By Vitor Ferrari and Ivan Kubala

In the early hours of Wednesday, January 25, 2021, Amazon Brazil launched a series of discount coupons for various products on its online delivery website. However, a flaw in the system for generating and applying these coupons allowed customers to accumulate discounts by entering more than one coupon when finalizing their payment for their purchases. There were cases of customers who received large discounts on their purchases, with amounts exceeding R$300.00. This caused great losses to the company, which, as soon as it realized the error, revoked all coupons. Hours later, Amazon itself issued a statement: “There was a problem on our website that was quickly fixed. We apologize for any inconvenience caused and will contact the affected customers,” the company said in its electronic customer service. However, they did not respond to whether all consumers who purchased products using the cumulative coupons would receive their orders. In fact, consumers reported that their purchases were canceled by Amazon, without any justification or warning. From a legal standpoint, the company's decision to cancel orders made with cumulative coupons is reprehensible. It is a civil offense, since the consumer cannot be harmed by a company error. Furthermore, the Consumer Protection Code in article 39, items II and IX protects the consumer in this case, stating that the company cannot refuse to meet the consumer's demands if it has stock, nor refuse to sell goods or provide services to anyone who wants to purchase them. If necessary, the consumer can demand forced fulfillment of the offer, as provided for in article 35, item I, of the same Code. It is worth noting that this type of problem is more than just a mere annoyance, and if the consumer is willing to have their goods back, they can, and should, contact qualified and experienced professionals. This way, the dispute will be resolved without any major disruptions.

With the collaboration of Luís Felipe Meira Marques Simão