Last week, I treated myself to the Kindle Voyage at 199.99, and two days later it drops to 169.99. I emailed and asked for the price reduction, and they informed me that they no longer do this. This was a nice policy that Amazon used to have that within 30 days of purchase, if the price went down, they would refund the difference if requested.
After a few email exchanges, I realized that what I could do is just order another one at 169.99, and when it arrives just pack it back up and send it back as the more expensive one. Sure enough, I asked if this is what Amazon wanted me to do, and they said yes.
So, that’s what I did. And I got a $30 refund. Seems wasteful, but this is their new policy.
Amazon is a shipping company that happens to have some warehouses.
Seriously, they’ve become such a force in direct delivery, using mostly third-party carriers but slowly molding them and their own services to suit, that it’s almost secondary that they sell almost every item on earth.
Did you know that Amazon->UPS->USPS has an agreement to deliver small parcels on Sundays, using USPS personnel and trucks? We get packet-to-shoebox stuff that way almost every week.
Camelcamelcamel.com is a useful website if you want the cheaper price and are willing to wait. It can also show price history, for items both sold by Amazon and third party.
I imagine that the infrastructure to allow price reductions ended up more expensive than paying for return shipping.
I had a similar experience at Walmart, went to the service desk and let them know that I bought this item (a gas grill if you must know), and the price dropped like $50 and would like the difference. They said they would not do that. I then countered that could I buy the item at the then reduced price and return my original for a full refund, they said yes I could. I said considering what you said, wouldn’t it just be easier for all if you just gave me the difference, and you would not have a used grill to dispose of, at which point they got approval for this seeming forbidden action.
Your credit card may also provide price protection if it changed after buying an item. The process seemed like such a PITA when I looked into it that it might only be worth a big difference, YMMV.
When profit-seeking companies become large enough to dictate terms and conditions which favor itself over the customer, IT ACTUALLY DOES!.
Shocking, isn’t it? Imagine what the pricing will be when Uber eventually bankrupts every taxi.
And imagine their tears when that last car becomes full autonomous and they have to tell their drivers that even the pennies they are used to getting from Uber will cease come the end of the month.
I’m sure they will be heartbroken.
Once more: you exist for the benefit of those with money. You will get these reminders as often as necessary to impart this message.
It favored neither me nor the company. They had to pay for shipping an item that was only sent to me for the express purpose of sending it back to them (which they also paid for). I had to go to the trouble to ship it back out.
So they pay for a bit of shipping - but only if you’re motivated enough to go through the trouble of the charade. This is a moderate hurtle to the the refund.
Expect the hurtle to rise a bit in a few months, until almost nobody will go to the trouble of redeeming the price difference.
So, when they announce that they no longer offer a price match at all, only a few will sense a loss.
I made it quite clear that this was what I was going to do, and even emailed back once I reordered the item that I intended to return, and requested one last time, while I could still cancel it, that we could maybe stop this charade. I think you can assume that the guy who is emailing back and forth with customer service is going to take the comparatively small step of reboxing the item that arrives.
The OP never said Amazon was wrong for making the change or expressed horror. They were surprised. Amazon has had the 30 day price match policy for years and the change is very recent. They were just noting the policy difference for those who hadn’t heard about the change. It’s good to know.
