Discussions

I will preface this by saying I don’t generally enjoy shopping, and when I want to purchase something I do research, and verify price and availability prior to going to the store to purchase it.  
 
Being Thursday yesterday, the flyers arrived and I found an article [ a remote car starter] that I decided would be a great Christmas gift and at a very good price, offered by a store in Brandon.  
 
I called to verify the price and was told on the phone, after the person I talked to checked with someone else, that indeed the price in the flyer was the price I would pay and that they had 10 in stock.  
 
Deciding that I didn’t want to miss the deal, I headed directly to the store to purchase the item. On the way down I called a friend who I thought might be interested, and was told to pick up one for him as well.  
 
Arriving at the store, I located the article and a representative, and after discussing having them installed after Christmas, we headed to the check out. The person I was with needed help from 2 other staff members, the process stopped dead when the computer needed a manager password to proceed.  
 
The manager was called and the representative I was dealing with was told the price was actually $100 higher than the price advertised in the flyer. At this point I started to lose my faith in this company. The manager came down and told me that there was nothing he could do, the flyer price was a misprint and the price is $249 instead of $149. I told him at that point I understood that is was a misprint, but that I had called and was assured that that was the price I would pay prior to traveling to the store to buy it and there was no discussion about a misprint during my phone call. I would not have bothered to go to buy it had I known. He told me that there was an internal memo regarding this misprint, and it was also discussed at the morning staff meeting. He also mentioned that there was a sign at the front door of the store. I once again explained to him that one of his staff members had verified the price with myself on the phone prior to going down to buy the item. I also mentioned that I manage a staff of 20 people and when one of us makes a mistake we honor what was said and do our best to make sure the same mistake does not happen again. He just looked at me and said that was all he could do. I knew at this point that any more time spent talking to anyone in this store was only going to increase my stress level and was pointless. I left the store.  
 
I understand that mistakes are made everyday, in business and in life. My belief is to do the right thing when mistakes are made, to learn from them, and don’t make the same mistake twice What really bothers me is the lack of basic business principle, professionalism and integrity, which is displayed by some businesses today. In these times where sales are not as strong as they were and prices are lower than retailers would like them to be, it is hard to understand the lack of commitment to customers.  
 
If I were told on the phone that the ad was a misprint, none of this would have happened.  
But the fact that I called and was treated the way that I was, has made it very clear to me to never consider purchasing anything from this store again.