Beware: Misleading Ads Are Rampant

[Seeker47]

If the price is good, maybe you'd like to buy locally and avoid the shipping weight / bulk problem ? But major companies are using semi-sleazoid marketing practices. Right now, OfficeMax has the Verbatim +R DL 10-packs for twenty bucks. A major ad prominently mentioned this, both in print and online. Pretty good price, No ? (Much better than the usual $5.50 to $6. apiece.) I went to one of their superstores, and found out they'd had just 20 units of this item to sell, and sold the last one an hour before I got there. This sale item also disappeared off their website a full 24 hours before the sale was scheduled to end. To their credit, their website listed a Customer Service #, where a live rep made good on the offer.

Best Buy has the identical offer this week. I stopped in to the local store today, and they had also sold out of their (no more than) 20 units. Ah yes, American marketing at its best. I'm not expecting that stores should stock big stacks of a loss leader. But 20 units or less per store, on an inexpensive item, in a major metropolitan area . . . ?!

Neither chain gives rain checks. I don't know if BB online would be as forthcoming as OfficeMax was.

While we're at it, BB and CompUSA have the Sony 8X -R or +R 50-spindles on sale for $18. this week. Less than half of the spindles say MIJ, though, so you have to check.

[Seeker47]

I should have noted that the OfficeMax sale ended Saturday, 11/12. The BB and CompUSA sales I mentioned are current as of this writing, though I don't know the end dates.

[redwudz]

Staples does a similar thing. Apparenlty on some bigger ticket sale items, the local store is just given one item. I got my HP laptop that way. I got to the store first and found a clerk I knew. He found the only laptop hidden away on a shelf in the front of the store, not the storeroom where it was supposed to be. There was about six people lined up with the sales ad. I bought it and left quickly.

I was about to get a 300Gb hard drive last week from Staples when they told me they sold out. They had 5 of them only. I went home and went on their web page and ordered it online for the same price and they will deliver it in 3 days. It will be shipped to the local store then delivered to me at home. It's funny the local store can't get it, but they will be the ones delivering it.

On any of those ads, if they sell out, check their website. It may still be available for the same price.

[Mark_Venture]

Neither chain gives rain checks. I don't know if BB online would be as forthcoming as OfficeMax was.

Last time I went to purchase some Fuji's on sale and they were out, BB did give rain checks. (ok, this was about 5 months ago...)

Looking closer at the flyer from the paper.. Page 39 states

Rainchecks and Limitations: Unless noted, rainchecks are available for advertised products, We reserve the right to limit quantities. Unless noted otherwise, Best Buy rebates limited to one per product per household or address. Other limitations may apply.

HOWEVER since this is not a "sale price" but rather an "instant rebate" maybe that is why no rain check is offered??

Not trying to defend BB, just thinking about decptive ways they can use to get around saying "limited quantities, no rain checks" and get a way with it.

Face it.. if they say "sale price, limited quantities, no rain checks" you are far less likely to take a chance and go to the store.... therefore you don't step foot in side.... If they get you inside, chances are you'll purchase something else....

To me that is a POOR TRICK to play on a customer, or potential customer...

Then again, all I ever buy at BB anymore is blank DVD's because of things like this...

[Nelson37]

These tactics are not really new. My personal favorite is P.T. Barnum's "This way to the Egress, 5 cents". An "egress" is the exit.

In many Las Vegas casinos, you can actually buy 6 dollars for 5. The trick is you get it in quarters, and you have to go past all the slot machines on the way out.

These are all based on "get the customer in the front door". Caveat Emptor.

[lordsmurf]

These are not really tactics. Not as often as you'd want to think, at least.

Stores rarely know what goes on sale next week more than a few days in advance. So the store may be low on stock on the weekend the sale starts.

Generally, if you see a sale, go to the store on Tuesday or Thursday. Those are the popular re-stock days at stores. That tip was passed on to me by managers of office, retail and electronics stores several years ago, and it's almost never let me down. Just ask a manager when his next truck comes in, for this kind of product, and they'll usually tell you. Just make sure to go there before 2:00pm or so, don't wait until everybody else gets off work at 5-6 and runs there to shop. Then you'll be screwed, and back at square one.

Good luck.

oh ... and today is Tuesday

[Quantum]

In defense of a couple of the stores, Microcenter's local retail outlet has had the 10 packs for $19.99 and plenty (read 6 shelves full) of the Verbatim DL's for 3 weeks now. Best Buy had some on the shelf two days after the sale started when I was in there. I can believe OfficeMax being out of stock. People line up Sunday mornings to get the hot sale items there because quantities are so limited.

Some states require stores to offer rainchecks. Look at ads that are printed nationally and then local for fine print disclaimers that rainchecks are offered in Michigan, ect.

[CaptainVideo]

If BB or OfficeMax is sold out, take the ad to a competitor. Most of these stores all price match + an additional 10% off.

[Seeker47]

In defense of a couple of the stores, Microcenter's local retail outlet has had the 10 packs for $19.99 and plenty (read 6 shelves full) of the Verbatim DL's for 3 weeks now. Best Buy had some on the shelf two days after the sale started when I was in there. I can believe OfficeMax being out of stock. People line up Sunday mornings to get the hot sale items there because quantities are so limited.

Some states require stores to offer rainchecks. Look at ads that are printed nationally and then local for fine print disclaimers that rainchecks are offered in Michigan, ect.

Well, there's the answer. Microcenter is probably my favorite computer store. They are SO much better than Fry's or CompUSA, they're practically in another galaxy. Not the best prices as a rule, not the greatest selection, but they often carry better quality merchandise, in many categories.. Your chances of talking to a sales clerk who actually knows something about the subject of interest climbs dramatically, vs. the other stores. And they don't pull any of that Mickey Mouse bullshit that Fry's is so often (rightly) criticized for. It doesn't surprise me at all that MC would lay in a decent stock of a promotional item. They're a class act.

My only regret is that the nearest Microcenter to me is an hour's drive away. A bit too far for a casual, spur-of-the-moment visit. If there is one located closer to you, it is well worth seeking them out.

[Bix]

In defense of a couple of the stores, Microcenter's local retail outlet has had the 10 packs for $19.99 and plenty (read 6 shelves full) of the Verbatim DL's for 3 weeks now. Best Buy had some on the shelf two days after the sale started when I was in there. I can believe OfficeMax being out of stock. People line up Sunday mornings to get the hot sale items there because quantities are so limited.

Some states require stores to offer rainchecks. Look at ads that are printed nationally and then local for fine print disclaimers that rainchecks are offered in Michigan, ect.

Well, there's the answer. Microcenter is probably my favorite computer store. They are SO much better than Fry's or CompUSA, they're practically in another galaxy. Not the best prices as a rule, not the greatest selection, but they often carry better quality merchandise, in many categories.. Your chances of talking to a sales clerk who actually knows something about the subject of interest climbs dramatically, vs. the other stores. And they don't pull any of that Mickey Mouse bullshit that Fry's is so often (rightly) criticized for. It doesn't surprise me at all that MC would lay in a decent stock of a promotional item. They're a class act.

My only regret is that the nearest Microcenter to me is an hour's drive away. A bit too far for a casual, spur-of-the-moment visit. If there is one located closer to you, it is well worth seeking them out.

Microcenter is indeed totally awesome, and they always have a TON of the sale items.

[lordsmurf]

Microcenter near me pretty much sucks. They have limited choices, about half as much as Fry's. And what they do have can sometimes be 200% the cost of Fry's for the same item.

Microcenter does have some good items, I have bought from them in the past. But it's not my favorite store. It reminds me of what RadioShack was like many years ago.