Anyone else scammed with the Amazon Xbox 360 Sale?

LarryTalbot · Nov 23, 2006

Amazon had the core system up for $100 for this week's sale special. The deal went out at 2:00 pm eastern time and the 1,000 units were sold out within 30 seconds. The site didn't even load for me and most people either until 2:15. Someone at a reputable site said that when they loaded the site at 1:59 pm, that the 360's were already unavailable lol. There has yet to be a person who has claimed to have won the machine.

People are calling this one of the worst scams by an online company. Nicely done on Thanksgiving Amazon. :finger:

Labeeb · Nov 23, 2006

How is it a scam? Who are the "people" calling it one of the worst scams by an online company?

It's just like a ticket going on sale. It gets hammered and most are shut out.

LarryTalbot · Nov 23, 2006

just look at the public response at the company's site. It was impossible to get one when the results of pinging the site yielded results of it being down.

And the nail in the coffin, the units being "unavailable" one minute before the official launch.

Maniac · Nov 23, 2006

If they were unavailable at 1.59pm, would that not mean that they would have gone live at 2pm sharp and would have been available from then? (Had the site not gone down of course!)

No idea as I never saw this deal at all...

LarryTalbot · Nov 23, 2006

at the site, you had to go through this confirmation link answering a random question to get the coupon code. Before this link came up at 1:59 pm, it was already saying that the units were unavailable. 2 minutes later, this text was converted into sold out.

Labeeb · Nov 23, 2006

People will cry when they don't get something like this. Happens all the time. I don't understand what the big deal is or how they "scammed" anyone. Knowing the the supply was only going to be 1000, you knew it would go quick and would be getting hammered leading up to and during the sale.

Like I said, it's just like a ticket sale. Life goes on.

Chairman · Nov 23, 2006

I wouldn't blame them because there's no such thing as not for profit company.

peteep · Nov 23, 2006

Not a scam.....decent marketing ploy though.

ivyconniver · Nov 26, 2006

They handled this very poorly. What could have been a great promotional traffic tool has left many people pissed off instaid. The smart thing to do would have been to make this a raffle, where say anybody could sign up on Thanksgiving, and the 1000 winners were emailed at 8pm.

If you want a real deal on an xbox 360, go to a Microcenter store, get the $100 rebate and another $100 cash bonus for signing up for their credit card. You'll be out the door with a premium for about $250 after all is said and done. This deal is in the store only though, not online. Check the website to see if there's one in your area.

Omni · Nov 26, 2006

Having worked retail at these sales, I can say that companies spend all year manuvering deals on items just for the sale at X-mas, that's why there are always so few available at the good price. The store I was at wasn't even very good, and all our best sale stuff was gone 1 minute after the store opened!

Hard to see what Amazon would get out of this deal being phoney though. They are an online store, you get what you want and if you don't you just click the page off. It's not like a regular store where at least they have "bait and switched" you into coming into the physical store itself and you might buy something else there.