Any Bait and Switch going on at stores while you shop?

[Ilsa]

My mother-in-law is furious: she had several sales ads cut out of the newspaper for items she wanted to get for others for Christmas. At each store, they had zero of the ad merchandise and only the day after the Sunday ad ran. In one case, they said they ran out the first day. I can tell you that the Sunday shopping here tends to be light, even at this time of year. Another store said they didn't have the item, but they ran the ad for it anyway. My mother-in-law refused to buy anything from either store and wants to call their HQ and report them. They also refused to issue price-guarantee rainchecks.

Technically, they may not be in trouble for bait and switch, but there sure is some unethical selling marketing going on here in W's Texas.

[Redneck Socialist]

1. Doubt it's anything that sinister

The ads are developed far in advance of the sales date. Sometimes stores just can't get that merchandise. Sometimes that's due to problems with the manufacturer or distributer, sometimes the people doing the buying and ordering suck at their jobs. It happens, it's not deliberate.

Few if any stores try and deceive their customers. Believe me, everyone at the store level would prefer to have that merchandise in stock if for no other reason than then they don't have to deal with unhappy customers.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

3. As a former retail manager, you are absolutely correct.

Of course, rabid customers always think we purposely don't have the product just to spite them or something.

Because I REALLY loved getting yelled at by customers for stuff absolutely out of my control.

[Redneck Socialist]

5. "Yes Ma'am, we did run out of that product just to piss you off."

This time of year getting yelled at for stuff not in my control is my life. Or so it seems some days.

[Ilsa]

7. I'm sorry you are going through this. My mother in law

is pretty kind and having worked in retail, knows that the people in the stores don't have control over everything so she is kind to them. But this hasn't happened to her HERE before. We are trying to figure if it was poor planning, distribution problems, or just bad management and marketing.

[Redneck Socialist]

9. Probably any combination of the above

Most folks are fine and helping people find what they need is honestly one of the pleasures of my job. It's just that evil one percent, the ones with the sense of entitlement bigger than the Hindenburg, that can make my job hellish, and unfortunately, that all too often colors my perception of all of humanity.

[ComerPerro]

13. I love it when they threaten to sue you for "false advertising"

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

14. Yeah, the place I worked at was an independent store.

Our sale flyer was put out by our main distributor. Half the time, I couldn't get the stuff from my distributor, because every single health food store on the east coast was trying to get the same stuff.

I'm sorry we didn't have that flavor of yogurt, but it was out of stock from the MANUFACTURER because of the sale flyer that the distributor made up. I'm happy your life is so worry-free that yogurt holds such importance in your life.

Honestly, we had a bunch of cool customers, but the ones that weren't were huge fucking assholes. They'd still shop there almost everyday and yell at someone almost every day.

[ComerPerro]

15. Best response I've ever heard to "how can you not have it" came from a co-worker

"mam, we are a store. We sell things"

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

16. That's a good one.

[Blue Belle]

2. Yes... at Mervyns.

They are supposed to be marking everything down to 20-70% off because they are going out of business, but they are doubling the original price. I went in there to buy underwear and I didn't think of looking at the price because I go in there to get them all the time. After I purchased them, I looked at the price and what used to cost $4, now costs $8. I still got a decent deal on them, but I thought I was going to get a better one.

[shanti]

6. mervyn's is going out of business??

is that nationwide? i had not heard this before...

[madmom]

4. had that happen at a chain the explanation was, not every store

gets the advertised item, didn't buy anything there.

[lectrobyte]

8. It seems a fairly standard practice from what I can see. It's why I prefer

online shopping more and more.

[Horse with no Name]

10. Seems the new marketing schtick is to put a really cool item in the ad

with some small print that says quantities limited.
Then, they give each store a couple.
It's not really bait and switch because their asses are covered in the small print, but I don't think it is good business.
I know Walmart had 54 inch TV's on Black Friday for around $400.
Each store around here got 3.
The lines started the day before in some cases.
I would never stand in a line for anything these days, because I know that if it sounds too good to be true, then it is.
A couple lucky people reap the benefits while hundreds are drawn into the store. It is a win-win for the retailer.
Not worth it to me.

[SheilaT]

11. I believe there are actual

laws against advertising something they don't have at all. But it's undoubtedly legal to have just a few -- perhaps even as few as one of an item mentioned in the sale ad. I suspect that Rain Checks are store policy and again, not covered by law. But you have to find out.

Don't know if this is federal or state, but start by contacting your state's Attorney General's office.

[ComerPerro]

12. oh Jesus Christ, its not bait and switch. For one thing, most fliers announce

limited quantities and rain-check policy. You just have to read.

Second, unless you're completely naive you must realize that most advertised items, especially ones that are reduced price or in demand, go very fast, sometimes Sunday morning.

Third, its not bait and switch, because you don't have to buy anything you don't want to.

[Kelly Rupert]

17. If the ad claims limited quantities / no rainchecks, they're covered.

They can't stock thousands of everything. Of course, it's not like they're being completely honest. I've worked front-office in Target, and I remember back in early January 2005, having to warn the Electronics department that next week's ad was going to advertise the XBox 360, and we were only going to have two in stock. Gone within a minute of the store opening, and we fielded a few dozen calls a day about it that week.

It wasn't our store's problem. We would have sold them if we had them, obviously. But Target HQ obviously knew what it was doing. Those machines sold out within an hour whenever we put them out for sale--they weren't trying to increase sales there. They were just trying to sucker people into stores.

But that's common practice. If you see something in a circular and it's a "too-good-to-be-true" deal, you better be there when the store opens. If it's during the Christmas season and it's a deal on electronics (TVs, video games, etc.), you better be there a couple hours before the store opens.