Buy One Get 2nd One Free for $1.00

[Retail Associate]

Free! It's a wonderful word, isn't it? It's also quite mischievous, at my store anyway. Only customers can see the word Free on our sale signs because it seems to just disappear as soon as an SC tries to point it out to an employee.

We had several of our stupid 6 hour Thanksgiving Day sales today. Many items were Buy One Get 2nd One for $1.00. However, as we all know, SCs can't read. So, most of them were seeing Buy One Get 2nd One Free, totally blocking out the 'for $1.00.'

A very confused man needed an explanaton of the signs. Why? Because even though the sign clearly stated Buy One Get 2nd One for $1.00, he saw Buy One Get 2nd One Free for $1.00 and coulnd't understand how something that's supposed to be free should cost him a dollar?

That nasty little, mischievous, four-letter word.

.

[Kat33auS]

Another mischievous four-lettered word is 'each'.

Cheeky little thing, always disappearing from the signs and making the customers think that it's '4 shirts/boardies for $15' (or '4 for $22', in one customer's case) instead of '4 for $15 each' (they sell at $22 each individually).

Since our signs are (mostly) handwritten, I was able to 'anchor' that little sneak with an underline and added a 'save $##' in the corner as a backup.

[bainsidhe]

At my previous job, I worked in a video store. Sometimes we would run specials on certain DVDs, such as buy 2 get the 3rd free. Customers would ignore where the fine print said that the lowest price DVD was free. So, they would come to the front with two $9.99 DVDs and expect to get the $24.99 DVD free. Then they'd get all upset when we gently explained that it didn't work that way. I'd like to say they had a pair of brass ones, except this happened so often it wasn't unique.

[worddork]

Don't forget those cheeky bastard words "up to", as in "All stock up to 80% off". Some for our customers could not understand way some $40 books were $8, while others were only $35. Cause those are not under the 80% umbrella, their under the "up to" umbrella, meaning not 80% but still at some % off.

[Saydrah]

Up to! Those are the words I have grown to despise the most of any words in retail EVER.

"This item is 75% off, it came from the clearance table. You only took 10% off."

"No, Ma'am, the clearance items are UP TO 75% off."

"Why are you always trying to CHEAT ME??!"

.....facepalm.

The worst was when we had a whole batch of things that we were instructed to place on the clearance table marked down by... are you ready for this?

EXACTLY ONE CENT.

Of course we priced them all individually, as we did with every clearance item, but the complaints, oh boy the complaints! Heck, I complained too- that's just insulting to mark something down a penny. Don't mark it down at all and just stick a 'discontinued' tag on it.

[Catwoman2965]

Or how about when the sign says, as my store does "25-40% off the ORIGINAL price" - and the prices are marked down, to you guessed it, the price WITH the percentage off! They always thought it was an ADDITIONAL percent off the marked down price . Sorry, it doesn't work that way! I've learned, as a power shopper, to read the signs. SOme say that, and others say "x % off the lowest marked price"

And then there are those people who don't understand why one pair of pants is marked at $29 and another, similar, but NOT identical, are $39 - i don't set the prices, corporate does, and we just follow them! But they seem to think since they are both brown or black, they should be the same price! No matter that they are different styles, fabrics, etc.

[NateTheChops]

Or how about explaining to people the whole "Buy One, Get One" Free conundrum.

It doesn't mean you only pay for one item. You basically pay for both items and they're at half price. We still have to scan each item though so our inventory is accurate.

Although it would be nice if the advertising guys would just come right out and say, "Two for the Price of One" but it must have something to do with space.

[Namrepus221]

Here's something from Consumerist (that does the same thing as this site but is geared to complaining about idiot customer service reps who lie about things to save their job, tech support that denies that Mac's are a valid form of computing and will soon be extinct, and Cable and Telephone installers that set your house on fire or fall asleep ont he couch)

http://consumerist.com/consumer/badv...ive-315795.php

Read what that advert says really closely.

Do you get the coffee free, or do you get it for the price of the other coffee?

Which is it?

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

The worst was when we had a whole batch of things that we were instructed to place on the clearance table marked down by... are you ready for this?

EXACTLY ONE CENT.

Oh for fuck's sake...If that's all you're going to mark the stuff down, then don't mark it down at all.

[marty]

My store occasionally runs a buy two get one free thing on our used items, and it never fails that at least one person during my shift will bring up two items, start yelling at me when one of them isn't free, babbling about their "BUY ONE GET ONE FREE" because they didn't bother reading anything more than the words buy, get, and free...no matter about the numbers.

[Namrepus221]

Oh for fuck's sake...If that's all you're going to mark the stuff down, then don't mark it down at all.

Sears marks down Treadmill -$0.91
http://consumerist.com/consumer/erro...lls-324702.php

Toys R Us saves you -$10 on Fisher Price kitchen playset
http://consumerist.com/consumer/badv...+10-319089.php

Roses $4.99 for a 1/2 Dozen
http://consumerist.com/consumer/badv...ing-299768.php

[Jacen]

Oh for fuck's sake...If that's all you're going to mark the stuff down, then don't mark it down at all.

Marking it down by one cent... I think it's the whole making the customer think their getting a deal... Lemme explain. Australia has no 1 cent coins, so we round it up.

Brand A Apples are 4.99.
Brand B Apples are 5.00.

Now put yourself in the mindset of a sucky customer, which would you go for? :P

Well, thats my theroy anyway.

[Saydrah]

Oh for fuck's sake...If that's all you're going to mark the stuff down, then don't mark it down at all.

That's what I thought- but apparently they decided in order to clear space on the shelves and move the discontinued items to the clearance rack, they had to mark them down at least a little- so that's what they did. I do not have a facepalm.jpg strong enough to express my opinion of that decision.

[Camry178]

I get the dopes that bring in a coupon that says "$75 off" and swear it says "75% off".....How the hell do you mistake those two signs? They on different sides of the freakin' number!!!!

[MrSunshineState]

I get the dopes that bring in a coupon that says "$75 off" and swear it says "75% off".....How the hell do you mistake those two signs? They on different sides of the freakin' number!!!!

You think customers are educated?