Target Price Match Woes

[MoulinBlu]

Originally Posted by TooDankBro

I have also had difficulties with employees when I price match at Target. I found a copy of This Is The End with the slipcover and it was really cheap on amazon so I wanted to price match. Unfortunately, the image on amazon did not have the slipcover so the girl would not let me price match it. The slipcover says it includes the blu-ray/dvd/UV but the actual cover only says blu-ray/dvd.

You should have slipped the cover off, so they could see the inner box was exactly the same. Sony always does that. Universal usually does too. If that wasn't proof enough for the teller, they were just too inexperienced with the product or too lazy. A manager would have probably been more helpful.

[DisneyBlu]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

Corporations do not like price matching, it's simply meant as a way to get cheaper, more value-oriented customers into their stores. It's why they heavily advertise it as a draw but implement all sorts of weird policies when you actually arrive at the store. It's a marketing gimmick meant to boost traffic, nothing more.

Yeah, they don't make it easy, that's for sure. It's like they expect you to say "nevermind the price match, it's not worth it."

Between Target selling movies with damage and having you go to Customer Service to price match, they don't get my business very much. They have to have a really good exclusive for me to buy from them anymore.

[riddlerfiddler]

As a former Target employee who worked a great deal at customer service, I absolutely hated having to look something up on the ipad first. Once I found out the app on the ipad doesn't actually register anything, I just went by a person's phone and verified that the price was still up-to-date and not sold by a third-party. People loved to try and pull tricks using screenshots and other tactics.

[Race Bannon]

This is one reason I do Amazon Prime. I can't stand a hassle or even a trip to the store for a movie deal I want. I just like to point and click while I'm at work and be done with it.

[Strapped4Cash]

I had 2 experiences pm'ing at Target today, that went about as differently as possible.

One Target went beautifully, no line, the guy knew exactly what he was doing and checked me out in under 3 minutes. No lie, if Target were going to make a commercial on price-matching then it would have gone just like this.

The other Target had 2-3 employees doing other stuff with a single checker handling a 4-5 person line. I finally got up to the cashier, told her I wanted a pm, and she proceeded to write down a number, which turned out to be their DPCI. She then went to Amazon, entered that number, then a second time, and then shrugged and told me that Amazon didn't carry it. How she thought that Amazon would recognize their DPCI number I do not know. I asked her to look it up by name, and she did agree. But she then told me that it was being sold by Amazon, and they only pm Amazon Prime. WTF?

She was sure of herself, so I asked for a manager. That took about 5 minutes. The manager agreed with the employee and then took out a binder to help prove it, but it showed that they do pm Amazon. I pointed it out, and she told me that they had changed vendors since then, and so that no longer applied. WTF??

I very politely said that I had pm'd hundreds of times, and didn't think that was right. She agreed to look online. After finding the BD version of the DVD that I was trying to buy then she said that while that was less than their price, it was still over $10 more than I was asking for. I then did my best to explain the difference between a Blu and a DVD. She finally found the dvd listing, and agreed to pm "as a one time exception". After buying the title, I politely told her that she really ought to look into this policy, as I was sure it was incorrect. She looked at me with some disgust and said that since I had gotten what I wanted then I really had no reason to complain.

After exiting the store I found that she had almost pm'd, but charged me $14.99 instead of the listed price of $14.96. Now I'll keep wondering if she did it on purpose or not?

[Evil]

Originally Posted by Strapped4Cash

The other Target had 2-3 employees doing other stuff with a single checker handling a 4-5 person line. I finally got up to the cashier, told her I wanted a pm, and she proceeded to write down a number, which turned out to be their DPCI. She then went to Amazon, entered that number, then a second time, and then shrugged and told me that Amazon didn't carry it. How she thought that Amazon would recognize their DPCI number I do not know. I asked her to look it up by name, and she did agree. But she then told me that it was being sold by Amazon, and they only pm Amazon Prime. WTF?

She was sure of herself, so I asked for a manager. That took about 5 minutes. The manager agreed with the employee and then took out a binder to help prove it, but it showed that they do pm Amazon. I pointed it out, and she told me that they had changed vendors since then, and so that no longer applied. WTF??

I very politely said that I had pm'd hundreds of times, and didn't think that was right. She agreed to look online. After finding the BD version of the DVD that I was trying to buy then she said that while that was less than their price, it was still over $10 more than I was asking for. I then did my best to explain the difference between a Blu and a DVD. She finally found the dvd listing, and agreed to pm "as a one time exception". After buying the title, I politely told her that she really ought to look into this policy, as I was sure it was incorrect. She looked at me with some disgust and said that since I had gotten what I wanted then I really had no reason to complain.

After exiting the store I found that she had almost pm'd, but charged me $14.99 instead of the listed price of $14.96. Now I'll keep wondering if she did it on purpose or not?

It sounds like they were busting your chops for some reason. All that stuff about Amazon Prime, changing vendors, and $10 caps on PMing is baloney as far as I know. It seems like they were just making things up as they went along in an effort to not have to do the PM. Who knows why.

If your gut feeling is that the three cent error was a final slight rather than an honest mistake, it very well could have been. Either way, I hope that first Target is closer to you. After that song and dance, I would go out of my way to not give business to the second one.

[Adam_WM]

I have a 50/50 chance of getting their online people to match prices. The problem is the Target has a proprietary system for their SKUs, as does Amazon and Best Buy. Target says, "See, it's not the same item number..." and I have to explain to them every time that it's the same product and that each store uses it's own model numbers. Ridiculous.

[Strapped4Cash]

Originally Posted by Evil

It sounds like they were busting your chops for some reason. All that stuff about Amazon Prime, changing vendors, and $10 caps on PMing is baloney as far as I know. It seems like they were just making things up as they went along in an effort to not have to do the PM. Who knows why.

That's one possibility, but I didn't get that impression. All the employees (there was a third who briefly helped the first) were women, and at least in their late 20's. So they seemed less likely to me to be doing something like that. And I heard the call to the manager, and there didn't seem any "code" about doing something like that. It's still possible, but I honestly came away thinking they were serious.

If your gut feeling is that the three cent error was a final slight rather than an honest mistake, it very well could have been. Either way, I hope that first Target is closer to you. After that song and dance, I would go out of my way to not give business to the second one.

I'll let it go soon. It's stupid to think too much about, as it's only 0.03 cents. And if it makes her feel better to purposely overcharge me then so be it.

Thanks, the first Target is closer. But it depends on where I'm going, with the second one next to my most frequented grocery store, as well as close to B&N and a couple of other places I go to at least once a month. I haven't done as much pm'ing there anyway, I'll just try to avoid it even more I guess.

Meanwhile, I'll call and give Target a report on my "experiences" (both of them) a little later. It probably won't accomplish anything, but I'll have done what I can, and it may make me feel better.

[karlpilkington4PM]

maybe a stupid question, but did all this happen at a "regular" checkout or at the "service" desk? i know that the first time I tried to PM at a checkout, they told me it had to be done at the service desk. been doing that ever since and never had a problem.

[MSims]

Originally Posted by Strapped4Cash

Meanwhile, I'll call and give Target a report on my "experiences" (both of them) a little later. It probably won't accomplish anything, but I'll have done what I can, and it may make me feel better.

Great if you report those incidents. Those employees badly need training.
It was inexcusable really what they put you through.

[Strapped4Cash]

Originally Posted by karlpilkington4PM

maybe a stupid question, but did all this happen at a "regular" checkout or at the "service" desk? i know that the first time I tried to PM at a checkout, they told me it had to be done at the service desk. been doing that ever since and never had a problem.

Service Desk, definitely. I don't know that I've ever tried at regular, or electronics.

It's worth mentioning that I've done a lot of pm's at Target, maybe even over 200. The vast majority of the time all goes well, or there's no big problem. A few times I've had a brief issue, like where an Amazon mp seller beats Amazon and so I'm declined, but they let me click on the "New" listings, show them Amazon's actual listing, and when I ask to only pm that price then they've said yes.

There have only been a handful of times that I've had an experience worth mentioning, and this is only the second time that things went badly enough that I felt the need to call them, so percentage wise Target's done very well by me, but of course no one's perfect.

Originally Posted by MSims

Great if you report those incidents. Those employees badly need training.
It was inexcusable really what they put you through.

Thanks. I did call and report, the call took about 20 minutes. I think it went well, the phone rep. gave me a case number if I want to follow up. He clearly focused on the Amazon Prime aspect to things and clearly understood how that wasn't correct, and then I also emphasized the DPCI part, so that by the end he understood that too. Just as with my visit, I was very matter-of-fact and made sure to communicate that no one was outright rude and that I was calling to try to get constructive improvement, and not anything else. I made sure he had the right store, time, date, receipt number, etc. so that I feel as optimistic as I can that they'll follow up and give at least some training.

There's only once back in early 2013 that I've had a worse pm incident (and that was much worse. [On the off chance anyone wants to read that one :

[Show spoiler]On 4/11/13 I was at the 651 W Sepulveda Blvd, Carson, CA 90745 store at 4:40 PM PST and brought up a copy of Supernatural S7 DVD to pm against Walmart's online price (of $14.96). I've done pm's successfully at this store before and didn't expect a problem, boy was I wrong.

First, they had me wait 20 minutes, because the only person with a key to the ipad was in the restroom. They brought it out eventually, without any sort of explanation or apology (I had to ask) and when the first person didn't know what they were doing the second took over and told me that the percentage discount was way too high for them to be able to match it.

I asked them to check with someone else and she said that she would, and the guy that she brought over looked at the ipad for 10 minutes before telling me no. His reason was that Wal-Mart didn't include the word "sale" on the SPN DVD page and they didn't have dates of when the sale would be running from. He was looking at me like an idiot for not understanding his claim that the word "sale" had to be there online. I said that the price was clearly there on the page, and I was just trying to pm that. At this point he was giving me a hard stare, like I was a criminal who was trying to take advantage of them. I asked him to check the pm policy and/or call customer service to get this straightened out, he looked like he was about to, but then twisted his face in a nasty smile and called security instead.

I asked him what was going on? I said that I wasn't cursing, raising my voice, insulting him, or anything of that nature, just asking him to call corporate. The other employees all walked away, looking to get out of the way, and I then kept saying that I wanted to talk to a supervisor. Eventually they got one, a woman named Maribelle who had no patience for my side of the story, because her employee was "clearly" right. I asked to see the pm policy, she claimed that they didn't have it, gave me the customer service number and told me that they would mail me one so I could see how I was wrong.

), which I reported too and things definitely changed for the better at that store following that incident. So hopefully something similar will happen again this time.

[blackhawktraffic]

I can't speak for all targets, but even at my old work it was such a mess. I would ask one person and they would say yes, the other would say no. Targets polices at the service desk change so often its nearly impossible to get everyone following all the changes.

Truly the most absurd thing was while I was still working at Target and had been there longer than anyone else who helped me, I had to involve all my my supervisors to show them that they YES could in fact Price Match certain things even though I was told no, I had to pull up the rules from the corporate website. Mind you your not supposed to even PM and use a team member discount, but no one knew or cared because the system didnt even block it.

Thats a mess to me, and its still that way.

[skiizim]

Originally Posted by blackhawktraffic

I can't speak for all targets, but even at my old work it was such a mess. I would ask one person and they would say yes, the other would say no. Targets polices at the service desk change so often its nearly impossible to get everyone following all the changes.

Truly the most absurd thing was while I was still working at Target and had been there longer than anyone else who helped me, I had to involve all my my supervisors to show them that they YES could in fact Price Match certain things even though I was told no, I had to pull up the rules from the corporate website. Mind you your not supposed to even PM and use a team member discount, but no one knew or cared because the system didnt even block it.

Thats a mess to me, and its still that way.

I've gotten into an argument once with the short stocky guy at your store. I can't remember what it was for but he wouldn't budge. I think it was regarding a local competitor if my memory serves me right.

Why did you leave the county?

[blackhawktraffic]

Originally Posted by skiizim

I've gotten into an argument once with the short stocky guy at your store. I can't remember what it was for but he wouldn't budge. I think it was regarding a local competitor if my memory serves me right.

Why did you leave the county?

Hmm my old store being in Riverside? and I left the company if thats what you meant almost 2 years ago---thankfully.

[DarkEco910]

I found the hardcover edition of The Killing Joke on the back wall of entertainment priced at $16.99. I'm not a big fan comic books, but I've always wanted to read this one. I scanned it in the Amazon app and it came up $10.16. Without even contemplating, I snatched it up and took it to guest services to price match along with buying three copies of the Bad Blood steelbook for members here in the forum.

I get up there and present my items, saying I want to price match the comic book to Amazon. After a few minutes of him fumbling with the iPad, repeating the prices, and waiting patiently, he finally says that the comic book wasn't in the system and that he couldn't price match. I shot him a weird look and told him it's coming up just fine on my phone on Amazon. "I know that sir, and I understand, but if it's not coming up on my iPad, I can't price match it." I again shot him a look of confusion and asked if he needed the DPCI and that I didn't understand what he meant by 'it wasn't in their system.' He just said again that it wasn't in the system and that he won't honor it. I told him I'd worked for Target for 8 years and that I'd never had an issue price matching anything before and asked for clarification as to why he was denying me. He completely ignored me and "proudly" stated that I was wrong about Target's price of $16.99 and that it was actually $13.99. He asked if I still wanted it. I sighed and said I'd buy it off Amazon instead. He rung up my steelbooks silently and I left with no other words exchanged.

[meremortal]

Those kinds of encounters are definitely annoying. I've come across all sorts of excuses from confused employees at the big box stores. Probably the most comical was a woman at WM who sat and stared clueless on how to process a money order. So without even trying, she just said "sorry, machine's broken." But Target and price matching can be a big headache as well and locally I've always had both better luck and a quicker turnaround time for them at BB.

[nickersonw]

Now I'll start off saying that doing Price Match and Cartwheel is YMMV, and I believe the app says it won't work even when it still does. I saw there was 50% off Brothers Grimsby Blu-ray and I was going to match the price of Amazon of $17.49 and use Cartwheel. The problem the cashier had wasn't with Cartwheel and Price Matching, it was that on Amazon it had a Prime logo next to the price and he told me Target doesn't match Prime prices. I explained it was not a prime only product, it was just saying if you have prime it will ship in 2 days for free. I even pointed out that it also said it was free shipping eligible for non-prime members with orders over a certain price. Still said no. So I ended up matching Best Buy's $19.99. Again, I am still happy I got a Price Match and Cartwheel, but this does not make me feel good about just doing a regular Price Match in the future with Target.