Amazon.ca implying they won't fulfill my order because the price has gone up and I would get too good of a deal
I have an Amazon Prime membership and order very often from them. So, it was a shock when this runaround came to pass.
I've been looking to purchase a set of bar stools, but I'm not sure how many will fit our kitchen island (it's a new home that we haven't moved into yet). I've scoured plenty of websites and found what looked to be an ideal stool but I noticed that the price of the stool fluctuated greatly and there was a vast difference in pricing based on which colour you wanted.
Well, one day they had 1 left in stock and the price dropped by about half. I pounced on it figuring that if it didn't look as good as I wanted nor fit as well as I needed, I could return it or use it in a different part of the house. The order has been sitting in the "waiting for delivery information" for a month now. I've emailed them 3 times, received the stock "we are so sorry" email and spoken to three different people. Everyone has apologized but nothing is being done.
A couple of weeks ago I spoke to a supervisor who suggested I re enter the order. When I pointed out to him that the price was now triple, I said there was no way I was going to pay 3x as much - plus, if the order needed to be reentered I shouldn't have to do it. They finally saw my point and said that they would reenter the order and that they would honour the price on the site when I placed my order.
Nothing changed from my perspective so I raised the issue last Saturday. Still no update so I raised the issue again and spoke to someone. They couldn't see any information other than "we are waiting for another fulfillment center" so they went to a team leader. When the CSR came back, she implied (because she mentioned this out of the blue) that they weren't going to fulfill the order until the supplier dropped the price to them. In other words, they were perfectly willing to sell 1 stool to me until it was going to cost them more than they expected after the fact.
While I can understand no business wants to lose money, I also understand a business like Amazon is well regarded for how technologically advanced and influential they are. No one put a gun to their head and told them to drop the price the way they did, so once they did, they should feel compelled to honour it. I hadn't noticed originally, so I don't know if the current company marked as the supplier is the same as when I originally placed the order. I had thought it was from Amazon.ca and that's all I cared about.
So, the nice CSR with whom I spoke tonight said that all she can do is escalate (because not only can they not give me any more information about when the item will ship, they can't even tell me when they might know anything at all!) and she gave me a $20 credit to be used at Amazon.
The ill will they are generating is going to cost them far more than if they simply fulfilled the order. And I suspect that if someone at the appropriate level was briefed that they probably would. I can't see them losing even $100 on this - is this the mountain they want to die on?
I've decided to spend $5k on purchasing other items for our home - Amazon won't be getting any of that business. It's the only way I can tangibly respond - vote with my dollars elsewhere.
I've been looking to purchase a set of bar stools, but I'm not sure how many will fit our kitchen island (it's a new home that we haven't moved into yet). I've scoured plenty of websites and found what looked to be an ideal stool but I noticed that the price of the stool fluctuated greatly and there was a vast difference in pricing based on which colour you wanted.
Well, one day they had 1 left in stock and the price dropped by about half. I pounced on it figuring that if it didn't look as good as I wanted nor fit as well as I needed, I could return it or use it in a different part of the house. The order has been sitting in the "waiting for delivery information" for a month now. I've emailed them 3 times, received the stock "we are so sorry" email and spoken to three different people. Everyone has apologized but nothing is being done.
A couple of weeks ago I spoke to a supervisor who suggested I re enter the order. When I pointed out to him that the price was now triple, I said there was no way I was going to pay 3x as much - plus, if the order needed to be reentered I shouldn't have to do it. They finally saw my point and said that they would reenter the order and that they would honour the price on the site when I placed my order.
Nothing changed from my perspective so I raised the issue last Saturday. Still no update so I raised the issue again and spoke to someone. They couldn't see any information other than "we are waiting for another fulfillment center" so they went to a team leader. When the CSR came back, she implied (because she mentioned this out of the blue) that they weren't going to fulfill the order until the supplier dropped the price to them. In other words, they were perfectly willing to sell 1 stool to me until it was going to cost them more than they expected after the fact.
While I can understand no business wants to lose money, I also understand a business like Amazon is well regarded for how technologically advanced and influential they are. No one put a gun to their head and told them to drop the price the way they did, so once they did, they should feel compelled to honour it. I hadn't noticed originally, so I don't know if the current company marked as the supplier is the same as when I originally placed the order. I had thought it was from Amazon.ca and that's all I cared about.
So, the nice CSR with whom I spoke tonight said that all she can do is escalate (because not only can they not give me any more information about when the item will ship, they can't even tell me when they might know anything at all!) and she gave me a $20 credit to be used at Amazon.
The ill will they are generating is going to cost them far more than if they simply fulfilled the order. And I suspect that if someone at the appropriate level was briefed that they probably would. I can't see them losing even $100 on this - is this the mountain they want to die on?
I've decided to spend $5k on purchasing other items for our home - Amazon won't be getting any of that business. It's the only way I can tangibly respond - vote with my dollars elsewhere.
RFD OG 20+ years