Let's see - was that technical glitch
a) "employee enters too many in the quantity box accidentally"
b) "employee enters too many in the quantity box, as directed by their supervisors"
or c) legitimate coding error.

My Bet's on B, with a side of "bait and switch"

I work for an online retailer. At my company, we call them "Inventory Problems" and we contact the customer to let them know in advance and then put the item on backorder for them with free shipping, however if backorder is unavailable, we give them a refund.

It happens more often with really popular items, where we get a ton of orders happening all at once on the website.

I'm not even sure what happened in this instance because the author of the article writes like a douche.

So, which major retailer will bite the dust after this year's Christmas?

Best Buy was one of my choices...

But my Zhu Zhu is had been ordered!

Glad people that are close to me are adults that agree not to get presents for each other. Just get together and have a nice meal without these kind of headaches.

How come this wasn't in The Consumerist?

OK...so they had a glitch in the system that may or may not have been caused by human error, and they've canceled the orders and contacted the affected customers. Wow, absolutely shocking and appalling.

Isn't there a pickpocketing Santa this guy could find to write about? This story has all the suspense of waiting in line at Fry's.

stinieroo: I work for an online retailer. At my company, we call them "Inventory Problems" and we contact the customer to let them know in advance and then put the item on backorder for them with free shipping, however if backorder is unavailable, we give them a refund

Yeah but Best Buy's not an online retailer. They're actually a widespread collective of douchebags.

I was looking at a laptop on Tigerdirect yesterday and the last review on it said customer service talked them into that model without telling them it was on backorder. If that's true I can't say but I know I didn't risk it.

Shenanigans!: OK...so they had a glitch in the system that may or may not have been caused by human error, and they've canceled the orders and contacted the affected customers. Wow, absolutely shocking and appalling.

Isn't there a pickpocketing Santa this guy could find to write about? This story has all the suspense of waiting in line at Fry's.

But they didn't contact the affected customers, clearly. And the "we will handle it on a case by case basis" screams "we are going to keep you on the phone and make this such an annoying process that you just say fark it."

Shenanigans!: OK...so they had a glitch in the system that may or may not have been caused by human error, and they've canceled the orders and contacted the affected customers. Wow, absolutely shocking and appalling.

Isn't there a pickpocketing Santa this guy could find to write about? This story has all the suspense of waiting in line at Fry's.

Uh according to the article and comments, they have sent out monitors, software and printers to various customers and expect the customers to send them back at the customer's expense or be charged full retail price for them?

The cancellation is not a problem. If they immediately refunded the money, that would also not be a problem. Expecting the customers to go through hours of phone tag and runaround, and to pay shipping to fix that mistake, that is a problem.

/Refuses to shop at Best Buy - for anything.

Evil Canadian: Uh according to the article and comments, they have sent out monitors, software and printers to various customers and expect the customers to send them back at the customer's expense or be charged full retail price for them?

The cancellation is not a problem. If they immediately refunded the money, that would also not be a problem. Expecting the customers to go through hours of phone tag and runaround, and to pay shipping to fix that mistake, that is a problem.

/Refuses to shop at Best Buy - for anything.

Where in the article does it say Best Buy is charging customers shipping to return their incomplete orders? That detail must have been buried in all the boring.

Don't get me wrong, Best Buy sucks, and I'm certainly not defending them. I just was expecting more drama and human tragedy in an article like this. The writer failed to move me.

I've seen banned products still "sold" online, with the idea being you'll be the first to get it when the product is available again.

Soooooooo...what if it's never available again?

/ gimme yo money, sucka

i ALMOST read the article, then i saw who wrote it and just passed

Wait!? People still buy from Worst Buy.

I bought a dishwasher from Best Buy last week online. It was a good deal so I decided to get it. They were supposed to deliver it today but shockingly it didn't make it to their warehouse yesterday and will have to wait a week. Luckily I know this company sucks and am not in a hurry for it.

I've made exactly one purchase at Best Buy in the last 4 years. It was a clearance item that was well below retail. If I'm going to pay retail for something, I can go anywhere. Best Buy sucks too much for me to choose them.

BB is just a place you can go to see the products you are going to order online from another company for less money and better service.

So what do yinz expect when you shop at a store that stations a bouncer at the front door?

I worked for an online retailer (musical instruments) that made it policy to take orders no matter what. Even if it was unknown if the product could be acquired. I saw birthdays and christmases ruined because of this policy. That was one of the many reasons I quit that job. I only stayed as long as I did because I had a family to feed, but I felt dirty just showing up each day.

What a god awful article.

Dear Author,

Quit.

Signed,
Everyone

Link (new window) pulled this kinda crap on me about a month ago. That's the last time I'll trade there.

They're local and usually reasonably-priced, so I use them when I need my stuff the next day. (And it saves the postage.) So I order almost $500 worth of components to rebuild the wife's computer for her birthday a week later....

Anyway, TL;DR: they failed on several levels. Ordering, customer service, tracking inventory/order...you name it, they screwed it up. Found out yesterday that the bud who put me on to this company a few years ago has also experienced their epic failure. (Unfortunately for him, he's a corporate IT guy who's now shy three servers and various parts to repair others...and therefore concerned for his livelihood.)

Back to Newegg and USPS, I guess. Worse things have happened.

It's just a shame when good (small) companies go so bad. Maybe FOX can put together a compendium of geek angst clips for a special to be aired up against "Biggest Loser" or something.

Well, apparently I am the big loser...at linking.

(Where's the ironic tag when ya need it?)

Is this the thread where I can complain about my lack of free Guinness towel?

Standard Operating Procedure.

This is VERY common around the holiday season with the big box stores in general.

Advertise AMAZING deals on high ticket items then only stocking 2-3 per store.

Advertising similar or same deals online and allowing over ordering in the hopes that at least a few people won't want to jump through the hoops to get their money back.

It's all about taking advantage of people trying to get a deal.

If it's too good to be true..

Whoever wrote that needs an editor-or a different profession.