Target Price Matching: It's All in the Details

M

mattand

CAGiversary!
I posted this over at the Amazon Portal 2 thread, but I'm still irritated about my experience. Sorry if I'm violating any double post rules.

Local Kmart was out of the $35 Portal 2 (PS3) deal. While in the store, I grabbed a circular for this week. It lists Portal 2 for Xbox 360 at $34.99, with matching appropriate box cover. In small type underneath, it reads "Playstation 3 also available." We were on our way to Target, so I figured I'd try the price matching game.

Short story: the manager at Target wouldn't price match for PS3 since the circular didn't specifically say "PS3 version for $34.99." In a ruling that would make Hermes Conrad proud, they technically had know of knowing what the actual Kmart PS3 price was.

In retrospect, I had a couple of options available, including buying the Xbox version and then immediately returning it for a PS3 version. At the end of the day, it wasn't worth my time to work around Target's rules over the dollar or so I'd be saving.

I'm pissed off the semantic bullshit of it all. I get that she was following orders, but so much for the customer always being right. Is this common with price matching at big box stores?

Moral of the story: ALWAYS check Amazon first.
 
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This exact thing happened to me last week only I was trying to get Best Buy to PM a Toys R Us ad.

The ad pictured the Xbox version of the game and underneath read "also available for PS3". I actually debated for 1/2 hour with a manager who was trying to convince me that "Also available, does not mean also on sale".

So I took their own BB ad and saw the Wii was on sale for $169, pictured in black, underneath the pic said "also available in white". I used his argument and asked does this mean that the white Wii is not also on sale because it does not state "white version also $169? He looked me right in the eye and said "NO, IT'S NOT ALSO ON SALE"! I took him right over to the shelf tag under the white Wiis which showed the sale price and he scoffed at me saying "This is just one instance, you're taking it too literally"!

Long story short, it took a call to BB customer service, verification at TRU and a second trip to the store but I got the PM and a $25 gift card for my inconvenience.

I only went through all of this BS because I'm sick of BB employees not following their own PM policy. Plus, that manager was being so asinine I had to teach him a lesson.
 
[quote name='SKEETER']This exact thing happened to me last week only I was trying to get Best Buy to PM a Toys R Us ad.

The ad pictured the Xbox version of the game and underneath read "also available for PS3". I actually debated for 1/2 hour with a manager who was trying to convince me that "Also available, does not mean also on sale".

So I took their own BB ad and saw the Wii was on sale for $169, pictured in black, underneath the pic said "also available in white". I used his argument and asked does this mean that the white Wii is not also on sale because it does not state "white version also $169? He looked me right in the eye and said "NO, IT'S NOT ALSO ON SALE"! I took him right over to the shelf tag under the white Wiis which showed the sale price and he scoffed at me saying "This is just one instance, you're taking it too literally"!

Long story short, it took a call to BB customer service, verification at TRU and a second trip to the store but I got the PM and a $25 gift card for my inconvenience.

I only went through all of this BS because I'm sick of BB employees not following their own PM policy. Plus, that manager was being so asinine I had to teach him a lesson.[/QUOTE]

PM'ing at Best Buy has been an absolute crapshoot for me.

They refused in store to PM a Walmart ad that had a $100 gift card with the purchase of "Any Blu Ray Player" (There was a picture of a PS3, and then a short ad for the 80GB standalone was on that page as well) when MGS4 came out, and I bought the system. Had to get it taken care of on the phone, and got a GC mailed to me.

Then another time they PM'd a Circuit City deal on Fallout 3 without me even needing an ad.
 
[quote name='SKEETER']Since when does GS price match?[/QUOTE]
It's at the employees discretion, but the folks at my local GS usually let me do it. There was one time when I was trying to get half off the GS price and they said no, but other than that I've never really had a problem.
 
[quote name='SKEETER']Since when does GS price match?[/QUOTE]

There's a GS about 100 yards from the Target in question. I didn't because I'm under the impression that GS still opens games and sells them as "new" (that was my experience the last time I bought a new release there.)

Am I wrong on that?
 
[quote name='SKEETER']This exact thing happened to me last week only I was trying to get Best Buy to PM a Toys R Us ad.

...

I only went through all of this BS because I'm sick of BB employees not following their own PM policy. Plus, that manager was being so asinine I had to teach him a lesson.[/QUOTE]

I definitely see where you're coming from. I didn't have the energy to pursue it the way you did, although I wholeheartedly applaud your success.

The Target manager I dealt with wasn't obnoxious about it, but I still think it was unnecessarily playing dumb to a degree.
 
You're not wrong. I asked for a sealed copy and luckily they had one in stock, but there were a few copies of Portal 2 on the shelf that had been gutted with stickers all over them, so they definitely gut new releases. I wouldn't have even gone to GS had I not had a few gift cards to use.
 
Ive had the same problems between BB and WM. They try to find the smallest loophole to get out of a pricematch.
 
For a loooong time Target wouldn't price match. Now that they have started, it's been difficult to price match anything at least at the Targets near me.

I wanted to get some food processor for someone as a wedding gift. Walmart had the cheapest regular price for this but the 2 walmarts I went to both had the item in a beat up box that looked opened and returned. All the boxes they had for that item were like that at both stores.

So I took a picture of the item's tag and went to Target to price match the item, since their boxes looked new still. It was a 10 dollar difference. Got shot down because it is not an advertised sale and it is not on a circular. So they won't match regular prices.


As for gamestop, whenever they have a gutted copy left being sold as new, I always skip it. I never have been a fan of selling a used item as new. (Once it's opened, it's used. At least, that's what THEY would tell you if you gutted a game yourself at home and tried to return it as new)
 
Target PM policy requires the physical showing of a local flyer showing the advertised item and price. A printout of a flyer does not work. They want the original ad from a local store. An ad from a store next town may not work. For some reason they don't even price match TRU, at least my closest store does not.
 
[quote name='SKEETER']This exact thing happened to me last week only I was trying to get Best Buy to PM a Toys R Us ad.

The ad pictured the Xbox version of the game and underneath read "also available for PS3". I actually debated for 1/2 hour with a manager who was trying to convince me that "Also available, does not mean also on sale".

So I took their own BB ad and saw the Wii was on sale for $169, pictured in black, underneath the pic said "also available in white". I used his argument and asked does this mean that the white Wii is not also on sale because it does not state "white version also $169? He looked me right in the eye and said "NO, IT'S NOT ALSO ON SALE"! I took him right over to the shelf tag under the white Wiis which showed the sale price and he scoffed at me saying "This is just one instance, you're taking it too literally"!

Long story short, it took a call to BB customer service, verification at TRU and a second trip to the store but I got the PM and a $25 gift card for my inconvenience.

I only went through all of this BS because I'm sick of BB employees not following their own PM policy. Plus, that manager was being so asinine I had to teach him a lesson.[/QUOTE]
Why argue with a mad man? The manager at Wal-Mart pulled the same thing on me over K-Marts Portal 2 deal, so I told him "Alright, wait here while I find the phone number, call the store, and have them look up the price." So I made him wait around for 10 or 15 minutes while I looked it up, called the store and put it on speaker. He didn't like it, and I wasted a good chunk of his time, but he gave me the PM.
 
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