Gazing into the abyss....

[EvilEmpryss]

I came *this*close* to being an SC myself....

I'm at the local grocery store, where they have a sale on charcoal briquettes. I see a display of the expensive brand with $2 off stickers on them, plus a sign above that Clearly states (in 4-inch bold letters) "Buy One, Get One Free". Yippee! I get two dollars off, and I get a BOGOF at the same time!

So I put four bags in my cart (see, I'm not greedy, I didn't try to haul 50 pounds of briquettes out of the store) and head for the register. They ring them up, and the price is more than I expected but I pay it and get out of the way to look at my receipt without holding up the line. I see that they charged me for four bags and took the $2 off each, but no BOGOF.

So I ask to see a manager, and tell her I saw the BOGOF sign above the charcoal. She didn't recall the sign, so she offered to go find it with me. Off we trot and sure enough there's the sign, right above the charcoal.... and in 1/2" letters at the bottom of the sign is a reference to the store-brand bags of shrimp that are on sale in the refrigerator unit behind the charcoal! I stood there for a moment, looking between the sign, the display, and the manager, and for just a moment the words were on the tip of my tongue: "But the sign is misleading...." The words that actually came out of my mouth?

"Oh! Okay then, my bad. Sorry." And I left with my expensive charcoal (which made for some very nicely grilled steaks last night).

Yay, I have gazed into the abyss of sucky customerhood, but I was able to pull myself back without losing my soul.

[seigus]

I have to say that does seem misleading...

[rerant]

I've almost done the same thing SO many times.
Now I'm in the habit of checking barcode numbers on signs.
Even if the sign SAYS it's for something I make sure the barcode numbers on the sign match the barcode numbers on the product. It makes my grocery shopping go about twice as slow (I'm a major sale hunter) but it saves a hassle at the checkout.

[Victoria J]

Angrily insisting on the discount and claiming it was "misleading advertising" would be sucky.

Saying "Sorry, my mistake - but it really would be sensible if you put the sign up on the refrigerator" would not (in my opinion) by sucky. You could even save them some hassle in the long run.

Being a good customer shouldn't have to mean keeping quiet when you think something is wrong.

Victoria J

[EvilEmpryss]

I would have said something, but as we were standing there, the manager was inching closer to the sign as we spoke asn as soon as I apologized she had it in her hand and was moving it. I'm pretty sure she'd have given me the BOGOF deal if I had pushed it, but I wasn't feeling particularly cranky that day, so I didn't.

[ReverendBSB]

Briquettes? Ewwww. Natural Lump Charcoal is the only way to go.

But seriously, you were okay. They should have placed the sign better.

[jjllbb]

I am SO proud of you!!!!!!!! Awesome.

[Canarr]

Well, to be fully honest - companies DO use misleading signs. Intentionally.

I don't know how exactly it is in the US; but here in Germany, SALE! signs are geared towards drawing customers in, and similar to the sign EE saw, the restrictions are often shown only in fine print: a sign showing 80% OFF! in 36 pt lettering will have a tiny, tiny, 2 pt "up to" added to the left of it. All relying on people overlooking the small details, buying stuff they don't need, and then being too timid at the checkout to complain.

Yes, it only harms those that don't accurately read the signs, and it's their own fault for that. But that doesn't make it okay to intentionally mislead customers, IMO. And it is one factor that contributes to the development of SCs - but of course, that in no way makes it okay to go off on an innocent employee who has no control over design and placing of the signage.

[/rant]

In any case: good for you, EE, to have kept your inner SC in check. And now I want steaks...

[ta2ooed1]

Briquettes? Ewwww. Natural Lump Charcoal is the only way to go.

But seriously, you were okay. They should have placed the sign better.

Hey at least it wasn't gas

[EricKei]

Well, to be fully honest - companies DO use misleading signs. Intentionally.

I don't know how exactly it is in the US; but here in Germany, SALE! signs are geared towards drawing customers in

They most certainly do it here. Maybe the stores there learned it from us >_<

A fancy little grocery store I used to work at, as a teen, was fond of putting up signs which read ON SALE or SPECIAL .... next to items which had not actually been discounted in any way. The proper term would be "For Sale", not "On Sale" -- When I confronted my then-employer about it, he blew me off and claimed that they meant the same thing...

I can guarantee you that pretty much any sign you see here with the word FREE on it will have the word FREE in huge type, and the limitations in very small print somewhere near the bottom...

[gremcint]

No frill's recently went back to selling 24's of pop instead of 18 packs. I asked the guy was filling up the shelf if the 6.99 applied to the 24's, he checked and said yes. I get up to the register: 8.99. I had them price check and the guy was wrong but they still discounted it for me. That doesn't bug me, what bugs me is when they put up a sign saying mccain pizzas are on sale for 4.99 it doesn't say assorted flavours or anything it just says mccain pizzas and the price but then cresecendo pizzas (which are awesome and made by mccain) won't be on sale. Now that is misleading.

[EvilEmpryss]

It's amazing how saavy you have to be to shop anymore. My pet peeve is the "last up to XX hours" or whatever the measurement is (this example will be light bulbs). The corporate lawyers know that with phrases like that, if the lightbulb turned on for even a second, there's no legal loophole for a lawsuit: They listed the possible maximum, but never promised a minimum performance standard.

I will always choose a product or sale based on the words "at least" or "starting at" over the words "up to", 'cuz I can tell you where I've had it "up to" with that practice.

[Canarr]

My favorite was a lottery (or similar) that promised, "Up to 3 prizes guaranteed!"

Up to, hm? So, anywhere between 0 and 3? Now where's the guarantee in that?

[EricKei]

That doesn't bug me, what bugs me is when they put up a sign saying mccain pizzas are on sale for 4.99 it doesn't say assorted flavours or anything it just says mccain pizzas and the price but then cresecendo pizzas (which are awesome and made by mccain) won't be on sale. Now that is misleading.

Well...if the Crescendo's say something like MCCAIN'S PIZZA and have Crescendo listed like it's a flavor, I agree with you 100%. If it says CRESCENDO PIZZA and has McCain's in small print somewhere on there, maybe not...But they do need to work on the signs and clarify that stuff, anyway. I don't think the stores around here can go a week without having additional details HAND WRITTEN on at least one Sale sign.

[gremcint]

Well...if the Crescendo's say something like MCCAIN'S PIZZA and have Crescendo listed like it's a flavor, I agree with you 100%. If it says CRESCENDO PIZZA and has McCain's in small print somewhere on there, maybe not...But they do need to work on the signs and clarify that stuff, anyway. I don't think the stores around here can go a week without having additional details HAND WRITTEN on at least one Sale sign.

And the kinds that were on sale were like the international ones, so it's not just plain pizzas. The sign had nothing but Mccain pizzas, price and date. Next time I'm asking to speak to a manager because they should honour it.