Stop rubbing it in!
Friday, October 30th, 2009 11:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
caddymanI have come to the conclusion that whoever designed the Amazon website and email reminder service is a sadist.
I fully understand that as a business they need to keep themselves in your consciousness and therefore advertise their services. I don’t mind that; it’s all part of modern life. I don’t have to read their emailed adverts if I don’t want to. Of course, I do at least glance at them. Sometimes they do point out something going cheap that I would like to buy, or a new book or DVD that I might otherwise have missed.
Where it all falls down though, are those times, usually a couple of months after you have bought something that their recommendations ’service’ wades in with a ‘purchasing opportunity’. It can be frustrating enough when you go looking for recommendations on the site, but when they send them to you in an email, it is pretty much taking the piss.
About three months ago, I saw the Supernatural seasons 1-3 box set on Amazon going quite cheap. So I bought it. A little later, I placed a pre-order for the season 4 box as it was also reasonably priced. That of course is still a few weeks away from release. Now I am being taunted by Amazon’s automated recommendations:
What the buggers are effectively saying is that now they have soaked me of some cash, I could get the same things in a more compact set for slightly less than I paid. No doubt in twelve months I shall get a similar note crowing about the deal when season 5 becomes available.
Now we all know that stuff gets repackaged and reissued at discount prices – that’s how I got seasons 1-3 - but we don’t like having our noses rubbed in it when a cheaper option comes out for something they already sold us!
Sadists, I say. Sadists.
I fully understand that as a business they need to keep themselves in your consciousness and therefore advertise their services. I don’t mind that; it’s all part of modern life. I don’t have to read their emailed adverts if I don’t want to. Of course, I do at least glance at them. Sometimes they do point out something going cheap that I would like to buy, or a new book or DVD that I might otherwise have missed.
Where it all falls down though, are those times, usually a couple of months after you have bought something that their recommendations ’service’ wades in with a ‘purchasing opportunity’. It can be frustrating enough when you go looking for recommendations on the site, but when they send them to you in an email, it is pretty much taking the piss.
About three months ago, I saw the Supernatural seasons 1-3 box set on Amazon going quite cheap. So I bought it. A little later, I placed a pre-order for the season 4 box as it was also reasonably priced. That of course is still a few weeks away from release. Now I am being taunted by Amazon’s automated recommendations:
”Greetings from Amazon.co.uk,
As someone who has purchased or rated Supernatural - The Complete Third Season [DVD] or other titles in the TV Series > Supernatural category, you might like to know that Supernatural - Season 1-4 Complete [DVD] will be released on 2 November 2009.”
What the buggers are effectively saying is that now they have soaked me of some cash, I could get the same things in a more compact set for slightly less than I paid. No doubt in twelve months I shall get a similar note crowing about the deal when season 5 becomes available.
Now we all know that stuff gets repackaged and reissued at discount prices – that’s how I got seasons 1-3 - but we don’t like having our noses rubbed in it when a cheaper option comes out for something they already sold us!
Sadists, I say. Sadists.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-30 12:41 pm (UTC)