The Government you say?

[He who Attends]

OK this was from a week or so ago, it's the first day of our new flyer (they start on Friday) and I'm working self-check.

one of the new people on the normal checkout next to me asks me to come over for a second so being the nice guy i am i hurry over.

ME = totally nice guy
SC = nuf said
CW= Co-worker

ME: what's up?
CW: we have a 2 pack of furnace filters in the flyer but SC can't find them.
ME: OK sir I'll just check to make sure we have some.
SC: well you should!

now at this point i know this isn't going to go down smooth at all because i can tell SC has a bad attitude but i check to see if we have any in stock anyway.

ME:sorry sir but we don't have any in stock
SC: you know That's illegal right!
ME:????? no?
SC: well last time i was talking to the government, it was illegal for you not to carry something that was in your flyer! (word for word, i swear it's burned into my brain XD)

now at this point I'm sorry to say i lost it just a little, you don't come in my store and accuse it and by extension everyone that works there of being a criminal based on fictitious laws you made up in your head.

ME: No sir it is not, we have a clothing store inside our store, there for we do not carry clothing even though it is in the flyer, it's a nation wide flyer and it states in the flyer that not all items are available in all stores! if you would like i can check the computer to see if they have any.
SC: (sputtering about it being illegal while everyone in line glares at him) fine do that.
ME: the store in (area outside the city) has 3, no one else has any.
SC: (holding up 2 separate filters) can't i just get these 2 for the sale price!?
ME: no sir the 2 pack on sale is a 99 number and there for you can only get the sale price on the 2 pack.
SC: well then i don't want them!!
ME: that's fine.

i walked over and took the filters from him and put them behind customer service, when i came back to my station he stared at me for about a min as if expecting me to cave in or something so i just stared at him with the least caring face i could muster and still seem polite. after a few seconds of that he stormed out.

turns out that the 2 pack was discontinued but the flyers are made almost a year in advance lol.

that's it for now :P

[Department stores *sigh*]

Personally I always thought that it WAS illegal to not have something in stock when advertised when I worked at my last store. Then I found out that was what they said because they would bend over backwards to either replace the product or raincheck it. At my 'new' job (been here three years) I find its more of a store courtesy if they decide to raincheck or sub any items.

[Pimento]

Wow in the auto industry we have to include stock numbers of the advertised vehicles, and it is VERY illegal, considered a bait and switch if we dont have that unit on the lot.

[Department stores *sigh*]

Thats why like the OP says there is a nice loophole on the flyer in some places 'Subject to availability, may not be available in certain locations' Where I work I can only think of one time we didnt have what was on sale and that was because the flyer posted 2 sku's and we only had one of them since one item was since discontinued

[roguesqd]

happens quite frequently, I have several times seen the lumber store but items in the national flyer that are only available on west coast stores, which is why the back page normally has half a page of legalize in small print on it

[Mnemjian]

Well, yeah, I was just texting my government and I asked it about this, and it was all, "yeah u cant just be all like lying about ur stuffs. that aint rite yo." Straight from the horse's mouth

Wow in the auto industry we have to include stock numbers of the advertised vehicles, and it is VERY illegal, considered a bait and switch if we dont have that unit on the lot.

Just wondering, but what if you sell the vehicle?

[bainsidhe]

Many fliers also state "limited quantities available". Most stores aren't trying to screw customers over, since that shoots down any chances of repeat customer business. It's just impractical and impossible to stock everything all the time. Fliers are created many months ahead of time and some products are simply not available. The infamous Zhu Zhu pets would be a perfect example. Around Christmas, every large retailer had the things plastered in the ads, yet nobody could get any in stock, which made of a lot of unhappy Santas, err parents.

[dalesys]

...Zhu Zhu pets .. which made of a lot of unhappy Santas Satans, err parents.

Reality checked

[Kristev]

That SC didn't get it. Stores aren't out to cheat their customers - they're out to cheat their employees.

[RetailSlave]

Reminds me of the customer we had a few years back. One of our frequent sale items is the big jugs of Dynamo detergent on a Buy One, Get Two Free sale. At the time they were introducing the 2x concentrate formula, but our ad showed both the regular and the 2x version.

Woman comes steaming up to the desk, "I want the Dynamo in the big jugs, but all you have are the Dynamo 2x. Can you see if you have any in the back or can I get a raincheck?" I call the grocery side manager, and he explains that the company has discontinued the regular Dynamo, it is no longer being made and we can't get it. I relay this information to the woman.

"What? But you have it in your ad? That is false advertising! I am going to call the Better Business Bureau on you! I use that to pretreat my clothes...I don't want the 2x!!!" I explain to her that the 2x just means that it is concentrated 2 times, so she isn't paying for and having to lug a bunch of water. I also explain to her that our ads are printed weeks in advance and that we can't guarantee that something will be in stock, that probably they didn' tknow that they would be discontinuing the item when the ads were made up. I told her that all she had to do was dilute it half and half with water and it would be the same as the regular Dynamo. She blew up and demanded to talk to a manager. I called my Team Leader out to speak with her, conversation was basically the same as with me, false advertising, BBB yada yada yada. She then wanted to talk to the store director..same thing! She was ranting to customers waiting in line at the Service Desk the whole time, and finally yelled that she was going to the BBB, the media and everyone else she could think of. WTF, could her brain not wrap around the fact of 2x concentrate????

[chainedbarista]

i would think it would be difficult to make that illegal because:

the store can run out of advertised product before the sale ends

they get a snafu in shipment

the warehouse won't ship more because they have run out as well

either way, the guy's a prickazoid.

[Pimento]

Well, yeah, I was just texting my government and I asked it about this, and it was all, "yeah u cant just be all like lying about ur stuffs. that aint rite yo." Straight from the horse's mouth



Just wondering, but what if you sell the vehicle?

In that case we have to be able to prove that the vehicle was sold after the ad went out to the public, if we sell the vehicle and can still edit the ad we are required to do so.

I dont envy the newspaper ad reps who deal with car dealerships at all!

[RxBoy]

In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission has what is called the "Unavailability Rule". Basically, you cannot advertise an item at a bargain price and deliberately not have adequate stock of the item available. Stores can either offer rainchecks or substitute comparable items at a comparable reduction in price if they run out of something or they must be able to show that they placed an order for an adequate amount of product in time to receive it for the sale but did not get the ordered product through no fault of their own.

This does not apply if the ad states that quantities are limited (special buys, seasonal stuff, etc.) or that the item is not available at all locations.

[Kristev]

That explains why the store manager at my place goes on a buy ordering spree whenever they start a major sale (beyond our already low wages, I mean prices. Prices, price, prices. Once upon a time we had the lowest prices in town. Now, no one's prices are low anymore.