What started out as a simple
deal of the day has turned into an ugly battle between Amazon and some of its customers.
Lair and
Folklore were listed for £14.95 each, an incredible deal by anyone's standards. Because of this, both games shot to the top of the Amazon bestseller's list for Video Games. Some of our more paranoid commenters emailed Amazon about whether the price was correct and whether they would honour it if it turned out to be an error. At least one person apparently got an email stating that the prices were correct and that they should expect no price change.
As the old saying goes, "just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you." Amazon yesterday started sending out emails stating that people's
Lair and
Folklore orders had been cancelled due to a pricing mistake. It seems weird to us that two games were priced wrongly for exactly the same amount of time and at exactly the same price. What are your thoughts?
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
RPG @ Aug 30th 2007 12:35PM
That's crap. The customer should get what's advertised, typo or not.
BadBoy4Life @ Aug 30th 2007 12:37PM
Dear Jem,
Why do you hate the Wii so much?
P.S.
Why does ps3fanboy constantly delete comments?
Aaron @ Aug 30th 2007 12:43PM
As an American, I feel better that the Brits won't get an unfair PS3 game advantage. However, it does piss me off that Amazon won't honor advertised prices. You get the feeling someone lost their job over this one.
@2
WTF are you talking about? Maybe your comments get deleted because you don't discuss the topic at hand. If you're a Wii fanboy, go to their fanboy site.
James @ Aug 30th 2007 12:43PM
Dear Badboy,
Why are you on PS3Fanboy to begin with? You sound like a troll who should head over WiiFanboy and stay there.
Aaron @ Aug 30th 2007 12:45PM
@James
Jinx, buy me a coke.
Byron517 @ Aug 30th 2007 12:46PM
@3
You better believe heads rolled with that mistake!! And your right the customer should get what's advertised!
BadBoy4Life @ Aug 30th 2007 12:57PM
This is my first time posting on this site. I've been reading it for a couple of months now. And i notice that unlike the other websites (360fanboy and wiifanboy) that ps3fanboy seems to get little traffic and that when people who make VALID statements regarding the ps3 or sony their comments are deleted.
Is it because they dono't go along with the propaganda that the writers want to churn out?
Also I'm only writing here because Jem wrote that stupid article about the Wii and how its station at some conference "confirmed" that Nintendo has "abandoned" hardcore games.
What a load of bull.
SO I thought I would ask him and see if he dares to respond as to why he hates the Wii and Nintendo SO MUCH.
Is it a jealously issue?
Aaron @ Aug 30th 2007 1:02PM
Too bad it's Amazon. It's not like you can really say, "I'd like to speak to your manager." Oh wait, this is Europe...it should be, "I'd like to speak to your manager, guvnah."
maurice @ Aug 30th 2007 1:04PM
No but it's called "responding On Topic"
Every moderator would del your comments because they have got nothing to do with the article. If you want to talk to Jem, just email. Nothing new. You can even do it on the Wii. So please stop bothering us.
Joe @ Aug 30th 2007 1:07PM
@8...yes, because everyone in europe talks like a 70's inhabitant of east end london. God i hate people that make stupid assumptions about the way people speak.
Oh yes, I'm english, obviously I speak like the queen. Fuck off.
Anyway, Im pissed with Amazon, i got my email yesterday saying theyd cancelled the order.
Aaron @ Aug 30th 2007 1:12PM
@7
If it's your first time posting on this site, how do you know that "ps3fanboy constantly delete[s] comments"? I feel like I shouldn't write anything more than that, but I'm going to.
It's hard to argue that the Wii has NOT abandoned hardcore gamers. Even consider Variety's review of Metroid Prime 3: http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117934519.html?categoryid=1023&cs=1
Also note that this is PS3 Fanboy...the bloggers here are fanboys...of the PS3. Also note that there are a lot more Wii and 360 owners than PS3 owners, so this site will almost certainly get less site traffic than other console websites. Thankfully we have you and other Wii60 trolls to help pick up the slack.
wh1ttle @ Aug 30th 2007 1:16PM
@3 - how can u say that, americans get games earlier and cheaper than eu EVERY TIME. we get two games cheap and we are the one's with the advantage ??
Aaron @ Aug 30th 2007 1:20PM
@12
Hey dude, I meant no offense. I'm allowed to feel jealous aren't I? I did add that I thought it was lame that Amazon wouldn't honor their advertised price.
Tjack @ Aug 30th 2007 1:28PM
In regards to Amazon...I have had numerous issues with purchases made. When I bought my PS3- the one I got had already been opened and the power cord was missing. It took over a month to get a new one sent to me. They never acknowledged my customer inconvenience or dissatisfaction. I am not surprised by their actions.
Maurice @ Aug 30th 2007 1:45PM
@15: Then why do even the bloggers here at PS3FB critical about some of the more stupid decisions sony has made?
No offense but in the last month there hasn't been quite a lot of new things to be angry about. We have got solid hardware, were getting lots of games in the coming months, Online features are getting better and the E3 was very nice. Have I missed some horrible news or something?
and btw how often hasn't it been said on THIS site that ps3 also needs online features like 360? Apart from that I really dont know what else we would want from the 360. (excluding games ;) )
Maurice @ Aug 30th 2007 1:48PM
@badboy4life:
offtopic: I think you were talking about the following article right?
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/08/27/lgc07-nintendo-booth-tour-reminds-us-were-not-the-target-audie/
Have you actually read the article? Don't you think he raises any good arguments?
Charles @ Aug 30th 2007 1:48PM
One thing I like about this site is the lack of childish arguments in the comments over which console is better. I find such flame wars irritating and tend to avoid sites like Joystiq and Engadget because they actively encourage them in order to increase their hits. I think that deleting comments which are looking to start such arguments is a very positive thing as it keeps the discussion on topic and relevant to the PS3.
Comments looking to argue how the Wii or Xbox 360 is better than the PS3 have no place on this site and I think the moderators are doing a great job at keeping the comments civil and constructive. Keep up the good work.
Aaron @ Aug 30th 2007 1:54PM
@15
No...businesses can't make mistakes...because we want cheap PS3 games.
"fanboy" doesn't mean you have to deny problems with the console/corp, or deny where the competition has done better.
Actually that's exactly what a "fanboy" means. We're here to support the PS3 and talk #$%^ about the other consoles.
AlanS17 @ Aug 30th 2007 2:21PM
I'm sure Amazon, like most smart e-tailers out there, has some sort of exemption clause allowing them to cancel an order that hasn't been processed. I've had it happen to me more times than I count - not with Amazon, but with other sites.
It would be good PR, but bad business to honor those orders. I know I wouldn't want to if I were them.
If they had already pulled money from credit cards, that's one thing. If the customer hasn't yet given anything in return, though, I don't see how they can expect Amazon to honor it.
I'd be ticked off if I were the customer, but I'd understand.
Kspraydad @ Aug 30th 2007 3:42PM
I have my browser set to replace the word Wii with Gamecube1.5 then I never have to read about it.
;)
Amazon, like any retailer, has the right to not honour a price if it is a mistake. Period.
Up here in Canada after midnight on a Saturday Staples website goes to hell while they update it and all kinds of deals can be found for about an hour (yes...EVERYWEEK). They never honour ANY of them. (Tried to get a GPS for $29 this past week!).
Broken Haiku @ Aug 30th 2007 4:34PM
Please delete all comments not related to this article.
Aaron @ Aug 30th 2007 4:38PM
@Knight
The article in question was from Joystiq, not PS3Fanboy. Context is everything. Don't go to PS3Fanboy and expect to read unbiased opinions; that is simply ridiculous. Furthermore Badboy didn't reference the article at all, so why should I give a crap what his opinion is?
jonneyt @ Aug 30th 2007 5:39PM
There's a very popular website called hotukdeals.com where mis-prices like this get spread over the internets. The result is (tens of?) thousands of people order multiple copies of mis-priced items in the hope of flogging them on Fleabay, ultimately forcing Amazon et al into not honouring their offers/mistakes due to the huge losses they'd incur.
Incidentally, I don't know what the law is in the US or elsewhere in the world, but England has strange consumer protection laws with e-retail in that unlike in brick-and-mortar stores e-retailers are not legally obliged to sell for the price advertised.
John @ Aug 30th 2007 9:21PM
Technically, this is false advertising, and you could perhaps bring a class-action suit against them for such, if they don't honor at that price, purchases or reservations made at that time. We have laws to protect consumers from such things. But.... I don't think most folks would have a chance against Amazon's lawyers. They would find a loophole because it's on the net. The law is for brick-and-mortars with prices advertised on paper. So the internet is not paper, so you lose. Not a big thing, right now, it was probably a clerical error, of which we've seen a small amount. If this increases, though, it will start to look like companies are purposely false-advertising, in which event the documentation of said offenses may be better ammunition in a suit.
BadBoy4Life,
You said that "when people who make VALID statements regarding the ps3 or sony their comments are deleted."
You didn't give examples.
Therefore, it never happened.
Therefore, you're lying.
Now, if you want to right this, all you have to do is give an example of "VALID statements regarding the ps3 or sony" which get deleted.
So right now, you have zero gil.
*
Knight Marquise? Guilty of the same thing. Actually worse. Let's take a look:
"[Badboy's] points are valid-and EVERYONE KNOWS IT." (my caps)
It's interesting (actually, I'm being sarcastic, it's not interesting at all unless you're interested in 6th grade logic) that SOMEHOW Knight Marquise (KM) is AWARE of what EVERYONE knows. This person KNOWS what you KNOW. You, after all, are everyone. He's either a God, or ignorant (anyone wanna take bets on this one?)
KM goes on to say, "Valid, on topic comments get deleted here all the time"
Yet, somehow, miraculously, he never gives an ounce of proof.
I mean, what are you kids reading? Are you even reading Harry Potter? In high school, the exposition classes are introductions to critical thinking. You didn't learn in there what a fallacy is?
Troll... and... Troll.
*
And Charles, I must agree. "deleting comments which are looking to start such arguments is a very positive thing as it keeps the discussion on topic and relevant to the PS3."
...and AlanS17 brings it all home, back on topic, with an intelligent comment.
nezromatron @ Aug 31st 2007 11:51AM
Um. How exactly is this 'False-advertising'? False advertising would be if they said PS3 for sales, and were really selling 3 PS1s or something.
I wonder how many of you actually run businesses, and if you had made a similar error on your website you would honor the thousands of orders that resulted from it.