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QUESTION:
Dear Mr. Ross,
I have a question regarding a free shipping promotion. Can a claim of free shipping be amended after the fact to require an additional payment before the goods purchased will be released to the buyer?
On August 13th I placed order #15538 with Akadot.com located in California. (This company is a specialty retail company for Japanese and translated merchandise, but it is owned by American publishing house Digital Manga, Inc. (DMI) which is also based in California. In other words, this is not some guy in his basement selling things online.) According to the website, orders of at least $100 will receive free shipping in the US. My order totaled just over $100 and I chose the free shipping option upon checkout. I live in Washington state and ordered only domestic English language products.
Later that day I received an email stating that the free promotion only covers the first $15 worth of shipping costs, and that to receive my merchandise I must pay an additional overage. The email also gave the vague impression that my order had been broken up, and more than one additional shipping payment might be required to receive all of my merchandise. I should mention that the FAQ indicates a cancellation charge of 5% will be collected on any amount credited back to a customer.
The free shipping promotion is mentioned in only two places on the website (excerpted below message) and there isn't any mention of any restrictions on the free shipping promo even during the checkout process. There is only a radio button to select the free shipping option.
I feel that it is unreasonable for the retailer to ask for additional shipping charges because there was no special disclosure for that on the website. I made my purchase in good faith that the retailer would ship for free as stated on the website. It is my understanding that requiring additional monies after the purchase has been made, under penalty of the withholding of that purchase, is false and misleading.
Please tell me whether or not I am required to make these payments in order to receive my order.
For your reference I am providing a copy of the email I received at the end of this message.
Thank you for your time and assistance.
Sincerely,
Andrea
hostage_cat@hotmail.com
ANSWER:
You know, its an interesting question, and the answer will be even more interesting... simply put, there is a mistake in the advertisement and no body realized it. The way you read the advertisement is correct - and its their fault that they didn’t spell out the specifics of their offer. Between you and me and the thousands who will read this over time, to overcome what they said, they simply needed to add language that said something like: this applies to the first $15 of postage, and things would have been clear and understandable.
Even so, that is no excuse for the company to not honor their ad. The two best reasons are:
- You are a customer, and they have a ‘live sale’- and in this day and age, they need your money more than you need them.
- You are a customer, and they have potential sales in you today and tomorrow, especially if they treat you right.
Personally, I do believe they treated you right, but acted wrong and thus came up with the wrong solution - what they should have done is this: they should have said - we will waive the extra fee this time, but next time this is the way it is. Additionally, they should change the ad and post a clarification on their website.
And that is where the problem lay’s... specifically the person you probably spoke to is just someone who answers the phone as opposed to a policy maker. My suggestion is that you pick up the phone and call their corporate offices and tell them of your experience. I’m sure that once they hear your story, they will do the right thing, because you are the customer and they are in business because of you.
And if the don’t - well, simply spend your money someplace else!
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