Looking to capitalize on the forthcoming Valentine’s Day holiday, Amazon.com came up with a list of the 20 “most romantic cities” in the U.S. Three of the entries are part of the Washington, DC, metro area.

1. Alexandria, Va.
2. Cambridge, Mass.
3. Miami, Fla.
4. Irvine, Calif.
5. Ann Arbor, Mich.
6. Orlando, Fla.
7. Berkeley, Calif.
8. Scottsdale, Ariz.
9. Arlington, Va.
10. Atlanta, Ga.
11. Washington, D.C.
12. Pasadena, Calif.
13. Bellevue, Wash.
14. Seattle, Wash
15. San Francisco, Calif.
16. Columbia, S.C.
17. Tallahassee, Fla.
18. Austin, Texas
19. Richmond, Va.
20. Knoxville, Tenn.

The list is based upon the book buying habits of the cities on Amazon, namely romance novels and books otherwise on sex and relationships. With that criteria, I’d say the above cities spend far too much time reading about it and not nearly enough time doing it.

Is it just me, or does anyone else think that the shaker part of these Dachshund Salt & Pepper Shakers was unfortunately placed?

Amazon.com acquires Digital Photography Review? Wine Library TV gets Cork’d? What is this, Acquisition Day?

Two bits from today’s Washington Post:

• Macs and Grant Site Just Don’t Click: Grants.gov was to be Mac-compatible this year, but with a vendor contract expiring in November, grant applicants are unsure if the site will work for them by the February 1 application deadline.
• Apple Unveils Online Movie Store: iTunes users can now buy movies in the iTunes Music Store; 75 launch titles — all from Disney — are now available, ranging in price from USD 9.99 to 14.99. Amazon.com beat them to the punch last week, though, with its Unbox service. Video downloads from Amazon are only compatible with media players using Windows’ Plays for Sure technology.

Ah, the joy that is online shopping.

When it was first available for pre-order back in December, I reserved a copy of the latest tome in the Harry Potter saga, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, at Amazon.com. After seven months of patient waiting, I received an email confirmation this week that my order was processed, packaged, and on its way to me — a guaranteed delivery by 7:00 p.m. on the release date, which was today.

I received in the confirmation a UPS tracking number, which I kept handy so I could track its progress as it journeyed to my doorstep. Today finally arrived and I tracked my package once more to make sure it would arrive. I was left confident that it would.

Alas, it didn’t.

When 7:00 p.m. came and the book didn’t, I started making phone calls to get answers. I first called UPS, as they would likely best know where my book was. Fortunately, they did know where it was; unfortunately, it was with the post office. It turns out that when Amazon.com does these guaranteed release date deliveries, they somehow get UPS to expedite them to the US Postal Service so they can deliver.

Of course, I had no USPS tracking number, and no one could provide it. I wound up searching through Amazon.com’s help files to find this:

In the event of a missed delivery, we will refund the cost of the book, but will not refund any shipping costs that were charged. Note: this does not apply if delivery is attempted, but no one is available to accept the package.

This applies to me in that (a) I ordered the book before July 11 and asked for standard shipping, and (b) no evidence of a delivery attempt (i.e., missed delivery notice) was present. Amazon.com only offers customer support by email — a dubious practice at best — so, I sent them this:

My copy of ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ has not arrived. I called UPS with the tracking number and was told my local post office was to deliver it by 6:00 p.m., an hour earlier than Amazon.com’s guarantee of 7:00 p.m.

There was no evidence of a delivery attempt. My mail carrier did not leave a notice of any sort.

As it is now past 7:00 p.m. and my book has not arrived, I would like a refund of my purchase as outlined on your website.

Thank you for your consideration.

Alfredo Alvarez

Within four hours, I got a response:

Thank you for writing to Amazon.com.

I am very sorry that your copy of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” did not arrive on Saturday, July 16.

Because your order qualified for Saturday delivery and you did not receive the book on Saturday, I have requested a refund for the book’s cost, $17.99. This amount should appear as a credit on your next credit card billing statement.

In looking at your order, I see that the package is in transit.

I am fairly confident that your package will be delivered by the close of business on Monday, July 18.

I apologize that we were not able to fulfill your expectations for this important order. We do appreciate your business and hope that you will visit us again soon at Amazon.com.

So, yay! Rather than be out $21 ($17 for the book + $4 shipping), I’m only out $4, and I only have to wait another two days (well, technically three, but that’s another story). Hey, at $4, that book is quite a steal — it’s 87% off the cover price!

It’s not that I’m an impatient kid who has to have the book the second it comes out — there’s a principle involved! I was promised something that wasn’t delivered. It’s only fair I exact my due.