This past Tuesday, deal-mac reported on a great deal from MacMall: the 'Wallstreet' DVD Kit for $199.99. Up to 174 people flocked to this great deal, as the regular kit retails for hundreds more. We actually jumped on the deal, since even if you didn't want to use it, you could sell it for $400 easily on eBay.
When we placed our order, the saleswoman said it wasn't in stock, but there was stock at an 'alternate' warehouse. We quickly placed our order. We received emails from several that ordered the kits at the great price as well.
However, when we went to check on the order using their web-based tracker system, it showed our order as 'backordered' and 'customer cancelled.' We by no means had cancelled the order, so we called up their 1-800 number. We were told that they were out of stock and the order had been cancelled without warning us.
Apparently there had been some extreme foul-up at MacMall. They only had 9 kits total according to one reader's report, so why did they cut the price to $199. They shipped these 9 kits and nobody else received anything but a phone call much later saying they could not place the order. As far as we know, nobody's credit card was charged for a false order. The problem was not helped by the fact that several websites posted the deal, into the next day even, without verifying stock of the product.
Many of the emails we received after the cancellations were irate, demanding that we do something about the situation, only if its posting an article on what happened. It appears a lot of people were disappointed, though they really didn't lose anything. Many of the details on exactly what caused the problem are not known at this time. We hope MacMall will give us an official answer after we submit this article to them. If you had a bad MacMall DVD experience and you haven't already told us, we want to hear about it.
