So back in May, Neil Gaiman noted on his blog that Amazon was advertising the first volume of Absolute Sandman (which is leather-bound, recolored, oversized…) for $14.99. He mused that it might be a computer glitch, but I put it in my cart thinking I had nothing to lose.
I’ve never read any Neil Gaiman (which I know shocks people), though I’d like to. But I take pleasure in the books I copyedit, and I work enough that I seldom feel like reading more books when I have time off. This is not an uncommon affliction in the publishing industry.
Anyway, I had completely forgotten that I had ordered this gorgeous book, and it arrived today. Amazon honored the $14.99 price, even though they have it for $62.37 now.
Some Amazon members complained that Amazon canceled their orders, but I never received any such notification. I’m sure the price was a glitch (which they should have honored anyway, of course), but I’ve been screwed over by enough website user agreements that I wouldn’t have been surprised if they hadn’t come through. I’m glad they did; I have a very pretty book to add to my collection and might actually get some Gaiman on my brain. :-)
I know what you mean about not reading wanting to read anything when you’re not working, though I have cured myself of this problem at least temporarily and read quite a few sf books and a few mysteries due to spending a fair amount of time on buses and subways in the last few months (and not having any cold reading assignments at the time :) ) My stepmother, of all people, laid a copy of the G-man’s American Gods on me, and damned if I didn’t read the whole thing. It didn’t entirely work for me; like a lot of big, sprawling novels, it had a lot of good parts but didn’t entirely hold together. But the fact that I finished the whole 800 or so pages says something, I guess.
I’m a bit cheesed off with Amazon.co.uk , they’ve cancelled without so much as a comment an order I put in for an iPod that was amazingly cheap.
I wouldn’t mind as much if they’d e-mailed or some such and told me why, but the total lack of information is extremely rude, frustrating and annoying!! A classic example of how NOT to do Customer Services!
Robert: If I had to spend time on a subway, I’d be reading more too. :-)
Purple: I’ve had problems with Amazon, too. That’s why I was so pleasantly surprised that they honored that price.