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Amazon Stops Giving Refunds When an Item's Price Drops After You Purchase It (recode.net)
Amazon has for years issued refunds to users when the price of an item drops after they've purchased it. But lately the e-commerce giant hasn't been doing that on a number of products, except for televisions, according to price-tracking companies. Recode reports: The move may have something to do with the rise of startups that track prices for Amazon customers and automatically request refunds when appropriate. One of them, a Santa Monica-based startup called Earny that is backed by the startup incubator Science, first pointed out the change. Earny scours a customer's email inbox for digital receipts, and then continuously checks the price on a retailer's website to see if it drops.
Yeah.... no.
to ask for the refund, however, when a larger number of customers started asking for the refund, then it was no longer cost-effective.
I haven't used Newegg in years. Their return policy is terrible.
If I get a defective product from Amazon, they send me a new one before asking for the return. Newegg wanted their product first, charge me return fees since it's not their fault it's defective, and charged me shipping for the replacement.
Only had to have that happen a few times to say to hell with them. Plus, their prices are not very competitive anymore.
I buy a TON of things from Amazon, I'm a heavy Prime customer...
That being said, my last three price adjustment requests in the past two weeks have all been denied, which is very odd.
I do it manually, just when I notice things... I buy at least a half a dozen items a week from Amazon.
This change will make me think twice before buying as much.
I haven't used Newegg in years. Their return policy is terrible.
Amen. I bought a board from them a few years back. Got the PC all built and running, but something was causing lock ups. Turns out several individual pins were bent in the CPU socket. There's no way I'm good enough to just bend a single pin in several different places, so it had to have come like that. I didn't want to wait a week+ without a PC while I shipped it back and they shipped me another one, so I purchased the same one overnight from Amazon and had it up and running the next day. Newegg's return policy for mobos is "No". Just "No". Even if they shipped it to you in three pieces, you cannot return for a refund under any circumstance. It took several days for them to at least agree to give me store credit. After spending thousands with them over the years, I found this to be an exceptionally poor way to handle a $150 purchase. I haven't been back to their site since, and I spend every opportunity I can advising people not to shop with them.
If you bought before a price drop, deal with it.
Too many price drops and your storefront starts to look like Steam: people will only buy when the product is on sale for 50% or more.
Depends on the return policy. Many B&M stores will price match for the same period as their return policy, otherwise people would just return the item and repurchase it anyway. Amazon charges return shipping if it's not due to a problem on their part (damaged, DOA, wrong item, etc) so it's got a bit of an advantage there.
I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
It took several days for them to at least agree to give me store credit... I found this to be an exceptionally poor way to handle a $150 purchase. I haven't been back to their site since..
So can I have your store credit?
-- I have a private email server in my basement.
You should lobby for better consumer protection laws, rather than relying on retailers being good to you.
In the UK you get two weeks to return the item for any reason (including that the price dropped). Beyond that, you have strong protections if it is faulty, such as not having to pay return shipping.
Make it the law.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
None of that applies to today's race to the absolute bottom in wages and working conditions.
Working in a modern warehouse is nowhere near the "absolute bottom", and claiming that it is worse than 19th century plantation slavery is idiotic.
In state where we've essentially outlawed any attempts at subsistence living? Yeah, go ahead and try to "quit" working and see how long before they drag you into court for something you've violated.
> Newegg's return policy for mobos is "No". Just "No".
Here's a randomly selected motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128859
"GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 R5"
"Return Policies
Return for refund within: 30 days
Return for replacement within: 30 days
This item is covered by Newegg.com's Standard Return Policy."
Here is Newegg's Standard Return Policy: http://kb.newegg.com/Policies/Article/1167#44 and their rules regarding restocking fees: http://kb.newegg.com/FAQ/Article/1755
(The money quote on restocking fees: "Newegg does NOT charge restocking fees for returns of defective products. If you have received the wrong product or it doesn't match what was shown on our site or we have made some other shipping error, there will be NO restocking fee and NO charge for a return label, provided the item is within its return policy period.")
> Even if they shipped it to you in three pieces, you cannot return for a refund under any circumstance.
That is damage from shipping and is eligible for return for replacement. Read http://kb.newegg.com/Policies/Article/1167#overall and http://kb.newegg.com/FAQ/Article/1403 (starting at "FULL INSTRUCTIONS").
If your replacement item is undamaged and is not to your liking, it is covered by the original item's return policy. In the case of nearly every new motherboard, you can return for refund or replacement within 30 days.
I have had to return a few items to Newegg for replacement or refund over the years. The process has been universally quick and hassle-free.
Newegg may not have the lowest price for every item in their inventory, but they -unlike many Internet retailers (including Amazon)- absolutely will not settle with patent trolls under any circumstance. I'm willing to pay a bit more to help fund a company that refuses to feed the trolls.
Amazon has also begun closing accounts of people who "abuse" the return policy, in Amazon's opinion
Meanwhile, they encourage you to subscribe to Prime and use it to buy items like clothing and shoes, which you obviously can't try on until they've been delivered. But heaven forbid stuff doesn't fit and you want to return it, now you're "abusing" the system and your account is terminated; by the way, thanks for all the Prime payments! Nice racket they have going.
"If there was a gay Afro-Puertorican Linux distribution, I'd give it a try" ~lucm