Monday, December 14, 2009

DeepDiscounts' discontinued discount

This Black Friday I bought 2 things, a DVD and a DS game. Both were bought from DeepDiscount.com.

Initially, I wanted to buy Professor Layton and Curious Village, the first game in the series, but it was listed at only a dollar below regular price. Instead, I ordered Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box at $21.74. An awesome price for a game that came out 3 months ago.

For 3 weeks, in order detail, the game was listed as backordered. On 12/8/09 I decided to ask customer service when they expect to get the game back in stock again. Next day I received an email that my ordered was canceled because the game has been "discontinued by the manufacturer". A game that came out 3 months ago, has received an 8.5 from IGN and has sold over 1.26 million units is discontinued?! Really?!


I contacted Nintendo, the manufacturer. I received a reply within 4 hours. Was pleasantly surprised at the fast reply, DeepDiscount took a lot longer, and that the reply was not some canned response from India but was from America and actually addressed my question. The reply was that the game just came out and is not discontinued. I emailed Nintendo's response to DeepDiscount and have so far didn't even receive an apology.


What I'm guessing happened is that the game was listed at the wrong price and instead of honoring the price, DeepDiscount took the game off their site and told everyone who purchased it that it was discontinued. Since DeepDiscount is ignoring me, I filed a complaint with BBB of Chicago.

DeepDiscount's original reply:
Thank you for your recent order. Unfortunately, the item(s) listed below
have been discontinued by the manufacturer and are no longer available
at this time. We apologize for your disappointment. Since this item(s) was
canceled from your order, your credit card was not charged for that item.

We encourage you to consider another item from our product selection and to
shop with us again. If you have any questions about your order, please send
an e-mail to our customer service department at: cs@deepdiscount.com or
you may call us at 1-800-264-5076.

Nintendo's reply:
In answer to your question, Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box was released August 24, 2009. As you may know, the game has not been discontinued. That said, I would recommend contacting the online store where you placed your order. Rest assured that your email will be forwarded on to the appropriate department for further review.

5 comments:

  1. It's the old Jewish joke where the second butcher says "I'd sell lamb chops for 39 cents a pound too, if I were out of them".

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  2. Except they weren't out of them. I wonder how long they gonna pretend they don't have it.

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  3. Not much. They offered to sell me old game at a discount. The discount was more than original price of new game and more than Amazon's price for old game. I told them no dice.
    After that, nothing.

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  4. They just did it to me again on a brand new book!

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