Sunday 20 November 2011

Has Amazon Made a Mistake or is it a Con?

Please Correct Me If I'm Wrong

Country Value Complete Dry Cat Food 1.25 kg (Pack of 3)

Price: £7.17 (£0.64 / kg), this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. In stock. Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk

The above most definitely says 1.25kg (Pack of 3), doesn't it?
And at £7.17 (£0.64/ kg) then there should be a total of approx 11.2kg or 3 x (3 x 1.25kg) right?

Here in Frugaldom, everything gets done on a budget - it's part of our frugal living attempts, so the way we spend our money means everything when trying to live within our means, make some savings and cut costs.

I normally buy store's own basic cat biscuits, currently costing around 99p per kilo. When checking on Amazon, I was delighted to find value cat biscuits quoted at 64p per kilo! My cat isn't fussy, she eats mice, for goodness' sake, she's hardly going to grumble at a downshift from Aldi to a value 'brand'.

I ALMOST fell for the above offer! (Or could this be a regular con, I now wonder?)

The product was in my basket and en route to the checkout before I noticed my potential mistake!

1.25kg x 3 = 3.75kg. At a total cost of £7.17, wouldn't that make the product £1.91 per kilo and NOT, as advertised, £0.64 per kilo? In order for the product to be 64p per kilo, the overall weight would need to be 11.2kg, which is almost three times the stated amount, but I can't find anywhere saying that you are buying 3 x (3 x 1.25kg) and don't see anywhere to query this. Can anyone tell me exactly what I would be buying if I bought the above product?

Have I completely missed something important?

I emailed Amazon to ask, as it clearly states £0.64 per kilo on the Amazon.co.uk listing and soon received this response:


Hello xxxx,

Thank you for contacting Amazon.co.uk with your enquiry.
I understand that you would like to know how many pack you would receive on purchasing "Country Value Complete Dry Cat Food".

After looking into your enquiry I found that you will receiving 3 X 1.25 kg only and not 3 X (3 X 1.25 kg).

If you have any other questions please contact us using the link below. (link removed)

Thank you for your interest in Amazon.co.uk
Did I solve your problem?

As you can guess, this did NOT solve my problem - my problem is that the details on their website is clearly WRONG! So back I go again, to repeat what I have already explained quite clearly to them the first time and await a satisfactory response! The following has been sent:

***

Further to your response... no, your answer did not solve my problem. I have included your response at the end of this email.

My problem is, I want to buy value cat food at £0.64p per kg, as described on your website at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Country-Value-Complete-Food-1-25/dp/B004H1LYEY/ but either the item description or pricing is WRONG!

If I order this product, it is going to cost me £1.91 per kilo, which is NOT value. Once again, I ask you to confirm the number of packs and this time the total weight of the product as sold, as the description clearly states £0.64p per kilo, which means there must be 3 x (3 x 1.25kg)

***

Once again, I await their response and can only hope that they have, indeed, made a mistake and that there isn't an underlying trend of misselling such products on what I had come to rely on as a reputable, reliable, trustworthy company!

Edited in: It's now 6th December. Cat food was duly delivered (and grossly overcharged) and a apology with refund of £4.50 given. That's fine for me, but I just checked their website and see that they have left the mistake on there. I wonder how many people will notice it. I feel a 'customer review' coming on...

NYK Media
www.scottishmultimedia.co.uk

6 comments:

  1. Its definitely a mistake as the shipping weight correlates to it only being 3 bags at 1.25kg:


    Product details

    Item Weight: 3.8 Kg
    Boxed-product Weight: 4 Kg

    Shame !

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, that's exactly what I thought.

    I have now found the link to asking questions and sent off my query in the hope that the item description has been really badly worded. With luck, it should mean you're getting 3 x (3 x 1.25g) if you order, with the total weight being closer to 12kg.

    Here's hoping it's bad wording and not a mistake that others have already fallen for in the past.

    ReplyDelete
  3. After reading your post and following the link, I find I'm getting emails from Amazon recommending their best selling cat food. I don't even have a cat! It's scary how these companies can monitor what you do.

    Any updates by the way?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Sharon, I emailed Amazon 'help' again and was told they would have to get someone to do a manual check of their inventory to detrming quantities. In the meantime, I placed an order on the codition that the cat food costs 64p per kilo. They've said to let them know what arrives and I'd be recompensed for any over-charge to ensure I paid the per kilo price stated on the site. Now awaiting arrival of said cat food.

    On the details and information capture subject, I have posted an old article I worked on a couple of years ago that might interest you. It can be found at http://theparanoidtimes.blogspot.com

    Thre's another still to post, but I still need to transfer it from my 1999 postings. LOL
    HOW OLD AM I?!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Order arrived and as expected, only 3 bags @ 1.25kg. Another email to Amazon and they're now refunding the overcharge direct to my card... but I paid using a voucher! Their latest email states,
    "Despite our best efforts, due to the extensive nature of our catalogue, pricing errors can occasionally occur. We endeavour to provide our customers with the best possible customer experience and we realise that on this occasion, as a result of a pricing error, we have not met that standard."

    Apology, promise of a refund but still no change to the description on their website!

    ReplyDelete
  6. "Once again, I await their response"

    Yeah, they don't come back so quick sometimes do they.
    I bought a couple of Hollands steak & kidney puddings, only to find they're 90% air inside, with a smidgin of gravy at the botton, no steak and no kidney.
    Since this is a well-known quality brand, I e-mailed them on their customer discussion forum, asking how I selected their pies to ensure there was some filling?
    No reply for 2 weeks, so I e-mailed again.
    Still no reply, that was 6 months ago.
    Needless to say, I haven't bought any of their prodfucts since.

    ReplyDelete

Many thanks for taking the time to comment. All comments are moderated to help prevent system abuse by spammers, time-wasters and chancers, so your comment will not appear until it has been manually accepted for publishing. This will be done as soon as possible - I check for updates regularly. We are on GMT - London times.