Good Luck Ordering with Amazon Today
By Barry Ritholtz - August 27th, 2010, 10:00AM
If you try to place an order at Amazon.com today, get ready for some trouble.
The checkout system will not let you make a purchase unless you agreed to do a free 30 day trial of Amazon Prime delivery service. There was simply no way the order could be placed without this occurring. So I placed the order, and called their support line (800 ) to cancel Amazon Prime($79 year)
You may wonder why this is, but according to Amazon support, its a glitch. ( I am suspicious of this).
If it is a glitch, announce it and apologize — if not, if its a new policy, then Amazon should not only expect to lose customers, they should also brace for an FTC investigation.
I am surprised and disappointed. Very UNAmazon like behavior . . .
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August 27th, 2010 at 10:06 am
Barry- if you order a lot from AMZN, Prime is great.
~~~
BR: You are missing the point entirely. I should be able to buy something from any online retailer without being forced into a $79 delivery subscription.
How is it possible that anyone outside fo an Amazon employee fails to understand that?
August 27th, 2010 at 10:12 am
I placed an order last night, maybe close to midnight EST, and it went thru without the “prime trial” option.
August 27th, 2010 at 10:25 am
Using Amazon without Prime ? Go figure. I think it was my first xmas shopping around Dec 20th 2005 when my shipping charges were as high as my Invoice. After that I now only by Prime eligible products.
August 27th, 2010 at 10:28 am
“they should also brace for an FTC investigation.”
There are a lot of hungry plaintiff attorney’s out there. (Any care to comment?)
I think Class Representatives in class action lawsuits can get $10,000.
That could be a nice return on your $79 BR…
August 27th, 2010 at 10:46 am
Hacky Shill said at 10:25 am:
Using Amazon without Prime? … I know only by[sic] Prime eligible products.
Thank you, Hacky Shill!
August 27th, 2010 at 10:58 am
If you try to place an order at Amazon.com today, get ready for some trouble.
—
I became curious and created a new account to check this out. I didn’t have the same experience.
Just to echo what somebody else said, Prime is fabulous if you do much shopping on Amazon in the course of the year.
August 27th, 2010 at 11:10 am
Must have been a glitch, because I am a full Amazon Prime member and I ordered something this morning without any issues.
~~~
BR: No Mark, if you are NOT an AMZN prime member, you get forced into that loop. Capiche?
August 27th, 2010 at 11:17 am
Had something similar happen at a travel site where an order for a hotel room in Orlando automatically added tickets to Disney and (presumably from a glitch) would not let me cancel the Disney tickets. I cancelled the whole order and removed the site from my bookmarks. I think it is one or these things where they have figured out that forcing people to opt out gives a lot of accidental sales. They may be right, but they could also end up surprised when they realize the long-term collateral damage.
August 27th, 2010 at 11:38 am
Amazon Prime is a great deal. Up to four people at your household can ‘share’ the Prime, so one fee covers up to four under your roof. Also, when you purchase gifts for anyone else, they benefit from 2-day shipping as well.
Amazon is totally customer-centric. There’s no way they would foist Prime on people, so if they say it’s a glitch, it’s a glitch, and as others have found above, it’s already cleared up.
August 27th, 2010 at 11:52 am
I don’t think Amazon can afford product promoting blog trolls.
Unless some of the regular employees are macroeconomics hobbiests on their own innitiative.
Hey whats with the market craziness today?
GDP came in about as expected, FED announced nothing special and the SnP went bananas.
I hate taxes, but a 5-cents per order (executed or cancelled) tax would tame some of these circus animals.
August 27th, 2010 at 12:35 pm
Welcome to the new normal!
August 27th, 2010 at 1:14 pm
I’d rather order from Amazon using Prime than anyone else. I live up in the woods and the UPS guy is on a first name basis. Rarely have any problem. I think you’ll come to regret canceling Prime, Barry.
August 27th, 2010 at 1:19 pm
You are missing the point entirely. I should be able to buy something from any online retailer without being forced into a $79 delivery subscription.
If I want Prime, I’ll order prime. But don’t force it on me.
August 27th, 2010 at 1:32 pm
Hi Barry, you might have run into a temporary experiment that Amazon is testing with.
Apparently, it’s not doing it to everyone.
But prime is good if you order from Amazon often.
August 27th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
I don’t order from Amazon that often, but I have found some wonderful prices on things. We recently bought a boat from Amazon. Yes, the shopping website, not a boat that had been use in The Amazon.
Everyone’s looking for new and inventive ways to generate revenues.
August 27th, 2010 at 7:01 pm
I did order a bunch of items through Amazon today and didn’t encounter that issue. And I would agree with you – that seems like a VERY un-Amazon like behavior. My guess is the unemployment claims number is going to get some additional contributions from Amazon! :|
August 28th, 2010 at 5:08 am
It may have been a browser problem. I’ve see a lot of websites malfunction in the last 6 months. If your browser doesn’t fully support some newfangled screwball feature that they are using, it can cause unpredictable results. The best test of this is to cancel and try another browser. Of course the largest e-marketer in the US has the obligation to make sure that their site works with any browser out there. They have no business using features that could cause malfunctions of any kind, especially malfunctions like this that would cause shoppers to go away and not come back.
August 29th, 2010 at 8:48 am
Well, there is always bricks and mortar Barnes & Noble where the register clerks are geriatrics who will surely make a mistake and turn a two minute checkout into a 30 minute fiasco.
It’s simple to opt out of Amazon Prime. There is in an opt-out button/link on your account page. Much quicker fix than going round and round and round in circles with the old man at the Barnes & Noble register.
August 29th, 2010 at 7:01 pm
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