Today, I had an interesting experience with Buy.com.  I wanted to purchase the Aladdin video for my two boys.  It is not currently being manufactured by Disney for distribution.  It is available through eBay (i.e., I noticed some auctions for the video).  In addition, it is available for sale at Amazon.com for $34.99.  It was not available at eToys, ToysRus, Wal*Mart, Target (pronounced Tarzjay), etc.  I did see a video item listed as "Aladdin" at Buy.com for $11.49 (regular price of $19.99).

Given the low price, I was suspect that this was not the Robin Williams Disney Aladdin version that I desired.  In addition, the description of the video was "A young man journeys to far-Away lands to claim a magic lamp and a beautiful princess."  Maybe I missed that part when I saw it in the movie theater.  The release date listed was 3/24/93, and it said it came in "Clamshell Casing."  I believe that all Disney animation features come in this type of casing, and I thought that Aladdin was released on video during the first half of 1993.  Given my uncertainty, I contacted Buy.com customer service to ask if this was indeed the "right" video.

First, I contacted their online assistant.  The wait was fairly long, though they did indicate in the online assistant window that the wait would be a while, and that if it was too long, they would send me an email reply to my question.  I decided to call their toll free customer service telephone number while I waited for the online assistant to show up.  The telephone assistant arrived first, so, I closed the online assistant window.  I asked whether this item was the Robin Williams Disney version of Aladdin.  The assistant put me on hold and checked with someone in the warehouse.  It was relayed to me that the person in the warehouse said that the item "probably" was the one I was looking for, however, they could not say with certainty. Hmmm.  I then asked the customer service person, if I did purchase the video, and it was not the "right" one, would they pay for the return shipping.  Her reply was "no, sorry."  Talk about the wild west.  It's 1999 and they are supposed to be battling to get customers.  I did not place an order.  This experience makes me hesitant to deal with Buy.com in the future.  I guess you need to know your products very well before you order with Buy.com. 

My online assistant question and the Buy.com email response were as follows:

Question: I am looking to buy the Disney video "Aladdin."  You list one with the following SKU: 40040746.  I am looking for the animated video with Robin Williams as the Genie.  The description does not fit my recollection of the Disney video (i.e., A young man journeys to far-away lands to claim.) 

Answer: Bruce,
Thank you for writing us at Buy.com.
Unfortunately, the supplier did not provide us with any further information on that item. You may want to contact Disney directly for more information, or possibly your local video store to verify that is the correct one you are looking for.
Thank you for shopping at BUY.COM - The Internet Superstore!

(If we were playing "Who wants to be a millionaire,"  I  could imagine the following additional dialogue:
Me:            Final answer?
Buy.com:   Yes, that's our final answer.
Me:            Are you sure?
Buy.com:   Yes, we are sticking with "B, good luck to you."
Me:            You can still use your lifelines.  Want to use 50/50?
Buy.com:    No, we're confident.
Me:            How about calling a friend?  AT&T pays for it.
Buy.com:    No, we're sure.
Me:            You could ask the audience.
Buy.com:    Ok, ok, we'll ask the audience.
Me:             The audience doesn't agree with you.  Ninety-nine percent
                   believe that the correct answer is "A."
Buy.com:    The audience is never wrong, but we feel the answer is "B";
                   that's our final answer.
Me:            When a consumer asks you to describe definitively a product
                   that you list for sale, the correct answer is "A," describe the product
                   definitively for the consumer.  I'm sorry, your answer is incorrect.
                   Thank you for playing "Who wants to be a millionaire."
Buy.com:    Well, we came with nothing...
Me:             List in order the following companies to go out of business starting
                    with the earliest...)

The Disney website and a Disney store sales representative were unable to help me determine whether the video was released on 3/24/93.  West Coast Video was able to tell me that Disney's Aladdin was released in May of 1993.  I'm still going to check this out a bit further.