I wouldn't call it a freak occurance, I would call it a pricing error. If you "purchase" anything from Amazon for $0.00 it is no different than walking out of a store with the tool under your shirt because the security guard wasn't paying attention.
I'm still not completely convinced that it's an error. The "error" was up for several hours, even after I chatted and emailed them about it. And then it wasn't caught before they shipped? That's somewhat unlikely.
I've had orders cancelled by Amazon before due to pricing errors, they're usually pretty quick to catch them. The only thing I could think of is that the $0.00 led a checker to believe the orders were replacement orders or something, but even then, the payment and order information is all wrong for such an order.
I've also seen Amazon do some really crazy pricing just to move merchandise. At the time, I was half convinced that it was a mistake and half convinced that it was intentional to move items out of the warehouse.
When I placed the order, I saw in the invoice that I'll be emailed a price before the items shipped. I then started this thread, disappointed that it wasn't some crazy fire sale. The email with prices for my approval never came, and the items shipped.
You're equating this to shoplifting? Get real. I really thought that maybe it was a crazy deal, and if not, surely they'd never ship the order out. Once I saw that I would have to approve the price prior to shipping, I figured out how much the items probably would have cost, and how much I was prepared to pay for them before requesting the orders cancelled.
I place an average of 12 or so orders with Amazon per month, with orders ranging from 1-10 items each. If I was 100% convinced that it was a price mistake, I wouldn't have bothered placing the order.
I like to think that I'm a moral guy, and am pretty offended that you're likening this to shoplifting or theft.
I'm still not convinced that the cabinet will be delivered, and if it is, I have no idea what I'm going to do.
A few years ago, I was at Lowes buying a new Dremel tool kit. The cashier scanned the wrong barcode and bagged the item. She scanned the rest of my items, and the subtotal came to $40 or so, less than the price of the Dremel. I thought about it for about four seconds before pointing out that she didn't scan the Dremel. She argued that she had, so I inspected the box, and then pointed out that she scanned the barcode that said "not a barcode, do not scan".
2 weeks ago, I ordered an HDMI cable from Amazon. The shipper was one of those smaller companies, and they couldn't deliver the item, and I didn't trust them to get it to me on time, so I emailed Amazon and they sent a new order with UPS. The UPS order arrived but the other didn't even though tracking said "delivered" after Amazon said it would be recalled and sent back to them.
I told them that although it said delivered, it hadn't been, and I didn't want to be responsible for shipping back a duplicate item that I never received. They said that was okay. A few days later, the item showed up, and then I emailed Amazon for instructions about how to ship the duplicate item back, and they thanked me for their honesty.
I chatted with Amazon during and after placing the order, and all they told me was that should the price be updated after I placed the order, I would be contacted and offered the chance to cancel the order.
The next day, a few items were still at $0.00.
I tried to raise as many red flags as I could while trying to figure things out. At this point, I can't even cancel the item, and I'm thinking that if it's a mistake, it will be recalled before a delivery is attempted.
I'm all for great tool deals, but would never defraud a store or engage in less than moral means to get a discount. In this case, I figured that either they wanted the cabinet gone, or it was a pricing error that would have resulted in a quick order cancellation. I couldn't find pricing for the cabinet before I ordered, and figured that if it was quoted at ~$300, I'd go ahead and approve the price.
