Blue Nile pricing error!!!!

[Antignos]

Just wanted to share my experiences with Blue Nile. I purchased 2 diamonds on their webpage. One had an extremely good price and it may have been marked wrong, which is of course why I bought it. Well the next day someone named Lisa from Blue Nile called me and explained they had no intention of selling me the diamond at the price I had agreed to. She was a bit rude and explained I could pretty much go fly a kite. I told her I would then be sending the other diamond back and posting my story on here. She didn''t seem to think anyone read these postings and good bye. Beware of Blue Nile if it''s customer service your looking for, you won''t get it. I don''t know if there is any way to force them to sell me the diamond I agreed to buy or not. I do believe they charged my card for 1.00 to see if it was active and they did send me a confirmation number etc. They have since relisted the diamond at a much higher price.

Thanks

paul

 

[strmrdr]

Excuse me?
Read the pricing policy at any online dealer.
Then get a life....

 

[moremoremore]

It's not a tyo...it's just that prices are constantly going up and many sites can't possibly keep up with updates...so no, there is no false advertising at blue nile.

 

[Antignos]

Bottom line to me is I own a business andwhen we make mistakes and we do I always take care of the customer. I've forked out over 5,000 before because I knew we made a mistake. I also would never ever be rude to a customer. I would also try to find a happy medium! It's not how any retail store would have behaved at your local mall I promise you. When Wallmart prices something wrong in the news paper they sell it at that price and either eat it or make the paper pay for it! They should have handled it different!

 

[strmrdr]

Sorry that dont fly walmart's in my area all the time have a notice in the window that the advertised price is wrong and the price is higher on one item or another.

 

[Antignos]

Well maybe I'm in the wrong then. If I was a huge corporation with 140 million in sales I would eatten the 3,000 dollars. Nothing wrong with trying to get a good deal! I still believe they have some legal obligation because they charged my card and sent me confirmation. I appreciate the feed back except of course from the gas station attendent who replied first!

 

[niceice]

The concept behind the problem being described may go well beyond the scope of Blue Nile's direct control and understand that we're explaining this from the perspective of a primary competitor. The majority of inventory listed for sale on the Blue Nile web site is "virtual" meaning that they do not have the diamonds on-hand, unless the diamond is listed as being part of their "signature collection" this is a reasonable assumption. The inventory is mirrored off of the inventory lists of several different diamond cutting houses and wholesalers and then marked up at various profit margins. Let's say for the sake of arguement that a supplier entered a typographical error when listing the diamond on their inventory list, this is something that we see all the time "behind the scenes" and another one of the reasons why we decided not to represent virtual inventory - because we have no control over the quality of the data entry but would be held responsible by a client for the integrity of the listing... The representative from Blue Nile calls the cutter to order the diamond and verify the information and discovers that for whatever reason the information on the listing is incorrect and there are few companies which are going to take a loss at the hands of somebody else's error. Now, in no way does this excuse the fact that the representative for Blue Nile acted rudely or in such a way that you interpreted her attitude to be rude and uncaring - that is another matter entirely and probably would not be something taken lightly by the management at Blue Nile. As far as typographical errors and ommissions on inventory listings, most of us have written disclosure on our Terms & Conditions that we will not be held responsible for those errors and reserve the right to correct the information and indicate that diamond prices are subject to change without notice and that diamonds are subject to prior sale and/or memo and all of that other mumbo jumbo which is an unfortunate reality in the business world today simply because a few intolerable people can't recognize the fact that sometimes mistakes just happen regardless of good intentions. The mark of a company is often measured by it's ability not to make mistakes, but more appropriately it should be measured by how a company responds when a mistake or oversight is pointed out - it sounds like it could have been explained better in this situatiion, but of course we weren't on the telephone with you and Lisa so who is to say. We're sorry to hear that you had a negative experience with a competitor who we actually hold in high regard, we can put you in touch with the buyer for the company if it is something that you would like to pursue or perhaps receive a better explanation of.

 

[Blueman33]

----------------
On 10/20/2004 9:06:34 PM moremoremore wrote:

It's not a tyo...

Does anyone see the irony in this?

 

[Jennifer5973]

----------------
On 10/20/2004 11:45:45 PM Blueman33 wrote:

----------------
On 10/20/2004 9:06:34 PM moremoremore wrote:

It's not a tyo...

Does anyone see the irony in this?----------------

Hysterical! Great catch!

I've been in this situation, although not with a diamond. You ask for it at the advertised price. Then, when the vendor says it's a mistake, you ask again and/or try to compromise, and if they say no, you move on. Is it REALLY worth all this drama? If the Blue Nile person was nasty, that's separate issue and certainly inappropriate, but come on...

Plus, as others have pointed out, due to the nature of the beast with online stones, pricing fluctuations may not be captured in real time on the sites. What seems to really make the difference in this situation is the poster's immediate recognition that the price was off and knew it had to be a mistake.

 

[strmrdr]

----------------
On 10/20/2004 9:36:29 PM Feydakin wrote:

And yet you still haven't posted the pricing.. Must have been pretty obvious it was a mistake huh??


As for the gas station attendant comment, I did work in a station as a kid, and still work in a garage from time to time at my free time permits.. Your point??


If you would like to attempt to flame me some more, please take it to PMs, and be sure to bring a fire suit..


Steve

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

I think he was trying to insult me not you with his comment.
Im not the only one that has worked in a gas station at one time or another and I dont see it as an insult :}

What gets me is he knows it is a mistake and then threatens them with pricescope to try and get it.
Then comes here whining about it.
He really does need to get a life or grow up one of the two.

 

[Brian Knox]

----------------
On 10/20/2004 8:53:47 PM Antignos wrote:

... it may have been marked wrong, which is of course why I bought it. ...Thanks

paul----------------

Freudian slip ?

 

[luvn2oxfrd]

just my two cents, for whatever it is worth.

when my now fiance and i were just beginning to look for a diamond for my e-ring, long before we found pricescope, long before we really had any clue what we wanted other than a 2 - 3ct stone, we came across a reputable online dealer. we found a stone in a price we could afford and decided to purchase. we called their customer service who confirmed our stone and price, we received wire instructions and a receipt, and we wired the full amount that same day.

a full day later, after the money had been taken out of our account and was confirmed, we received a call that there was a mistake and that the actual price of the stone was $15,000(!) more than was quoted, confirmed in writing, and paid for.

now, after hours on pricescope, we realize that a 3ct,g, vs2 stone with a $15,000 pricetag was an obvious mistake. but at the time we did not and all we knew was that our money was out of our account and we had no diamond.

the online dealer refused to negotiate. customer service was rude. and we didn't get our money back for 12 days.

from a legal standpoint, there was an offer, acceptance, consideration...a valid enforceable contract (would have been different had we paid by credit card or check). we had legal representation but ultimately decided not to pursue the matter because we didn't want to be married before the e-ring dispute was out of court.

i am in no way condoning people who try to take advantage of an obvious typo. nor will i bad-mouth a company who did have a pricing policy, but who erroneously accepted our money before the typo was discovered.

this is just our experience and a rare example of what can happen when buying a diamond from an online dealer with a virtual list of stone.

we did eventually find the right stone for us and with the help of pricescope and whiteflash, were confident to try an online dealer again.

 

[Blueman33]

What about the reverse? What if you were over-charged from a typo? How would the vendor react, how would a buyer react?

Winn-Dixie (super-market) had a product with a sign, "Regular price, $299, Winn-Dixie price, $2.88, you save $296.12"

This thread has stated people finding diamonds underpriced and even buying them and being told to fork out more or the deal is off or whatever.........so I ask you

HAS ANYONE EVER BEEN TOLD THE STONE WAS ACCIDENTLY OVERPRICED?

HAS ANYONE EVER BOUGHT A STONE AND SUBSEQUENTLY BEEN SENT A CURTEOUS REFUND FOR A TYPO?

or is it a one-way street?

 

[Mara]

As a web person, I've surely made my share of mistakes when putting up a page or an entire new site etc. Knowing how stringent the companies I have worked for are on mistakes...I have low tolerance for other companies who don't check and double-check their work AND have others proof the pages before going up. Where is the QA team on this? Just because it's on the web does not mean it should not be honored. Many offline stores as someone said will honor a price if it was published incorrectly. In my opinion putting up a pricing policy to save yourself and/or disclaimer about prices or incorrect info is just covering youself in case you don't do due diligence and are too lazy to check, double-check your work.




This is about customer service. For example Nordstrom reputedly has the best customer service reputation in the country. They will take anything back, even if it's not theirs or if you have had it for a year or whatever. That's their policy. There was even a book written on excellent customer service and they were the number one case study. And they haven't filed for bankruptcy or gone under as some of their large competitors have in the last 10 years.




So some people would note that if you honored a big thousand dollar mistake, and ate some cost for a typo or misprint or non-proofing, that you may not be able to survive out there in the business world. But to me that's just a cost of doing business and Nordstrom has an excellent reputation for treating the customer well. I'm sure they've had to eat some cost to create that, but great customer service is lasting as is a good reputation.




I know everyone is going to view this differently, but to me if a company was foolish enough to make the mistake they should considering honoring it. And not treat this customer any differently on the phone than they would any other customer. He bought another diamond, they should have tried to work with him to find a middle ground. Not treat him rudely and tell him to 'fly a kite' if indeed that is what happened. He's still an attempted customer.




From a legal standpoint as someone else noted, the offer was 'accepted' when the online engine let you purchase the stone. Companies who sell these stones online and have buy buttons should be careful and cover all their bases. Personally, I don't think a BUY on a diamond is wise....esp if the company reserves the right to nix the purchase later. It should be more along the lines of 'hold diamond' or similar.




Lastly, last year someone posted a url on here for a big ole diamond that was totally mispriced. HUGELY mispriced. Someone forgot a 0 or two. A few people on here 'bought' it using their online engine. Of course they all got emails the next day explaining the typo and o course no one got that diamond for pennies. But it would have been really cool if they had!!

This company's pricing policy was posted clearly on their site. But hopefully it taught the vendor a lesson....and they now are a bit more careful with their pages. Or maybe not since they always have that pricing policy and disclaimer to fall back on. Just in case.

 

[oldminer]

This is a real good thread for those of us who visit often. It shows the many points of view that come into play here. If I try to buy someone's mistake and they catch it in time, before they have a loss, I certainly understand. Once I make the deal, I figure it is finished and I go on to sell based on value and also my cost, which might just be lower than it ought to have been.




I have bought many things for too much money and also sold things for losses on purpose and by mistake. It is painful to find out your are not superhuman. It was even harder to admit it to my very accurate father who was my boss for many years.




No one has to sell you something if they don't want to. They don't have to write you a check even when they owe you money. It may not be nice, but this is reality. You have to learn that not every businessperson is totally honest or on your side. Some firms and people bend way over backward to support their customers, but many won't.




My approach is to do business with good people who deserve your confidence and your money. I think Blue Nile probably has a better policy on how to handle mistakes than many other places, yet it may need some fine tuning. It sure sounds like they should have been a little nicer with you. Even a reasonable explanation would go a long way.

 

[luvn2oxfrd]

----------------
On 10/21/2004 12:24:09 PM crankydave wrote:

I know everyone is going to view this differently, but to me if a company was foolish enough to make the mistake they should considering honoring it. And not treat this customer any differently on the phone than they would any other customer. He bought another diamond, they should have tried to work with him to find a middle ground. Not treat him rudely and tell him to 'fly a kite' if indeed that is what happened. He's still an attempted customer.

Agreed. I don't know if the vendor has been steered towards this thread but adding their voice would be a plus. There are three sides to every story...his, theirs, and the right one.

From a legal standpoint as someone else noted, the offer was 'accepted' when the online engine let you purchase the stone. Companies who sell these stones online and have buy buttons should be careful and cover all their bases.

Unfortunately or fortunately, depending upon how you wish to look at this, the offer is not accepted until the product is delivered. Again I stress, good business practice dictates you do.

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

i just wanted to clarify things from a legal standpoint. an offer is not accepted if you hit a "buy" button on a website, nor is it not accepted until the product is delivered.

in theory, an online vendor advertises a diamond for sale on its website. the consumer views the advertisement and offers to purchase it for the listed price. if the consumer tendors payment (consideration) and the vendor accepts the consideration for payment of the advertised goods, that transaction (offer, consideration, acceptance) is a contract. if the vendor does not deliver the goods after the consumer has tendered payment for the offered amount which the vendor has accepted, the vendor is in breach of a contract.

this is by no means legal advise, just simply a clarification of the above posts.

 

[Hest88]

I agree with Mara. When a company makes a mistake, it has a customer service obligation to make it right. Also, this might be unfair, but it makes a difference to me that this was Blue Nile--a high profile firm--as opposed to a mom and pop B&M. The B&M may not have the resources to eat a $3K mistake, but built into the structure of something on the scale of Blue Nile is the expectation that they will bend over backwards to cement customer loyalty AND they should certainly have the resources to handle a measly $3K error.

I'm also taking the OP's story at face value. Assuming that he was polite, rudeness on Blue Nile's part is always unacceptable.

 

[aljdewey]

Have you ever heard the saying "you can attract more flies with honey than with vinegar"?

When I read these stories, I often wonder how the complainant initially responded when told the pricing was off.

Incidentally, I think that many folks aren't out there actively looking to exploit mistakes. I (and a few friends) purchased a pair of earrings this week from Whiteflash for a special friend's birthday. I (of course!) was in charge of selecting them.

While on the phone with Brian, we found two stones to fit the bill. I then noticed the price of one seemed too low....about $130 off.

I said to Brian "this stone seems incorrectly priced, and I'm fine with paying what I know the right price should be."

Like the class act he is, Brian said "I appreciate that, but it's our mistake....we'll sell it to you for the price shown."

Just one more reason that I hold Whiteflash in high regard.

 

[fire&ice]

I have serious moral issues with someone who purposesly exploits the system. We *all* end up paying in the end.

I would never expect someone to honor a price when an honest mistake was made on their part. People aren't super-human.

Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

But, Blue Nile is *very* wrong that people don't read PS. Quite the opposite w/ the kind of numbers of visitors around here.

 

[phoenixgirl]

http://www.bluenile.com/product_policies.asp

"Infrequently, data may be inaccurately displayed on our site due to system errors. While we make every attempt to avoid these errors, they may occur. We reserve the right to correct any and all errors when they do occur and we do not honor inaccurate or erroneous prices."

 

[Mara]

People are not superhuman, but they should be expected to own up to their mistakes which may mean taking a kick in the pants when they boo boo. I'm in sales now and I have to live by this motto. If something is wrong and my customer is unhappy, if I want to keep that customer, I may have to eat a replacement fee or a shipping fee or something in order to show good faith to that customer. That may mean it comes out of my commission in the end. Sometimes it's not even my mistake. But it's a cost of doing business and in the end it really comes down to how much you want to keep that client for the future. Companies have the right to refuse service of course.




Also, I still view those pricing policies and discrepancy disclaimers as a way to cover your butt before mistakes even happen, hence not really advocating the triple-checking that should be occurring. Again, having worked in the internet and ecommerce industry, I have seen big mistakes made and made my own mistakes. I *always* advocate giving the customer the benefit of the doubt on pricing errors because hey...someone was at fault and that is the price you pay when you deal with the public and want to keep that customer.




Lastly, I don't think there was anything wrong with the customer letting BN know the story was going to be posted here. This is a consumer based forum and every story, good and bad should have a place. Plus how else would we have these thought-inspiring conversations?

BN does read this forum, there is some rep who always manages to show up here whenever a bad word is said about them...but never posts anytime else. So I'm sure he will pop in before long to offer his apologies.

 

[fire&ice]

This isn't something that didn't live up to the client's satisfaction. This person *purposely* wanted to take advantage of a human mistake. There is a big difference with someone innocently buying something that is mispriced & someone wanting to take advantage of mistakes.

Yes, people must take responsibility for their actions. IMHO, it's someone's responsibility to not take advantage of the situation.

It's his perogative to post the experience. But, it was more of a threat to carry out.

But then, if someone was to fall down while in a line, even though I could cut in front of them, I wouldn't. Yeah, their mistake for being clumsy. I don't have to exploit it.

 

[phoenixgirl]

Also, in law there are degrees of plausibility. My father is an ethics professor, and one time when I was in high school and we were playing miniature golf, he said, "I'll bet you $100 you can't do that again." I repeated (by sheer luck) whatever crazy move I had done to warrant the bet, and he spent some time deliberating with his colleagues over whether or not he had to pay me the $100. For the record, I didn't bug him about it, but my mother insisted that he pay me on principle.

In the end it was determined that $100 was a reasonable bet to make, and therefore by saying it, a contract was born. If he had said, "I'll bet you a million dollars . . . " then the bet would have been ludicrous and taken as a figure of speech. Thus he made good on his bet.

Aljdewey's example of White Flash forgiving a $130 discount was in the plausible category. A stone being mispriced by $3000 is not. That's ridiculous, and nobody in their right mind would seriously believe the stone would be offered for sale at that price. I would expect a vendor to make some sort of concession if a low but reasonable price had been renegged, but not if someone forget several zeros on the end.

 

[aljdewey]

----------------
On 10/21/2004 6:33:36 PM phoenixgirl wrote:





Aljdewey's example of White Flash forgiving a $130 discount was in the plausible category. A stone being mispriced by $3000 is not. That's ridiculous, and nobody in their right mind would seriously believe the stone would be offered for sale at that price. I would expect a vendor to make some sort of concession if a low but reasonable price had been renegged, but not if someone forget several zeros on the end.
----------------

Precisely.....and I'm sure that Whiteflash (nor any other vendor in their right mind!) wouldn't have forgiven a $3k mistake. Nor should they, and nor should I expect them too. Heck, I didn't want to take the $130 difference. I feel like they've treated me well as a customer, and I want to treat them well as a vendor. That means being "fair"....and I personally don't believe the expectations in the BN scenario sounded fair.

 

[Antignos]

I just read someone who said you can attract "more flies with honey than you can with vinegar" The funny thing is I am in a customer service business and I say that to my employees every single day. I spend every day kissing butt and making people happy! I was not overly rude by any means, but simply asked if we could come to a compromise! Someone also said something to the affect would they reverse the charges if the diamond had been priced to high and the answer is NO of course.

As far as posting my experiences on here? That’s what this forum is for correct? I still think Blue Nile has an amazing site and probably does a great job, but they way they handled their mistake was simply wrong I believe.

The reason for customer service? A happy customer tells 2-3 people a disappointed one tells everyone! That’s why you eat your mistake! Had they sold me the diamond I would have raved about them, kept the first diamond, and sent friends and family there. They would have easily made up there 3,000 and probably made much much more.

I asked if we could reach an agreement and was simply told NO. If it had been my business I would have at least agreed to sell the diamond at wholesale. That way everyone is happy and they continue to get my blessing as a customer! I would say they had the wrong person or a badly trained person in customer service!

 

[Antignos]

http://www.bluenile.com/product_policies.asp

"Infrequently, data may be inaccurately displayed on our site due to system errors. While we make every attempt to avoid these errors, they may occur. We reserve the right to correct any and all errors when they do occur and we do not honor inaccurate or erroneous prices."

yes this is on the website! A few clicks away and not anywhere in the buying process! Had it been and I had clicked I agree then I would have completely understood.

 

[Antignos]

Mistakes do happen yes! like maybe making bad tires! The company steps up? There 10000000 things that can be said about this? If you find a picasso at a garage sale thats 2 dollars what would everyone do? They would buy it and run around and sell it. Ever watch the antique show on TV. It's everyone talking about how they bought it for 10 dollars at a shop and it's worth 10,000. I was lucky enough to find a diamond at a great deal, bought it, and was told no way. My card was charged and I was sent am email saying it's on the way. It might be right, it might be wrong. Regardless of which it is.... making sure the customer was taken care of was not the least bit important and that's what this is about. If you want 100% customer service you will not get it! I also would not expected a small mom and pop to have honored it because of the giant impact it would have been on their business and their employees. But a 140 million dollar corporation? Give me a break!

 

[kevinng]

If you feel that the disclaimer was particularly onorous and not sufficiently highlighted... plus you can establish that you have a contract going on, you should have pursued it sued them.

The court will then decide how onorous the term is, and whether it is sufficiently highlighted. Personally, I think the clause is reasonable, and it is not necessary to highlight it in the open before you click to confirm the transaction.

I think it is reasonable to assume that anyone making a big purchase online would have read the T&Cs carefully. So, it is in Blue Nile's right to rescind the contract, refund your money, and assume no liability thereafter.

However, I will never take rudeness lightly. Regardless of the nature of the mistake, it is not duty of the buyer to decide whether it is a mistake or not. So, the staff should have handled it better. But when a company gets bigger these things happen. You should write to Blue Nile's management and complain about that particular staff. She probably needs re-training.

I am in the process of arranging my wedding and I meet with people from large hotels nowadays to discuss the banquet. Even the best hotels' staff can sometimes be less than courteous. Well... when dealing with people, it can get unpredictable. We are not dealing with machines, so I am more forgiving. But it important for the company to train their staff to deliver a level of service that befits their image. Else they will have to bear the consequences.

So, point taken. You can expect bad service from Blue Nile from time to time.

 

[phoenixgirl]

I understand that not buying a $5k diamond for $2k, or whatever the case may have been, was disappointing to you. It's an amazing world we live in where we can vent to strangers over situations such as these.

I'm not sure that I blame the customer service center for not kissing the behind of someone who was complaining about being stopped in the act of making off with a diamond for $3k less than its market value, though. When the other person is irrational, being accomodating is unnecessary. You don't have to sugar-coat your refusal to let someone take advantage of you, whether you're a company or a person.

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!

 

[Brian Knox]

I came back to make another post...

But, Phoenixgirl expressed my sentiments better than I probably would have.

Sorry Paul, you're way off base, I just hope you realize it.