I recently bought a Treo for $0 on Amazon (and my friend, and my friend's freind, and all my co-workers, etc.). While it looked like the order went through and was processing for about 24 hours, it was then terminated and I got this:
From: Amazon.com
To: amazon2@spam.drakkhen.net
Date: 10 Jan 2003 10:57:12 -0800
Subject: Update: Your Amazon.com Order (#[unique ID removed])
Greetings from Amazon.com.
We are writing regarding your recent order for a cell phone which was placed through a link on an Amazon.com Associate web site. If you have already written to us regarding this order, please note that you will not receive a separate response.
Due to a technical error, the phone(s) you ordered had been mistakenly displayed with a price of $0.00:
"PCS Phone Handspring Treo 300 (Sprint)"
In accordance with our posted policies on pricing, we are unable to offer this item(s) for the incorrectly displayed price. Therefore, we
have cancelled your order for the phone(s). We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience.
Because of the additional information required to process orders for cell phones and service, at this time we are unable to offer the option to order this phone through an Associates site. However, you are welcome to place a new order for this phone by visiting our web site:
http://www.amazon.com/cellphones
Please note that service plans vary in price by both carrier and geographic location, and phones vary in price based upon the service plan with which they are combined. Without a service plan, the cell phone's price will be more expensive than a phone with a service plan.
Please note: this e-mail was sent from a notification-only address that cannot accept incoming e-mail. Please do not reply to this
message.
Again, we regret any inconvenience this may have caused. We value your business and hope to see you again soon at Amazon.com.
Sincerely,
Customer Service Department
Amazon.com
Now, even though I am one hell of an unemployed-recent-college-grad-in-the-IT-industry, I'm sure that Amazon is smarter than me. And if I were Amazon, I'd have some alarms that went off when the sales of one of the products shot through the roof from day to the next. And when those alarms went off, I'd investigate and probably cancel the orders if the price was improperly set.
The moral of the story is that if you come across one of these price blunders, you probably want to order one (or three, and sell them on eBay), and keep quiet.
Slashdot Mirror
The moral of the story is that if you come across one of these price blunders, you probably want to order one (or three, and sell them on eBay), and keep quiet.