copy from other club
Pricematching, your success rate may vary:
A lot of stores have pricematching policies that entice consumers to purchase items that their store rather than another store. If a consumer wants to buy a TV one one electronics store, another store will encourage the buyer to purchase it at their store and will match the price of any nearby store. Some stores, such as Staples, CircuitCity, and BestBuy will even advertise to pricematch and beat a competitor's price by a few more dollars. For example, a store with a "110% pricematch guarantee" means it will pricematch the competitor's price and grant 10% of the price difference, so if store A sells an item for $120 and store B has it for $100, store A will match the $100 price ($20 price difference) and nock off another $2 which is 10% of the price difference ($98 pricematched). Sounds like a big benefit for the consumers, however stores sometimes refuse to honor their advertised pricematch promotion.
Stores will usually honor a competitor's price only if the stores are within a few miles of eachother, and only if the item is in-stock at both stores. However stores that may lose money by pricematching will often refuse to honor their own pricematching policy. This happens especially around Black Friday, where stores sell a lot of items at or below cost just to get people into their stores. Some stores can get a little angry with customers who try to use the pricematch policy to get below the store's cost. Stores can also use rebate as an escuse why not to honor their pricematching policies.
For example, if store A sells an item for $100 and advertises a $40 mail-in rebate is available, and store B sells the item for $80 with no rebates available, often store A will refuse to match the competitor's $80 purchase price because they claim the rebate causes the customer to get the price lower than the pricematched price. In this example, if the consumer was able to get store A to pricematch to $80, they can still send in the rebate to get it even cheaper! Stores that refuse to pricematch based on rebates being available does not make sense to me because:
What if the consumer does not want to mail in the rebate or doesn't have time to mail in the rebate. Rebates are not a requirement, and no store can force a customer to mail in a rebate form.
What if the customer never gets the mail-in rebate. This can happen because the rebate fulfillment company can refuse to send the customer their rebate check. Here are some info that I wrote saying that although the consumer follows the rebate instructions thoroughly, they may never see thir rebate.
Stores often play a lot of tricks on the consumers to get them into their stores. Those tricks can include a full page advertisement in a newspaper advertising an expensive item for a very low price, however consumers who enter the store find out the item really is very expensive but has several mail-in rebates which may be fulfilled after purchasing it at the high price.
In my opinion, store's pricematching policies are simply to help the stores maintain positive consumer satisfaction. Stores may refuse to honor their own advertised pricematching policies if they lose money by honoring it. How can they get away with not honoring their own advertised specials? I don't know, but if I had to guess, I'd say that any seller always reserves the right to refuse sale to a consumer for any reason.
My advice, pricematching is a good thing and you should try definitely try it with the hopes of getting a better deal. However don't be too surprised if they don't let you purchase an item that would cost the consumer pennies on the dollar and cause the store to lose money. Most people do have a high success rate by combining a pricematch with a rebate, however don't me too shocked when the store refuses to honor their own pricematching policy.
Pricematching, your success rate may vary:
A lot of stores have pricematching policies that entice consumers to purchase items that their store rather than another store. If a consumer wants to buy a TV one one electronics store, another store will encourage the buyer to purchase it at their store and will match the price of any nearby store. Some stores, such as Staples, CircuitCity, and BestBuy will even advertise to pricematch and beat a competitor's price by a few more dollars. For example, a store with a "110% pricematch guarantee" means it will pricematch the competitor's price and grant 10% of the price difference, so if store A sells an item for $120 and store B has it for $100, store A will match the $100 price ($20 price difference) and nock off another $2 which is 10% of the price difference ($98 pricematched). Sounds like a big benefit for the consumers, however stores sometimes refuse to honor their advertised pricematch promotion.
Stores will usually honor a competitor's price only if the stores are within a few miles of eachother, and only if the item is in-stock at both stores. However stores that may lose money by pricematching will often refuse to honor their own pricematching policy. This happens especially around Black Friday, where stores sell a lot of items at or below cost just to get people into their stores. Some stores can get a little angry with customers who try to use the pricematch policy to get below the store's cost. Stores can also use rebate as an escuse why not to honor their pricematching policies.
For example, if store A sells an item for $100 and advertises a $40 mail-in rebate is available, and store B sells the item for $80 with no rebates available, often store A will refuse to match the competitor's $80 purchase price because they claim the rebate causes the customer to get the price lower than the pricematched price. In this example, if the consumer was able to get store A to pricematch to $80, they can still send in the rebate to get it even cheaper! Stores that refuse to pricematch based on rebates being available does not make sense to me because:
What if the consumer does not want to mail in the rebate or doesn't have time to mail in the rebate. Rebates are not a requirement, and no store can force a customer to mail in a rebate form.
What if the customer never gets the mail-in rebate. This can happen because the rebate fulfillment company can refuse to send the customer their rebate check. Here are some info that I wrote saying that although the consumer follows the rebate instructions thoroughly, they may never see thir rebate.
Stores often play a lot of tricks on the consumers to get them into their stores. Those tricks can include a full page advertisement in a newspaper advertising an expensive item for a very low price, however consumers who enter the store find out the item really is very expensive but has several mail-in rebates which may be fulfilled after purchasing it at the high price.
In my opinion, store's pricematching policies are simply to help the stores maintain positive consumer satisfaction. Stores may refuse to honor their own advertised pricematching policies if they lose money by honoring it. How can they get away with not honoring their own advertised specials? I don't know, but if I had to guess, I'd say that any seller always reserves the right to refuse sale to a consumer for any reason.
My advice, pricematching is a good thing and you should try definitely try it with the hopes of getting a better deal. However don't be too surprised if they don't let you purchase an item that would cost the consumer pennies on the dollar and cause the store to lose money. Most people do have a high success rate by combining a pricematch with a rebate, however don't me too shocked when the store refuses to honor their own pricematching policy.