CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS
DECEPTIVE PRICING PRACTICES
Monte Holland with Carolyn Cornell Holland
~~~~~~~~~~~~
RATE THIS POST! CLICK ON A STAR ABOVE
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Below is the copy of a letter of complaint sent to a store following a careful shopping experience.
Greetings:
Rite-Aid just lost one…no two…no three…customers in a five minute period on December 9, 2010.
Their experience must be repeating itself in store after store, time after time.
I’m one of those customers.
I attempted to contact the e-mail of the Rite-Aid consumer rep without success. Maybe it is just as well that my comment goes to you (a secretary) and the board of directors.
On December 9th, 2010, I purchased a number of items at the Latrobe (PA) Plaza store. My concern is not the store or its employees. My concern is with the UP program which offers coupons to be used for future purchases at the store. The coupons are offered for a current purchase. It’s a more complicated way of saving on purchases, and the store’s method of enticing customers back into the store.
While my wife made a picture order, I wandered around the store. A number of food items were shelf-tagged as being on sale. Not only were they listed as on sale, but the tags listed UP savings. For example: Craisins were listed at two for $4 with an additional UP saving of $3. The shelf-tag indicated the final cost of this item was two for $1, or fifty cents each.
A number of other items were similarly shelf-tagged with their sale price, UP savings, and final cost listed. This thorough information convinced me that these were good prices that I could not pass up.
After making the purchases I received my receipt, which listed a number of UP redemption coupons. My wife commented that, for the number of purchases I’d made, there weren’t many UP coupons.
Later that day I returned to the store, where I discovered that the shelf listings should have provided me with $21 in UP coupons. I had received $9 in UP coupons.
I approached the checkout clerk, who informed me that the flier stated that the customer must purchase $12 worth of a particular group of products to receive a $3 UP coupon. Having done this, I had received a $3 UP coupon.
The store shelves did not provide this information. I certainly did not get the UP rewards as the shelf listed them. I shopped without the flier because I was browsing in the store. Thus, I was unaware of these special conditions.
Following through on the Craisins purchase: If I had fulfilled the $12 purchase requirement by buying three pair (6 singular items) of Craisins at a total of $12. The flier indicated I would receive a $3 UP coupon, bringing the purchase price down to $9, or $1.50 each. The shelf-tag indicated that for each pair of Craisins purchased I would receive a $3 UP coupon, bringing the price of each individual item down to fifty cents.
Furthermore, it takes a degree of math competence beyond many shoppers’ ability, or time needed for calculation, to figure out what the end price actually becomes. I myself, having a PhD in physics, was challenged by this problem.
This level of deceptive marking of prices is totally unethical. I will no longer shop at your store other than to recover some of my losses by redeeming the UP coupons I do have.
Two other shoppers were caught, like I was, and were complaining at the same time I was.
If your executive management continues such policies I suspect that many additional shoppers will soon catch on to what you are doing and exit your stores for good.
All citizens, and especially senior citizens, are instructed to spend their money wisely. I am a person who attempts to stretch my dollars. I don’t take kindly to corporations that try to take advantage of me.
Please send me the balance of the $12 ($21 minus $9) in UP coupons that I calculated I should have from my store purchases, on based on the shelf prices/information in your store.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Be the person who makes the most comments.
For further details click on
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or visit the page MONTHLY PRIZE FOR COMMENTS
at the top of the column to the right.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL READING:
LOGGING IN MAINE AND ON THE PERU-BRAZILIAN BORDER
Sun, Moon, Stars, Planets—I Want Them All
Things About Television That Irritate Me
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Deceptive Pricing Practices
Tags: All, All posts, Business ethics, COMMENTARY, Contemplation, Corporation ethics, Deceptive store pricing practices, Diary, Ethics, JOURNAL, Journaling, Latest post, Letter of complaint, Life, Lifestream, Lifestyle, Misc., Miscellaneous, Op Ed, Opinion, Reflections, Shopping, Shopping experience
CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS
DECEPTIVE PRICING PRACTICES
Monte Holland with Carolyn Cornell Holland
~~~~~~~~~~~~
RATE THIS POST! CLICK ON A STAR ABOVE
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Below is the copy of a letter of complaint sent to a store following a careful shopping experience.
Greetings:
Rite-Aid just lost one…no two…no three…customers in a five minute period on December 9, 2010.
Their experience must be repeating itself in store after store, time after time.
I’m one of those customers.
I attempted to contact the e-mail of the Rite-Aid consumer rep without success. Maybe it is just as well that my comment goes to you (a secretary) and the board of directors.
On December 9th, 2010, I purchased a number of items at the Latrobe (PA) Plaza store. My concern is not the store or its employees. My concern is with the UP program which offers coupons to be used for future purchases at the store. The coupons are offered for a current purchase. It’s a more complicated way of saving on purchases, and the store’s method of enticing customers back into the store.
While my wife made a picture order, I wandered around the store. A number of food items were shelf-tagged as being on sale. Not only were they listed as on sale, but the tags listed UP savings. For example: Craisins were listed at two for $4 with an additional UP saving of $3. The shelf-tag indicated the final cost of this item was two for $1, or fifty cents each.
A number of other items were similarly shelf-tagged with their sale price, UP savings, and final cost listed. This thorough information convinced me that these were good prices that I could not pass up.
After making the purchases I received my receipt, which listed a number of UP redemption coupons. My wife commented that, for the number of purchases I’d made, there weren’t many UP coupons.
Later that day I returned to the store, where I discovered that the shelf listings should have provided me with $21 in UP coupons. I had received $9 in UP coupons.
I approached the checkout clerk, who informed me that the flier stated that the customer must purchase $12 worth of a particular group of products to receive a $3 UP coupon. Having done this, I had received a $3 UP coupon.
The store shelves did not provide this information. I certainly did not get the UP rewards as the shelf listed them. I shopped without the flier because I was browsing in the store. Thus, I was unaware of these special conditions.
Following through on the Craisins purchase: If I had fulfilled the $12 purchase requirement by buying three pair (6 singular items) of Craisins at a total of $12. The flier indicated I would receive a $3 UP coupon, bringing the purchase price down to $9, or $1.50 each. The shelf-tag indicated that for each pair of Craisins purchased I would receive a $3 UP coupon, bringing the price of each individual item down to fifty cents.
Furthermore, it takes a degree of math competence beyond many shoppers’ ability, or time needed for calculation, to figure out what the end price actually becomes. I myself, having a PhD in physics, was challenged by this problem.
This level of deceptive marking of prices is totally unethical. I will no longer shop at your store other than to recover some of my losses by redeeming the UP coupons I do have.
Two other shoppers were caught, like I was, and were complaining at the same time I was.
If your executive management continues such policies I suspect that many additional shoppers will soon catch on to what you are doing and exit your stores for good.
All citizens, and especially senior citizens, are instructed to spend their money wisely. I am a person who attempts to stretch my dollars. I don’t take kindly to corporations that try to take advantage of me.
Please send me the balance of the $12 ($21 minus $9) in UP coupons that I calculated I should have from my store purchases, on based on the shelf prices/information in your store.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
IF YOU LIKED THIS POST,
CLICK ON THE YELLOW STAR BELOW!
~~~~~~~~~~~~
TO RECEIVE E-MAIL NOTIFICATION
OF NEW POSTS ON CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS
SUBSCRIBE!
(to subscribe see upper right hand post on this site—
Notification will begin after you confirm your subscription
on the e-mail you will receive from wordpress.com )
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Win one of our monthly prizes!
Be the person who makes the most comments.
For further details click on
http://carolyncholland.wordpress.com/monthly-prize-for-comments/
or visit the page MONTHLY PRIZE FOR COMMENTS
at the top of the column to the right.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDITIONAL READING:
LOGGING IN MAINE AND ON THE PERU-BRAZILIAN BORDER
Sun, Moon, Stars, Planets—I Want Them All
Things About Television That Irritate Me
Like this: