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Originally Posted by warrrreagl
The CD was Queen: Greatest Hits. The sticker price on the item said $13.49. The cardboard sign stuck in the slot for the Queen CD's read Queen: Greatest Hits on sale for $9.99. It was the only Queen CD they had for sale and there were three of them in the slot.
ngdawg I'm sorry I haven't paid more attention before, but I didn't know you worked at a department store. Which one (something everybody at TFP knows but me)? Does your store have self-checkout? Why don't we have the incorrect scanning EVER occur at self-checkout?
Also, I empathize with you dealing with idiotic customers because I grew up working in my parents' clothing store, so I know how that goes. However, Grancey and I are not space cadets when we shop and we are diligent in following prices and correct items to match the signs, etc. No matter how much we've complained, I can't remember a single time where we had to admit the store was right and that we'd stupidly misread the sign. And Grancey reminded me this happens in grocery stores, shoe stores, crafts stores, etc.
Also, we've always heard that if the item is advertised at a certain price, then the store must sell it to you at that price. And this includes 300 items with the wrong sign in front of it. Is that not correct? If it's not, then stacking 300 "wrong" items behind an incorrect sale sign sounds like a separate scam in itself to me.
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As an example: If X sheets are on sale for 60% off and share a unit with YZ, which are not on sale, but you pick up YZ in the belief it is, the store is not obligated to give it to you at that price. It's up to the consumer to know what is being said on the signs.
I have sympathized with customers as to the ambiguousness of signage. And, while I would never suggest you and Grancey are space cadets, way more are and just see one thing, grab another, then raise holy hell over their wrongful assumption. We don't normally bow to that. I've had customers follow me back, insisting we're incorrect, then when I point out exactly what is on sale, they storm off in embarrassment.
We don't have self-checkout. Our registers are 98% accurate. Most times, as in the case of your CD, I'd guess, it's human error-someone forgot to remove the sign after the sale ended.
NJ's Division of Weights and Measures can inspect any store at any time for accuracy, false advertising, etc. They're pretty tough when they're around. A candy manufacturer I worked for had to pay some hefty fines for being off a fraction of an ounce in some bags sold at a Shoprite.
I really don't think it's fraud in the legal sense at corporate levels or any other; I really think it's a matter of corporate getting as much $$$$ in their wallets by not hiring enough competent staff in the background to ensure there is complete accuracy. Perhaps they do hope that most shoppers can't be bothered; loss is part of the retail entity and prices reflect that. I shake my head daily at the utter stupidity of people who think they're so smart as they sit in their offices making assinine decisions....
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Originally Posted by warrrreagl
As for the suggestion that UPC labels may not match exactly - here's what we discovered. Without giving too much away, two of the matching four items were blue and the other two of the matching four items were striped. The blue ones had a UPC number that ended in 803 and the striped ones had a UPC number that ended in 804. These items were mixed together and stacked behind a sign that advertised $8.48 for each item. Does that mean we should assume that sale prices only apply to certain colored items? Of course if we'd checked the UPC ahead of time we'd have noticed different numbers so should we have expected different prices for different colors according to the UPC numbers?
As for the idea that we should have read the fine print on the sale sign, why isn't the fine print as big as the sale price? That sounds deceptive to start with. If the fine print were bigger it would prevent a lot of arguments I'll bet. And where do the sale signs come from? Aren't they pre-printed by the company?
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Then the two were on sale, the other two were not; doesn't matter if the style is identical; one color may have been discontinued, hence the lower price. I've had customers argue that all the time-a discontinued item could be so only due to its color and they want a new color for the sale price-we don't do that.
The fine print wouldn't fit! It's not deceptive, it's 'marketing'. Ever hear car ads on the radio and at the end, some guy speaks 1,000 words a second to get the disclaimer in? Same thing.
Yes, signage is from corporate-another major bone of contention....our store is relatively small compared to others in the chain, and many times we don't carry what's in the circular or we have only a couple. Plus, stock replenishment is based on what's been sold, in addition to new merchandise, so if we have one or two of something, we won't get more til they're sold, thus, no new stock during a sale sometimes. They also use an 'instock' reader that is totally bogus....it could tell corporate we have 6 of something, but if two are damaged, one got stolen, one's a display....we have 2, not 6. There are some stores in our district that use it and I refuse to.
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Originally Posted by xepherys
I can say that I've had self-checkouts ring the wrong price, mostly at Wally Word (aka Wal-Mart), but also at Safeway (grocery chain) and Kroger (grocery chain).
Everything ngdawg said I can back up from a retail experience POV. There are some chains that are, in fact, evil and trying to stick it to the customer (I can say with 100% certainty from experience that CompUSA is one such chain), but there are also just errors in the way things work. The similar/identical items with different UPCs happen a lot. Some companies will switch a UPC for an identical product made in a plant or by a vendor in another country. It can be a royal PITA for retail employees trying to take care of such things.
As for target not checking on the prices, they ARE trained not to if the difference is less than a certain amount. If you took a DVD player up there and said it should ring at $9.99, they'll check. It's a feature of both convenience and cost-savings for them (not sending employees around checking, not sitting there arguing with a customer in front of other customers, et cetera). It's like that in a lot of "up scale" retailers, Target being one of them (arguably up scale, but more so than Wal-mart or K-mart for sure).
However, I've never seen a retailer where a price correction could not be made at the checkout, though some may require a supervisor to key the register. That seems strange to me.
Also, in Michigan, there is also a scanner law where if the register scans something above it's listed price and the clerk doesn't catch it, you take the receipt to customer service and get a refund for the difference plus 10% up to $1.00 per item. Mistakes are STILL made, and it sucks for the retailers.
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CompUSA tried some shit with me....now they're closed.
Karma's a bitch.
Similar items with different UPC's, as I stated, is a matter of what's newer or replacing an item.
When we get newer items with the higher price, we are supposed to backcheck floor stock to make sure all items are priced the same. But we have some of the slowest floor managers on the planet and I've had to sift through stock only to find stuff that should have been either remarked or clearance marked weeks back...I'm doing that currently and finding stuff that was destined for clearance 4 weeks ago....another time, I had to sift through all our rugs, checking UPC's and retagging most at a new, higher price. Not supposed to be MY job....
Supervisors have to sign off or change the price as a way of double-checking that the cashier isn't scamming the company...in the good ol' days, before scanners, it was great to be able to go to a Jack-in-the-Box where a friend's friend worked, and get $20 worth of food for a buck....or charge Mom a dollar for the shirt at Grant's. Scanners plus supervisors helps loss prevention.