Error allows consumers to grab the Amazon Echo Dot for free; Amazon cancels the orders

You might have thought that Lady Luck was on your side on Friday when consumers had a brief window of opportunity on Amazon's web site allowing them to order the Amazon Echo Dot for free. This is the version of the Echo that resembles an overgrown hockey puck. Normally priced at $49.99, a "technical error" took the price down to $0 for a very short period of time. That was followed up with a note stating that the product was out of stock on the Amazon site before the Echo Dot returned online at its regular price.
The so-called "technical error" had to do with a promotion for audiobook service Audible that was accidentally applied to the Echo Dot. Amazon owns Audible, so it is possible that some cross-promotion between the Amazon Echo Dot and Audible is being prepped. Does that mean that the lucky ones who managed to snag an Echo Dot for free will get to keep the smart speaker that they "purchased?" In a word, the answer is no.

Now we do have to tell you that even though Amazon cancelled all of the orders for the Amazon Echo Dot that were mistakenly priced at zero, the company did not want those affected by the error to walk away empty handed. So Amazon issued a $5 credit to anyone who had an order for a free Echo Dot canceled. Instead of getting an Amazon Echo Dot sent to them for free, these consumers can now take advantage of a 10% discount to pay $44.99 for the Alexa powered smart speaker.

We would imagine that not everyone feels like this is a fair solution and some surely believe that Amazon should be bound to sell the device at the price it was listed at when the transaction was made. If that is how you feel, you can always try to get in contact with the powers that be at Amazon and try to persuade them to change their minds.

source: SlashGear via phonearena