Earlier this week, Razer fans noticed a deal that seemed almost certainly too good to be true: 90 percent off Razer products at the UK Razerzone store. As you’d expect, this crazy-good offer went viral and thousands of people descended on the site to pick up the savings before the mistake was noticed. The flood of orders was so intense it forced the company to shut down its website to figure out where the code came from and why it was ever released.
Errors of this magnitude are rare, but not unheard of, and companies aren’t legally obligated to fill the orders. But Razer has surprised everyone by deciding to fulfill most of the orders made with the erroneous code. Customers who didn’t order multiples of the same product will have their orders honored; those who purchased multiples of a product will have the choice of purchasing one of each product ordered or canceling the order entirely.
In an official releas, Alain Mazer, the company’s global director of public relations, said “it’s going to take a few weeks (and up to a few months in certain cases) to get all these orders processed and shipped.” Some of the items purchased were already on backorder, so some bargain-hunters will have to wait a while before their cut-rate Razer gear appears at their doorstep.
Honoring an erroneous coupon – particularly one for 90 percent off – is an unusual and costly move. According to the company’s press release, all the items purchased are “being sold well below their cost,” and the losses “will really, really hurt.” Though we find this commitment to service refreshing, we also wonder if customers who used the code feel more guilty than satisfied.
