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False advertising
Posted Fri November 19, 2010 10:40 am, by Carol H. written to Sears, Roebuck & Co.
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On Thursday, November 18, I received a Sears advertisement in my daily newspaper. It was for a "Black Friday" sale on November 19. A prominent item featured on the front page was a refrigerator for an amazing price of $699 for a model that usually costs $1499. Since I have been looking for a new refrigerator, I was very interested in this advertisement. I went on-line and found the model and discovered it was the right size and that it had every feature I was looking for. Since the ad contained some small print saying that they would only sell as many as they had in stock (approx. 4 per store) I decided to call Sears and check on the availability of this model. The phone was answered by the call center. They said that there were 2 in stock in the Sears near me and only 1 more on the East side of Portland. I think that means that there were only 3 of these refrigerators spread across 4 stores in the whole metro area.
On Thursday night, I went to the nearest Sears store to see this refrigerator. The sales person had no knowledge of the refrigerator, even when I showed her the ad. Then, after I mentioned that the call center said they were supposed to have 2 of them in stock, she huffed off to ask someone else. She came back and told me that they did have one, but it was under wraps in the back room to protect it from being sold before Friday morning, and that I could not see it. That was very annoying.
I asked her what my chances were of getting that one refrigerator, even if I camped out all night outside the door. She just shrugged.
Even with the small print warning that they would only sell as many as they had in stock, having only 3 of those refrigerators in a metro area with over a million people and four Sears stores, seems to be a case of false advertising. You are as likely to be able to purchase one of those refrigerators as you are to win the lottery.
The more I thought about this, the more annoyed I have become and the more determined I am to NEVER go back to Sears for anything -- tools, clothing, appliances, etc.
The only thing Sears can do for me now is to offer to sell me that refrigerator for the advertised sale price.
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by Diane S. Posted Mon November 28, 2011 @ 7:19 PM
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Love your opinions on this one then. Sears promoted a big Family and Friends sale: best prices on appliances 11/12 & 13 from 6 to 9 only. We saw the ad and rushed to our local Sears. The salesmen informed us this is their biggest sale and best prices of the year. We purchased our dishwasher only to find out that on Black Friday they sold for $50 cheaper. We went to the store and were told Oh that was Black Friday only. Nothing he could do even though it was in their 12 day price guarantee period as it was a Black Friday special only. I explained we would not have bought it if we were not told it was the bet price of the year. We asked to speak to the store manager but she was not in. We called and spoke to the manager today who informed us that she agreed with us, saw it was $50 cheaper on Black Friday and although she too had issues with this practice she could not do anything. We have torn up our Sears Credit Card and will never shop there again. Sad to say we are so ripped off. $50 is a lot to one who is unemployed, but we trusted their ads. Don’t know how they get away with this. Wish there was more I could do other then spread the word…watch what Sears advertises.
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by PepperElf Posted Wed November 24, 2010 @ 9:37 AM
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Out of curiosity were you planning on trying to purchase the fridge Thursday night instead of Friday morning?
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how you figure it is false advertising when you explicitly state that the ad included verbiage about only selling what was on hand and you even VERIFIED that there were only three for the area available.
Sure, it's annoying, but that is how the sales game is played. If you are annoyed over this fact, then perhaps its not for you.
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by PepperElf Posted Sat November 20, 2010 @ 10:47 PM
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Sales like that are designed to get rid of last items in the stock.
You yourself have stated there were only 4 in the area - and that your local store confirmed they had one in stock - and that they were ensuring the item was in stock on the day of the sale.
That's not false advertisement.
The fact is, yes, another customer will have the ability to get to the store before you do and buy that fridge.
There is nothing wrong or false about that. It just means they placed you on equal footing with all other customers.
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by Lisa H. Posted Fri November 19, 2010 @ 4:11 PM
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Unfortunatly, I don't think this is strictly false advertising. They covered themselves with the disclaimer.
I do think it's a sleazy tactic though.
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by Chadg Posted Fri November 19, 2010 @ 2:20 PM
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This is exactly why i refuse to spend a single penny on black friday. I am not a slave to the corporations, i am not going to play their games. If they do not want my business unless its on friday then they can forget it.
Put it this way, i am a devout Christian man, but i will not be exchanging gifts this year, some say christmas began as a pagan holiday, i think paganism has taken it back, this time money is the idol of worship.
I encourage you not to shop at sears again. (cliche warning) In this economy they should feel lucky that you are willing to go in and plop down 700 dollars, i couldnt do that if i wanted to. For them to refuse your business is silly. I realize that the front line people have NO CONTROL over the situation, but for corporate yo effective say they dont want your sale? the should go out of business, as should most of the big box stores. we need a small business mom and pop regeneration in this country. we also need manufacturing to come back.
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Dude...
by hussyinterrupted Mon November 22, 2010 @ 12:43 PM
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by almond Posted Fri November 19, 2010 @ 1:07 PM
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Did you return to the store on 11/19 and attempt to buy it?
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