Amazonian Dilemma

So the other day I was sitting here minding my own business when a friend of mine sent me a mysterious email.

This is what it said:

-----Original Message-----

Go to amazon. Spend at least $85 and enter this where it asks promotional code during check out. You will receive an $80 credit.

BMSXXXXXXXXX (I x'ed out the code)

You can use it once per account/email address. If you want to use it twice you have to create a new account with a new email.

I called him up and was like, 'WTF?'

He was like, 'Dude, just go do it. I just did it. Amazon screwed up and somehow this code leaked out! It totally comes up as an $80 credit! Just spend more than $85!' So I hung up and started to feel two sides of me fighting.

Here's how that conversation went:

Greedy Me: Awesome! Sweet! Go! Spend! Hurry! They're probably gonna find out about the leak soon and it won't work!

Nice Me: Are you seriously gonna use it? What are you a thief now? Stealing is stealing even if it's in the form of a credit. Don't be a jerk!

Greedy Me: Yo! You can go clear out your wish list! Get all the books and crap you've been eyeballing for a while! Sweet!

Nice Me: Then what happens when amazon finds out? What has amazon ever done to you? Why do you want to screw em over?

Greedy Me: Shut up! Don't listen to him! Amazon has a gagillion dollars! They won't even feel it! Just try it out! If it works you can always cancel the order later if you feel guilty!

Now that made alot of sense to me. I was curious to see if it worked or not. So I logged onto amazon and threw like $100 worth of stuff in the cart and entered that code on checkout.

And I was like, 'Whoa!'

Order #: 104-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Shipping Method: FREE Super Saver Shipping
Shipping Preference: Group my items into as few shipments as possible
Subtotal of Items: $102.58
Shipping & Handling: $6.17
Super Saver Discount: -$6.17

Promotion Applied: -$80.00
------
Total for this Order: $22.58

It friggin totally worked! I was all tingled up excited with mixed feelings. Psyched and scared! I stared at that order confirmation and the conversation continued.

Nice Me: Great! Now go cancel it now! Who knows what can happen from this crap? It feels illegal! Maybe you can get in trouble!

Greedy Me: Get in trouble? What can amazon do to you? Send amagoons to your house? Forget it! How much money have you spent at amazon over the years? It's time they hooked you up! A little gift for being a good customer!

Nice Me: I'm ashamed of you.

Greedy Me: Listen, they'll probably flag the order and not ship it anyway. So just let it fly and see what happens.

Nice me: Karma Police arrest this man!

Nice Me: Look, why don't you just wait to see what happens? It's amazon's screwup! You can always return the stuff if you feel guilty.

I went back and forth with that for a while. And then Roscoe started barking at me and I decided to go for a walk and think about it. It was such a weird way to steal. When I got back I sort of blocked it out and didn't do anything about it. I decided to sleep on it and decide to decide in the morning.

Greedy Me: Good idea! Sleep on it!

Anyway in the morning the decision to keep the stuff was made for me.

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

Hello from Amazon.com.

We're writing because an error allowed a promotional code to be applied to ineligible items on your recent order. In accordance with our posted policies on pricing, we are unable to offer items ineligible for the promotion at the discounted price and any unshipped items have been cancelled from your order.

If you still wish to purchase the cancelled items, you are welcome to return to Amazon.com and place a new order at the listed price. You may view the current status of your order by clicking the "Your Account" link at the top of our web site and then clicking "Go" next to "open and recently shipped orders."

We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused and hope you will give us a chance to serve you again in the future.

Sincerely,

Customer Service Department

Amazon.com

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

I was weirdly relieved that they caught their own mistake. The two sides of me were in such a standoff. They were all nice about their 'mistake'. I knew I would have never felt 100% good about that stuff anyway. I probably wouldn't have been able to read the book without thinking about how I got it and feel weird. And think about how I screwed over a 'innocent' company. And how the karma police would arrest me. So that was that with that.

One thing is for sure though.... someone at amazon is in BIG trouble!

ok bye!

tOdd