Amazon doesn’t offer price matching or an adjustment if the item goes on sale shortly after a purchase. The response is always to return and repurchase the item. I sometimes do it and sometimes don’t, depending on the amount. Often I don’t check back on the price of something, so I don’t even know. How often do you do this? Is there an amount that will make it worthwhile?
I bought a few items last week. The dash cam dropped by $20 or $30 before it even shipped, so I was able to cancel it and do a new purchase without an issue. But today I see a few items have dropped $3-6 each. I could return them at the same time and save about $30. Worth it? I’m not sure. The UPS store is only a couple miles, but there is often a line. And I have to remember to actually do it, which sometimes is the problem, haha.
Curious what others do. How often do you do this? Is there an amount that will make it worthwhile? Do you even go back and check the prices?
I’ve never even thought to do this. Maybe I will from now on, but it seems a hassle to go back and check, and it would have to be a significant savings, say over $20.
I have sometimes in the past been able to get a giftcard credit for the price difference. But haven’t tried in a long time so maybe that is no longer an option?
Try calling and actually talking to an Amazon customer service person. Tell them your plans to return several items for this reason and see if they will compensate you instead.
I also don’t look or return unless the item was not what I wanted when I receive it. I think I would try myself batty trying to keep track of up and down prices. Returning things at like Kohl’s or UPS is my nightmare…
One thing I do do is keep wish lists…then I can scan the wishlist and see if prices have dropped on an item or if it’s a Prime Deal that day - that type of thing.
A year and a half ago I had an ongoing issue with Amazon. I ordered a mattress cover (on sale for like $20) and what was delivered was a heavy wooden spice rack!! I called and spoke to an agent. They first wanted me to bring it to a UPS place (I asked them to pick it up and at first they said no) but I then let them know I had (at that time) a broken pelvis and couldn’t carry the box anywhere. He said don’t worry about it just keep it and give it away. And they sent me the item I had ordered. They had initially issued a return label to me during the conversation, but he told me to ignore it. Fast forward a few months and I get an email “reminder” that I hadn’t returned the wrong item. But by then I was in PT and gave the spice rack away to the receptionist there (per amazon’s recommendation). SO amazon says ok, ignore the return request. They claimed each time that they had cancelled the return request. Fast forward another month or so and my credit card gets charged like $60+ for the full price of the mattress cover! Needless to say I called again and after getting transferred several times, I finally got someone to agree to credit my credit card. It was a real hassle.
Not that hard to get to one. Just keep pressing “something else” on the prompts and it finally gets to a page where you can choose to chat online with a rep or have them call you.
We love shopping on amazon because we really hate shopping in person and we are very happy with their easy returns. As with everything you have to understand how system works. For example sometimes you can see that refund they issued was retracted 30 days later. That’s because warehouse workers did mark return properly. Quick chat with rep and it gets fixed. They have 39 days return policy. But if you chat with rep you can stretch it to another month.
I did that with the item i returned. Chat said it was returned and all was fine. I was still charged. Since it was $15, I felt like it wasn’t worth my time and I chalked it up to a learning experience
I always start with the Virtual Assistant through Chat. I can usually have my issue taken care of by it, from replacements to refunds. On the rare occasion the Virtual Assistant can’t fix the issue, it connects me to a human through Chat.
I had a return in August that they said I sent the wrong thing. I did the chat and asked what they think I sent. I never found out, but she said they marked it as arrived. I then got another reminder to return the right one and did a 2nd chat. Same response. Then I got charged. I did a third chat and was told it was returned correctly already. Very odd. But I did get a credit.
I put some of the more expensive purchases back into my cart and hit “save for later” and then when I go to the cart, it tells me if a price changed. I don’t always do this, but for a $150 item, if it drops $30, I’d do a return for sure.
I will usually check camelcamelcamel.com to see the pricing trends before purchasing. If I am buying at a low, I don’t usually check back to see if it dropped further.
I’ve had similar problems with Amazon when I’ve returned something that was either not as described or defective and they later claimed they didn’t get it. I followed the tracking details of the returned and read them to the Amazon CSR, who acknowledged she could see the same and admitted they have trouble with returns not always being scanned in at the warehouse. Often, I do as others mentioned and put something in my cart, move it to save for later and then check back every few days.
I’ve only returned to Amazon for a price change once and it was a significant amount. However, thanks to this thread I took a look at Target’s policies. They do price matching for 14 days during most of the year. Currently, for any purchases made on or after November 7 Target will price match through December 24 (or possibly 31 - will need to verify.) I bought some children’s clothes on 11/7, so I just called. A five minute conversation with a pleasant CSR resulted in a nearly $30 refund.
If I have an issue I call the 800 number. But it’s usually not in the US. I just did this to fix a problem they were charging me for something through Amazon prime that I never signed up for. Some special monthly movie thing. I got transferred to someone in Canada (I am in the states) and he sent me a link to my phone for verification. Got the problem fixed (I have a pin now to order anything in prime video) but when I went back to my Amazon account it was switched to Canada. So I looked up and switched it back to the US. FYI
Duh on me. It has never occurred to me to keep checking back for price drops. Did someone say we have 34 days for returns? So I guess I should check for that long?