Black Friday Rip Offs

[Grandad]

I always have a suspicion that some retailers will take advantage of Black Friday and find devious ways of making something look a bargain when it is not.

A scooter that I have been considering second hand is available with a company in Birmingham for £836 which they claim is 70% of their normal S/H price of £1195

For no reason at all I thought I would check if they still had any stock of this model. And guess what, they have the same machine for £956 which they claim is a special Black Friday deal with 20% off normal used price of £1195.

So their Black Friday deal is £120 MORE than their normal advertised price. Bl**dy rip off merchants.

[Mad Dilys]

Typical! Also a lot of stuff is bought in especially for the sale - though there are loopholes the Which website has info:

"A sale must be genuine
If a shop is advertising a sale, it has to comply with requirements set out in the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. Government guidelines set out steps a retailer should take to comply with these regulations and ensure claimed savings are genuine and aren’t misleading customers.
These are some of the things to look out for when shopping in a sale:
The basis for the saving must be clear. For example, a sign shouldn't just say 'sale £15' – it should say something like 'was £50, sale price £15'.
If there’s a promotional offer on an item, the price the item is being compared to must be genuine. If the higher price it’s being compared to was the last price the item was retailing at or the 'was/sale price' promotion hasn’t run for any longer than the item was being sold at the 'was' price, this promotional offer is more likely to be genuine.
A multi-buy (three for the price of two, for example) or combination offer (any three items from a range of options for £5, for example) should be cheaper than the total cost of buying the same items separately."

I found the next to last paragraph a bit confusing at first, maybe just me?

[Grandad]

Another ruse is where an item was on sale at the cheaper price previously at another branch of the store. That could be in the Outer Hebrides so there was no chance to buy it there BUT this is acceptable justification for a claim of a 'Sale' price.

[LovelyLadyLux]

The biggest issue I have now and have had is that the sale price - TV model ABC is regularly $300 and for Black Friday it is now $75 (or some such) BUT they'll only have 1 or 2 TVs of that size and model in the store. The big boxes here are famous for that one all the time. (Course documenting all your trips to the store at great inconvenience you yourself plus conversations with all clerks, talking to floor supervisor and then writing head office and cc-ing to both Canada and the USA IS apt to get you an apologetic call back from said Store Manager with a darn good OFFER to help and get you whatever you need)

That being said it depends on the item and IF the annoyance level has gone through the roof WHICH I finding though does happen more and more these days than ever before.

Today I'm sure the stores have gone crazy - I think the newspaper kid got a hernia carrying my newspaper up to my door yesterday. I think any and all businesses have offered something for sale this year and given the amount of traffic out there this year I think everybody in the entire city started shopping this morning soon as the stores opened and I do think the stores are all staying open 'til quite late tonight.

I have to admit I only bought some extra banana for .35/pound (normal price is between .66 & 78 cents a pound). I had a mid-morning physio appointment (the deep acupuncture therapy) and stopped to have a cuppa on the way home and the grocery store I went into had 'specials' so I bought 6 cheap bananas and 2 big heads of cauliflower for $4. At $2 each that is quite cheap for here.

I thought I might head over to the stores but I'm not a fan of crowds so thought my annoy myself by going and then have to disclose same on Grandads thread re: moods!

I do think stores here bring in extra for Black Friday. Lots of boxes have been stacked about several of the stores I go to so am sure it was extra stock being brought in. Many of our stores are offering a new feature whereby you can order from them online and then go to the store over the next week and pick up whatever you purchased. That hasn't been anything that was available here before but seems it is becoming more and more something people are liking (think I just talked about it on here on another thread).

As for your Scooter Grandad - I'm not sure I'd want to deal with that particular Company as their "prices" right now seem to be a bit circumspect already. Their prices seem too able to change and definitely not set in stone ie. once a price is levied on an item it just stays there & doesn't change daily.

[Horus]

Big stores often have stuff specially made for their own outlets especially electrical goods. So I am convinced that they also dictate the manufacturing specifications so as to get a better price. Quite often if you look at the model number for a particular appliance you will see a slight difference in the model number code, so if a typical code is say ABC123456A/1 yours is a model number ABC123456B/1 or similar that would indicate the retail outlet, you often see this on PC’s and Laptop models, plus TV sets.

[Grandad]

@LovelyLadyLux LLL, we have a system here usually called 'Click and Collect'. This is invaluable for people who work and may not be at home when online purchases are delivered to their home. By this system you can nominate a shop or store that takes part in the system, then collect at your convenience. I think most people would collect on their way home from work.
The indications here are that online shopping is increasing apace and yesterday we saw pictures on TV of stores, that would usually be crowded on Black Friday, with just the normal level of shoppers.
Shopping habits are certainly changing, we ordered three items yesterday and in many instances, if you are prepared to wait a few more days, postage can be FoC.

[LovelyLadyLux]

Actually that program - click and collect would be wonderful. If I'd of still been working I would have used it.

We never used to have Black Friday here but it has caught on and now it is as big as the USA. The biggest problem here though is that stores advertise anything and everything including the kitchen sink but then NEVER have it in stock or have only a couple of items. Big RIP-OFF IMO and if you're going to advertise something you really better have it.

I have a favourite steel walled traveling coffee mug with no handle. Great for fitting into the car. Years old and finally started to leak so I've been watching for another one. I want a narrow on as the cup holder in the car isn't overly big and wide. These typically sell here $20 - 25.

I saw them on sale at WalMart - 3pack for $25, Canadian Tire ($15), Superstore ($15) but when I checked online - "out of stock" was all I got and I checked first thing yesterday morning so didn't even want to bother myself to drive around to other stores to see IF they happen to have any. Will just add these to my list of what I'm getting when I'm next in the USA.