You have just publicly announced that you're an asshole.

[rerant]

I didn't want to thread-jack the "I found a loophole and will tell all of my friends now!" thread, but the title reminded me of something that happened at my store recently.

For background, there was a misprint in our catalogue. To quote the catologue verbatim,

"This catalogue has been prepared by Ikea. Sources of supply and specifications are subject to change. Every reasonable effort will be made to ensure that all advertised merchandise is available in adequate supply. A high standard of accuracy has been sought in the preparation of this catalogue. Errors and omissions are always a possibility. Although Ikea cannot be held responsible, upon the discovery of any errors or omissions, all reasonable steps will be taken to inform Ikea customers."

This information is not in an obscure place in the catalogue. In fact it is on the very same page that lists store locations and maps.
Unfortunately we can't reprint and redistribute our catalogue, as it would be unreasonable, but our signs are correct and everyone who should be aware of this problem is, so they can properly inform the customers of it.

Now let me show you what the problem was: http://i30.tinypic.com/dzif53.jpg
Take note of the Ringum Rug for $16.99.
Now take note of the little number 6 beside the picture of the rug.
Now direct your attention to the lower left where the product descriptions are. Specifically to the first in the list, number 6, where it shows the Ringum Rug for $69.99.
$69.99 is the correct price. We do, in fact, have rugs of the same name for $16.99, but they are not the 130cm size. They're the smaller rugs you see on the same page at 70cm, product 5. On the opposite page the description for #5 aka the 70cm, $16.99 rug, tells as such.

So what happened? Whoever printed the catalogue mistakenly placed the $16.99 on the image for a rug of the same name, but the wrong size.
An honest mistake.

How did we learn of this mistake? Why an SC, of course.
Our signs show the 130cm rug as the correct price for $69.99, but Mr. Entitlement Whore, brandishing his catalogue, decided to make a stink about it at the registers.
As a courtesy the supervisor who dealt with this man decided to honour the price of $16.99, but made it very clear that he was not obligated to do so, and even showed him the text in the catalogue mentioning this fact, and reiterating the point that stores are not responsible for catalogue misprints.

Even though if the customer paid even the slightest amount of attention he'd have realised the proper price. Oh but I'm sure he read it just fine and thought he'd screw us over.

So what does this man do? Turn to everyone behind him in line and tell them about the printing error and that he just got his rug for $50 off.
Four more people pulled the same shit, and because they were there to witness one man getting the "advertised" price the supervisor had to honour it for them as well.

Total loss for the store that day: $250.

He couldn't have just taken his rug at the massively discounted (NOT advertised!) price. No, he had to rub it in and "stick it to us".
I really, really, really hope this man owns a small business and ends up getting screwed the same way he screwed us.

I know my store makes a lot of money and most people think that's justification for forcing us to lose money, but it's not.
Plus it makes you look like an incredible asshole and makes everyone who works in the store hate you.

[d962831]

wow, seems like not only was he an ass, everybody he turned to and told decided to be an ass. I think all the people who would have paid the correct price have all been driven away by the assholes, assholery. =P

[myswtghst]

I would have called him out, very loudly, about what a jackass he was being, had I been there. At worst, I might have shown the catalog to an employee and mentioned the misprint, but I wouldn't even expect a discount for a misprint, especially given what the fine print says.

[Bright_Star]

So the supervisor didn't have the backbone to stand up to the SC? What kind of crap is that?
Sooner or later stores are going to have to stand up to these entitlement whores who exploit even the smallest mistake. And until they do then they're going to lose money hand over fist. When retail as a whole realizes that this kind of crap eats into their profit margins then all hell is gonna break loose.

[mattm04]

we have similar disclaimer in our weekly fliers. Every once and a while a mistake happens, and we post signs at the registers, doors, courtesy desk and the item itself notified custoemr of the misprint. It never fails that some SC will demand the incorrect price. When we show them the disclaimer they will A) pay the correct price OR leave it behind or B) cry false advertising and demand a MOD. I don't remember our MOD's giving in to Mr. or Mrs. SC.

I'm sure the DM will be thrilled to see the $250 loss.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

The customer was an ass, but to me that looked like a pretty big error. If I see the price of an item printed on or near a picture of that item, I expect the item to be that price.

I don't always catch the small print. I'd like to think that doesn't make me an SC. I'd question it at the register but I would be polite about it.

What would most likely happen at my store in that instance is an ad correction sign would be downloaded and put up. This happens whenever price accuracy people from different stores start asking questions about something that seems possibly confusing.

Also at my store, we would've given any customer who complains the lower price. It's unofficial company policy to do so.

[rerant]

The customer was an ass, but to me that looked like a pretty big error. If I see the price of an item printed on or near a picture of that item, I expect the item to be that price.

I don't always catch the small print. I'd like to think that doesn't make me an SC. I'd question it at the register but I would be polite about it.

What would most likely happen at my store in that instance is an ad correction sign would be downloaded and put up. This happens whenever price accuracy people from different stores start asking questions about something that seems possibly confusing.

Also at my store, we would've given any customer who complains the lower price. It's unofficial company policy to do so.

Technically it wasn't a misprint, so much as it was, I don't know, a misplacement? I mean the $16.99 was for a Ringum rug, just one of a different size.
But that's all semantics that could be argued either way.

The supervisor who dealt with the man isn't a pushover by nature, but I guess was just trying to be accommodating. This man wasn't my customer so I can't say first hand how he was behaving, I can only base things on what I was told.
But even if he wasn't an SC to begin with her certainly became one when he pulled his little stunt of telling everyone else.

[Eric the Grey]

Also at my store, we would've given any customer who complains the lower price. It's unofficial company policy to do so.

Eventually, businesses will catch on to the fact that people play them this way and stop giving into them. Hopefully sooner than later.

If I were the store manager, I would have 86'ed the original guy permanently. Giving into his insistence of the lower price was a courtesy, and something they did NOT have to do.


Eric the Grey

[theredbaron47]

That man was an ass. I know there are a good amount of people out there who think that way, but most have the sense and dignity to keep it to themselves.

I'm making a post on Fratching now about whether or not stories like this add up to have an impact on the US economy nowadays, if anyone's interested. I'm interested in getting feedback about it.

[HawaiianShirts]

Reminds me of a bargain-hunter at my store a while back. Some guy's buddy was going to try to get him a good deal.

The company I work for has a clearance pricing system that is based on how long a particular product has been in stock at a specific location. If my store has had something for months with low sales, it might be on clearance while another store a state over just got the product the week before and so will sell it at regular price.

Customer came in and headed straight to the hard drives. He picked up two external network-ready terabyte drives (marked at $399.99) and took them up front. Moments later, I was called up for price verification. He had seen the tags on the shelf, but somehow expected a different price. I informed him that, yes, they were correctly marked at $399.

That's when he pulls out his cell phone and shows me a picture. "My friend just bought this same drive at one of your stores in Kansas (I'm in Utah) for $87. He sent me a picture of his receipt. See? You guys must have the price wrong."

I briefly explained the clearance thing and told him simply that we cannot match another store's clearance pricing. He tried to argue, but it didn't work. His final attempt was a typical SC battle tactic, but my co-worker ringing him out countered it very well.

SC: Whatever happened to "The customer is always right"?
Cashier: Did you see that the price tag on the shelf said $399?
SC: Yeah.
Cashier: Then you're right about one thing.

He muttered something about our company's supposed affinity for bovine fecal matter and left without making his purchase.

At least we won that SC battle. Rerant's customer is just a jerk. He must think he's somehow "beating the system" and wants to encourage all his fellow shoppers to similarly "stick it to the man." My SC was probably just looking to make a quick buck on eBay.

[hotelnpa]

we have similar disclaimer in our weekly fliers. Every once and a while a mistake happens, and we post signs at the registers, doors, courtesy desk and the item itself notified custoemr of the misprint. It never fails that some SC will demand the incorrect price. When we show them the disclaimer they will A) pay the correct price OR leave it behind or B) cry false advertising and demand a MOD. I don't remember our MOD's giving in to Mr. or Mrs. SC.

I'm sure the DM will be thrilled to see the $250 loss.

It gets accounted somehow, usually in the form of higher prices for us good customers.

[Tito]

Well, you know what they say, what goes around comes around. I'm sure that Mr. Entitlement Whore will eventually get his.

[rerant]

The company I work for has a clearance pricing system that is based on how long a particular product has been in stock at a specific location. If my store has had something for months with low sales, it might be on clearance while another store a state over just got the product the week before and so will sell it at regular price.

My store does the same thing. We even do it with certain items, where we only put specific, less popular colours, on sale.
It boggles people's minds to try and understand that individual stores will have their own clearance items, even though the big sales are always the same.
It's even worse trying to explain the idea that only certain colours are on sale.
Want to know why that lime green bookcase is on sale but the same bookcase in dark brown isn't? It's because no one was buying the lime green and we now have an assload of them we want to get rid of.

Sales online are even more annoying.
As I learned one day, if you order over $350 worth of items from our website they knock $50 off. That's probably because the shipping is more expensive online, as they do it by weight and distance, whereas in-store delivery is a flat fee. The prices to certain areas are different, but we don't charge by weight and it's always much cheaper than online shipping.
Somehow two customers managed to get a manager to knock off that $50 for them, even though they were buying their item in-store.
They were a really nice and friendly couple, but I still thought they were being jerks expecting money off, when that deal is only available online.