Price Match Policy Thoughts

[stovetop]

I just purchased a dishwasher today from Sears on Robson but had one painful time getting them to the price I wanted to get to. I had one heck of an experience because of the salespeople lack of knowledge, the inconsistency, their pathetic attitudes, and the whole idea which seems like if it's too good of a deal for customers, they'll find some fake reason to deny it.

I went to the Sears Robson store 2 days ago and tried to price match a Kitchenaid dishwasher with Future shop. Sears price: reg $999.99. FS price: reg $799.99. Kitchenaid also had a instant rebate on dishwashers of $200. The salesguy said that they don't price match because they're the same price after the $200 rebate. I call that nonsense because I'm looking to PM FS for $799 minus the $200 plus FS has a no tax promo too. Long story short, I didn't get anywhere with that salesguy/manager.

Then yesterday I go in again but speak to a different sales rep. He seems to be ok with the price match minus $200 rebate minus the taxes and 10% of the difference which is Sears' price match policy. I had to get back to work so he says he'll get back to me. Never does that same day so I call in the evening. I'm told he's been "let go". I was like WTF?? So talking to this other salesrep over the phone, I tell him my story about the whole price thing and he says "he'll take care of me".

So today I go in and deal with him and finally get the deal I was looking for albeit, they checked and rechecked the promos,etc as if I was scamming them. I did all my homework and brought it all to the store (printouts, etc) and it still took them 1 full hour to process a sale.
Below is a pic of my receipt....I think a scored an awesome deal but took a heck of a lot of work.



And this is the one I bought: http://www.sears.ca/product/kitchenaid-classic-series-built-in-dishwasher-stainless-steel/622-000153197-KUDC10FXSS?extid=affiliate_comj

This does not include delivery though. I have to pick up but have no vehicle 

I just wanted to ask you guys about your experiences with price matching policies.

[jimmy]

as a customer service rep (if u know where i work) that does price matching on a regular basis
if a customer wants to price match we will do everything we can to verify that it does conform with our concrete and clearly stated policy
if it does, then by all means we will honor it, but if it doesn't, we wont unless it is just a negligible difference

we will honor some price matches even if they dont conform with our policy (say for example price difference is only $10 but the item was limited quantity or out of stock at the advertised store),
we were trained and taught to act based on this principle:
as a business, it is MUCH cheaper to take the hit and retain a customer, than the money it costs to bring a dissatisfied customer back

of course, staff behaviour will vary from store to store even within the same chain, as well as individual skills and experience

in terms of personal experience with getting price matches, make sure u do your research on the policy
if it conforms with the clearly stated policy i would fight for it no matter what,
and with that i generally have no problems with price matching wherever i go, because i wouldn't go about trying to price match something that im not entitled to price match in the first place anyways
always read the fine print

[M Speed]

What is Sears PM policy? I don't get why $315.99 off for PM. So at futureshop you would pay $599.99 tax in and now you've paid $542.08 plus the points get you another $20. Not bad a deal.

PM is generally easy for me as I gathered all info needed, go to the store to make a purchase and request a PM. I almost always got it done. A few times at futureshop,  the sales associate refused as they cannot verify the availability of the item as their competitor refused to give info over the phone. But I explained that onus of checking availability is on the store, I requested PM on advertised price (without limited quantity). After they honours it. One time at bestbuy, the store manager refused a legit price match stating he will lose money on the sale. I had to talk to a regional manager and hy the deal. Agrees it's the extra work you do that gets you the bargain.

Speaking of PM, I truly missed Staples beat by 50% price match....scored some awesome deals back in the days.

[stovetop]

the 4000 pts gets you $40 actually. i don't know how they did the pm of $315.99 either but it's something to do with how they took off the HST from it.

but yeah, i read the fine print except they're always clauses like "see in store for details", etc etc that basically is a way for retailers to cover their asses.

[DKaz]

Nice job, that's a extreme price match right there!

But what, you don't want to do this?  


I'll see if I have time to help you get it home maybe Sunday? If you need help. I'm pretty booked on Saturday.

[jimmy]

with regards to the see in store for details
not all stores have that

i know FS and BB doesnt, except for the subject to change without notice clause
NCIX does, which is kinda stupid, when they have clauses like "NCIX.com has the right to reject or refuse any Price Match request, or order upon our discretion"

essentially the same as saying we dont really have a price match policy at all