Target Price Match Woes

[obriensg1]

I'm not trying to bash here but this was HORRENDOUS. As I'm sure you all know, Target's new policy is they have to search out the item on the site you're matching using their iPad. Never mind most employees don't understand what they're looking for/looking at. Even when something says 'Amazon Prime. Verified and shipped by Amazon.com' they still don't trust it.

So I went to Target. They had the BD+DVD+DC edition of 'Rise of the Apes' that I assume for most is shown at the top of this page in the deals section for $7.99. They had it for $9.99. I figured I'd price match.

I got up to their counter where they look it up. It's a 60 something woman I've seen before and who has matched for me before. I already knew from just searching Amazon that it would come up with too many matches, and not what I had in hand, but if I scanned the barcode, the right thing came up. She kept finding the older edition of the film and I said 'That's the first one. This is newer'. "Isn't this the 2011 film? Yes, that's $12." "You're selling it for $10! Look what I'm showing you here". She got help and tried searching via barcode numbers then the other woman took over while the older woman helped with the growing line. I pointed out the differences and said "I'm not mad at you, but PLEASE express to your supervisors or managers how ridiculous this is. I found the item before I even got up here and you people have taken ten minutes of my time and still can't". She kept trying to search and I said 'Look at this. Just look. I scan it, it comes up 7.99. It says shipped by Amazon. It's not used or third part". Finally, the second woman manually changed the price. I don't think I'll bother with them again, and I'm going to e-mail Target Corporate what a nightmare this was.

[Samus Aran]

When Target first started doing price matches, the cashiers wouldn't match the price and made me buy the item, then go to customer service to get a price difference, meaning I waited in two lines to buy one thing!

[neoz]

This is why I don't shop at them. Because they use the most ignorant system to PM. Instead of making it simple they fall back on the app like it is the Bible and if it doesn't show up you're not going to get it.
I only shop at Target for their exclusives and even then it is a nightmare for that as well.

[Ari_Gold]

Target and their price matches do suck. Although I did have success today price matching the new Michael Jackson cd from Best Buy. Then I was able to use cartwheel successfully after that. Paid $5.69 plus tax.

[neoz]

Originally Posted by Ari_Gold

Target and their price matches do suck. Although I did have success today price matching the new Michael Jackson cd from Best Buy. Then I was able to use cartwheel successfully after that. Paid $5.69 plus tax.

Yeah sometimes you get lucky sometimes it is a hard no.
I've been told no so many times it has left a bad taste in my mouth so why bother you know?
The worst part is, I've brought the physical ad in and they told me no. And it was for the same item. No store exclusives and still a no go.

[jscoggins]

To be fair, Rise of POTA is a little confusing. The original release was BD/DVD/Windows Media Player or iTunes DC. This new one is BD/DVD/UltraViolet DC. If there are any leftover stock of the first one, the Price Match App might be sending employees to that old version (which is $12.94 on Amazon).

[Blaze_Chamberlin]

Originally Posted by neoz

Yeah sometimes you get lucky sometimes it is a hard no.
I've been told no so many times it has left a bad taste in my mouth so why bother you know?
The worst part is, I've brought the physical ad in and they told me no. And it was for the same item. No store exclusives and still a no go.

I've had that happen at Best Buy before. I brought in an ad for the first Hobbit blu-ray and the kid at the register said UV and DC are two different things and wouldn't price match it, because the cover, for whatever reason, said DC whereas the physical product said UV. Eventually I asked for a manager who had no problem with the price match at all.

[neoz]

Originally Posted by Blaze_Chamberlin

I've had that happen at Best Buy before. I brought in an ad for the first Hobbit blu-ray and the kid at the register said UV and DC are two different things and wouldn't price match it, because the cover, for whatever reason, said DC whereas the physical product said UV. Eventually I asked for a manager who had no problem with the price match at all.

I haven't had to many issues with BB or WM. It is always the Targets around me that give me crap haha.

[jscoggins]

Originally Posted by neoz

I haven't had to many issues with BB or WM. It is always the Targets around me that give me crap haha.

Yes, but their exclusives make you go back again and again.

[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.

[Joeker]

Dont think I've had an issue at Target. The employees at my store would let me show them my phone with the price but now they got this new guy who insists on looking stuff up on the ipad.

[Evil]

I've probably done over a hundred price matches at Best Buy over the past year but haven't done a single one at Target. Aside from Target's BD stock being pretty limited and stagnant (not much that I would want to price match to start off with) and their list of applicable stores/websites being smaller, their whole price matching process seems awkward. I don't want to wait on two lines or deal with employees trying to figure out how to work iPads. Best Buy's process seems better even with the annoying manager overrides so I just do the price matching that I can there.

[obssessive]

Never had a problem PM'ing, but I hate the fact you can only do it at CS and not in electronics. I also find it annoying that I can find the better price online quicker than them using their iPad, but again, there's never been a challenge there doing so.

[obriensg1]

Yeah another part of all that interaction I forgot was when they looked at the first listing and were like 'See, it's 2 disc and this one you have here is 2 disc'.

Then the woman thought maybe I had a different film in the series and I was confusing the one she found with the one in my hand. Unreal.

I actually don't mind shopping at Target for movies on occasion. Truth is, the Targets around me have a better selection of movies for the most part then Best Buy. They've paired down so much. I live 30 minutes from the Mall of America store though and it's GLORIOUS. About 10 long double sided shelves of movies and TV shows including countless catalog titles! Things broken into proper categories too. It's like walking into nostalgia lol.

But yeah, I should of just gone to Amazon. Hell, I don't even really care about owning Rise of the Apes at all (though it's a decent film), but I want to go see 'Dawn' and it had a movie ticket on it so I figured '2 for the price of one, what the hell?'

[Blaze_Chamberlin]

The last time something like this story happened at Target, I called and spoke with the store's GM. If they are going to offer price-matching, at least provide customers with employees that know how to do it properly.

[neoz]

Originally Posted by jscoggins

Yes, but their exclusives make you go back again and again.

Sadly this is the truth...I keep trying to stay away but they keep pulling me in back in.

[MoulinBlu]

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.

Maybe some stores do pricematching as a gimmick they basically need to implement to appear competitive, but pricematching is actually a lot more insidiuos in it's origins and current use by others. It's a cheap ploy by mega stores who don't generally have the best prices to not only deter their customers from shopping around more, but also deceptively to put the little guy who's offering the more honest price, out of business.

Bottom line: it's always best to give your money to the company actually responsible for the price you're paying, lest you want to see those deals dry up when the company goes under or decides such pricing isn't justified by the traffic they're pulling in, when half of those potential buyers pricematch somewhere else - which sometimes leaves the deal originator sitting on unsold stock that they overordered, expecting a larger turnout, again, discouraging future sales.

[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.

[AdrianL]

yeah, never had problems PMing at Target either, PMed Hercules on Amazon yesterday.

[strumdogg]

Personal Experience...

Show the ad, they punch-punch-punch the keyboard, I walk away.


If not, then you should read the rules because you're doing it wrong!