The Super-Duper Cheap Bargains Thread

[Brian]

I wonder why the cannot admit that they have made a pricing mistake.
Because that is very probably what has been the case. I am not sure about laws in different countries, but I think in many countries a seller does not have to deliver obviously mispriced items, although they often do it, if the error is slight and the fear the loss of reputation.

Once Naxos Direct accidentally changed several 25-CD box sets to be just $2.99. I ordered six - two of each kind of box, one for me and one for a friend. I later received, by mistake, an internal email by the sales people saying something like, "Crap! Someone ordered a bunch of these boxes for $2.99! We have to honor it, but fix the price pronto!" And they did. They fixed the price, but billed me $18 and sent all 150 CDs.

[Harry]

I wonder why the cannot admit that they have made a pricing mistake.
Because that is very probably what has been the case. I am not sure about laws in different countries, but I think in many countries a seller does not have to deliver obviously mispriced items, although they often do it, if the error is slight and the fear the loss of reputation.

Sure due to Dutch law they have to deliver, but hey, starting a lawsuit about this? It will cost a lot of money, and they will always hide behind some crappy reason.
Of course they know that customers will never start such a thing, so the best thing we can do, is to say loudly and in writing what we think about such practises as cheating, lying and ignoring the law. That eventually will do more damage to the seller then any lawsuit.

[Harry]

Once Naxos Direct accidentally changed several 25-CD box sets to be just $2.99. I ordered six - two of each kind of box, one for me and one for a friend. I later received, by mistake, an internal email by the sales people saying something like, "Crap! Someone ordered a bunch of these boxes for $2.99! We have to honor it, but fix the price pronto!" And they did. They fixed the price, but billed me $18 and sent all 150 CDs.

See, thats what I call ethics!

[Karl Henning]

Once Naxos Direct accidentally changed several 25-CD box sets to be just $2.99. I ordered six - two of each kind of box, one for me and one for a friend. I later received, by mistake, an internal email by the sales people saying something like, "Crap! Someone ordered a bunch of these boxes for $2.99! We have to honor it, but fix the price pronto!" And they did. They fixed the price, but billed me $18 and sent all 150 CDs.

They did the right thing, and they are rewarded with customer loyalty, and respect.

[Karl Henning]

See, thats what I call ethics!

Indeed.

[North Star]

They did the right thing, and they are rewarded with customer loyalty, and respect.

+1

[The new erato]

That is an understandable and polite excuse which may have made me rate them 2 stars instead of 1, had they offered it.

[North Star]

That is an understandable and polite excuse which may have made me rate them 2 stars instead of 1, had they offered it.

I sent them an e-mail personally. I'm sure nothing of this kind would have been offered otherwise.

[Mirror Image]

That is an understandable and polite excuse which may have made me rate them 2 stars instead of 1, had they offered it.

But you still left them negative feedback. 1-star or 2-star is still a negative on Amazon.

[springrite]

Maybe it is because I am a Buddhist, but I never placed an order because I knew I'd be taking advantage of someone else's unfortunately mistake and it would be wrong, or it would make me feel unhappy. If I did make the order, I'd accept the fact that someone would not want to pay for a mistake and would like to minimise the damage. Some of you make it sound like they are committing a crime when it is you who was trying to commit grand larceny under legal legitimacy, which I would never allow myself to do.

[Mirror Image]

Maybe it is because I am a Buddhist, but I never placed an order because I knew I'd be taking advantage of someone else's unfortunately mistake and it would be wrong, or it would make me feel unhappy. If I did make the order, I'd accept the fact that someone would not want to pay for a mistake and would like to minimise the damage. Some of you make it sound like they are committing a crime when it is you who was trying to commit grand larceny under legal legitimacy, which I would never allow myself to do.

Yes, if it's too good to be true, it probably is or at least that's what I think.

[Jay F]

Maybe it is because I am a Buddhist, but I never placed an order because I knew I'd be taking advantage of someone else's unfortunately mistake and it would be wrong, or it would make me feel unhappy. If I did make the order, I'd accept the fact that someone would not want to pay for a mistake and would like to minimise the damage. Some of you make it sound like they are committing a crime when it is you who was trying to commit grand larceny under legal legitimacy, which I would never allow myself to do.

I'm with you, sort of. I have taken advantage of serious pricing errors at least twice. But I can't imagine leaving a seller negative feedback when he discovers and corrects the error, even if it means I don't get what I ordered.

[Harry]

Maybe it is because I am a Buddhist, but I never placed an order because I knew I'd be taking advantage of someone else's unfortunately mistake and it would be wrong, or it would make me feel unhappy. If I did make the order, I'd accept the fact that someone would not want to pay for a mistake and would like to minimise the damage. Some of you make it sound like they are committing a crime when it is you who was trying to commit grand larceny under legal legitimacy, which I would never allow myself to do.

That is rather far fetched Paul, and I am afraid I do not agree.

[kishnevi]

I'm with you, sort of. I have taken advantage of serious pricing errors at least twice. But I can't imagine leaving a seller negative feedback when he discovers and corrects the error, even if it means I don't get what I ordered.

I think the negative feedback is deserved if they lied about the reason.   An honest "oops, we goofed badly on that price and can not honor it"  might get us angry, but Paul's criticism would be valid.  But if they are  only pretending to be out of stock, then they deserve loads of negativity.

At the moment, I know of no evidence that shows their explanation to Karlo is untrue. But if that changes I will complain.

[Jo498]

A mistake is not "cheating". What did you lose? Did you pay them anything and not get merchandise in return? No, the order was canceled, because there had been a pricing error. For some reason they do not admit that and have another lame excuse. But that's not cheating either.

While I have no qualms to take advantage of such offers that may be based on pricing mistakes, I do think it is a bit rich to demand they fulfil an order that has rather obviously taken advantage of a whole bunch of mispriced items. Of course they will have an excuse if they realize their mistake and the laws are now such that they had to fulfil those orders. (I am pretty sure it is/was not like that in Germany.)

[The new erato]

Maybe it is because I am a Buddhist, but I never placed an order because I knew I'd be taking advantage of someone else's unfortunately mistake and it would be wrong, or it would make me feel unhappy. If I did make the order, I'd accept the fact that someone would not want to pay for a mistake and would like to minimise the damage. Some of you make it sound like they are committing a crime when it is you who was trying to commit grand larceny under legal legitimacy, which I would never allow myself to do.

But it wasn't a mistake. Accirding to the feedbacks I received they couldn't supply it, even if they sthowed it as in stock. If they admitted they screwed up, I would be more forgiving.

[The new erato]

A mistake is not "cheating". What did you lose? Did you pay them anything and not get merchandise in return? No, the order was canceled, because there had been a pricing error. For some reason they do not admit that and have another lame excuse.

There never was a pricing error.

[Jo498]

They did not admit this. But it is very likely that for a new item a price at a third or so of the normal was a pricing error, isn't it?

Anyway, if it was a different error and they listed items that were actually out of stock, why the rage? This also seems an excusable error, not "cheating".
It is not "bait and switch", because in the end there was no transaction at all.
I truly do not understand how people get so worked up about this and claim some malevolence of the seller. What did you lose or did the seller unfairly gain? There were mistakes, probably by an automatic price setting program or so. s**t happens.

[Harry]

They did not admit this. But it is very likely that for a new item a price at a third or so of the normal was a pricing error, isn't it?

Anyway, if it was a different error and they listed items that were actually out of stock, why the rage? This also seems an excusable error, not "cheating".
It is not "bait and switch", because in the end there was no transaction at all.
I truly do not understand how people get so worked up about this and claim some malevolence of the seller. What did you lose or did the seller unfairly gain? There were mistakes, probably by an automatic price setting program or so. s**t happens.

You should work for them, as you have a excellent worm ourselves out technique, they would really appreciate you I am sure.
Still no matter how many words you use and what clever explanations you give, it does not change the fact that they are lying bastards and that's inexcusable my friend.

[Moonfish]

I pretty much knew that the pricing was a mistake in the first place, so I did not get very upset with the cancellation. I suspect that all of us were aware of that this was likely to be a pricing error. The cancellations were expected.  I agree with that the seller/s should have been honest about the mistake in their data base as they cancelled the orders. Personally I am not upset with the sellers. It would have been a tremendous loss if they had to follow through with the pricing error. Besides, I suspect that we all have plenty of music to listen to and most likely will pick up those boxes later at a price that is a fair deal for both the seller and the buyer.