Pricematching annoyances (with any retailer)

ITDEFX

ITDEFX

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I am sure everyone who has ever tried to PM with some of the big box retailers have had so many issues with either technicalities, managers making bs rules up on the spot or employee's not following company policies.

Feel free to share examples.

Some of mine are:

Trying to PM the last Ice Age movie a few years back and being told no by a manager and she would only do it if they ship to our state...walked off feeling like she got her way... pulled out my phone and ordered the item to be shipped to my state , showed the associate my phone that I can order it to my state.  Associate goes back to the manager and I hear her get pissed off saying "Fine...let him have it!" , he comes back and I get a PM.

Recently trying to PM CV:LOS 2 and MGS for 5 bucks and having managers either state "we don't pm used games from KMART" or "Kmart still exists?"

 
The only annoyance that comes to mind is Best Buy and various times where they have invented BS on the spot.  For example, when I went to PM the MS store(within a 25 mile radius of the BB I was at) and the manager said "we only PM stores within a one mile radius"

Or a few years ago when I went to PM Kmart at a different BB and they said Kmart wasn't a local competitor until I pulled up their policy which said 25 mile radius, and there was a Kmart within said radius.

 
I don't see why anyone would have an issue price matching. Its just a matter of what store you would rather shop at.

Price matching isn't people breaking down doors because they don't get their way. It's not a way to get some crazy sale price that is sold out. I had a guy come into our store demanding that $5 Pink wiimote from Sears. And I'm sorry, it's sold out online and the only sears that could possibily carry it is 75 miles away.

The idea is you could go there and get it but you'd rather shop here. That guy got his mom to call the store about it because he wouldn't get his way. 75 miles is not reasonable driving distance.
I mean we have all tried a PM we thought wouldn't work because we knew the rules. But if your denied don't throw a fit. There is always going to be another deal.
 
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I have recently started to price match items. I never bothered before due to the various companies policies on this.

However I have tried to see how walmarts new price match works at my local store. I used to be easier to win the lottery than to pm anything at Walmart But now , at least for me for the most part I can get at least one item pm when I attempt it. I show up prepared with the sites pre loaded on my smart phone and ask nicely about a price match. It doesn't hurt to have a smile on your face and use proper manners like any reasonable person would. I've worked in retail before and especially around Christmas , some of these workers are really given a hard time over something they can't really control.


Please ignore any typos from my mobile post lol.
 
oh boy....I could go on here forever, but just recently mine:

#1.) tried to price match the castlevania $5 Kmart deal, to which the manager stated "sorry, it's too low of a price for us to price match"...um...wtf? since when is something "too low" to price match? isnt that the whole point of a price match? They said only max 10 dollars off could be price matched...

#2.) Tried price matching an Ipad at Target on November 25 this year. The manager came out and said "sorry no price matching this week (black friday week)". I pulled out Target's CORPORATE POLICY on their website which stated Holiday price matches would not be accepted from November 26th - 30th. So I was totally OK to price match. Nope, nada, manager STILL refused saying that the CORPORATE POLICY had to be wrong, because she was explicitly told by the district manager not to price match that week. 

 
arsenalcrazy8 said:
#1.) tried to price match the castlevania $5 Kmart deal, to which the manager stated "sorry, it's too low of a price for us to price match"...um...wtf? since when is something "too low" to price match? isnt that the whole point of a price match? They said only max 10 dollars off could be price matched...
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I was told by another store that same thing. I wanted to get rise of the planet of the apes price matched. It was 3.96 and It was too low due to their price being 25.99. However I showed up a few hours later when they had a shift change and I got the last copy and a bag of chips which almost cost the same as the movie lol. I was out the door with my chips and movie for under $10...not too shabby

 
arsenalcrazy8 said:
oh boy....I could go on here forever, but just recently mine:

#1.) tried to price match the castlevania $5 Kmart deal, to which the manager stated "sorry, it's too low of a price for us to price match"...um...wtf? since when is something "too low" to price match? isnt that the whole point of a price match? They said only max 10 dollars off could be price matched...
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Assuming that is referring to Walmart, it's pretty funny since anything under $20 difference doesn't even need a manager override in their system.

 
1) At Best Buy once a guy made me call 6 Targets asking if they had the 16GB Gold AT&T iPhone 5S until one had it in stock. I would have called 100 to get that price, he wasn't too happy.

2) At Kmart I was able to PM Knack to the website. The manager said they only do it for Shopyourway members, which I was. Had to wait 5 minutes as she went to as she called the "Central Computer" to look it up.

3) Not an annoyance but funny, in 2011 my local Best Buy had mobile guys going around advertising Walmart's iPhone 5 price of $100 off and how they would PM right now.

4) Once I had a guy at Best Buy PM a Dishwasher that was $0.80 less at Lowe's. 

5) I tried PMing a Grocery ad at Walmart years ago and they said because the sale was "with card" they couldn't do it. Pulled up the policy and they did it. 

 
The thing many people on this site don't seem to understand is no one gives a damn (as in they personally don't mind if you try to PM) or intentionally wants to fight you or screw you over on a PM because they don't want to sell something for cheap. These people are employees and do not give a rat's ass either way but ask anyone who works i retail and they will tell you retail salaried management are society rejects from the nut zoo. They will ruin an employee if they find out they did a PM that wasn't to their personal liking or will unfairly penalize them even if they were in the right if they just feel like it. Point I'm getting at here is no one (rightfully) is willing to risk their job or write up for you just because you want something cheap. You may feel they are all about their store and not wanting to get less for something they're selling but employees couldn't care less about that and simply do not want to deal with the wrath/irritation of a manager. This also goes for salaried managers too as their jobs are on the line when they authorize PMs if they don't conform to policy and I know from years posting on this site that some people here are practically con artists with the way they get these people to sell them shit cheap. Moral here is don't take it personally if a PM isn't approved as no one should be expected to risk their employment or risk a trip to the office to be yelled at just so you can save 5 bucks.

 
I tried to price match K-Mart's price for "South Park: The Stick of Truth" (PS3) at Wal-Mart and was initially told that they stopped doing on-line price matches on Christmas. I showed them their policy and told them there is no mention of dates. Just when I thought I was going to get the PM -- they questioned the discount and said it's too much (from $29.96 to $10.79).They then proceeded to check my local K-marts for inventory, which for the majority of CAGs, their local K-Marts' game inventory is laughable at best. Since there were no copies in my area K-Marts, or I just would've just bought it there, they denied the price match. I also tried my local Best Buy/Target/TRU and they were all out of stock - Wal-Mart was a last resort.

I shouldn't need to tell the Wal-Mart employees their policies. I also realize that their checking the competitor's inventory is part of their policy, so the odds were stacked against me when I tried to PM. It's just frustrating that I'm stuck waiting 10-15 minutes waiting for them to make a decision.

And this is from the same Wal-Mart that once allowed me to use a $20 Best Buy GAMER coupon as an MFG coupon to buy Doom 3:BFG Edition (PS3) for $10. 
 
Navex said:
retail salaried management are society rejects from the nut zoo. They will ruin an employee if they find out they did a PM that wasn't to their personal liking or will unfairly penalize them even if they were in the right if they just feel like it.
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So true. I've told this tale before, but during the dark period of my life when I worked for Walmart we had a manager like that. his biggest dick move was during the holidays when he was called to approve a PM in a competitor's ad. He got called several times throughout the day before telling the CSM that there's no need to call him anymore and just do any requested PMs for that ad.

After clocking out, several of us picked up the games that the PM were for and went on our merry way. A week later, we were called into the office, one at a time, and written up for abusing store policies. Why? Because the department manager that had approved the PMs, when confronted by the store manager, denied approving it at all. Despite being about 10 of us working in electronics/photo (and the CSM who got the worst of it since her key was the one that overrode the price), all testifying as witnesses to his approval of the mass PMs, he walked away without any damage at all. Two people, who were already walking a tightrope with disciplinary action (call-offs, etc), lost their jobs because of him.

 
Expecting employees to know their store's PM policy front-to-back is absurd.  Of course you know it well, as you're trying to exploit it.  And of course they're going to take pause when you're asking for 50%, 60%, 75% or more off their marked price.  Cut these people some slack. 

 
Had a PM rejected Friday at Best Buy most likely because I went to a Geek Squad member when I checked out. Normally they just look at my phone and take the PM off of there, but this guy said it's okay i'll just look it up on the computer even when I told him I had it pulled up on my phone. Was trying to PM to a TRU pricing mistake which I only had a picture of the sign and it wasn't online. As soon as he said he'd look it up online I knew it wasn't happening even after I tried to tell him it was in store only. Figured they would just look at my phone and give me a yes/no answer never had them look it up even before I told them what I was trying to do.

 
It was a hassle to PM at walmart from Amazon a few weeks back over dog meds (front line).  It was like a few days after that whole amazon/walmart 90 dollar PS4 shit.   The manager was giving me lip and saying that the other day some guy tried to PM amazon for 80 cents cough medicine.... I told her what does cough medicine and dog meds have anything to do with each other and it's only 5 dollars price difference and that I was only buying 2 not 10 like the other guy.  After I showed her that it was from amazon and shipped by amazon (not 3rd party), she told the cashier to go ahead and do it after the cashier said that they don't PM Amazon.

I really don't understand why managers give employee's shit when doing a PM.  The store buys the products for much cheaper than what we pay for.  I can understand if the price of the PM is lower than what the store pays for so they would loose money in the transaction but if the customer is only buying one or two and not 20 then they shouldn't bitch because there will be 100+ people buying the product at the sticker price anyways.

I really hate it when they have two similar products on the same pallet.  One side will have a price and the other side of that same sign holder will have a different price yet you will see some of the product from one side overflowing to the other side.

 
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ITDEFX said:
It was a hassle to PM at walmart from Amazon a few weeks back over dog meds (front line). It was like a few days after that whole amazon/walmart 90 dollar PS4 shit. The manager was giving me lip and saying that the other day some guy tried to PM amazon for 80 cents cough medicine.... I told her what does cough medicine and dog meds have anything to do with each other and it's only 5 dollars price difference and that I was only buying 2 not 10 like the other guy. After I showed her that it was from amazon and shipped by amazon (not 3rd party), she told the cashier to go ahead and do it after the cashier said that they don't PM Amazon.

I really don't understand why managers give employee's shit when doing a PM. The store buys the products for much cheaper than what we pay for. I can understand if the price of the PM is lower than what the store pays for so they would loose money in the transaction but if the customer is only buying one or two and not 20 then they shouldn't bitch because there will be 100+ people buying the product at the sticker price anyways.

I really hate it when they have two similar products on the same pallet. One side will have a price and the other side of that same sign holder will have a different price yet you will see some of the product from one side overflowing to the other side.
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First, this is an assumption. Not every product carries the same markup %. Not by a long shot.

Second, the idea that anyone would be ok with losing money on ANY transaction is ludicrous. Just because (you assume) that they'll make it up elsewhere, doesn't mean that the loss isn't a loss.

Management has to deal with that loss and any BS which may come down the corporate pipeline, so of course they're not gonna be smiling ear-to-ear when you want to cut into their profit.

 
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