11 December 2008

Shopping

So I finally do some Christmas shopping. Being a very clever girl, I do the shopping for all of my family in Oregon on Amazon.com. I'm an Amazon Prime member so I get free 2-day shipping, and I figured I'd just have everything sent to my mom's house and wrap it when we arrived.

Great plan, right? Yes, indeed!

Until I forgot to change the shipping address. Damn you, one click ordering! 

All of the stuff arrived at my house yesterday. Granted, I'll just put a new label on the box and send it to my mom's house; there's still plenty of time. And since the first round of shipping was free*, I'm only paying once for that.

But still. It's both irritating and vaguely amusing. The best-laid plans . . .

*It's more like "free" given that I accidentally** paid $79 for a year's membership to the Prime.
**Yeah, that's a story in and of itself; I was placing a rather large order on Amazon one day, decided to get the one-month free trial of Prime so that I could get the stuff in two days, and fully intended to cancel the membership as soon as my goods arrived. Ha! It all worked just as Amazon wants it to. I completely forgot to cancel the membership, not thinking about it until over a month later when it was too late to back out. Now I continue to fuel Amazon's fire by doing as much shopping there as possible to make up for having spent that $79.

17 comments:

Rev Dr Mom said...

I really *hate* free things that you actually pay for--Amazon Prime and Barnes and Noble memberships come to mind especially. I'd rather pay for the shipping--that's just how stubborn I am, although I doubt I'd spend $79 on shipping during a year at Amazon.

OTOH, I love Zappos.com which gives me TRULY free shipping, and usually over night, often less than 24 hours (seriously, I ordered a pair of shoes Monday night about 10 pm and they were delivered to my house at 4 pm the next afternoon).

And yes, shipping gifts is one of the pains of traveling for Christmas!

Shannon said...

Ahhh those sneaky bastards. I did the same thing, and had to set a gmail alert to remember to cancel it. Hadn't thought about the fact that they get you to buy more from them once you've paid for it. Stupid Amazon. Too bad I'm guaranteed to buy like 50% of my presents on there :-/.

Didn't comment on the last post, but it really made me think about how I've approached friends dealing with grief. Thank you for sharing your experience so openly. You probably can't imagine the ripple effect both for those trying to help grieving friends/loved ones and those grieving themselves.

BTW - I felt the same way about Once. I thought it would be a sweet little movie, but something about it was just so much more wonderful than I expected...

Susan said...

I HATE the one-click ordering. I have hit that button still thinking if I really wanted to order. UGH!!! Other than that, Amazon is wonderful.

I'm trying to rent ONCE this weekend.

Also on your last post I shared with a friend who has lost her entire family within 10 years. Mom, Dad and sister. Holidays are very hard on her. Thanks for the honesty in all of your sharing.

Anonymous said...

Ouch that hurts! Poor you! That totally is a bummer!

Anonymous said...

I remember seeing Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova perform Falling Slowly on the Oscars and thought that I should own the movie.
I just ordered it from Amazon for my daughter's stocking. I know she'll share. :)

Suzi said...

Ugh, I hate when I get too click happy and don't double check my order. :(

THanks for the reminder to add "Once" to my queue--I remember seeing the Oscar performance and loving it too. have a great day!

Adam said...

You should use an Amazon ad/link in the sidebar for easy access to all readers who should go buy the "Once" soundtrack and/or dvd. Maybe you could generate enough revenue to make up for the Prime blunder, or at least enough for the extra shipping to Portland. It seems to me that Amazon is making money from you in multiple ways. (But geez, how could you not like a company that will ship you any book you want in two days with the single click of a button!?)

Anonymous said...

Those are both things I would totally do- ship to the wrong address and forget to cancel a free trial. Which reminds me...

(will second the endorsement of Zappos. Lurve them.)

Anonymous said...

I JUUUST took advantage of Amazon Prime last night.
haha, the irony

By the way, I'm a college student at UVa and I've been reading your blog since my senior year of high school.
Your kids are beautiful!

Nancy said...

HAH! I did the exact opposite. I ordered from a place I had ordered before, fully intending for the items to come to my house ... but they're all happily on their way to my Dad's. Luckily, we'll be there for Christmas...unluckily, I had them shipped here because one item in the box is supposed to be shipped out to my brother. Ah well. :)

ohhh...and I got in *just* under the wire with Amazon prime...remembered the DAY before it reset...

grekrs said...

Ba-ha-ha-ha-ha! I did the exact same thing last year, right down to the forgetting to cancel the prime membership and doing the one click check out and having my kids toys sent to our old house hours away. Thank goodness the new owners were honest, but I have to drive all the way over there and get it. So much for free. Now I refuse to shop amazon out of my own made-up principle (it makes me feel better) and I get all my books, CDs, etc on ebay. Cheaper anyway.

You made me feel so much better.

Julia said...

Oh, but this is extremely annoying. Good thing there's still time, but maaan post office this time of year can be brutal.

OTRgirl said...

It was such a GREAT plan...

Anonymous said...

Thanks for reminding me, I'll have to go cancel Amazon Prime now!

CP said...

I was told by Amazon that the only address they will ship to on the Prime account is the home address of the account holder. But that was when they first came out with the Prime accounts. Is it still true?

(I signed up for the free trial as well and also forgot to cancel. 2 years later, Amazon continues to forget to charge me. Shhhh)

JK said...

I did the accidental join Amazon Prime thing too. Apparently, their scheme works.... I started in 2005 and now I'm spoiled by quick shipping and keep paying.

t + j said...

oh, i'm right there with you girl. i had the same logic with that damn "prime" scam, and of course forgot to cancel it in time. never, never again. so now i'm ordering random things, one at a time, just so i feel like i'm getting my money's worth. which makes me think, can you order groceries on amazon?!