When a company runs a promotion, we think it should clear, run smoothly and a consumer should not have to jump through hoops for what is fairly theirs when following the rules of said promotion. So how and why has a company like Amazon.com dropped the ball?
After we got "comfortable" with our pregnancy (after the first trimester) we started looking at all the baby items we will need and shopping around to get the best prices. It became clear that Amazon.com was a clear winner, especially when most items are eligible for their free super-save shipping - one of my favorite features of Amazon. And then when we saw them advertise their Seventh Generation diaper promotion, we knew this was the place to center our registry/to-buy list...
As the promotion is running, all we have to do is purchase $750 worth of stuff off our registry by September 30 and we will receive a $250 credit towards Seventh Generation diapers (about 6 months worth). This was a diaper brand we wanted to test out anyway as it is one of the more earth-friendly options, so it seemed that it made complete sense to buy stuff we'd need anyway in order to walk away with a ton of free diapers (from what I hear we'll need 8-10 per day, people).
So we made a list, checked it twice, and started buying a little at a time. Then we got a big boost with the purchase of our crib, almost 1/3 of our purchase requirement, by Jim's parents... or so we thought. Immediately there was a glitch in the system. Although they purchased directly through our registry, it was not showing up as purchased at all. Rhonda emailed Amazon and asked about the error, and got less than an answer. So, she resorted to calling Amazon. We thought they misunderstood the problem because the item then appeared on our registry as "Additionally Marked As Purchased." What does this mean??
Apparently this is what you can do to manually change an item to "purchased," but it means you purchased it elsewhere and just want to let people know to not buy it. In other words, we were NOT getting credit for this purchase towards the promotion!!
So, as my brother-in-law Chad likes to call it, it was time for Amazon to get "Campolong'd." We Campolong women learned from the best when it came to giving a piece of our minds. I had to get on the phone with Amazon, over the course of 2 weeks, not once, not twice, not even three times... four times I had to talked to different people on different customer service levels to work out this problem. Each time they told me they understood the problem, would submit the paperwork to get it fixed, then get back to me. To no avail. Eventually I decided to back-up and try email again. Eventually it lead to this response on 9/1:
Greetings from Amazon.com.
I apologize for any frustration that you have experienced with the seventh generation diaper promotion.
I can confirm that the DaVinci Jenny Lind Baby Crib was purchased from your registry and that the $227.99 should normally apply to your $750 benchmark of purchased item to receive the promotional discount.
Unfortunately there is a technical error that is preventing this amount from being added to your total items purchased. Those responsible for fixing this error have been informed, and they are working diligently to correct this. However they have not provided us with an estimated time that this will be completed.
I have annotated your account that your corrected purchased amount should be $269.45, you still have $480.55 worth of purchases to go until you qualify for the free diapers. The error should be corrected before you reach this amount. If not, simply contact us again and we will make sure the diaper promotion is properly applied to your account.
I apologize for any additional inconvenience that this may cause. Thank you for your patience while we fix this problem. We look forward to seeing you again soon.
Best regards,
Robert Stacey
Amazon.com Customer Service
I apologize for any frustration that you have experienced with the seventh generation diaper promotion.
I can confirm that the DaVinci Jenny Lind Baby Crib was purchased from your registry and that the $227.99 should normally apply to your $750 benchmark of purchased item to receive the promotional discount.
Unfortunately there is a technical error that is preventing this amount from being added to your total items purchased. Those responsible for fixing this error have been informed, and they are working diligently to correct this. However they have not provided us with an estimated time that this will be completed.
I have annotated your account that your corrected purchased amount should be $269.45, you still have $480.55 worth of purchases to go until you qualify for the free diapers. The error should be corrected before you reach this amount. If not, simply contact us again and we will make sure the diaper promotion is properly applied to your account.
I apologize for any additional inconvenience that this may cause. Thank you for your patience while we fix this problem. We look forward to seeing you again soon.
Best regards,
Robert Stacey
Amazon.com Customer Service
As of now the error has not been corrected, but at least I have this email to back me up. I just can't believe the amount of time I have spent trying to get this handled. I truly feel like this hasn't been a promotion and that I have earned those diapers at this point. As of now we have $399 to go before the promotion times out at the end of the month. We will hit that, no problem, and then I fully expect to have to still fight for Lemon's diapers. We'll see how it goes.
This experience just reaffirms to me that being consumer saavy and frugal sometimes takes more work and determination. This could easily have happened with a smaller $20 item which could have easily gone unnoticed and resulted in a total loss on the promotion we thought we had fulfilled. So check your reciepts, follow up on promotions and make sure you get what is promised to you.
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