Blue Nile pricing error!!!!

[Antignos]

Maybe I am and maybe I'm not, but I am enjoying the wide range of opinions. I was discussing it at dinner tonight and one of the people at the table jumped in and explained he was in reservations at a very large local casino. Someone had mispriced the rooms on the web for a weekend. The net said 19.00 and the rate was really 199.00. Same sorta of error. he said over 200 rooms were book before the mistake was noticed. They honored every single room and never said a word! Also found this website! This is of great interest! Buy.com was held liable for the price they advertised not only to the people that ordered the "instock" item, but to every single person who wanted one!

Copy and past this link hopefully it will work!

http://www.haledorr.com/practices/pubs_detail.aspx?areaName=Internet+and+E-Commerce&areaID=323868405&detail_id=327132005

 

[Antignos]

Hey has no one ever got a GREAT deal? Is everyone in the room an angel? Do you all run into car dealer and pay top price? For all some of know Blue Nile was still making a profit! I don't wholesale diamonds so I have no clue, but serious? Blue Nile's Money? Please

 

[Antignos]

If anyone searches the net they will find several cases where large companies like Amazon.com mispriced a product, but still honored it even thought they lost hundreds of thousands of dollars! I saw Kodak, buy.com amazon.com etc

 

[Mara]

I don't know that the original poster intentionally set out to 'fleece' BN. It sounds as though the price was good and he was buying two diamonds and that helped him make the decision on one of them being that particular one. He said he bought it, because it was low priced.




Here's a Q that is somewhat related to this thread, but not specific to this topic. In the world of diamonds, do we all entirely understand how they are priced so that we can know when something is a mistake vs a lower priced stone? Fluor makes things lower, but I don't think it should. If I see something that looks good, I'm going to wonder if its the cut that is lacking, or is it fluor or is it a whim of a grader? There are so many nuances in diamond grading, how is the newbie customer to know a mistake from a good price?




Back to the topic, I was in marketing before now being in sales and I thought someone's example of one person telling 3 people about their experience was interesting. If someone said..wow I got this diamond at $3k less because it was a mistake and the company actually honored it....I know many people would at least go check out that store or site just to see if there are any other 'mistakes' occurring. What an excellent marketing tactic! If I were BN I would have honored the price just so that this customer's story could jump site visits on the odds that something like that would happen again.




IMO, you can tell who owns a business here and who on a daily basis deals with policies and disclaimers and excuses. Bottom line for me is that if you make a mistake you should be willing to suck it up and honor what you promised. I do this in my line of work and I can only slap myself around if I make that mistake, not my customer. In the end sometimes they get a great deal or a 'steal' and I have to make sure I don't make that mistake again. Take a look at my tagline...sometimes it IS painful.

 

[windowshopper]

I AGREE COMPLETELY WITH MARA. AND PAUL'S POINT ABOUT WOULD THEY HAVE LOWERED THE PRICE IF IT HAD BEEN MISPRICED TOO HIGH IS ABSOLUTELY VALID. I THINK BLUE NILE WAS FOOLISH--IT WAS THEIR MISTAKE AND THEY SHOULD HAVE HONORED IT. THE STORY ABOUT THE BET $100 TO MILLION IS A BIT OF A SILLY SPREAD EXAMPLE WISE. IF BLUE NILE HAD MISPRICED THE STONE BY 30,000 THAT WOULD BE SOMETHING ELSE. 3000 IS EASILY A DIFFERENCE YOU CAN SEE FROM ONE DEALER TO THE NEXT.... AND PAUL WAS JUST BUYING SOMETHING HE THOUGHT LOOKED LIKE A GOOD DEAL!

 

[fire&ice]

----------------
On 10/21/2004 10:36:52 PM phoenixgirl wrote:

Give you a break? You're the one who had no qualms about pocketing $3000 of Blue Nile's money, and you're complaining about not being bent over backwards for? Give us a break!----------------

You know what? He just doesn't get it. It isn't about what BN should have done. It's about what *he* intentionally (yes, Mara, intentionally)did. Yes, this goes to issue of character.

There are those that will & there are those that won't. I'm in the band of those that won't. I sure hope to God & the future of our society that most people are in my camp.

I'm done with this. It makes me feel dirty that there are people like that in the world.

Yeah, the Vegas hotel thing is a joke. They don't care if they make any money off of the hotel. And the price of something at a yard sale is the price of something. If someone had a $1.00 on something & they meant 100.00, I certainly wouldn't hold them to the price, argue about it then whine about it in a public forum.

 

[fire&ice]

----------------
On 10/22/2004 9:01:26 AM windowshopper wrote:

AND PAUL WAS JUST BUYING SOMETHING HE THOUGHT LOOKED LIKE A GOOD DEAL! ----------------

Oh Please, and please stop yelling with your caps. But, your comments don't surprise me one bit.

 

[noobie]

----------------
On 10/22/2004 9:50:34 AM fire&ice wrote:





There are those that will & there are those that won't. I'm in the band of those that won't. I sure hope to God & the future of our society that most people are in my camp.

----------------

I'm surprised that this has gone on as long as it has. It comes down to believing what is fair and reasonable. I guess some feel it is OK and their right to take advantage of other's honest mistakes for personal gain. I sure hope that there are more that won't as well.

 

[fire&ice]

----------------
On 10/22/2004 10:43:00 AM noobie wrote:

----------------
On 10/22/2004 9:50:34 AM fire&ice wrote:



There are those that will & there are those that won't. I'm in the band of those that won't. I sure hope to God & the future of our society that most people are in my camp.

----------------

I'm surprised that this has gone on as long as it has. It comes down to believing what is fair and reasonable. I guess some feel it is OK and their right to take advantage of other's honest mistakes for personal gain. I sure hope that there are more that won't as well.
----------------

That's just it. It has gone on this long because I can't fathom someone taking advantage of the situation & *then* whining about it (and even has no problem with it). It's so far outside of my understanding that I'm amazed.

 

[Antignos]

If for some reason BN decides to give in I will donate the difference to charity!

 

[Antignos]

Steve-

the diamond was a 1.7 carrot diamond H color and VS1 clarity I believe. I'm at work and don't have the info, but thats close. It was priced at roughly 6,500 dollars. The difference in price also has nothing to do with it. A contract was entered into me giving them my credit card and the right to charge it is consideration, a recipt was sent out, etc. I'll donate the darn thing to charity if it makes everyone feel better! Bottom line is other companies have stodod by their mistake and BN should also!

 

[chrono]

Wow! In this case, I can see that obviously BN made a mistake. There is no way that a 1.7ct H VS1 will ever cost $6.5K. Personally, I would not ask BN to eat the cost difference on this one. My ethics just will not let me do it.

Edited to add: I believe a 1.7ct H VS1 should cost at least $12K. That is double the amount!

 

[yowahking]

I think mistakes are relevant to scale. An employee of mine got in a hurry and tagged a wedding band at our cost. It was in the case for weeks till someone noticed the smoking deal and bought it. When the ticket was written up, I noticed it and told the customer that it was mismarked and the correct price was $$$ just so they knew in case they sent someone in for the same ring. They offered to pay difference, I said no and gained a long term customer.
Another customer looked at an award winning pendant which had a separate tag for chan and pendant. Somehow the tag of $3700 had fallen off, and the $170 chain tag was remaining. The customer insisted that we sell the whole thing for $170. I said no and lost a customer, which I am happy to be rid of. 99% of our customers are great. A few I would like to sick on someone else.

 

[Mara]

Actually, I view the bad customer service and the fact that BN won't sell the diamond as two separate discussions.

Overall there is no reason for a customer service person to be rude. There are far too many people like that out there who don't appreciate their jobs, I speak to so many rude CS people or people who sound either old or tired or just plain bored that sometimes I wonder why they even bother to be in that business at all. It's hard work with the public but if you are going to do it, at least smile.

On the pricing issue, personally I don't 'require' a company to honor a pricing mistake, however it would be nice if more businesses would step up to the plate and admit to a mistake and try to rectify the situation with a compromise, rather than being rude to a customer for daring to notice their mistake, and pointing blindly to their pricing policy and disclaimers.

I think that everyone is being VERY judgemental of this poster. No one is without blame in life regardless of how saintly you view yourself...and people view things differently. It means no one is wrong, and different perspectives are what makes the world go round.

Lastly, this thread has prompted a question which I think is intriguing. I see people noting something along the lines of 'well if the pricing discrepancy is $30 instead of $3000, then it should be/could be/may be honored'. Why does it matter if it's $30 or $3000? If someone considers it wrong then it should be wrong regardless of the amount. Just as if someone considers it right to honor, it should be right, regardless. Right?

 

[Hest88]

You know, my position on this issue revolves around my puzzlement of the whole back and forth about what is "moral" and what is "ethical." I'm actually embroiled in a very different, but similar in tone discussion on another site right now about business practices. Moral, schmoral. I see this as a *business* issue--a customer service service. Will the OP go to heaven for having taken advantage of BN? Probably not. Should BN have taken steps to satisfy their its customer? Absolutely.

BN positions itself as a large, national alternative to the major B&M jewelers. If it wants to play with the big guys it has to adopt smart customer service practices. We're not talking about some poor little old man wringing his hands in his apron, tugging on the loupe around his neck, and moaning about how he and the missus won't be able to pay their mortgage if they have to eat $3K. BN should have come up with a way--be it eating the mistake, giving a discount, offering store credit, or something--to leave the customer feeling satisfied.

 

[Mara]

Fey..if I made a $3k mistake (or $7500), maybe it's fitting I'm held accountable somehow?

I guess I just don't see how BN is being held accountable for any of this. THEY made the mistake and yes people are human. But I'm from the web world and whenever we launched new items in my old companies, we had multiple people view things, we had plan. Launches took weeks to perfect and involved many late night hours proofing the site. If a mistake was caught, trust me...the CEO heard about it and then our team did.

Nowadays people just slap things up on the web and then point to their policies if they forgot a 0 or two. The web is a fast moving target to hit. Someone else noted being in a rush and mispricing something. Where is that accountability for a mistake? If the customer notices it and decides to buy it, why not honor it? It was YOUR mistake! Sure it's your perogative to honor that mistake...as it is someone else's perogative to disagree with what you choose to do.

I also think it's intriguing how no BN rep has popped in just yet..this thread has been going on for a few days and Josh or whoever used to pop in in the past has been very absent. I'd be curious to hear what BN has to say about the discussion.

 

[fire&ice]

----------------
On 10/22/2004 12:36:47 PM Mara wrote:

I think that everyone is being VERY judgemental of this poster. No one is without blame in life regardless of how saintly you view yourself...and people view things differently. It means no one is wrong, and different perspectives are what makes the world go round.

-----

Yes, we do judge people by their actions. And, this is *very* clear in my mind. He finds an honest human mistake. He tries to take advantage of said mistake. Then, not only whines about it when BN simply can't sell the stone at that price, he acuses *them* of falsely advertising?

Perpective? Nope. Pretty clear line of ethics here. And, yes, I am not without blame. But, I do think of "what is the right thing to do". I don't see clear cut mistakes as an opportunity to take advantage of someone.

As far as the customer service aspect, this is only a she said he said issue. We can not assume that BN was rude. We weren't privy to how it was handled. I can pretty much assure you that if someone tried to hold me to a price tag that erroneously was put on an item (tags are easy to loose & show up on another item), I would explain pleasantly to them about the *mistake*. If the person wouldn't back off, I would say this isn't open for negotiations & end the conversation. PERIOD.

And, Hest - it doesn't matter how much a company is worth. Sorry, I don't buy the "stick it to big business because they can absorb it" mentality.

I simply can not understand thinking this is O.K. Fey, not gray to me. It's just that when the dollars get higher, satisfying the customer's whim isn't as important.

 

[kevinng]

----------------
On 10/22/2004 12:48:52 PM Feydakin wrote:

Welcome to the world of gray..

$30 is lunch.. $3000 (in this case it may have been as much as $7500) is someone's job..

Steve
----------------

You're absolutely right. $3000 is someone's job. Someone careless should lose his job. I think this case will cost Blue Nile more than $3000 in profits.

Blue Nile's diamonds aren't exactly cheap. One would expect some level of service. Rudeness is not acceptable. Refusal to entertain any sort of discussion when there was clearly a mistake made by them... well, that's not exactly very professional. That sort of behaviour is all right if you are backlane discount store. Judging by Blue Nile's higher prices, I think they are trying to market themselves differently. Well.. I guess the extra you pay does not mean you are getting a higher level of service.

Why hasn't anyone at Blue Nile come out to speak officially? I bet someone who has responded in Blue Nile's defence is in fact from Blue Nile... But let's hear the official position.

 

[oldminer]

There are sides to this issue that we will never uncover. A firm of national size is certainly able to eat its few mistakes. A small, mom & pop size place, may not be able to do it. Being totally fair, if the small firm can refuse so can the large one.




HOWEVER, the large one might well agree to be flexible as just one small part of their overal advertising and good will budget. Imagine how much Blue Nile must be spending annually to create a certain image and how damaging this sort of thread on a busy website is to their program.




I doubt whether any court of law would seek to compel eating a mistake, but we are talking about ethics of business not legal issues. It is generally a poor business decision to chase away a customer. A very few customers deserve to be hung at dawn or chased away, but not most. Retail jewelers, B&M or Internet, should be very aware of the degree of negativity refusing to make good on a mistake can create. If they can afford to make good, they should consider doing it. Deciding to proceed or to live with the consequnces is their choice.

 

[fire&ice]

Dave, with all due respect, this wasn't a customer service issue that a product wasn't made to someone's expectation or that the diamond wasn't "eye clean". That's subjective.

This was a clear mistake that the orginal poster wanted to take advantage of. He *knew* the price was posted incorrectly.

I wouldn't be very receptive to making ammends to someone going out of their way to capitalize on a clear mistake.

I see no reason why BN has to explain themselves. I don't see them in any different light. In fact, I see it as a refusal to acknowledge someone who would take advantage of a situation. Also, even if one believes BN pricing is higher, what difference does that make?

 

[aljdewey]

----------------
On 10/22/2004 1:13:53 PM kevinng wrote:

You're absolutely right. $3000 is someone's job. Someone careless person should lose his job. ----------------

Some careless person? What? I don't know where you come from, but in the world I live in, it's HUMAN for people to make mistakes. NO ONE is exempt.

Making a mistake is indeed sometimes the result of being careless. Sometimes, it's NOT the result of being "careless"...it's just an honest mistake.
No matter HOW careful folks are, sometimes mistakes happen.

So I guess ALL of us should be unemployed if one mistake means we should lose our jobs, huh? Sheesh! It's people with this narrow mindset that were into stoning people in the dark ages too.

 

[fire&ice]

----------------
On 10/22/2004 1:25:14 PM aljdewey wrote:

----------------
On 10/22/2004 1:13:53 PM kevinng wrote:

----------------
On 10/22/2004 12:48:52 PM Feydakin wrote:

Welcome to the world of gray..

$30 is lunch.. $3000 (in this case it may have been as much as $7500) is someone's job..

Steve
----------------

You're absolutely right. $3000 is someone's job. Someone careless person should lose his job. ----------------

Some careless person? What? I don't know where you come from, but in the world I live in, it's HUMAN for people to make mistakes. NO ONE is exempt.

Making a mistake is indeed sometimes the result of being careless. Sometimes, it's NOT the result of being 'careless'...it's just an honest mistake.
No matter HOW careful folks are, sometimes mistakes happen.

Steve can talk for himself; but, I don't think he thought the person should be fired. It's just that with this much at stake, a person could be fired.

And, yeah, I agree with you. Having made mistakes I don't think I am careless - just human.

 

[Hest88]

style="padding-bottom:0;marginTop:0;marginBottom:0;">----------------
----------------

That isn't what I said, F&I. Again, I'm not looking at this as a moral issue the way you are. A large company, with it's large marketing budget, needs to accept that if it wants to promote an image of trust, it needs to build in a certain service standard. It's just good business. Their reputation lives and dies by customer service.

It used to be that we trusted our mom & pop stores because we saw Mr. Jones at church and he gave us candy whenever we came into the store and we knew that twinkle in his eye meant he's never do us wrong. Now, big companies are the ones to engender that trust. Why? Because they hired a bunch of consultants who told them that if you have a money-back guarantee, and if you bend over backwards for your customers, then you gain goodwill--and thus business word of mouth--a hundred fold. Which brings me to Mara's point:

----------------
Nowadays people just slap things up on the web and then point to their policies if they forgot a 0 or two. The web is a fast moving target to hit. Someone else noted being in a rush and mispricing something. Where is that accountability for a mistake?

----------------[/quote]


Internet jewelers (or any Internet business) will shed their shady image when they realize they have to start adopting real world business practices.

 

[fire&ice]

----------------
On 10/22/2004 1:33:41 PM Hest88 wrote:

----------------

That isn't what I said, F&I. Again, I'm not looking at this as a moral issue the way you are. A large company, with it's large marketing budget, needs to accept that if it wants to promote an image of trust, it needs to build in a certain service standard. It's just good business. Their reputation lives and dies by customer service.

----------------

O.K. Purely looking at it from BN as a business - I think they would be foolish to honor such clearly mistaken price. Sure, they should be more careful. But, it was a blatant mistake. And, a consumer who blatantly wanted to take advantage of the mistake.

I understand your point about rep. Sorry if I misinterpreted it.

 

[oldminer]

Dear Fire & Ice: Although, as I said, we don't know the many sides of this story, the poster had no way to "know" the price was incorrect. When we go out to buy something we really don't understand how would we "know" if the price was wrong. Now, we may have an inkling that the price is low or a darn great bargain, but how would we have "absolute certainty" which the "know" implies. Maybe the complainant "thought" the price was super low, but that is way different than "knowing" in my book of exacting, hair splitting definitions. On the other hand, if the item was a $3,000 item priced at $300, one could "know" with absolute certainty it was a mistake. Could we say the same if the price posted was $30,000 and should have been $33,000? I doubt any of us could "know" the price was incorrect.




I tend to side with consumers in their search for "bargains", but I expect them to be fair with sellers. We are all only human and do make mistakes. Mistakes come from all sides and in all directions. What if a $33,000 item was inadvertently priced at $36,000? Would anyone admit to it, if they had a hot customer ready to buy it? If you'd take the higher price silently, then you ought to do the same with a lower price since both are "mistakes" that are hidden.




The whole thing comes down to using reason. No one can make a firm do the right thing. No one can compel the sale of an item at an incorrect price if the mistake is caught in time. It is sad to see how inflamed people get over the fact that a sharp consumer saw an unrealistically priced mistake and sought to take advantage of it. I know the big firm can choose to do a smart thing by eating it, and maybe they should, but there are two or more sides to such a story.

 

[Antignos]

3000 dollars is not someone's job. I own a business that’s grosses a little under 1 million year. I have 9 employees total. I have had an employee in my office make a mistake that cost us a 10,000 deductible on our insurance. Our insurance then doubled from 5,000 to 10,000 for the next 3 years. So that's something like 25,000 over a 3 year period! Was I upset? Of course? Did I pay it and pat my employee on the back and say we have go to try harder and make sure this never happen again!

Bottom line is maybe that’s why I feel the way I do. I've stepped up and taken much larger hits than this. How many of the negative posters on this website would have tried to get out of paying the claim?

Bottom line is no job is going to be lost and it's not that big a deal for them to do whet right. I think if I pushed the issue the law would be in my favor for sure. They issued a receipt and accepted the offer. It's that simple. It has nothing to do with my character. It has to do with big business and how they handle things. Other companies would have told me I was lucky and thanks for the business!

I am just sick of people making comments about my character. I pay my bills; I take excellent care of my employees. I donate money cancer charities, I give homeless people food when I can etc. I am actually a good person who believes they made a mistake. If I get them to give me the diamond I'll sell it and donate any profits to charity. Issue of me being greedy taken care of. Now any comments on the legal issues? Is them sending me a receipt and having the authority to charge my card "consideration"

 

[fire&ice]

----------------
On 10/22/2004 1:40:18 PM oldminer wrote:


It is sad to see how inflamed people get over the fact that a sharp consumer saw an unrealistically priced mistake and sought to take advantage of it. I know the big firm can choose to do a smart thing by eating it, and maybe they should, but there are two or more sides to such a story.
----------------

First, he stated such that he knew the diamond was priced to low.

Yes, I am inflamed. I see it as a pity that people could possiblity entertain that taking advantage of a clear cut mistake then becoming irrate when the company can not sell the diamond at the mistaken price (even though their policy clearly defines their stance) is interpretted as him being a sharp consumer. No, I see it as disingenous & userish.

 

[Hest88]

----------------
On 10/22/2004 1:46:14 PM crankydave wrote:

Internet jewelers (or any Internet business) will shed their shady image when they realize they have to start adopting real world business practices.

Or starve or go out of business. What should be done to people who damage a business by leveling false accusations in a public manner?

Take it a step further...what about that unhappy customer who falsely tells all their friends that so-and-so did this and they tell their friends and so on and so forth? What about the damage that this causes?

(disclaimer: The customer referred to in this hypothetical situation is fictional. Any resemblence to any customer real or otherwise is strictly coincdental)

Dave----------------

Sue for defamation?

A company who builds a solid enough reputation and offers a valuable service will be able to weather a minor scandal. Every business, no matter how upstanding, will someday get a disgruntled customer but if you've set up your reputation properly you'll get through it.

 

[kevinng]

OK. So now $3000 is not someone's job? We don't know, do we? Well, if the careless employee is a slacker who can't do his job right, then he'll be fired. If the careless employee is a slacker who can't do his job right... and then goes on to be rude to customers? But that's completely besides the point. I don't really care if someone's lunch costs $3000 or someone's job is $30.

The fact remains that BN made a mistake... and then just conveniently brushed everything aside. That says something to the people reading this thread.

The good thing is, even if there are many people defending BN for whatever reasons, readers of this thread can form their own conclusion. The best thing is... as this thread grows, it generates more interest.

I'd probably need some jewellery for my wedding gift sometime next year. Guess where I'm not going to look?

Paul, I believe you are a good man, and you have done nothing wrong to bring this up. I'm on your side. But I do believe that you do not have a legal recourse. You do have a contract going on, but the disclaimer forms part of the terms.

I'm still wondering when BN will say something?

 

[Mara]

I also am not viewing it from an outraged moral perspective. I view it from a business and customer service standpoint. There are two different things being discussed here..whether or not the original poster will make into heaven (!) or if BN was in the wrong to maybe be rude to a customer and not even discuss compromising. Regardless of whether or not you would sell to this man, was the BN rep the person to make the decision on turning him away forever? He bought another diamond..is BN so big that they don't even care about salvaging a relationship with a customer and making a compromise?

Someone noted that 'we don't know both sides'. Of course we don't! This is an open forum, an irate customer came in and voiced a complaint and it's being discussed. All we have to go on is this customer's account of the story. BN has not stepped in to set things straight or say yay or nay. So in my opinion, NO ONE gets the benefit of the doubt..we are discussing what was brought up in the first place.

Of course people make mistakes and of course humans err. Sometimes it costs them their jobs. Sometimes it's brushed under the rug. I see alot of 'how heartless to say it could cost someone their job, you must make a horrible boss'...well in reality some people are held accountable for MISTAKES...even honest ones. Sometimes they aren't. Which is right and wrong? Neither! But I tend to feel that accountability and responsibility is good, just as I feel that people in CS should be courteous, even to rude people! Sometimes you have to bite your tongue. If you don't like it, don't work in public service!

Beyond all the moral issues being thrown around, my bottom line is this. I don't care if this man tried to take advantage of a good deal or if he's going to heaven or not. I read his original post and thought that BN was in the wrong for a) not trying to discuss a compromise b) being rude and c)making such a big boo boo in the first place!

Those are my issues with this post. Yes, I feel the subject is inflammatory..false advertising is a bit harsh but that doesn't make the discussion subjects any less real. And we can only discuss what we know from the OP since the second side has not yet been heard. BN BN where are you?