![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-48134-100x100.png\")
YOU RUINED CHRISTMAS AMAZON!!!
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-6536-100x100.png\")
@Obijuan: This reminded me of the thread they have going on customerssuck.com:
Who here has ruined Christmas?
One of my favorites is the one where someone ruined Christmas by not opening a Blockbuster early on Christmas Day for a customer so that they could buy gift cards for their grandkids. Dude.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-349924-100x100.png\")
This is why I don't reccomend sharing a computer unless each person has their own sign-in. I wouldn't blame Amazon, how are they supposed to know that you are sharing?
I have had nothing but success with Amazon and plan to make some purchases once I get my Christmas bonus
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-390002-100x100.png\")
@mergatroy6: Its a bit of both parties fault.
Always create a separate sign-on or at least a guest account if anyone uses the computer other than you.
Amazon - stop so much of the up sell bs.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-446416-100x100.png\")
@humphrmi:
This doesn't meet the standards of upselling by even a casual definition. He already purchased the GPS and an e-mail receipt hardly constitutes pressuring him.
He should pile some blame on the manufacturers of his computer, his ISP, credit card company and Google for allowing him to make the decisions that lead his wife to discover his Christmas gift.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/css/images/default.gif\")
@Hate_Brian_Club: \"an e-mail receipt hardly constitutes pressuring him.\"
It wasn't an email receipt, it was a \"You bought X you might like Y\" email.
The standard definition of upsell.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-257467-100x100.png\")
@Meiran: Not really - it usually takes place at the time of purchase rather than after the fact, and certainly when the pressure is removed it's not nearly the same as some guy in a blue shirt telling me I need a different GPS or something
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-1037-100x100.png\")
@humphrmi: Yeah plus they show that stuff without you even having to sign in, they remember your username with a cookie or something so you could log out of amazon thinking your good only to have your wife/girlfriend whatever innocently surf to amazon.com and see all the recommendations for the stuff you just bought.
@Hooray4Zoidberg: I'm just waiting for the day I accidentally flash some gay/Pagan/whatever book recs at a conservative relative. (Oh well - it'll be funny after the fact.)
As a dramatically contrasting example, Levenger comes to mind - but of course, selling swanky office supplies means it makes sense for them to even ask for a last name as well as an e-mail when you log in with them. And to send e-mails that start with, \"If you didn't place an order with us recently, you might want to avert your eyes!\"
After dropping so much money on Levenger, though, I can't help but make the sad puppydog eyes and wish Amazon would learn the words \"spoiler alert.\"
@Hooray4Zoidberg: This is why I usually make Amazon gift purchases for my husband in a different Amazon account than usual. I can sign in to that account, make the purchase, sign out and sign in to the other account and he'll never know. I also have the packages delivered to work, so he doesn't even know I've gotten something from Amazon.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-34412-100x100.png\")
Sadly, unchecking the recommendations and search history options doesn't work. I've disabled these options several times and they always come back and enable themselves again.
@LatherRinseRepeat: I've never had that problem; when I purchase something, I always go back and look at my recommendations, there is a page that tells me what they use; I just go and click \"it was a gift\" and I don't ever see recommendations based off that item again.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-469751-100x100.png\")
My pet peeve is online retailers who offer gift-wrapping services, but when the package arrives, the gift-wrap is covered with their goddamned corporate logos. Yeah, that was four bucks wasted. If I wanted to wrap it myself, I wouldn't have paid to have you idiots gift-wrap it for me. Thanks for nothing. Morons.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-184148-100x100.png\")
@HurtsSoGood: But for some companies, the signature gift wrap is half the present - see: Tiffany & Co.
@BlondeGrlz is having a BlondeBoyz!: True, but Tiffany's gift wrap looks really classy. A sea of corporate logo usually doesn't.
@HurtsSoGood: Yeah, if they're using it as a marketing opportunity \"Christmas... brought to you this year by Amazon.com!\" then you shouldn't have to pay for it.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-121354-100x100.png\")
@HurtsSoGood: Yeah Consumerist did a post about that exact situation recently (maybe even yesterday).
Some guy ordered a Harry Potter book for his nephew and had it gift wrapped and sent, but the outside box proudly displayed the contents, even in that Harry Potter-ish font.
I'm usually a last minute shopper, but this year I bought things online for my wife.
I did my shopping with Chrome's Incognito browsing, and logged out of my Amazon account... Keep my email hidden and so far so good. I'm worried about eBay though, we share an account there - but hopefully I'm safe because I don't think she's purchasing off eBay.
@azzy:
\"Incognito mode For times when you want to browse in stealth mode, for example, to plan surprises like gifts or birthdays\"
Hehe this is the first time I've heard of someone using it for actual gifts, and not as a euphemism.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-111058-100x100.png\")
If you have it set up so she can see your email via Google homepage, wouldn't she also be able to see your order receipt and tracking information? If it was really \"killing her\" to know, it would have been very easy to simply click the subject and find out.
I know it's not always the reality, but it's reasonable for a company to expect that an email address corresponds to an individual person.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-240645-100x100.png\")
@Tsubasa: I think thats part of the point. They obviously respect each others privacy and she wouldn't click on it and read it, other wise, as you said, it would be a moot point because she would know already. Thats probably why it was \"killing her\" in the first place, she saw the \"thank you for your order\" and the \"your order has shipped\" e-mails from amazon but she didn't open them to see what the order was and what shipped.
Here she didn't have to do that, she just glanced at the start page and it said, hey you might like this GPS to go with the GPS you just bought.
Here she didn't have to do that, she just glanced at the start page and it said, hey you might like this GPS to go with the GPS you just bought.
@tande04: Thank You! I was just about to post a comment about how I don't understand what the Hell happened here. I guess it's just me but I found the second sentence in the OP's quote really confusing.
@Tsubasa: I 2nd that. The two other emails would show what he bought. Also, in searching all my email, I found Amazon Recommends emails, but none of them mentioned what product I bought until the very end. They all start with: \"Amazon.com has new recommendations for you based on items you purchased or told us you own.\", while the subject just has the first item they are suggesting. If she read the email to get to the bottom and read what he bought, I'm guessing she probably read the order confirmation as well.
@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy->★: I've received several emails from them that say \"Acessorize your X with a Y!\" So it is in the title somehow.
Also, any emails about the purchase would have been delivered almost immediately after the purchase, so he easily could have put them in a folder or somehow moved them from the inbox or even deleted them.
I mean, I don't think this is a \"OMG YOU RUINED CHRISTMAS\" kind of thing, but it's easy to see how it happened and that it isn't his fault.
How about setting up a new Gmail account to use for purchases you want to keep secret? I mean, I know accounts are expensive and hard to obtain and everything...
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-339333-100x100.png\")
@J. Gov: Because he's only using it for purchases, etc. the email address doesn't have to be memorable or include the guy's name or whatever. It could even be some random string; so long as he has it written down somewhere he can select any email address to use with Amazon, etc.
My mother was worried about exactly this issue when getting my dad some DVDs for his birthday. They also share credit cards, and she never buys anything on Amazon, so she was expecting that even if Amazon didn't blow the surprise, when he saw unexpected Amazon on the cc statement, he'd investigate (thinking it was fraud).
Her solution: Ask me to order & pay for the gift, to be reimbursed when I visit them next. Not that I minded, but I'm sure there are plenty of people with similar plans for surprises that don't have an easy way to keep it a secret!
@oneandone: My husband and I have a couple of credit cards that we share, but I do all the finances. So, I never have to worry about him seeing a purchase on the statement, he has to worry about me. Around Christmas or my birthday I just tell him to use a specific card and I won't check the statement for that card till after the event. I would rather guess my present by shaking the package than looking at our credit card statement.
Private email FTW! Why do people make things so difficult? I've seen a few people blame Amazon for everything. Use your own email address and have the packages sent somewhere else if you are concerned about the wrong person intercepting the gift. Why is it the retailer's job to jump through several hoops so that somebody else in your household doesn't discover the gift.
Is it Best Buy's fault if you leave a receipt laying around? Oh no, Best Buy should have used a secret code on its receipt so that nobody knows what I purchased.
I know this sounds like I'm blaming the victim, but there really is no victim. I'm just asking for some personal responsibility.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-428137-100x100.png\")
@ZenMasterKel: I agree.. use your own email for goodness sake! I have so many differnet interests than my husband and I'm pretty sure that his Start Page would drive me crazy (and vice-versa.) Getting your own email accounts doesn't mean the marriage is over.
@ZenMasterKel: Does he say that it wasn't just that he left his email logged in on a shared computer? I know my husband and I often end up in each other's email because we just don't think to log out and might end up using the other's computer for one reason or another.
@Meiran: Linux, Windows, and OS X have this awesome feature for shared computers called seperate accounts. That way you log out of their account and into your account with your own cookies. Or alternatively you could just make gmail, hotmail, yahoo not remember your username/password. I know hotmail has 3 choices when I login using the browser, one of which calling it a 'shared computer' and it will not remember either username or password.
@LJKelley: What I was saying wasn't that there was a possibility that he could or couldn't install this or that to prevent his wife from accessing his email.
What I'm saying is that he likely didn't think to care about his wife being able to glance over and see his account. I've used my husband's computer before when he had his email still logged in, and if I wanted to I could have gone through all of it and read every piece. He's done the same with me, or I might accidentally leave my separate account logged in on his computer when I use it there.
Why take a million steps to prevent your spouse from accessing your email? Yes, every computer I use at work has all those things set up on it, as does my laptop. But my home desktop? Two of us use it, and we don't see any reason to put hyper security on a computer only the two of us can access.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-537475-100x100.png\")
@ZenMasterKel: Seriously. Buy off Amazon, cover your tracks by signing up with a different account or something. When the box comes, warn your spouse a gift is there, don't touch. It's what we did.
@ZenMasterKel: I totally agree. It's not all that hard to keep online purchases secret if you think for two seconds.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-500310-100x100.png\")
Yeah, I really hate that feature. I ordered the dealzmodo mispriced 52\" LCD TV a couple months ago, and after having my money tied up for a week after having the transaction cancelled for two reason first it was out of stock, then it was mispriced.
I still get taunting e-mails that say things like 'People who bought the Sharp 52\" LCD also enjoyed this.\"
Bastards.
@TheBovaEffect: Hah, yeah I still get recommendations based on textbooks I bought a few years ago in college.
Not exactly interested in thermodynamics anymore, sorry amazon.
@Rhayader: I wish they had an option to select when purchasing: I don't want this item but am required to purchase it. Or, 'please don't base my preferences on this gag gift I am getting for my brother.' Stuff ends up haunting you.
this is why my wife and I have separate logins on our pc. It make sure we log in as the correct person in IM/Yahoo. It gives us access to our own web home pages, separate itunes libraries. It just makes life easier
And nether account is password protected (and we know each others account passwords for things like email) we aren't hiding anything from each other it's just set so we have our own environments.
I think Amazon lets you check off if something is a gift, which takes it out of the recco engine.
What this guy is complaining about is a HUGE stretch. There are a million and one ways to ruin a gift surprise. This is just one of them.
@ShashiSatyr: If his wife and him share an account, she could have just gone on to the orders page and found out herself anyway
@ShashiSatyr: That is very true, I went through recently and was able to label ALL of the purchases I'd made as gifts so that now I'm using their gift organizer for keeping track. But now I'm no longer getting coffee because I bought some as a gift.
Keeping Secrets from your spouse: UR doin it rong
This is not Amazon's fault like the last one where they put the item in a special box. This is the fault of the user for sharing a user account on his computer with his wife and having the browser open up to his (or perhaps a joint) Google account.
My wife and I have separate computers and even if we had the same computer, it'd have separate user accounts so that we can customize it ourselves and not see each others things. We also have separate email accounts.
Sorry, but you ruined the surprise, not Amazon.
@RunawayJim: Yeah exactly. Setting up a Gmail account takes all of 2 minutes. He could have created a new account specifically for this purchase if he wanted to. He just didn't think about the obvious emails resulting from an Amazon purchase.
A part of this will not be blaming the op and some of it will be;
Is it Amazon's fault that husband and wife are using the same computer? Is it Amazon's fault that she was either checking his account, or that they share an email account that she was checking? Is it Amazon's fault that he has an Amazon account that emails to his email account that she can check or that emails to the shared email account?
I say no on all accounts.
This guy stated that his wife was itching to know what he bought from Amazon. I'm assuming she saw the Amazon box or something. That's cool, it happens all the time, I've had people stay at my house to sign for their christmas presents (I order something and it happens to come during an unexpected business trip), so sometimes they would know where it came from. If I'm sharing a pc with someone that I purchased for, first I'm using an email account and/or Amazon account that they DON'T KNOW THE ACCOUNT INFO ON! So they, you know, can't login and see the emails talking about what I ordered.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-486634-100x100.png\")
Don't mean to sound hostile, but this complaint is so silly and trivial that I'll keep my comments to myself.
Seriously?
How about using different password protected user accounts? Or not sharing the same frackin' email account, or log out of it so someone else can't see it?
Nation of whiners.
krispykrink: Exactly.
Multiple logins, solves the problem entirely.
Oh nos! Not a ruined Christmas surprise. Keep your girlfriend away from the older kids on the playground. I've heard they're spreading the rumor that Santa's not real.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-22998-100x100.png\")
Yeah the sewing machine I got my wife for x-mas did not come in another box. (although I received bigger brown Amazon boxes that clearly the sewing machine could have fit in.) So my wife knew exactly what it was when
Thanks for killing the surprise Amazon.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-87899-100x100.png\")
@axiomatic: Sometimes I've seen product pages that specifically state \"This item ships in its original packaging\" or something to that effect, telling you that there will be no additional external box. You might want to doublecheck that, for your own peace of mind.
@RunawayJim
That is equivalent to saying it is his fault that he lives with his wife, and the salesman from the store he bought the gift from came buy his house and asked him if he would like to buy another GPS unit out loud.
When I am on websites (like digg) I find advertisements for objects I was looking for for my wife, and even bought online! The only way to avoid this is to browse in another browser or always use 'private browsing'. It is quite a pain to try to avoid it, and it shouldn't be.
@ztoop: Well, embedded ads on a web page are slightly more subtle, and it's not always obvious what caused them to show up. In this case, the guy used a shared email account to buy a product on Amazon.
It's not hard to anticipate confirmation, shipping notices, product recommendations, etc hitting that email account. It's also not hard to set up another Gmail account. My guess is that if had taken this simple measure, the wife never would have known, no matter what AdSense was doing in their browser.
I have no idea why my post got cut off. Should have read \"So my wife knew exactly what it was when the UPS guy delivered it.\"
Clearly, Christmas is ruined. The emotional trauma from something like this can IRREVERSIBLY SCAR a relationship for decades to come!
I never understand why it's so frigging important to give the present on Christmas DAY. Honestly, I would go insane if I had to wait for the ONE DAY a year I could buy something.
And holy crap, you can order the stuff GIFT WRAPPED. What a cheap whiner!
@shiftless: It's up to him to decide how important an X-mas day surprise is. However, if he values that kind of thing more than you seem to, it's clear that there are several simple measures (a separate email account, gift wrapping, etc) that he could have taken
Here's an idea, get a web based email account to do your shopping with, genius, then you wont even risk this kind of problem
@pjstevens77: Here's another idea; make Christmas about something else besides buying more cheap consumer crap made in China.
@Jackish: Yeah but that isn't really the point here. I mean, the guy should be able to decide what Christmas is \"about\" based on his own traditions and priorities.
The point is that he decided it was important to keep this purchase a secret, then went ahead and used a shared email account to order it. It's hard to criticize someone's motivations as an outsider, but when his actions have an internal conflict with his own priorities it's a pretty straightforward FAIL.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-291935-100x100.png\")
Private email and your private browser of choice (Firefox with Stealther, Google Chorme in incognito mode) are your two best friends when it comes to keeping secrets of all sorts.
I bought a medicine cabinet from Restoration hardware that came via UPS. It came in a box that clearly said Restoration Hardware on the outside. It wasn't a gift, but if it was...well, the box was certainly about the size of a medicine cabinet. If I had a girlfriend she would totally probably have deduced that it was a medicine cabinet and ruined Christmas. Thank God I don't have a girlfriend or I'd have been plenty pissed at UPS.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-159929-100x100.png\")
I suspect if you had a girlfriend and got her a medicine cabinet for Christmas, you wouldn't have a girlfriend much longer anyway.
@Jackasimov: Hah, yeah I'm glad you don't have a girlfriend too.
Seriously though, what should they have done? Labeled it \"Acme\" and shipped it in a box that was twice as large as it needed to be?
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-525207-100x100.png\")
@Rhayader:
Indeed. All you have to do is look at the shipping label on anything sent by UPS (or any other carrier, as far as I know, bar the USPS) and it will have the sender's name printed on there somewhere, in most cases. That's how I knew that the \"priority\" FedEx delivery sitting on my front porch, addressed to some random guy (who lives a few streets away - good delivering skills, FedEx!!) yesterday was from Dell. Maybe it was all part of a cunning plan not to ruin someone's Christmas, and that box was deliberately left on my doorstep.
(Yes, I did ensure it reached its intended destination - I'm nice like that, see).
You know, Amazon actually has had the opt-out feature for a while now. Go to your account and look for the Email Preferences and Notifications settings. You can turn off all Amazon nonsense emails, or just the product suggestion ones.
I'm all for calling companies on the carpet when they suck, but take a few minutes and at least search for the function you want first.
It would be smart for Amazon to allow people to check \"this is a gift\" when purchasing just for them to take into account for your recommendations, if only because, immediately after Christmas, I am bombarded with recommendations of crap I would never buy for myself in a thousand years. No, I am not interested in country music or home exercise equipment; I bought Taylor Swift and the yoga ball for OTHER PEOPLE. So give me back my Roman history recommendations, please.
Seriously, by failing to take this into account, they make their own recommendations software a joke.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-502932-100x100.png\")
@picardia: Amazon does allow you to do that. Just go into your recommendations and click \"improve your recommendations.\" A list of everything you've bought on amazon will pop up, and you can check \"this was a gift\" or \"don't use for recommendations\"(helpful for college students like me who sometimes purchase textbooks on amazon).
If the OP had done this, he wouldn't have gotten recommendations based on his wife's gift.
This is amatuer stuff.
While shopping for an engagement ring for my wife, I'm not entirely clear why, but one of the jewelry stores ended up with my phone number and then called my house and informed my girlfriend that they had reduced the price on the engagement ring I had looked at earlier in the week if I wanted to come in and take another look at it.
It was awesome.
I did not. I hadn't been that interested in their rings to begin with. (It was Zales, or one of the other mall jewelry stores.)
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-55114-100x100.png\")
I delete all cookies upon closing my browser because of similar shit that Amazon does.
I was browsing for a gift for my wife, didn't yet decide. The next day, I was at some other random site, and Amazon ads appeared on the page, with the specific items and similar items I checked out the day before.
Why should we as the consumers have to set up seperate email addresses, buy his and her computers, and jump through hoops to avoid emails we specificly ask not to receive.
Amazon dropped the ball trying to make another sale.
This EXACT same thing happened to us last year.
My wife bought me a couple of books for Christmas from Amazon and I ended up finding out because as soon as I pulled up amazon.com the front page listed her last things that she bought and also recommendations. I don't know her login information and it was an accident that I saw it.
I ended up having to show her how to clear the temporary internet files, cookies, etc. so that whenever she uses amazon or some place else to look up gifts at it won't pop up what she bought or any recommendations on what else she should buy.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-390703-100x100.png\")
I dunno, I have a hard time feeling bad for this guy. Yes, it sucks that your gift got ruined, but at the same time you're leaving all your emails hang open by using iGoogle. For this very reason I removed my gmail widget from the page for the Christmas season.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-358777-100x100.png\")
How about some praise for Amazon.com?! Amazon is the most sophisticated online shopping site on the planet (imo)! Their business model is right on the money and they are doing it right. I have never had a problem with them and so what if they ruined her Christmas surprise. It's not the end of the world.
@kaptainkk: I'd also like to sing Amazon's praises. I've gotten tons of stuff from them and they've always been wonderful about shipping on time and having items arrive as described. I had to return a malfunctioning iPod once, and they were great about it: paid for the shipping and everything. I even have the Amazon Visa, which lets me earn gift certificates with every purchase I make.
I *heart* you, Amazon!
@kaptainkk: Agreed. Amazon is awesome.
Also, they didn't ruin anything here. They followed their normal business practices, and the OP was too dense to sign up for his own Gmail account.
Recently made a purchase online from LLBean. When they sent me the email to confirm shipment it said in the subject line something to the effect of \"Your Recent LLBean Order (May contain gift information)\"
Thought that was a nice touch.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-327387-100x100.png\")
Wow. Thanks consumerist. I followed that other link to the thing about facebook beacon. I had no idea that it worked like that. I'm always logged in to facebook, so I got it blocked.
@Rhayader: Are you actually suggesting that people stop expecting random companies to know the home pages and email habits of each customer? Why that would require these shoppers to actually think about what they're doing and we all know that's insane. Shame on you for suggesting such a thing. Shame.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-24240-100x100.png\")
Staples did this to me a few years back (and then some!). I had pricematched a SWEET Garmin Quest to Costco with 10% of the difference (which was like $300+ difference). They then called me a day later and left a very long and detailed message on my home machine concerning EXACTLY what I had purchased, EXACTLY what I had paid for it, etc, etc. If they had simply emailed me, it would never have been a problem. Or a simple \"call us back!\" I don't remember the exact reason WHY they called, but it was post-Thanksgiving so they should have had at least half a clue.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-326654-100x100.png\")
I'll tell you what's FAIL - the awesome new trend of people saying everything is FAIL. Seriously, folks, we're IRL here, not on a gaming blog. When you're writing a complaint letter, let's leave out the lolcatz and failboats, okay?
Oh so very much in agreement here. Makes me cringe when I see someone proudly sending in their letter of complaint about some or other consumer issue, only to see that said letter is full of \"EPIC FAIL!!!\" and the like. Ugh.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-472231-100x100.png\")
Who the hell are these idiots that share accounts? They're almost as bad as the people who share email accounts. What the hell did he expect? What are the chances that Amazon might email you something concerning your order? Idiot.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-92684-100x100.png\")
@illtron: Even if they're using an old PC (or Mac), older operating systems like Windows 98 (& Mac OS 9) had multiple user accounts. Not up to par with the level of separation you get nowadays on a modern operating system, of course, but still a form of separation.
And Mozilla Seamonkey (formerly Netscape/the Mozilla suite) still lets you create and swap between multiple browser profiles even when you're using the same OS user account.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-1504-100x100.png\")
Amazon needs to offer a special \"I'm fooling around on my wife/girlfriend\" option. Don't want the wrong one to figure out there should be a diamond necklace under the tree (but there isn't).
Perhaps also an \"I'm a cross dresser and my wife doesn't know about it\" option.
If you let your wife read your email then it's really not Amazon's fault. Get a private email address!
Amazon ruined my Christmas in another way, I found you can see the received quantity of a wish list by using their web service APIs. I had setup an Amazon wish list for my family to get some gift ideas and noticed when calling some Amazon APIs to turn the wish list into an RSS feed (for aggregation with some other feeds) a QuantityReceived attribute was being returned with value 1. It turns out the Amazon web service was happy to tell me which items from the wish list were ordered, even though the web site only shows me the quantity as 'hidden'. I thought it was kinda funny, so be careful if you're using Amazon web services and have a wish list.
@Munchtime: Yeah I love Amazon too. What I don't love is JAG. My best friend does though so I bought her the seasons on DVD. I also bought baby stuff for a few people. The recommendations I've gotten since those purchases are pretty amusing. Based on their recommendations I should have a very spoiled child who has tons of toys to play with while I ignore him or her in favor of watching TV shows during my every waking hour.
wow, so the dude ordered something online for his wife and used the e-mail address he apparently shares with his wife as the e-mail address for the order and *Amazon* ruined Christmas!?! It's not even a problem of sharing computers, dude, don't share google accounts or e-mail accounts.
If only there were a way to get a free private e-mail account... oh yeah wait, there are about 100.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-692615-100x100.png\")
I'm a big fan of Amazon, but sometimes their recommendations make me chuckle. I once purchased a season of Star Trek: The Next Generation back in 2002, and in 2006 they send me a recommendation e-mail based on that purchase. ALF: Season 3 was available for pre-order and because \"other users\" had once bought Star Trek and recently pre-ordered(!!) ALF: Season 3, I would probably interested. I was not. I just want to meet the guy that had to be the first to buy the third season of ALF.
This is all USER ERROR, not amazon's fault.
I just bought a gift for the wife.
look at these gift options amazon has (check gift box)
\"esignating Orders as Gifts
We make it easy to send most items as gifts. You may send the items in your Shopping Cart to different shipping addresses--simply specify the name and shipping address of each recipient when you fill out the order form.
If the items are fulfilled by Amazon.com, click the View Cart icon at the top of our website when you're ready to complete your purchase, and check the box next to the line that reads \"Add gift-wrap/note.\" (If the item can't be wrapped, the line will simply read \"Add gift note.\") You can also find this checkbox in the blue Ready to Buy? box on an item's product detail page if your 1-Click® settings are turned on. If you choose not to gift-wrap the item (or the item can't be wrapped), the gift message will be printed on the packing slip.
Some items sold by Amazon Merchants, including selected items in the Gourmet and Apparel & Accessories stores, may be gift-wrapped or have a gift message included with the package. If this option is available for an Amazon Merchant item, you will see the phrase \"Gift options\" appear underneath the item on the last page of the order form. Click the \"Change\" link to select your gift wrap or messaging. The giftwrap cost, and an image of the wrapping if available, will be displayed on the resulting page.
At this time, you cannot designate items purchased from Amazon Marketplace sellers as gifts.
For items sold by Amazon.com, if you check the \"Add gift-wrap/note\" box, you can have us wrap your gift or add a free gift note. Please note that you must add a gift note or select wrapping for your order to be designated as a gift. Even if you are having the items shipped to yourself, you should let us know your order is a gift. Here's why:
We won't include the price of the items on the packing slip included with the order.
We will ignore items you order as gifts when recommending items to you based upon your past purchases.
If you purchase an item from a registry, we'll indicate that the item has already been purchased so the recipient doesn't receive a duplicate gift from someone else.\"
AND AFTER YOU Order a gift, Amazon has this warning:
\"Buying Gifts on a Shared Computer? Don't Spoil the Surprise
We use your shopping history to create recommendations for you. If you share a computer, this might give others hints of what you've been shopping for. You can prevent this by signing out of Amazon.
âºLearn more\"
Sometimes, you have to rip the user.
ATT sends a test message to everyone on the account when you purchase an iphone to says \"thank you for purchasing an iphone\" now. Thats how my friends found out his girlfriend got him one for christmas.
So...how is this Amazon's fault?
This is what happens when people think they are tech-savvy...
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Heaven help those who buy something for their girlfriend and their wife reads the Amazon E-mail.
She may wonder why the gift she got isn't the one he bought.
@Frank From Virginia: That's why I never buy presents for my wife or my girlfriend. Just way too easy to mess that one up.
Is the theme of this blog now \"the stupid things I've done with my computer\"? This doesn't even sound like it is about sharing computers, it is about sharing email accounts. While I admit there are benefits to sharing an Amazon account and/or an email account with your significant other, this is the kind of thing that is going to happen. Don't blame Amazon. They do try to help prevent this kind of thing. And don't waste our time.
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Amazon has a checkbox when ordering to mark something a \"gift\"
Why not have some logic in their software that removes that item from the \"up-sale\" and \"recommended\" database?
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Just to make sure I'm understanding this right... it's amazon's fault that he lets his wife read his email?
Amazon is sending out emails with personal information in the subject dialogue box. So guess what, your personal information like your name attached to your email address is no longer personal and floating around the Internet and space FOREVER! I've emailed Amazon, threatened them and sent the info to agencies like the ftc.gov , but Amazon doesn't care. Evidently consumer websites thinks it's pretty nifty too...
Oh no he said \"FAIL\" that means he's serious guys
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Who is Rob and why is he such an idiot?
I hope his wife got him a brain for Xmas!
This is like blaming Verizon when your wife goes to use your cell phone and sees you've been sending salacious text messages to your mistress.
I ordered a DVD Recorder for my sister last year. Amazon sent me a bread machine so I had to reorder and rush ship directly to my sister thinking I could wrap it when I got there. Unfortunately, they didn't put it in an Amazon box and just shipped the manufacturer's box. Surprise!
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This doesn't deserve to be posted. How can someone get mad when they choose to make their e-mail viewable in a feed-reader?
The spoiler is unfortunate, but blaming Amazon because you publicize your messages is incredibly short-sighted.
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The perfect solution to avoid this? Opt out of the freaking Amazon spam emails. It's simple.
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Buy.com called my wife and left a message on our answering machine to confirm that she was the one who made the purchase.
This was not the CC company, but buy.com and it was a dead giveaway since I had just updated my list with them and it had one item on it.
My kids found some presents we had hidden in our closet. I blame Target. Blast those bags with the red bullseyes all over them! So I can totally see where its Amazon's fault this guy isn't sneaky enough to cover his tracks.
This still doesn't beat my favourite \"YOU RUINED CHRISTMAS!!!\" incident.
I bid on a pair of secondhand rollerblades on eBay a few years ago. I won them. Then I got a message from the cheapskate underbidder, ranting at me that he had been trying to get those for his girlfriend and that I just HAD to go and bid on them, and thus, I had RUINED CHRISTMAS FOR (HIS) GIRLFRIEND!! (message was littered with assorted obscenities and insults).
I resisted the urge to respond, but did think up plenty of excellent rejoinders after the event.
Rarely used the damned rollerblades, and sold them for 3x what I paid when I moved to the US a few years later. Result!
Really? Aside from it being pretty much solely the OP's fault - He used a gmail (and maybe Amazon) account his wife has access to, he left said account open on a shared computer, etc. - how is Amazon supposed to know \"hey, don't send me stuff about this, it's a gift\" unless you, yknow, tell em? Which, crap, falls on the OP again.
Here's what I just got from Orvis on an order, very nice and appreciated (although this was for me).
\" Polite Warning - This may be a gift!
The following message may contain information about gifts to be delivered from Orvis.com. If you share this e-mail address with someone else and have not recently placed an order, please do not read the following. We do not want to spoil a surprise! \"
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Rob - you Bonehead.
It's YOUR fault for using the same address/account that allows your wife ACCESS to the same material.
Sheesh. Get creative. Use another account:
- Bigfoot.com
- yahoo.com
- Ymail.com
- Hotmail.com
- Rocketmail.com
- Inbox.com
- Email.com
...there are LOTS of places that will set you up with an account for FREE.
Maybe for Xmas, she'll get you a brain.
(yet i bet he still has a drivers license)
Hey, it's not just online retailers. Several years ago my wife went in with her family to surprise me for Christmas with a snow-thrower bought from Sears (yeah, I know, but it's been working decent...). On Christmas Eve(!), I answer the phone and it's a friendly associate congratulating me on the purchase of the snow-thrower and asking if I wanted to extend the warranty...I dutifully acted surprised when I was shown the gift...
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Huh? Sounds like a large amount of fail on Rob's part. Why should the rest of us have to suffer just because he made a mistake?
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I don't get it why amazon recommends stuff you already bought.
got this tonight @amazon:
Buying Gifts on a Shared Computer? Don't Spoil the Surprise
We use your shopping history to create recommendations for you. If you share a computer, this might give others hints of what you've been shopping for. You can prevent this by signing out of Amazon.
@badgeman46: I got a great email from them that the case I bought for my Creative Zen could be accessorized perfectly with a Creative Zen!
Why in the world would I have bought the case if I didn't already have a Zen?
A lot of listings are duplicates as well. Different releases, versions and marketplace sellers sometimes result in multiple listings for the same item and there doesn't seem to be anything in place to associate them with one another.
@badgeman46: Usually it's a situation where the email says something like \"Users that have already bought ****** have also enjoyed...\" So the reveal would be in the first part of the sentence, not the second.