Amazon Schools Customers on eCommerce

Recently, Amazon carried a ‘buy one, get one free’ promotion on DVD box sets for its customers. Due to a technical problem, however, customers were able to ‘get one free, get another free’ instead. After the fact, Amazon is looking to recoup those funds, which is rubbing customers the wrong way.

From the “Ways to Irritate Your Customer Base” school of online commerce, Lesson #1: Pricing

In reviewing your order placed on 23-Dec-06, we discovered that due to an error we did not charge you the correct amount for the items you purchased. According to the terms of the promotion, purchasing one DVD at the regular price entitled you to a free DVD of equal or lesser value.

Because these items have already shipped to you, you can either keep the items and we will charge you the amount you should have been charged or you can return the items - at no cost to you – to Amazon.com within 30 days. Please note that we can only accept the return of unopened items in their original condition.
Did you catch all that? When informing the customer that there has perhaps been a mistake in pricing, never apologize for the inconvenience. In fact, it’s important to instill a sense of guilt and obligation into the customer. Turning the tables of responsibility can be an effective tool in retail.

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