on DG

If it's too good to be true, it usually is.

[Que]

Re: The cheap Richard Strauss opera set on DG

If it's too good to be true, it usually is.

True.... With these evasive actions by Amazon it becomes increasingly unlikely they will honour the deal....

Q

[hafod]

Sviatoslav Richter Live At Carnegie Hall - 13 cds - due for release 1st September and currently priced at £4.78.

Re-run of the Strauss Opera box saga but with lower stakes?

I have taken a punt.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B071HBBYC1

[The new erato]

SOP for Amazon. Make a mistake and blame on unavailability. A short time later miraculously available at a much higher price.

[Harry]

SOP for Amazon. Make a mistak and blame on unavailability. A short time later miraculously available at a much higher price.

That's a Trumpism

[jut1972]

Sviatoslav Richter Live At Carnegie Hall - 13 cds - due for release 1st September and currently priced at £4.78.

Re-run of the Strauss Opera box saga but with lower stakes?

I have taken a punt.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B071HBBYC1

Reckon that is the right(ish) price because it was up for 4.99 before, so if its a mistake they've made it twice!

[bwv 1080]

[Ken B]

SOP for Amazon. Make a mistake and blame on unavailability. A short time later miraculously available at a much higher price.

It's available at that price is it? Because I see it unavailable at that price. "Usually dispatched within 2 to 4 weeks."

[brunumb]

Sviatoslav Richter Live At Carnegie Hall - 13 cds - due for release 1st September and currently priced at £4.78.

Re-run of the Strauss Opera box saga but with lower stakes?

I had a look at that set and was amused to see lower down on the page that one of the items that "Customers who bought this item also bought" was the Strauss box we are all awaiting   

[king ubu]

Reckon that is the right(ish) price because it was up for 4.99 before, so if its a mistake they've made it twice!

Will this duplicate the 9 Carnegie Hall discs found in here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00NFLVFFK/
?

[Ken B]

True.... With these evasive actions by Amazon it becomes increasingly unlikely they will honour the deal....

Q

No guys, you are not victims of a nefarious plot whereby Jeff Bezos defrauds you of the nothing you have paid (you can get your nothing refunded), and neither is this part of a new scheme where Amazon make money by not selling something ("How an you make money with no margin?" "Volume!"). What you are seeing is an artifact of a highly distributed piece of software.

Let me explain the basic idea.

When you connect to Amazon you don't connect to one machine. You connect to one of millions of machines, and different ones all the time. This is how the web works, and how high availability sites like Amazon work.  However there aren't millions of databases holding the correct count of how many Strauss boxes are actually left in the warehouse in Luton Parva. There is (logically, the actual details can be complex) only 1. One database to rule them all. And all those millions of machines must co-ordinate access to that 1. This is done by replicating the data all over the place and sending updates around according to complex algorithms. Now this miracle can actually be done quite effectively most of the time. That is why the web works. But if there is a glitch in the network and some copies of the data get isolated for a while, then things change. Something has to give. (The curious can google "network partition theorem".) Suddenly incorrect answers will happen. Either you will be told "not available" when it IS available or be told "available" when it is NOT available.

So in this case the latter happened. Probably because of a sudden rush of buying near the time of the glitch. Lots of folks pushed a Buy button and the server, under the mistaken idea a copy existed in the warehouse,  processed the purchase. Or in fact, PARTLY processed it. Because you were not charged. The charge is part of a (technical term) distributed transaction which requires the approval of that 1 special database, not any of its replicas. You WILL be charged if Amazon gets a new shipment of boxes and 2) completes the processing.

Now normally, again, Amazon could recover from the glitch. For a while some servers, cut off from the 1 database and forced to rely on out of date replicas, thought there 37 Strauss boxes, and sold 28 of them. If there had been in fact only 30 left all would still be well, and those 28 could process to completion. But imagine there were only 15 left. When the network problem passes Amazon tries to finish the accumulated transactions, keeping that 1 database on his toes. 15 people get boxes. The rest get mail. I think one person here got a box; many of us got mail.

So how has Amazon handled this glitch? They told you "oops we had an error". They told you they are willing to fulfill the order once DG ships them new boxes. They gave you the chance to cancel. Short of invading the Universal stamping plant and compelling the workers to produce Strauss boxes there's not much more they could do.

Maybe they will get a shipment, but that's up to DG. Many of these boxes are limited editions. We will see. What you will NOT see is a few weeks from now a new order for 100 pounds processed but yours for 9 pounds cancelled. I invite skeptics to place an order at the higher price. 

[akebergv]

As far as I can see, yes. I have that earlier Sony Richter set and the contents of the new set is identical to the live CDs of the earlier one. I cannot quite see the point of coming back this soon with an almost identical set unless thay have done some new magic with the mastering, which I doubt.

[Que]

So how has Amazon handled this glitch? They told you "oops we had an error". They told you they are willing to fulfill the order once DG ships them new boxes. They gave you the chance to cancel. Short of invading the Universal stamping plant and compelling the workers to produce Strauss boxes there's not much more they could do.

Maybe they will get a shipment, but that's up to DG. Many of these boxes are limited editions. We will see. What you will NOT see is a few weeks from now a new order for 100 pounds processed but yours for 9 pounds cancelled. I invite skeptics to place an order at the higher price. 

Interesting theory/ description on the posible causes for this glitch. 
But in this case I don't believe for a second that DG has run out of copies to supply the increased demand generated by this glitch....

It going to cost Amazon to fulfill these orders....the question is: will they suck it up or try to cop out?
In a similar incident in relation to the "Real Chopin" box set, in which they accidentally linked  the description of the box set with the ASIN number of one of single disc volumes, they first claimed "unavailability", then changed the description to the single disc and then announced that "the item" was miraculously available again. But of course when ordered,  you wouldn't get the box set anymore...

Q

[GioCar]

I bought the Strauss DG box in 2015 from amazon.it. I paid it 45.90 € which seemed a good price to me. I had it delivered in one day.