![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-32179-100x100.png\")
That's hilarious. I usually send gifts to a near-by relative to have them wrap and deliver if I can't be there myself.
That's hilarious. I usually send gifts to a near-by relative to have them wrap and deliver if I can't be there myself.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-350350-100x100.png\")
It looks like someone got lazy and reused the box the books were sent to Amazon in, thus defeating the purpose of the gift wrapping.
This kind of packaging is commonly seen with street dated merchandise.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-46652-100x100.png\")
@dragonfire81: No, it was on all the boxes Amazon shipped the books in. It had all cutesy little written things on it, and my box was just big enough for my one book, definitely not a leftover.
They started taking preorders for this book MONTHS ago, so that's why the \"don't open before Dec. 4\" stuff.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-156211-100x100.png\")
@violettefay: Our copy DID NOT come in a JKR branded box. Just a standard Amazon brown box. And we pre-ordered.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-488475-100x100.png\")
It was on my box too. I preordered and got it on December 4.
I just have presents sent to me so I can repack / wrap them and then mail them or take them with me. Unless the person knows what I got them, like if they asked for something specific.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/css/images/default.gif\")
@Eyebrows McGee: Really? I didn't get the last book in any fancy packaging. This one didn't come in any fancy packaging either. Go figure.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-388534-100x100.png\")
Screw with the kid, don't give it to him in the morning, then give it a few hours later/that night...
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-116400-100x100.png\")
@jwm1314: I was going to suggest reusing the box. Open it up, take out the HP book, and replace it with something overly lame. Later on that night during dinner or something give the kid the HP book.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-38277-100x100.png\")
I think the idea is that you take it out of the other box before putting it under the tree. If they didn't label the boxes gift wrapped items came in then how would you identify which is which? I mean if you ordered 10 books as gifts and they all arrived wrapped in 1 box form amazon I suspect you would be more pissed. Admittedly the shipping box doesn't need to have that information on it, but since it seems apparent that this is the box that the manufacturer supplied for shipping the item I can't say that Amazon really messed up that badly.
@frieze: \"If they didn't label the boxes gift wrapped items came in then how would you identify which is which? I mean if you ordered 10 books as gifts and they all arrived wrapped in 1 box form amazon I suspect you would be more pissed.\"
I can testify to this one. One year I ordered multiple gifts with wrapping from the same company (not Amazon)to save time and because I hate wrapping gifts. The gifts all came in one box with a packing slip and no indication as to what was in each wrapped box. Guess who had to unwrap each item to figure out what was what? Trying to peel up the tape ruined the wrapping so guess who then got to re-wrap every single gift? Yeah that would be me. So much for saving time and all.
@frieze: I often get things from Amazon in boxes provided by the manufacturer that have the name of the product written on the packaging. I believe Amazon has to ship these items in the provided boxes, so they wrap the item instead. Not really an Amazon fail here, methinks.
@BrianDaBrain: Actually it looks like the OP ordered the book for his nephew who does NOT live in the same household, thus providing him (The OP) no opportunity to intercept the package or remove the revealing box before his nephew saw it. Amazon allows you to send direct to someone other than yourself so I think they are at some fault here.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-55114-100x100.png\")
@MaxSmart32:
Read her post again.
If there's 10 books, a packing list of what books are there isn't going to do you much good.
Sure, for one item it works. But then again, how is that any better than having the item name on the box? So, if you are the giftee, instead of reading the box to see what's inside, you read the packing list. Either way, the secret is out of the bag.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-153336-100x100.png\")
@Murph1908: When you order the gift wrapping option you get to enter the text that goes on the tag, so I suppose it would say to what person each gift was intended to go on the tags, so there's no need to have it identified on the box it's shipped in.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-93308-100x100.png\")
@frieze: taking it out of the box only works if the person doesn't live with you and get to the mailbox/ front porch 1st.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-259013-100x100.png\")
@frieze: Yeah, while I guess it's a little unusual to ship the item in a box labeled with the book name, I definitely wouldn't blame Amazon here. Also, you could identify the wrapped book based on the included invoice, assuming they didn't ship multiple wrapped books in the same box.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-6173-100x100.png\")
@nataku83: \"Yeah, while I guess it's a little unusual to ship the item in a box labeled with the book name\"
Amazon has shipped all Harry Potter books alone in distinctive boxes when they ship them on the release date. It's part of the \"thing.\"
I too ordered this gift wrapped. I contacted Amazon immediately and they refunded the price. I was still pissed at them for doing it, though.
All of the Harry Potter series comes in this type of boxes when ordered. It's not amazon's fault.
@mayrc87: If that's how they always do it, or how they have to do it, that's fine. But they should warn the purchaser about that before they try to sell gift-wrap.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-631841-100x100.png\")
@mayrc87: But it's gift-wrapped - they could have at least put it in a different box. A different, MUCH LARGER box.
@unobservant: At which point they'd be the subject of a Consumerist Stupid Shipping post about how wasteful that much larger box.
@mayrc87: Exactly this, if you'd ever bought a Harry Potter book around release time this is not a new issue.
Aside from that the only way this becomes a fail is if his 13 year old nephew actually gets the box from the front porch. I would assume his parents would have enough sense to remove the gift from the box. Additionally with all the tracking information you get once the package ships you know the date it will arrive, and most people know what time packages usually get delivered to their house. With all that in mind would it really be that hard to make sure the kid didn't see it? At least you could ask a neighbor to grab the package before the kid gets home.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-379501-100x100.png\")
I got a DVD player a couple years ago, and it shipped in the store box. Of course I was the first one home. Walked to the front door, picked up the package, put it on the table and went to do my thing. I didn't even think twice about it.
Needless to say, I was made fun of Christmas day.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-103766-100x100.png\")
This is partly why I have everything sent to my house first, then re-send it to the recipient. Expensive and time-consuming, but at least I know the wrapping is done right.
Looks like they need to update procedure. I'm assuming someone hand gift wrapped it. Which means they had the opportunity to place permanent blank stickers over the identifying information. Amazon hopefully will correct this glitch in their gift wrapping system.
That's as bad as when I order a gift for someone and have it shipped to them directly and check off the \"do not put an invoice in this package\" box or write down \"do not include an invoice or bill with package because it is a GIFT\" note under order comments, and they still do it anyway. -_-; *sighs*
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-389492-100x100.png\")
@Yurei: this is why i LOVE smaller [even on the internet] stores with real thinking type people instead of drones. i tend to look for the ones with contact information with person's name in the email field. then when i have special instructions/requests i not only include them in the order field, i verify them with the human in charge of shipping/orders. they almost always get it right if there's a limited number of people putting things in boxes.
@catastrophegirl:
Shana logic!
Indie jewelry and stuff, so not for everyone, but the service is beyond above and beyond. I wanted to send a present to my boyfriend in as unlabeled a way as possible, in pieces (so the first bit was kind of a hint for the rest of the present, and so on, but without my name involved... like a game.)
Complex, weird requests from a first time customer. Not an issue, they got into the spirit of the prank and were a blast to work with. Great fun. I try to spend money there whenever I can use something off beat. (sushi plushies anyone?)
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-326654-100x100.png\")
Most Amazon gift-wrapping is done by semi-trained volunteers, whose charity is paid $.10 per package wrapped. There's a lot of incentive to get it done as quickly as possible, and if you do a bad job, it's not like they can fire you.
Great for Amazon because they get to pay sub-minimum-wage for gift wrapping...great for charities because they get the money. Bad for consumers, because who knows who wrapped your gift.
/I know because I've been that guy.
So a $4 dollar charge to the customer, costs Amazon a .10 cent donation to a charity. Wow.
@unspeak: Well... I'm thinking of what it would take for my work to do that, and a $0.60->$4 markup is actually pretty far.
(I use sodomanaz's numbers here because he provides both sides of the ratio -- your $0.10 may be accurate, but the charge might not've been $4 then.)
Basically, every customer complaint associated with a charitable project is seen as a HUGE problem -- an avoidable one, one avoided by not doing the project. Such a project would not JUST have to pay for itself, it would have to generate enough money and press to be worth every real and imagined probem it was associated with.
I run a similar project at my job -- there's an Annoying Task we pay our employees store credit to do at home on their own time. It's useful, but for it to work at all it has to be utterly smooth.
If I pitched this plan to my boss, I'd need a markup like that, and I'd count myself lucky if the project was considered break-even.
@unspeak: Wow, for \"consumerists\" you guys really fail at seeing costs. Plus the guy is full of it. A simple google search shows that they pay $.60 to $.75 per package wrapped by a volunteer.
Also do you really think that the packages are only done by volunteers?
@sodomanaz: It was $.10 when I did it. Are you calling me a liar?
Thanks also for not linking to the Google search.
At the distribution center in Lexington, KY, virtually ALL the gift wrapping was done by volunteers. There's a workstation with about 20-40 stations set up that's constantly busy.
@InfiniTrent: Okay, here's one article I found:
This policy has changed since last year, or differs between DC locations. We were paid 10 cents apiece.
Well, on the plus side, it was in a normal sized box, right?
@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy->★: Hmm, that one label on top seems unnecessary. STUPID SHIPPING GANG! RED ALERT!
I bought the cheap hardback Beedle the Bard, and it came in the same sort of stupid title on the outside box. Same with the Wall-e blu ray. Lame!
so wait, unless he had it shipped to the nephews house so his parents could give it to him because he wouldnt see his nephew for christmas, and assuming that he doesnt live with the nephew, then couldnt he just take the gift wrapped book out first then give it him? dont see what the problem is, unless of course you are referring to the hundreds of others who might have ordered this to be sent to the same house in which the giftee lives. in that case yeah, i see your point but for this guy, no harm done.
I ordered the Tales of Beedle the Bard from Amazon, both the regular edition and the limited edition and I didn't get a fancy box like this. They both shipped from the same distribution center but shipped in 2 seperate boxes. Just regular Amazon brown boxes. You would think that I bought both editions, I'd get it in one fancy box and not 2 seperate regular boxes.
Well since this is my photo (Hi, I'm matt) let me give a little more information. My brother and his family lives a few thousand miles away. I love Amazon, I actually did 90% of my holiday shopping using Amazon and had the items gift wrapped and shipped to the recipient's house. With this delivery, my nephew just happened to of been the only one home at the time of delivery. The book inside was gift wrapped with a card to him, but..Well you see the box.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-578479-100x100.png\")
@CHM: Right. I'm surprised so many people here are missing the point. I did the same thing as you -- shipping to the recipient's house in another state so that I could give it to her on Christmas -- though I didn't specify the giftwrapping. Giving Beedle the Bard as a gift is rather pointless when the shipping container says what's inside.
well, you can at least get your money back. Send in pictures and they will refund.
Usually their wrapping is ok but twice I have had it torn or just plain shoddily done. I just sent in a couple cell phone pics and got refunded.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-103994-100x100.png\")
If the kid seen the box - what I would do is get something else, put it inside the box that they seen - and give that. Maybe something stupid that you know is not something they would want (McDonald coupon book or something) - then have the book hidden elsewhere and after the \"disappointment\", give them the book - and BOOM - the surprise is back!
I had the same thing happen with DisneyShopping.com this year. I ordered an Ultimate Wall-E for my wife and Disney sent it in a box labeled on all four sides. Disney was nice enough to refund my shipping and give me a $30 credit but that took an Email Carpet bomb.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-87429-100x100.png\")
I just got a shipment from amazon. It was a simple flimsy cardboard box with ONE strip of tape on the top. Needless to say, it imploded from outside force, and only 1/2 of the box was sealed. At first it looked like someone had opened the box. I checked the contents, and luckily the Wii game and HDMI cable hadn't fallen out, as the the gap in the box was easily 3x larger than either of these items.
@Saboth: Well, technically, it didn't implode. That's still an explosion. Like controlled demolition, it's just an explosion that causes the resulting debris to go inward.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-606922-100x100.png\")
not bad...but...wal-mart shipped my girlfriend a stereo that she intends to give her sister in the manufacturers graphic heavy box, with a picture of the product on each side. what's worse is that she had it shipped to her parents house due to them being retired and able to accept shipment easier, her sister was visiting the house when it showed up. one more reason to hate wal-mart.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-219805-100x100.png\")
@kid_moe: and? most of the boxes electronics come in are also shippable as-is.
Did she pay for a gift wrap? if not, then no foul.
Besides, it's not like her sisters name was plastered all over it.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-363162-100x100.png\")
I know Amazon normally gets reamed for poor quality packaging, and some of those time I get it, but this is an entirely different set of issues.
I work in processing in a public library and ALL of J.K. Rowling's items, plus any other time-sensitive street-dated items come in boxes clearly marked what they are, regardless of whether it is shipped from Amazon or Baker & Taylor (where libraries get their books). FYI, when Breaking Dawn (Stephenie Meyer) came out, we were technically prohibited from even opening the box until midnight on release day. Many of us trudge in early to get the books covered, labeled and barcoded so we can release them when we open.
So, while this gift wrapping incident turned out poorly for the OP and his nephew, please understand this is one time when it is not really Amazon's fault.
@aidenn: It's amazon's fault for selling gift-wrap while not disclosing to the customer that it would be shipped that way.
Lawyer!
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-76363-100x100.png\")
I'm confused, so can this guy not just open the box and put the gift wrapped item under the tree? I'm honestly not seeing what amazon did wrong here. Would it have ben better packaging if they wrapped the box the book was in and then put that in a bigger box and shipped it to him?
@skitchparks: Sounds like the problem was that this was ordered as a gift, wrapping was paid for, and it was shipped *to the recipient*. So while you would *think* there would be an amazon box with a wrapped gift inside it and a gift label on the gift saying \"Mark, merry Christmas from uncle Jim\", the kid comes home from school to find a box addressed to him and clearly labeled with the contents. With a gift-wrapped book inside.
Seems that when you've requested gift wrapping and requested that it be shipped to the recipient, the system ought to override and put it in a generic gift/amazon box.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-690155-100x100.png\")
Personally I think this is hilarious, but I'd be pissed if it happened to me.
It reminds me of that christmas episode of \"Happy Days\" when Richie got a wrapped up basketball and started dribbling the wrapped up package around and said, \"Gee, I wonder what it is\". Ah,...good times.
Follow me.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-142052-100x100.png\")
Yet another reason not to deal with Amazon. Whenever I had a problem with them, it was not fun dealing with people on the subcontinent. I rather pay a bit more from a local independent book shop then deal with them.
Oh, great. I ordered this off my sister's wishlist and had it shipped to her house in another state so that I wouldn't have to carry it in my suitcase when I go there for Christmas. Looks like she'll know exactly what she'll be getting when she checks her mail this week. (Sure, she could find out by searching through her wishlist, but she's not the type to do that sort of thing.)
I got the same box - my assumption was that the books were shipped from the publisher in those boxes to Amazon's distribution center - partially to keep them from selling early due to not realizing when it was supposed to be released.
we live in Richmond, VA & my mom insists on still purchasing items from Circuit City. she ordered a Wii Fit for my sister for Christmas. well when they delivered it, it wasn't in a cardboard box. they had just slapped a FedEx label on the Wii Fit box & left it on our front porch for everyone to see. luckily it came when my mom was home so she was able to sneak it upstairs.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-512341-100x100.png\")
This happened to me once when I bought my husband a fog-free shower mirror. I just dropped them a quick note and they immidiately refunded the cost of giftwrapping.
I know it won't bring back the surprise, but will your nephew like the gift any less knowing what it is? Nope! :D
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-136726-100x100.png\")
That's actually a great box to have for a Harry Potter fan. I think it makes the gift much greater even though it may have ruin the surprise.
There is no fail here. When you have them gift wrap an item, only the actual item's retail packaging gets wrapped. Since this is a book, books don't sell on shelves in a box. The box used for shipping is one of Amazon's many \"promotional\" shipping boxes, like the ones used for many of the Harry Potter books.
Lesson learned? Don't ask to have a book gift wrapped. Wait for it to arrive so you can then find a suitable sized box for it and then have it wrapped.
The fail is on the part of the purchaser for not thinking ahead about books not being sold in retail boxes.
I'm a former amazon.com employee from one of their distribution centers, so I can shed some light on why this occured..
Had this been a regular release, it would have been shipped in a regular amazon box. HOWEVER, Since this was a brand new harry potter book, the publisher requires us to request delivery on or after the book's release date. Plus, the box also generates more publicity for the book, and also makes shipping these orders a lot easier.. most of the non-giftwrap's are mass boxed, and a generic packing list/receipt is enclosed. they're presealed, and then someone just slaps a shipping label on the side of said box, and sends it on its merry way.
For the person who ordered an oversized item from Wal-Mart's website and received it in its graphics intensive box, most non-conveyable (large items) are shipped in the manufacturer's box to save both time, and cost. Most mail order retailers only keep certain sized boxes available at their distribution center.. This is a very common practice.
@LaneFigulus: There's a big difference between this book and large electronics. Most books ship in a generic box or mailer. When ordering large electronics, their product page specifically states that the item ships in the original packaging. Disclosure is important.
The one and only time I had Amazon do gift wrapping, for a *book*, they sent the book inside a box with a giant pseudo-cloth gift BAG. I wish I kept the photo of it. The bag was larger than a pillow case.
Personally I would think that the element of surprise may be overrated - the kid will still appreciate the gift. Some little kids send \"Letters to Santa\" (assuming their parents are among those who perpetuate the Santa myth - hey nice way to start a relationship with your kids, by lying to them about Santa, but don't get me started on that) and therefore know in advance at least some of what they will be getting, but does that in any way diminish how much they enjoy the gift? If I were Amazon I might apologize for such an incident but I certainly would not give refunds or credits - after all the kid did get a gift he presumably wanted. I think the element of surprise is typically more important to adults than to children (kids really don't care if they were surprised by the gift or not, and if it turns out to be something they didn't want the element of surprise can backfire) and unless you plan to be there to watch them open their gifts, you're not going to get any benefit of seeing the look on their faces (which may be good if you bought them a turd of a gift - I'll never forget when I was about four or five years old, my aunt who thought I was a budding genius bought me a college-level science book - I daresay she would not have cared to see my reaction to that!)
Okay, I'll just say a quick word about the Santa thing - from the beginning of advertising and mass marketing the merchants have loved pushing the Santa mythology because it encourages kids to ask for lots of \"stuff\", much of which is junk and some of which their parents may not be able to afford. Many kids get so much \"stuff\" at Christmas that they never play with some of it, yet parent go in hock to pay for the crap, all because they refuse to break with \"tradition\" (a tradition created and perpetuated mostly by the retailers) and treat Santa as any other fun but fictional character in children's lives, like Peter Rabbit or Winnie the Pooh or Big Bird. That is what we did with our kids - if they asked if Santa was real, we'd point to other fictional characters and ask them if they thought they were real, and we'd say \"Santa is as real as they are\" - but we'd also admonish them that some of their friends might not share that view, so it was best not to discuss what they thought about Santa with the other kids. That actually seemed to work pretty well, and it also helped them understand why they could not request big things like ponies or motorcycles from Santa! It just amazes me that some parents will build lie upon lie to perpetuate the Santa myth, then wonder why their kids don't trust them much when they get older.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-690615-100x100.png\")
The Harry Potter books from book 5 - 7 (from what I remember) shipped in a box that had the book's title on it for release-day delivery. It is obvious this would happen again. This is not \"fail\".
X-mas?
I don't understand why people are saying this was okay. The problem here is very clear and was Amazon's responsibility, one way or another. As others said, I would notify Amazon about this, you will at least get the gift-wrap cost back.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-10572-100x100.png\")
That's weird. It must be because it's Rowling stuff. I've had things sent as gifts and received them as gifts from Amazon and have not had it advertised what it was. *shrug*
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-7284-100x100.png\")
My wife wanted a Tom Bihn bag. I asked for wrapping. I got a sticker, and it was so obvious that it was from Bihn, it was ridiculous.
My wife swears by the bag though.
That's ok, I ordered a toy online from amazon and they charged me $6 to wrap it. When it arrived, it was in a giant purple bag with a gold ribbon. The bag was big enough to fit a dead body. Not worth it.
This is really silly. If you ordered gift wrapping, it should be obvious that the gift is wrapped inside the box as you cannot ship an item with gift wrapping on the outside and expect it to arrive still sealed. So you open the box and inside is the gift wrapped item. Why would you want the box to be gift wrapped? Were you really going to hand your son a blank box and have him open it - then open the gift wrapped product inside too?
Amazon just did the same thing with me and a copy of Wall-E I'd ordered for our daughter. Fortunately, I got to the mailbox before she did that day.
Here is a clue; pre-ordered suspected best sellers are already packaged for shipping ready to go, they just slap a label on them preboxed in stacks.
Here is another clue, If UPS or FedEX is your Santas little Helper, have the packages delivered elsewhere.
I just ordered a DVD set for someone else for Christmas, and I guess I left the \"This is a gift\" box. Right after purchasing, I got a second email saying \"You're getting a gift\" that revealed what the gift was.
It reminds me of a friend that purchased a Thighmaster (remember those in the 80s) and had it sent to work since she's never home. She said it arrived at work and the outside of the box said \"HERE'S YOUR NEW THIGHMASTER\". She was so embarassed!
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-285595-100x100.png\")
I have brought all of my Harry Potters from Amazon.
Not once did they show up in a harry potter box.
They have always shown up in a box saran wrapped to the inside of the box.
switch out the contents of the box with something else, then surprise him later on christmas eve/night/day
Amazing how many people don't grasp the concept of gift packaging. The idea is VERY simple. You live in Los Angeles. Your nephew Timmy lives in New York. Do you really want to fly to New York for Timmy's birthday? Maybe if he's dying of cancer or something but 12 years old isn't exactly a continent-crossing event. So you buy something on Amazon and request gift wrapping. Amazon wraps the item then packs that wrapped item in a box and includes a note that says \"Happy Birthday from Uncle Sloth\". They ship it to Timmy in New York. Timmy opens the shipping box to find the wrapped present. Timmy adds it to the pile of presents sent by other relatives then opens it on his birthday.
So are we all on the same page here? Gift gets wrapped. Wrapped gift gets put into a box. Box gets shipped. Box gets opened. Gift is received. Gift is opened at the appropriate time.
Now, Matt says he does a lot of gift shopping on Amazon. Since this is Christmas season, I'll bet he ordered gifts for his nephew's entire household through amazon and requested gift wrapping for all of them. So a pile of stuff ends up at the wrapping station. They get wrapped (individually). The pile of wrapped items gets sent to the packing station. The packer grabs the most appropriately sized box and tosses the wrapped items in it.
So we end up with the unhappy coincidence that one of the wrapped gifts in the box happens to be the item advertised on the outside of the box. Not malice, not incompetence. Just coincidence.
Of course, I'm making a few assumptions but I seriously doubt the wrapping process of these books includes INTENTIONALLY shipping them in a box that says what's inside.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-208904-100x100.png\")
They shipped the copy I bought from them to my house the same way. Luckily, I work nights and was the only one home at the time, so, the person it is for never saw it. Shame on you Amazon... Shame...
At this point, anything Amazon does to screw up doesn't surprise me one bit. I swore a year ago that I would never, EVER use Amazon.com to purchase anything ever again. I don't care what they've got or how cheaply, they will never get my business.
Last Christmas I purchased several items for my husband. Amazon.com placed a pending charge on my debit card, to be released when the items shipped. I had no problem with that. Since some items were from resellers, as each item shipped (or in one case was automatically refunded when the post office couldn't figure out my work address), the corresponding charge went through. However, when the items coming directly through Amazon got shipped, instead of finalizing the transaction and releasing the money, they double charged me. The pending charge was still on my account, the cleared charge showed up in my history.
That wasn't the worst of it. The worst was dealing with customer (dis)service in India that refused to transfer me to someone who could fix the problem, and then dealing solely by email with people at headquarters who insisted that they hadn't double-charged me, that I was apparently too stupid to read a bank statement, even after I'd called my bank and confirmed that yes, two identical charges from Amazon were hitting my account, each with their own transaction number.
I will have to admit that their continued \"this is not the charge you think it is *insert jedi hand wave here*\" was amusing.
Your mistake was to pre-order the item. Amazon pre-ships these prerelease orders to meet their shipping deadline and obligation to you. The notification is to the carrier so that they hold the package until release date, otherwise Amazon would be in trouble for breaking the street release date.
I don't really see what everyone is so upset over. As many people previously stated, most JK Rowling books are shipped in boxes that are related to the product. If you actually look at the photo, you can see that one of the biggest reasons the box is labeled with the book title is to warn not to open it before a certain date - its release date.
But what I'm really baffled about is that it seems like most commenters approach gift wrapping differently than I do. If I were to pay for something to be gift wrapped, it would be to save me the time/trouble of wrapping it myself. If I were exceptionally awful at wrapping presents, sure, pay $4 and have it done for me. The present is shipped to me, it's prewrapped, all I do is put a name tag on it and put it under the tree. I assume that's why this service is provided, and in that case it doesn't really matter what the box it is shipped in says.
It appears Amazon may have gotten wind of this because their product page now says \"Buying Beedle as a gift? All current and future orders of The Tales of Beedle the Bard (both the Standard and Collector's Editions) will be shipped in standard Amazon.com packaging that does not disclose the contents of the box.\"
I work for a shipping company (a courier, not the national post), so I can understand why the contents were declared on the outside... because otherwise we will refuse to ship it! Sometimes people send flimsy boxes that disinegrate in transit. It would be cool/funny if we could always blame lost shipments on the post/courriers themselves.. but no, the sad reality is that our clients are just as dumb as we are sometimes. You gotta write the contents on the outside, so that when your article falls out of your poorly-wrapped package and winds up in the Lost and Found, we know which one of the empty boxes it goes back into. We try to make it a habit to refuse to ship packages that have gift wrap on the outside (unless they are quite solidly mummified in clear packing tape) because gift wrap, by definition, is easy to tear off. It just makes for a lot of naked boxes with no address labels on them. Derp, to the lost and found they go!
\"Gift wrapping\" is really just an option to avoid the horrible phenomenon known as \"man wrapping\", where the gift resembles a lumpy and/or tattered mess of tissue paper and duct tape. With a curl of ribbon glued on the side.
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Amazon JUST made the Naughty List
@zentex: JUST? nah, they made it long long ago...
I ordered earphones and a battery so they duct taped both of them to the same broken chunk of carboard and sent it to me.
@zentex: I will send them coal in a box that says \"COAL\" on the outside.