Thinking About Shopping With Amazon? Don't.

It's Christmastime, that time of year when everything is filled with cheer. Yule tide, egg nog, the works. And then there's online shopping.

I've had good and bad experiences buying things online. While you can snag some great deals on Disney Movie Club's website, if your credit card expires, they go ahead and mail you the current featured title "just in case you wanted it." Then you have to pay for shipping back on something you didn't even want. While you can get some great stuff and cheap prices on Amazon, the hassle of getting what you want isn't all it's cracked up to be.

I had a mediocre experience with Amazon a few months ago, when I ordered a LaCie hard drive which didn't work out of the box. I then realized it was only the FireWire 400 cable that came with the drive that didn't work, so it cost about as much to replace the wire as it would have to ship the hard drive back. Irritating, as I essentially paid for something twice, but I needed the drive then and there, so I didn't have time to wait. What's a guy to do?

About a week ago I ordered a significant chunk of my Christmas shopping from Amazon, because I found some great prices on stuff (More for less, right? Think again). The order was supposed to come Wednesday, now it's Friday, so I checked the tracking. Turns out UPS left the package outside someone's garage about 30 miles from here. I called Amazon, who was kind enough to "replace my order at no charge and upgrade my shipping to one day free shipping," which apparently still takes three days, as the order is now estimated to arrive Monday. Not only that, but the main item, The Sims 3, is now out of stock, so they can only replace part of my order. I wouldn't get Sims 3 until after Christmas, which doesn't really help. So I told them to just ship the rest of the order and refund the Sims. Now, I'm going to be buying the Sims at the store for $20 more than Amazon's price. So, someone in Pleasantdale got the copy I paid $30 for for free, while I'm having to drive to Best Buy to shell out $50 for something I already should have gotten. Business... ethics....

I only hope the rest of my order actually makes it to my house this time. But Merry Christmas to the person who got a bunch of free stuff, it's on me.