Got a cite for that? It is definitely true that the model numbers of products sold at big retail stores differ, but unless the volumes were very large, manufacturing a lower quality version might be more expensive than the savings.
This does happen with some things. Cheaper brand vegetables often are canned at the end of the season when the produce is not as good as prime time. And the amount of disk and memory on PCs may differ. But qualifying dual sets of components would be a nightmare.
I said rumor because I don’t recall when I read it.
I read the Consumer alerts in Consumer Reports every month. Kiplingers and online news.
I couldn’t begin to guess which articles address items specially manufactured for big retailers. I do recall reading about it. I remember showing the article about Maytag to my wife.
My wife and I were a bit uncertain about buying our Maytag W&D at Home Depot. We eventually did and so far it’s fine.
Did you request shipping to a Locker? Apparently, there are some Lockers that are so popular that Amazon doesn’t offer free shipping to them anymore.
My experience is that when I select a Locker address and then select “Free Locker Shipping”, the “continue” button doesn’t work at all. Drives me nuts. JUST TELL ME WHAT THE PROBLEM IS.
Actually this is a trait of items in Walmart, it may also be at Amazon and other big players. I got a device IIRC a Bluray which I contacted customer service with and had to give the model number. The rep said that I got it at Walmart, I asked how did they know, They replied because the model number ended with ‘W’, which meant the device was specifically made for Walmart. Upon googling I found that this is true, and usually cheaper components are used to make the price point demanded.
Perhaps there is no locker available, or no locker expected to be available at the free shipping price point (as they can expect to sell out on paid shipping or prime membership shipping).
I buy damn near anything I can on Amazon. Need something, see if it’s on Amazon, check a few other sites, as long as the prices is better or the same as it is locally, I buy it and it shows up some time between today and (about) 72 hours from now. Doesn’t matter if it’s a TV or a car part or three dollars worth of pens.
This is what makes Prime worth it to me. I need some dinky little item and not only do I not have to go out of my way to get it, it’s usually cheaper (and even moreso now that I finally broke down and got an Amazon Chase card (plus Upromise rebates)).
As for the model numbers, I’ve never seen that with Amazon, but I can confirm that it happens. But I’ve really only seen it at Home Depot. They had a welder I wanted, exact same welder that every other store had, but theirs had a slightly different model number and a different sticker on the front (showing the numbers for the dials). If you went to the manufactures website it listed that one as well as the other one with identical specs. Home Depot had one model, all the other stores had the other one. IIRC the two models numbers were the same but Home Depot’s ended with HD and they called it “Heavy Duty”.
It’s all well and good, but if they put it on sale, you couldn’t go to another store that would price match/beat it. Similarly, any other store put theirs on sale, they didn’t have to worry about discounting the one they had. Kinda sneaky when all they had to do was buy enough of them to get Lincoln to change a few decals and printing on the box.
For anyone still following along, here’s the two welders, identical specs, but if you click on the Where To Buy buttons, one takes you to a page with multiple stores listed (as you’d expect), the other one take you to Home Depot’s page, the only place you can buy it.
All you can do is play the game. IME, welders (like many other things) go on really big sales. It’s very common for a $500-$1000 welder to go on sale two or three times a year and knock at least a hundred dollars off the price.
Oh, and as for the Prime membership. I know my dad said he just got a trial as well, probably the same thing and I told him the same thing someone else told you. You don’t need it, don’t wait until the last day to cancel it, just log back in right now and cancel it and you’ll still get your 30 days if you want to use it. They really don’t care about that stuff. Just like the subscribe and save thing. Subscribe, get your 5%/15% off, then cancel when it ships, they don’t care.
Manufacturers absolutely slap the name of a retailer or supposed manufacturer on products. My Kenmore microwave was made by GE. I’m dubious about the deliberate use of lower quality components. The manufacture may be and some have been ripped off by buying components which turned out to be low quality or even counterfeit, but it was not deliberate in these cases.
I don’t think even WalMart wants to be caught deliberately ordering stuff which breaks.
I know for a fact that while you can buy slower ICs and processors (some times) you cannot buy lower quality ones.
I know all kitchen and laundry kenmore appliances are made by whirlpool …but ive never seen a free shipping option on amazon that wasn’t tied to a prime membership or the free if you spend 49 at first then they raised it to like 60 or 70 …
It’s evil when they trick you into signing up for it. They did that to me, too. They were charging a fee every month (regardless of whether I bought anything from them that month), and it went on for several months until I noticed it on my credit card bill. When I called them to cancel it, after waiting a long time on the phone, I got a lengthy sales pitch trying to persuade me to keep it. Then they told me they could only cancel it for future charges, no refunds for the past ones. When I got the supervisor, even he claimed he could only refund for 2 months (because they’ve already been processed by VISA – which is bullshit – credits can be issued for purchases months or even years back).
Since then, I’ve been doing a lot more online shopping at walmart.com or target.com.
P.S. Also, “an ice cold Coca Cola on a hot day” will make you thirstier because there’s too much sugar in it. There have been columns about this on the SDMB.
You know there’s a monthly option available now, right? You can pay $10.99 per month instead of paying all at once - it’s a little more over the course of the year, but it’s more convenient for me, and as long as you place two orders in a month you’re getting your money’s worth.
Amazon is just like banks, credit cards, every other business. They prey on suckers, in order to keep your prices down. So it is you, not Amazon, who is being subsidized by the foolish. How does that make you feel?
I’m not really clear on what you are complaining about. But it sounds a bit like my latest Amazon annoyance.
I saw something there for a very good price, that was exactly what I wanted, and they said I could get free shipping. But it was presented in a very confused way, that I had to click through several screens, and separately Google things they said, in order to work out that I actually could NOT get “free shipping,” I could only get a discount, if I signed up to have them ship me an unending SERIES of what I wanted only one shipment of.
It was NOT AT ALL a bad deal for someone who expected to need regular shipments of the stuff, so I didn’t feel that they were “pulling a fast one,” it was just that they did as too many web-based businesses do these days,and presented the information in such a convoluted way.
It’s really not relevant how good a deal other people think Prime is, if you don’t want it, you don’t want it. Personally, I’m happy to wait for free delivery, I always select the cheapest delivery option, so I’m certainly not going to pay for Prime for the ‘free’ one day delivery, and I have very little interest in the other features.
If I click what I thought was the standard option free slow delivery, and it instead signed me up for a paid subscription, which did happen to me as well a year or so back, I’m gonna feel pretty annoyed. I did feel pretty annoyed. For a standard (not 1 click) order, you have to confirm payment method and confirm order, but you can get signed up for Prime because you inadvertently clicked on one button, and they go out of their way to make that easy to do.
Yeah, they give you a free trial, but a free trial of something you don’t want is still something you don’t want, and if you forget to cancel the thing you never asked for then they charge you money you don’t want to spend and instead give you something you don’t want.
They’ve changed the situation from me needing to take action to spend my money to me having to take action to not spend my money, without my consent, and that seems pretty shady to me.
Yes, people. It did it to me, too. I thought I was clicking to get more information. I was just checking the shipping on something to see if it was worth it. Then I got signed up for prime. If I was going to be signed up, I would prefer it to be when I actually have the money to spend.
The cost is not worth it to me. I do not pay $99 worth of shipping in a year. I am very glad to know I can cancel anytime and still get the trial. Are we 100% sure of this?
I do know that I’m not really any worse off with the free trial than not, but I also agree that it was a shady practice. The sneakier you make the decision, the easier it is to catch the people who will just let it ride and allow them to rack up money.
Before I assumed they were just counting on the increased business of people who had Prime to make up for the cost. But now it seems they are in fact using the “gym membership” concept of having those who don’t use it subsidizing the rest.
That did in fact make me look at Walmart.com instead. They have free 2-day shipping to store, anyways. Without a membership program.
That’s not what I was responding to. Clearly businesses should not stick customers with hidden fees, because they mislabeled menus, or they had secret rules that add to the bill.
acey said it is “evil” to charge customers $99 for the “privilege” of shopping at Amazon. This statement is erroneous in several fronts, whether or not you think the service is something that fits your needs. Actually, it seems to be a slam against Costco or Sam’s Club (which also seems like an odd attack).
Who cares?
Mental image here of a scene too gruesome even for torture porn.
:eek:
I think everyone knows that Kenmore is nothing but a label, but (and say what you want about Sears) Kenmore service, variety, and features are a big draw. In the Elite line, for example, they pick some of the best stuff by other manufacturers, and make it all look good together. The black LG fridge matches the black Maytag dish washer.
I’m not really clear on what you are complaining about. But it sounds a bit like my latest Amazon annoyance.
I saw something there for a very good price, that was exactly what I wanted, and they said I could get free shipping. But it was presented in a very confused way, that I had to click through several screens, and separately Google things they said, in order to work out that I actually could NOT get “free shipping,” I could only get a discount, if I signed up to have them ship me an unending SERIES of what I wanted only one shipment of.
It was NOT AT ALL a bad deal for someone who expected to need regular shipments of the stuff, so I didn’t feel that they were “pulling a fast one,” it was just that they did as too many web-based businesses do these days,and presented the information in such a convoluted way.
Wait, what?
Gyms prey on people to pony up money each month and never use the equipment. But you’re going to have to clarify how Amazon is like a bank or credit card. And for that matter or how a credit card or bank is like every other business that’s being subsidized by the foolish.
Yeah, I understand, I get points on my credit card because other people are buried in debt and paying tons of interest. But what does have to do with Amazon?