Amazon stops price-matching everything except TVs
8As the title says, Amazon is now only price-matching TVs- any other items are now no longer eligible for price matches.
The Consumerist lays out the details of this, and what other retailer’s price-match policies look like generally: https://consumerist.com/2016/05/23/amazon-stops-price-matching-everything-but-tvs-so-heres-your-guide-to-other-retailers-policies/
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Amazon price matched other companies? I have only ever had other retailers price match amazon
@thismyusername yeah seriously, I didn’t even know Amazon had a price matching policy.
@thismyusername No, it was price-matching themselves. That is, if the price on Amazon dropped within seven days, you could request a refund for the difference. Recently at least one service popped up to automate this for customers (watch everything you buy, automaticaly request the refunds)… wonder if this pushed things over the edge. Though Amazon has been more and more shit lately in general.
@brhfl Damn! I just signed up for that service too.
So… why TVs?
@brhfl I’d suggest it’s because no one has any deals on TV’s anymore that aren’t within a few bucks of the identical or nearly identical model. The “race to the bottom” mentality in the TV industry started years ago, and is great for the consumer. If BestBuy doesnt have to pay to ship a TV out, does it really mean they have a cost advantage? Hells no! Theres so much “back end” money in that biz. Also, note the wording in the article link above regarding “Qualified Retailers” that Amazon will match doesn’t include meh.com, but it does include badcock.com. That is not baby arm compatible.
That automated app thing ruined it for everyone else.
@Collin1000 same way 3-yr technology upgraders ruined Costco’s TV return policy for folks whose TV’s actually broke at 3-yrs.
Amazon’s customer service tends to be pretty eager to please, so it’s probably worth sending them an email, anyway. I had pre-ordered the new Star wars movie, and when it arrived, the cardboard sleeve was wrinkled. I sent a picture of it to Amazon, and they replaced the movie right away and didn’t ask me to return the first one. If you are polite and ask nicely, they tend to provide credit or something to keep customers happy.
I thought it was sort of weird that companies refuse to make adjustments when the price goes down during the refund period. For example, if you have 30 days to return something, they should offer a 30 day price protection.
Let’s say I buy a widget from the retailer and 20 days later it goes on sale. I visit the retailer and tell them that I would like a credit for the difference. They refuse. All I have to do is get an entire refund for the product. Then I go to the shelf and buy a brand new one at the reduced price. Now they have an opened product that they cannot sell at full retail and I still end up with the product at the reduced price.
I did this at Costco a couple months ago. Some article of clothing went on sale and they refused to credit me the difference. I told them that I could just return it with their unlimited return policy and repurchase it. The lady was very rude and said “Please step aside, I need to help the next customer.”
I didn’t have the actual product that I bought with me – just the receipt. So I went into Costco and bought the same item. Then I went back to the refund desk and got a full refund for the product using the older receipt. It was just a hassle for everyone involved and they could have satisfied me originally by just handling it the first time.
@cengland0 Target does that- I have just taken my receipt back and gotten a refund for the difference. That’s nice because I don’t always have the thing I bought still in the box.
I recall Amazon changing their price matching policy quite some time ago. At that time they basically stated they wouldn’t refund the difference if their price dropped. If it was vs. another store you had to submit the form with the information and hope they’d lower their price.
@cinoclav Right, I’ve written to them about price matching before, and they have said they don’t do that, since prices fluctuate constantly. But they would usually issue a credit to my account for future use, anyway. That company may have problems, but their customer service is excellent.
Does this apply to preorder price guarantee stuff too? Like you preorder and you get this lowest price it’s ever offered at between then and the time it ships?
@medz Looks like they are still keeping that. http://amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201133130
Walmart has their Savings Catcher app, which I didn’t know about 'til recently, but my sister and sis-in-law have been using it for quite some time… you just scan your receipt with your phone, and if any local competitors have a better price, you get it back automatically. Doesn’t sound as good as Amazon’s probably was, as they have so much more competition online, wish I had known about it, I would have taken advantage of that!