http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15878137

I doubt Amazon rigged it, but I highly suspect that something went awry with their load balancing technique that allowed people with a different network path or maybe people on the same backbone to get through to the servers when no one else could.

I would llke an explanation of what happened to understand the networking implications, to reassure me about Amazon’s integrity, and to have any faith that future Amazon vote specials will work differently.

Seriously, no one is complaining about losing the lottery. There was no lottery! Your analogy is completely irrelevant. Besides, what does anyone care that someone else files a claim. If the BBB finds it to be illegitimate, they’ll dismiss it. At least they will investigate the matter and validate the situation.

Of the hundreds of postings that I’ve read today, no one has bitched about the depleted inventory. The complaints are about the tactical implementation of their marketing promotion and technical outage resulting that did not provide an equal opportunity for all customers. I work in an ad agency and oversee web and interactive campaigns everyday. If I ever executed a marketing tactic like the one on Amazon.com today, I would certainly be packing up my things on Monday.

The other factor that has really been overlooked is the displaced customers outside of the promotion. How many customers were in the middle of transactions and then could no longer complete the transaction. There is no telling how much lost commerce both today and long-term that was lost to this fumbled marketing promotion.

I currently have on my desk a review to add Amazon’s Elastic Computing Cloud to some of our high-traffic e-commerce clients. Clearly today’s outage was the real-world test that decided its fate for nixing on Monday.

At the end of the day, its a free economy. If anyone chooses to continue business or leave is FREE to do so. And BTW, word-of-mouth is both the best and worst advertising for any business.

webonics – It’s not Amazon’s fault you don’t have the same quality Internet connection as “those individuals in large metropolitian areas”. Did you file a BBB complaint when Target neglected to open a store in your front yard? then don’t complain when an online retailer doesn’t beat a path to your door. Do you expect Amazon to buy a bunch of bandwidth and servers just so a “traffic spike” can be accomodated and everyone can see a happy Amazon webpage?

Do you people have any idea how many browsers were refreshing Amazon’s page at 11am PST? I’m guessing millions, which is likely far more than 99% of the websites out there can handle at any one time. It’s completely conceivable that 1000 people (or 0.1% of 1M) made it through the purchasing process in seconds. I highly doubt there was a consipracy to manipulate IP routing so that a select few could nab a $100 Xbox 360. In fact, I know that my browsers were making it to the web frontends for amazon.com because I was seeing the SSL negotiation every time I hit refresh.

So don’t give me some bullshit about it not being fair. You can’t blame Amazon becaue you didn’t hit refresh at exactly the right second. Would you rather be waiting in line for a PS3, getting trampled and shot at?

-Paul

More than anything, I want to understand what happened (and I bet Amazon does too before they try this stunt again).

Rob

Hello from Amazon.com.

Please accept my sincere apology for the inconvenience that has
Caused.

We are very sorry to hear that you had difficulty using our site.
From our end, we have not had any server problems recently–it is
possible that the problem is with your provider, or somewhere in
between. If the problem was caused by high network traffic, you may
have more success by trying again at a different time.

We are pleased to utilize top of the line servers, internal routers
and network connections. Although we often wish we could affect this
problem, many issues regarding speed are actually a result of complex
routing patterns over the Internet itself. Even the best Internet
services can’t get around this fundamental problem.

Thank you for writing about purchasing “x box” as part of our Amazon
Customers Vote promotion. Unfortunately, this item is no longer
available at the promotional price. I’m sorry you were not able to
purchase the item at the price you desired before we sold out. It
may still be available for purchase from Amazon.com at the regular
price or from third-party sellers on our web site.

These discounted items are only available in limited quantities
immediately after the winners of Amazon Customers Vote go on sale
each week. You can vote, make purchases, and find more information
at our Amazon Customers Vote page:

http://www.amazon.com/customers-vote

Each week, we post information on how many units of each product are
available at the promotional price and when they can be purchased.
As soon as we sell out, we make every effort to put this information
on our Web site immediately.

If you have any further questions regarding this issue, please use
the direct link below to e- mail our appropriate department and
select a subject for your e-mail as “Other questions & comments”, so
that we can investigate further:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/contact-us/general-questions.html

Please copy and paste the URL into your web browser to reach the
specific page.

Rest assured that when we receive the email from you using the form
above, we will investigate and take any actions available to us to
resolve the problem.

However, if you require immediate assistance, here are our Customer
Service Department phone numbers:

Customer Service is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

U.S. and Canada: 1-800-201-7575
International: 1-206-266-2992

Well continue working hard to ensure that you receive accurate
service, and to minimize the chances of anything like this occurring
again.

Thank you for your interest in Customers Vote and for doing your
holiday shopping at Amazon.com.

Please note: this e-mail was sent from an address that cannot accept
incoming e-mail.

To contact us about an unrelated issue, please visit the Help
section of our web site.

Best regards,

Swaminathan.T
Amazon.com Customer Service
http://www.amazon.com

I filed a complaint with the BBB because of the business practice that took place (or didn’t happen for that matter), not for losing the opportunity for the promotion. The playing field was not level or fair and those that were not able to participate were offered the product but at the regular price when the site finally rebooted. Those individuals in large metropolitian areas and certain geographies were able to access the site over others based on their ISP and network routing. The lack of preparation and planning between marketing and IT resulted in a virtual bait-and-switch for thousands of consumers. Just start googling or reading the discussion groups and you’ll see that there is a huge segment of Amazon.com customers upset with the business practice. Amazon.com should have planned for the traffic spike and really had some good data to gauge this by the number of votes cast for the system in the week prior. While Amazon.com may have made a 1,000 (if there were really 1,000 units…I just have to take their word for it) customers happy, they certainly disgruntled thousands more in the process. If the BBB feels the complaints are unmerited, they will dismiss the complaints. I want the BBB to act as a third-party to investigate the actions that led to this behemoth of a snafu, and if merited, compel Amazon.com to offer a satisfactory resolution for those customers.

http://seatac.ebindr.com/complaint/new/?bid=0007039385