I taught my child a lesson this afternoon and I wanted to also share the lesson with you in the hopes that you will avoid something that has happened to me on more than one occasion but today happened not once but three times at three separate stores and that was getting overcharged for items that I purchased or in my young child’s words “mommy you almost got ripped off!”
I am an extremely careful shopper all of the time but especially now in these uncertain economic times. If the recession is over I have not seen evidence that it is. So I went to 3 stores today-2 of which are large national chains that everyone claims are discount stores whose goal is to “save you money.” I will not mention the names of the stores but trust me the stores I went to do not have saving us money as a true goal. Last week I went to one of these national stores to buy an item and when I went to check out the item came up over 50 percent more than the price stated on the shelf. I saw that as I was checking out and let the employee know that immediately whose response was “well that is what the computer said so that is the price.” Wow-really, was this a response that you should give a customer-I do not think so! So I asked for a price check and after waiting 5 minutes (I watched the time on my watch) the store employee sauntered back and said “give it to her, the price in the computer is wrong.” No apology, no nothing just a begrudging “give it to her.”
Well reluctantly I went back to that same large store today, not because I wanted to but because I knew what I had to purchase was less there. I had 5 items to get and knew that unfortunately the best place to buy them was there. Again I did not want to go there but I wanted to save money. So I went to check out and and all 5 items came up in the computer 25 percent higher than the price on the shelf! Again I asked for a price check and got the same negative attitude and the last thing I wanted to do was wait especially with a tired and hungry child. Yet again the employee came back after doing a price check and said the price on the computer was wrong and I was right! Wow! So I continued my marathon errand day and went to that store’s competition to get one item.
Upon reaching the other large name store to get my one item I checked out and looked at my receipt. Not again. I dreaded going to challenge this receipt as much as a root canal after dealing with it at the other store less than 20 minutes earlier. But I did-what is right is right especially with my money. Sure enough-the computer was wrong and they had not changed the sale price yet so my receipt was wrong-again!! So after winning yet another price fight I headed to my favorite grocery store.
As moms lets be honest we all dread going to the grocery store with our children. In fact I ran into a friend of mine there who was without her children and she looked like a kid on Christmas morning and even told me she was having such a wonderful time grocery shopping by herself. I understood the excitement in her voice and although she was talking about grocery shopping her excitement level was like she was at the spa! So I quickly shopped and checked out and looked at my receipt and in incredible disbelief saw that an item that was on my receipt had been charged twice when I only bought one item. Again I went to customer service and at this store if they do that they give you the item for free but even the customer service person said “this has been happening a lot.”
So in less than 3 hours I was overcharged at 3 separate stores-all large chains. I was the one who noticed the overcharging by watching the computer cash register check me out and also instantly looking at my receipt. As moms we all know how hard this is to do when you have a child in melt down mode as my child was today when I would not give them the free cookie they wanted from the bakery because they had not eaten well today. But saving money is important and unlike the motto of the stores I was in they proved not only today but also on previous occasions where this has happened to me at least a dozen times that the price you think you are paying is not always the price that you are paying. So check your receipts and as my young child told me today “mama nobody rips you off!”
No comments:
Post a Comment