Shopping Experience: Is this deceptive?

A week ago (10 days ago), I ordered a bathing suit online at JcPenneys. They advertised it was on sale $10 off the full price, and since I found a free shipping coupon online, I ordered it. It arrived. I don’t live near a store.

Yesterday I realized that I was going to a dentist near a Penneys, so I decided to go in and look at what they were charging locally. I went in, found the suit, and low and behold the suit was $20 off the regular price.

It’s sad to say that I expected as much.

Read moreOnline they give you one price and at the store, you find another. Some times the store is cheaper, sometimes online is cheaper. You never know which it will be, so I check frequently when I am able to.

I went up to the register with my receipt and I asked for a credit. The woman at the check out counter told me that she couldn’t help me. The catalog business she explained is not the same as the store. I immediately piped up in front of the other waiting customers that this was a deceptive practice!! You should have seen their faces…

I said if you are one store, you should sell the product for the same price across the board. The customer service rep then said to me, “Well, did you get free shipping?” I acknowledged I did and shot right back at her, “Yeah, so does that make it right–charging me for shipping underhandedly?” Everyone around me was tense because I laid my thoughts on the table. People looked away! It always amazes me. The customer service rep told me to go to the catalog department to find out what could be done.

So I trucked on over to the catalog department and said, “I want a credit. This is $10 less than what I paid in the past week or two”. She promptly informed me it was not their policy to price match in the store. I said fine. Ring up this suit here, and I will be back tomorrow and I will bring you the other one so you can give me a credit. I’m not paying ten dollars more for nothing. You’ll just have to do more work– that’s your choice. She told me she would give me a credit, though it was against their policy.

Do you find these practices deceptive? I sure do…

I think as consumers we need to speak out against this and stop it!