Amazon Subscribe & Save percentages not adding up

jbd@lemmy.ml to Mildly Infuriating@lemmy.world – 197 points –

I only needed one more item to "unlock extra savings up to 15%", so I added an extra item to see what the savings would be. I didn't think the savings matched what was advertised, so I removed an item to see what the difference was (making sure to screenshot before/after this time). Turns out the price of 3 out of 4 items is the same after an extra 5% discount.

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That's not right at all! Ask customer service what they think and post their response.

The most frustrating thing about S&S for me is that the prices fluctuate wildly from delivery to delivery. I have to waste so much time combing through my subscriptions every time a new one is about to ship, just to make sure I'm not paying extra that week.

Eventually, I ended up having to cancel it all after a few times when I couldn't double-check and ended up paying more for a few items.

I found it better to simply set up a price alert, and buy non-urgent things when they are at a low price, stocking some extra if necessary.

I find it cheaper and more effective to subscribe and use the initial coupon (usually 25% off), then immediately cancel the subscription after they ship it. Most likely there will be another coupon next time I need the product

The only thing I had as a really reocurring subscription was my cat's kibble but then I noticed that on some deliveries the price was considerably higher so I switched to buying it at the store market

I have had great luck with chewy.com for cat stuff

I can't praise chewy.com enough. I have a dog, a cat, and parrots and I save so much money not going to PetSmart or PetCo.

Chewy is amazing. Price is very consistent and customer service is scary good. I once ordered food for my cat while sitting eating dinner. The next morning at 6am I opened my door to go to work and literally tripped over my cats food. I still have no fucking clue how the hell it got to me so quick, it was 12ish hours. When I moved and switched my auto subscription their system flagged my change of address as fraud and emailed me to call customer service. I called at literally 3am (because I'm a freakish night owl) expecting to work my way through an automated system and the phone rang twice and a very cheerful person answered. I almost hung up in shock and then almost was the jerk calling at 3am asking "why are you answering the phone at 3am?"

I find it cheaper and more effective to subscribe and use the initial coupon (usually 25% off), then immediately cancel the subscription after they ship it.

Does that actually work without raising any red flags on their end?

yup, no issues at all. that's how i get cheap syrup for my soda stream, every time. the last time it was more than half off, so i bought 5x my normal amount and cancelled the subscription, and then my prime account.

that’s how i get cheap syrup for my soda stream

Well, now I'm going to have to try this! LOL

EDIT: That was a bust :( Most of the flavours don't give the option for S&S, and the ones that do only give a discount on future deliveries (only 5%), not the current one. This is Amazon Canada, so... 😭

I tried doing subscribe and save when they first introduced it, but it doesn't lock in a price, and if it's out of stock one month when it's time to ship, it just cancels the whole thing even if it's back in stock a week later. And the discount isn't even that great. Frankly the whole program is shit imo and I'm amazed it's still so shitty however many years later.

I followed up with customer support. They said go ahead with the order and they will refund me the amount after. They gave me a $5 credit for my trouble. They said they would escalate this issue to the development team.