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 unhappy with Bel Air, MD store management
Posted Mon March 26, 2007 12:00 pm, by Kimberly M. written to Toys R Us
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I went to my local TRU in Bel Air, MD this evening because they are currently running the Little Tikes BOGO Free promotion. There were a few items that I saw online that I was interested in getting. I asked my parents & my sister to go along with me & we were all making several purchases of both BOGO free & non-sale items. I understand that online pricing is sometimes different than in the store, but took my chances & went to see if what I wanted was available in the store. There was one item in particular that I wanted to get for my son's birthday. It was the Little Tikes Auto Pitch Batting Trainer for $27.99 (it was priced the same online as in store). The store ad stated that it was BOGO Free on any Little Tikes toy priced up to $24.99. I have taken advantage of TRU's BOGO free items when they were running both Fisher Price & Little Tikes promotions in the past. It has always been that you can purchase an item for any amount, but your free item has to be under $x.xx amount of dollars. Therefore, my understanding from past experiences & based on what I read in the sale paper, I could purchase the Little Tikes Auto Pitch Batting Trainer for $27.99 and receive another toy priced $24.99 or under for free. The item I picked out as my free item was a Little Tikes toy priced at $19.99. When I got up to the register, I was told that these items did not qualify for the sale because both items had to be $24.99 or less(including the item I was purchasing). Now, to me this didn't make sense, TRU was basically telling me that they would prefer I spend less money to get a free item. I went to customer service & spoke to the manager. She was adamant that the deal stated that both items had to be $24.99 or less. My sister, mother & I all tried to make her realize that that couldn't possibly be the case as what she was saying is that if I were even to bring up a $50 item & be willing to pay for it, I could not get the free item valued at $24.99 or less, yet, I could turn around & buy a $24.99 item & receive another $24.99 item for free. This just causes TRU to lose money. I explained the situation to her this way & stated that it seemed to me that TRU must not want my money since I was trying to spend more than $24.99 on the purchased item & *****'s response was "No, we're more than happy to let you spend money in this store, but we're not giving you a free item for it" My response to that was "okay, then return both the $27.99 item I was willing to purchase & the $19.99 free item" Now TRU didn't receive any of my money for that transaction because I was willing to pay $3 more than the ad "allowed" at the "you must spend $24.99 or less" rule. We tried to get our point across for about 10 minutes & finally gave up & left the store frustrated. As we left the store, I called the 1-800-ToysRUs phone # & spoke to a customer service representative. This person whom I wish I got the name of, but forgot was very helpful & informed me that indeed I was correct & should have been able to purchase the toy I wanted for $27.99 and get the $19.99 item free. I told her exactly what ***** had told me in the store about how they were happy to let me spend my money there, but I was not going to receive a free item & informed her I returned both items. She stated that she would notify corporate of the problem so that the Bel Air store is aware in the future of how pricing on promotions works. After getting off of the phone with the 800 #, my mother called the Bel Air store & explained my conversation with the 800# customer service person to ***** (the store manager) and she proceeded to argue with her further that we were wrong and the item you purchased couldn't be more than $24.99. I was very disappointed in TRU this evening. It wasn't like I was trying to "pull one over" on the store. I simply wanted to spend $27.99 and get a $19.99 item free, but it didn't work that way...I needed to find an item that was $24.99 or less in order to get an item free. In essence I took my whole family & in one transaction that wouldn't have cost the store a dime, but given them $3 more than what the manager was telling me I needed to spend, that store manager managed to upset 4 regular customers of the store. I won't say I won't shop there again as I know I will since I have a 3 year old son, but I will say I was very disappointed in this evening's transaction. IF I have time later this week, I may go to another local store which is 15 miles out of my way so I can try to purchase this item at BOGO free again.
I believe that the Bel Air store needs to be notified of their mistake so in the future they are aware of how these sales run. I also feel that I should be compensated for my time and for the hassle I went through this evening trying to make the store manager understand how the sale works, calling the 800# and mostly for the time I will probably spend later this week driving 15 miles out of my way to go purchase the items I could have bought this evening while I was already in the store.
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by LJMom Posted Wed April 4, 2007 @ 5:01 PM
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I totally understand your complaint! I thought the letter was well
written and I think you should be compensated for your time. It sounds
like the manager at TRU was really rude. If the corporate office said
that you were correct about the ad how can people possibly argue with
you about it? I think that these people must be just as ignorant and
misinformed as the TRU manager! Good for you for sending a letter!
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by ed wilson Posted Wed March 28, 2007 @ 9:10 AM
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The ad clearly states the items must be $24.99 or less. Here is a
company willing to give you a free $24.99 item. Free Free free. Did
you not read the ad on-line, in the flyer or the signs posted in the
store? Not sure why the 800 number would tell you different but the
store is right. Again they are giving away something and you are not
happy. The hassle that you went through was your own fault. I cannot
believe a company offers something for free and you are still not
happy.
My guess is they have a deal with Little Tikes to clear out the lesser
priced items. You should be compensated for not being able to read and
understand???
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Answering
by ed wilson Thu March 29, 2007 @ 6:54 AM
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response
by Kimberly Moor Thu March 29, 2007 @ 2:54 PM
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Tracy is spot on. Horribly written complaint, about a valid complaint
(in my opinion) -- I'd be annoyed that the store wanted me to spend
LESS to get the free item. Just weird.
And the final kiss of death - compensation for your time. Tacky,
unrealistic, and naive.
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by Firebrat Tracy Posted Tue March 27, 2007 @ 1:06 PM
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Although not particularly well written, I always find myself
disappointed when I agree with a letter, only to be let down at the
end when the poster makes an unreasonable demand.
I was TOTALLY with you until the end, especially up the part where you
called corporate and THEY backed you up and said the store was wrong.
Then you had to go and ruin it by demanding compensation for your time
and hassle. How, exactly, should a store calculate how much a person's
time and hassle are worth? Say for example that you, in particular,
earn 20.00 per hour at work. You spent an hour of your time hassling
with a store, so you should get 20.00 back, right? By the same logic,
say that a person who only earns 7.00 per hour has spent an hour
hassling with a store. Should they only receive 7.00 back for their
time?
See where I'm going? Not only is it unreasonable and self-centered to
expect compensation for your time, it would also be impossible to
value.
Lesson learned - move on. Order the stuff online or go without. And
show your annoyance with that store by not patronizing them again.
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