The Energon Pub

Guys,

This week, I bought some Transformers Generation figures on Amazon.com. Specifically Springer, Bumblebee, Orion Pax, and the Ratbat data disc set. Oh yeah, I also bought some Kre-o microchangers.

Well, the prices on all dropped a couple dollars after I bought them. No! I should have waited, I thought!

Then I remembered something a friend told me a while back about price guarantees on Amazon. The thing is, when I looked it up, it appeared their generous policy to offer 30-day price guarantees was discontinued in 2008.

But then I found this:
http://www.groovypost.com/howto/request-amazon-price-change-refund/

It says as of early 2013, so long as your order was within the past 7 days before the price drop, they will honor the lower price.

But is it really true?

I decided to test it out. I went to the Help page, clicked Contact Us, and wrote a simple email listing the items I bought, how many, and at what price, plus the URL to the item listings for reference. Then I said the prices had dropped a couple days after my order, noted the total difference for each, and the total amount I would have saved at the lower prices. And then I said "I understand Amazon stands by its prices for 7 days. I would appreciate a refund" and mentioned the amount I wanted them to refund.

I was completely blown away when about an hour later, they responded and honored the new prices. A couple hours later, I got the emails confirming they made the refunds. All in all, I saved $17.48 just by asking.

All I can say is, wow. I have had a couple experiences in the past where they sent me a defective item or something that was inaccurately described, and when I asked to return them, they just let me keep them. But I always thought when it came to pricing, you were stuck with whatever you ordered at, unless you wanted to do a return and pay return shipping.

Of course, from what I've read, your mileage may vary. It all depends on the rep who answers your email, and may depend on the item in question--businesses are more inclined to do stuff like this on low-priced items than high-priced items.

Also, as another tip, a friend of mine a couple years ago had a similar experience with Target. Shortly after she bought a Transformer for her son, it went on sale at maybe 20% to 50% lower. She went back and asked for a refund, and they said as long as it's within 2 weeks they'd honor the lower sale price.

So Amazon is not unique in this respect--bottom line is retailers want to keep their customers happy so they keep buying. There are limits, but they'll make reasonable efforts to keep a reliable, polite customer coming back.